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World News Quick Take

■ Bangladesh
Ferry collision kills three
At least three people were killed and 100 hurt after two ferries packed with passengers rushing home for a Muslim festival collided in dense fog in southern Bangladesh, an official said yesterday. Passengers said dozens were still missing after the accident late on Friday. But police said yesterday that only two people remained unaccounted for. The accident occurred in Bhola district after an overloaded ferry with about 800 passengers was struck by another ferry as thick fog reduced visibility in the Meghna river, district administrator Belayet Hossain said. At least 100 people were injured as people rushing to their homes for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha jumped into the river for safety, he added.

■ China
Search called off
The threat of avalanches forced climbers to call off their search on Friday for a US adventure company owner who disappeared on a remote peak in the west. The snow-covered body of Christine Boskoff's climbing partner, photographer Charlie Fowler, was found on Wednesday, and friends said Boskoff was also believed dead. Harsh winter weather made it unsafe for searchers to stay on the 6,204m Genyen Peak to continue their search for Boskoff. Fowler was believed to have been swept up in an avalanche.

■ China
New expressways planned
The government plans to expand its national expressway network by more than 50 percent by the year 2010, adding new highways, state media said on Saturday. Around 24,000km of new expressways are planned by 2010, the China Daily reported. The country has been investing heavily in new transport infrastructure to handle increasing demand as its booming economy leads to rising car ownership and domestic travel. About 260,000km of roads have recently been built or upgraded in rural areas, dramatically improving local transport for 30 million people living in 30,000 villages, it said.

■ India
Terrorism threatens festival
More than 50 million Hindu pilgrims were expected to descend on Allahabad in northern India to wash away their sins at a festival amid fears of a possible terrorist attack, officials said. Pilgrims have started swarming Allahabad for the 45-day Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher festival, which starts on Wednesday and commemorates an epic battle between the gods and demons over a pitcher of the nectar of immortality. Officials said they were maintaining tight security amid intelligence reports of a possible terrorist strike during the lengthy and massive celebrations.

■ India
Bus missing after plunge
At least 40 people were feared drowned yesterday when a bus plunged off a bridge into the Ganges river in eastern India, authorities said. The bus crashed through the railings of the bridge about 10km north of Patna City, the capital of Bihar State, said Awdhesh Kumar, a senior government official. "We have pressed divers to look for survivors, but have not been able to even trace the bus," Kumar, who is overseeing the rescue, said by telephone from Patna. The driver apparently lost control in the dense morning fog, witnesses said. The bus was going to Patna from Hajipur town in the north of the state.

■ Germany
A tale of two cities
A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000km away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site. Dressed for the Australian summer in t-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany on Dec. 23 for a four-week holiday. Instead of arriving "down under," Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana. "I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the Bild newspaper. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney did he realize his mistake.

■ United Kingdom
Two US sailors dead
Two sailors from a US submarine died on Friday after falling overboard as the vessel left Devonport in Devon, southwest England, after a week's visit to Britain. The men had been pulled from the sea with two other crew members but were pronounced dead after being taken to hospital in Plymouth. The four crew members from the USS Minneapolis St Paul went overboard in an apparent accident in rough weather. A Royal Navy rescue helicopter was dispatched from the Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose, along with a lifeboat and tug from Plymouth, and the four were pulled from the water by fellow crew members and the rescue team. They were then taken to Derriford hospital in Plymouth but it was not possible to save the lives of two of them. The surviving crew members, who suffered minor injuries, were released from hospital.

■ Germany
Beagle sold for beer
A thirsty German sold his six-year-old stepdaughter's pet beagle to the owner of a bar to pay for beer, the Bild newspaper reported on Friday. The unemployed man offered to take the dog for a walk and then stopped at a bar where he convinced the owner to buy the three-year-old dog for 40 euros (US$53). The man spent the proceeds quenching his thirst for beer. The bar owner has now returned the dog to its owner.

■ Germany
Helpful drunk arrested
German police arrested a man for drunk driving after he mistook a police spot check for a breakdown and stopped to help. Officers inspecting a car by the roadside suspected the 37-year-old passing motorist was under the influence of alcohol when he lurched from his vehicle to offer assistance, police in the northwestern town of Bremen said on Friday. "Obviously his optical assessment of the situation as he drove past was that this was a vehicle breakdown," the police said in a statement. The man was arrested and banned from driving.

■ United Kingdom
Stormy celebrations
The nation will be battered by 130kph winds and severe storms over the weekend, the Met Office warned on Friday, with gales likely to cause damage to homes as well as disrupting New Year's Eve celebrations. Forecasters said Scotland and Northern Ireland would see the worst of the weather, but Wales and parts of England would also be affected. Organizers of a New Year's Eve fireworks display in Liverpool city center announced on Friday it had been postponed. The display at St George's Plateau will now take place next Friday. Organizers of Edinburgh's Hogmanay 2007 said they would make a final decision on whether to cancel the event today.

■ Venezuela
Freedom group slams Chavez
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders condemned a decision by President Hugo Chavez not to renew the broadcast license of an opposition-aligned TV station, saying it will be a major setback for the Venezuelan media. The Paris-based group on Friday called it a "serious attack on editorial pluralism" in a statement e-mailed to journalists, and urged the Venezuelan government to "reconsider its stance and guarantee an independent system of concessions and renewal of licenses." Chavez said on Thursday that Venezuela will not renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) when it expires next year.

■ United States
Pentagon seeks more money
The Pentagon is seeking nearly US$100 billion for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, a request that, if approved by Congress, would set an annual record for war-related spending. The US$99.7 billion request, detailed in a 17-page internal Defense Department memorandum dated Dec. 7, would be in addition to US$70 billion appropriated in September. The request would push the total for next year to nearly US$170 billion, 45 percent more than Congress provided this year. The request is likely to receive more scrutiny from Congress next year than previous supplemental spending bills, in part because Democrats now control both the House and Senate.

■ United States
Bush versus the tornado
US President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush were moved to an armored vehicle on their ranch when a tornado warning was issued in central Texas, the White House said. The vehicle was driven to a tornado shelter on the ranch on Friday, and the president, his wife and their two Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley, sat inside until the weather cleared, deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said. They were never moved into the shelter, he said. The shelter is a few hundred meters away from the president's house on the ranch.

■ United States
Inmate gets kosher meals
In a ruling favorable to an inmate who sued after a prison denied his request for kosher meals, a federal appeals court upheld a federal law that protects the religious rights of incarcerated people. The state of Virginia had challenged the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act after inmate Ira Madison complained in a 2001 lawsuit that prison officials were violating the act by denying him a kosher diet. Virginia argued that Congress had exceeded its authority by tying compliance with the act to federal funding for prisons.

■ United States
Malicious castration charge
A woman attacked a man in his genitals during a Christmas party, injuring him badly enough that he needed 50 stitches, authorities said. Rebecca Arnold Dawson, 34, was charged with malicious castration in a fight early on Tuesday at a party hosted by the 38-year-old man's girlfriend, police said on Friday. All three were heavily intoxicated, police chief Frank Powers said. Dawson is accused of grabbing the man's genitals. Police said a weapon was not used. He declined to elaborate. "I believe he needed more than 50 stitches to repair the damage, but he is back home at this point," police corporal Brad Stevens said.

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