■ South Korea
Fencer expelled for surgery
A top woman fencer was dropped from the country's national team because she underwent plastic surgery that included receiving cheek implants, local media reported. Nam Hyun-hee, a top foil fencer, had cosmetic surgery last month on her eyes to fix a problem that meant her eyelashes were bothering her vision. Along with the eye surgery, she also decided to have a little work done on her cheeks. The cheek surgery caused her to miss several days of practice. This angered her coaches and fencing officials who said she should not have put personal appearance improvement ahead of the team.
■ Australia
Rescuers wreck bathroom
A two-year-old girl whose fingers were stuck in the plughole of a bath was released in an operation that required dozens of highly trained Australian emergency services personnel. "The girl was quite distressed when our crew arrived on the scene," Canberra Ambulance Service manager Doug Wright said. A specialist rescue unit joined in the Thursday night drama in the nation's capital which ended after two hours with the girl being extricated using a special saw and cutters. "Unfortunately we had to partially demolish the bathroom to achieve this, causing an estimated several thousand dollars damage in the process.".
■ India
Barwomen now legal
Women can now legally serve liquor in pubs and bars, news reports said on Friday. The Delhi High Court has ruled that an archaic law which banned women from serving alcohol in public places was unconstitutional and outdated. The judges said, "We find that Section 30 (Punjab Excise Act), purported to be a special provision has become a hindrance and impediment to women's careers in the hospitality industry." The ruling, however, clarified that women should not be compelled to serve as bartenders.
■ Mongolia
Elephants booze to beat cold
Indian elephants preparing to perform in the capital of Ulan Bator are drinking daily doses of vodka to help them survive temperatures as low as minus 28oC, local media said on Friday. The elephants are working for the Moscow State Circus, which plans to hold its first show in Mongolia for 25 years, the UB Post newspaper said in a report posted on its Web site. The elephants had to travel on trucks from Moscow to Ulan Bator because they were too large to be transported by rail with the rest of the circus. To help the Indian elephants ward off the cold, staff are giving them two liters of vodka a day, the Mongolian circus manager was quoted as saying.
■ China
Managers jailed over pay
Eight managers of a company, including two from Hong Kong, have been jailed on charges that they failed to pay workers and suppliers, a news report said yesterday. The case, reportedly the first of its kind, comes amid a government campaign to make employers disburse billions of dollars in back pay owed to workers. Managers of the company in the southern city of Shenzhen were sentenced on Thursday to up to a month in jail on charges of failing to pay more than 7 million yuan (US$850,000) to 1,200 workers, and 41 million yuan to at least 350 suppliers, the China Daily newspaper said. "In the absence of any specific laws, the local public security bureau charged them with economic offenses," the newspaper said.
■ United States
Suspected mafia boss held
A reputed mob boss charged along with 13 others with plotting several organized crime murders was taken into custody on Friday after nine months on the run, the FBI said. Joey "The Clown" Lombardo, 76, was caught in suburban Elmwood Park, Illinois, and was expected to spend the night in a Chicago jail, said FBI spokesman Ross Rice. Lombardo's lawyer said his client will appear at a detention hearing on Tuesday "Osama bin Laden has a better chance of getting bond," said Rick Halprin, Lombardo's attorney. "So, it will be a formality."
■ Brazil
Mounted thief steals phone
Police have arrested a teenager who rode a horse into a busy district of Rio de Janeiro and, brandishing a toy gun, forced a man to hand over his cell phone. The 15-year-old had confessed he borrowed the horse from a neighbor in the Rio slum where he lives and committed the crime after being promised US$20 for a phone with a camera by members of a local criminal gang police said on Thursday. He rode into the courtyard of a hospital in Rio's Meier neighborhood and snatched the phone from a man waiting in line there. When police caught up with him a few blocks away, he was on foot and the horse was nowhere to be seen.
■ Haiti
Hollywood stars drop in
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt brought a rare dose of Hollywood glamour to the beleaguered Caribbean nation during a visit on Friday. Jolie and Pitt flew to Haiti from the neighboring Dominican Republic, where she is filming a movie. The couple were to get a firsthand look at projects run by Yele Haiti, the charity of Haitian-born hip-hop musician Wyclef Jean. They were expected to distribute food and toys to boys at a juvenile prison and to visit a school where Yele Haiti gives children the opportunity to play sports. They also intended to meet with workers from Yele Haiti's Project Clean Streets, which helps clear litter from the capital of Port-au-Prince.
■ United States
Meanest city revealed
Sarasota, which recently imposed a no-camping ban, is the meanest city in the US toward the homeless, according to a homeless rights group. The Florida city bans sleeping outside overnight without permission on public or private property. A judge recently upheld the ordinance passed by city commissioners in August after two similar no-camping rules were declared unconstitutional. "They could have been taken off the mean list if they would have just done away with that ordinance," said Michael Stoops, acting director of the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless. Sarasota officials say the no-lodging rule helps keep the city's homeless out of unsafe and unhealthy camps.
■ Brazil
Ministry acts to stop H5N1
The Agriculture Ministry has announced it will spend US$44 million to keep bird flu out of Brazil, the world's largest chicken exporter. The money will be spent on laboratory equipment, installing sanitary checkpoints at state borders, personnel and education, the ministry said in a statement late on Thursday. On Friday, the ministry announced the separate purchase of five scanning machines for use in two airports in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro that handle two-thirds of Brazil's international passenger traffic. The Spanish and Canadian-made scanners, which detect plant and animal material.
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