■ Australia
Harriet going strong at 175
One of the world's oldest living animals, Harriet the tortoise, celebrated her 175th birthday yesterday with a pink hibiscus flower cake at her retirement home at the Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane. The zoo, where Harriet has spent the past 17 years, says the Giant Galapagos Land Tortoise was collected by British scientist Charles Darwin in 1835, although some historians have disputed this. There is no doubt however over the age of Harriet -- who for more than a century was thought to be a male and named Harry -- and she is recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest living chelonian, or reptile with a shell of bony plates.
■ Australia
Labor laws draw protests
More than 200,000 people blocked the streets in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane to protest planned new labor laws yesterday, defying warnings of hefty fines in a show of anger over the centerpiece of the government's fourth term. The protests were loudest in Melbourne, where police said more than 150,000 people walked off the job to support union-organized rallies to oppose the labor reforms currently before parliament. In Sydney, up to 30,000 people marched behind a fire truck and Korean drummers, blocking traffic and bringing parts of the city center to a standstill.
■ Kazakhstan
Ali G isn't funny in Astana
The Foreign Ministry threatened legal action on Monday against British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who wins laughs by portraying the central Asian state as a country populated by drunks who enjoy cow-punching as a sport. Cohen portrays a spoof Kazakh TV presenter, Borat, in his Da Ali G Show. Cohen appears to have drawn official ire after he hosted the annual MTV Europe Music Awards show in Lisbon earlier this month as Borat. "We do not rule out that Mr. Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. "We reserve the right to any legal action to prevent new pranks of the kind."
■ Hong Kong
Giant truffle helps charity
A group of gourmets has paid 95,000 euro (US$111,000) for a 1.2kg Italian white truffle at an auction, and the winning bidders donated the delicacy to a charity. The group of Hong Kongers outbid other competitors to win the prized delicacy in a satellite-linked auction, held simultaneously on Sunday in the territory, London and Italy. The group bought the truffle to donate it to Mother's Choice, a charity that cares for pregnant girls. Mother's Choice resold the truffle to a Taiwanese man, who bought it for about HK$725,000 (US$93,600).
■ India
Ants devour woman's eye
A woman receiving treatment for diabetes at a state-run hospital in Kolkata lost one of her eyes after ants nibbled away at it, officials said yesterday. The woman, recovering from a post-surgery infection, shrieked for help as the ants attacked her on Sunday night, but nurses told her it was normal to feel pain from the infection. Her family discovered the eye was missing on Monday.
■ Russia
Putin softens on Kuril isles
Russian President Vladimir Putin will next week call for the joint economic development of the disputed Kuril islands with Japan despite a political impasse on the issue, the Mainichi Shimbun reported yesterday. Putin, who was due to meet Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Japan on Monday, plans to propose cooperation in developing marine resources and in other areas, the daily said, quoting unidentified Russian diplomatic sources. It said Moscow wanted to show it was ready to focus on economic ties with Tokyo despite a hardline stance on the Kuril islands. A Japanese foreign ministry official said that Tokyo would not change its stance on the islands, but indicated that Japan was ready to look at economic cooperation that does not involve the Russian claim.
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