■ New Zealand
Police called in over Stones
Noise control officers were sent to Auckland's Western Springs stadium during the Rolling Stones' first concert in the country after complaints from nearby residents, it was reported yesterday. Neighbors said the Stones' performance on Sunday night was the loudest event they had ever heard at the stadium, a regular venue for speedway as well as pop concerts, the New Zealand Herald reported. Several callers complained to talkback radio stations with one claiming his house was shaking, the paper said. The noise did not worry 59-year-old grandmother Faye Ngatauau, who told the paper, "If I could do what they do at their age, I would be getting as much sex, drugs and rock'n'roll as I possibly could."
■ China
Epic job quest flounders
Maritime police said yesterday they rescued an unemployed man after the bamboo raft he was using to travel to Shanghai sank in strong waves on the Yangtze River. Wang Faping, 33, set out on foot from his home near the city of Zhoukou in Henan Province in early February, hoping to find work along the way, according to the Oriental Morning Post and other newspapers. Wang first walked about 480km to the port city of Lianyungang, and then about the same distance from there to Nantong, a city on the Yangtze river, north of Shanghai, a maritime official said. Wang told police he made the raft to sail from Nantong to Chongming, a large island in the Yangtze Delta north of Shanghai.
■ Australia
Chemical ends prison siege
Prison guards fired a chemical spray to end a siege by inmates who overpowered a female guard, stole her keys and seized control of part of a maximum-security Tasmanian jail, officials said yesterday. Twenty-six prisoners surrendered after the chemical -- reported to be pepper spray -- ended a 20-hour stand-off in the Risdon Prison in Hobart around dawn yesterday, a prisons spokesman said. The rest of the prison had been locked down during negotiations and there were no reports of injuries. The female guard had escaped unharmed after her keys were taken. Inmates had demanded better food, dental treatment and access to exercise facilities, the spokesman said.
■ Indonesia
Villagers set to flee volcano
The government yesterday prepared to evacuate thousands of villagers living on the slopes of one the country's deadliest volcanos after warnings the rumbling mountain could blow its top at any time. Increased activity at Mount Merapi on Java has prompted volcanologists to raise its warning status to "Beware," one notch below the highest level, which would require immediate evacuation of the thousands of villagers who farm its fertile slopes. Local officials were preparing dozens of trucks and stocking up on medicines to be used at temporary shelters, an official in Jakarta said.
■ Sri Lanka
Mines kill troops, rebels
Anti-personnel mines exploded in two northern Sri Lankan towns yesterday, killing four soldiers and two Tamil Tiger rebels, as spiraling violence pushed the death toll from a week of bloody unrest to at least 50, police said. The Tamil Tiger rebels, meanwhile, formally told Norwegian peace brokers that they would not attend April 24-25 peace talks with the Sri Lankan government in Geneva unless they can hold a crucial internal meeting first, according to a pro-Tamil Web site said.
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