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World News Quick Take

■ Australia
Killer of tourist loses appeal
A truck driver found guilty of the murder of British backpacker Peter Falconio in the outback had the appeal he had lodged against his conviction and life sentence turned down yesterday. The appeal by Bradley John Murdoch, 47, was dismissed "on all grounds" by a three judge bench of the Northern Territory of Criminal Appeal here. Murdoch's defense lawyer, Suzan Cox, told reporters he could still lodge a final appeal with the High Court. Murdoch was found guilty late in 2005 of shooting 28-year-old Falconio to death beside a remote outback highway and sentenced to life in prison.

■ Australia
Zoo exhibits humans
A zoo is claiming a world first by putting humans on public display in one of its enclosures. Six humans took up residence in a disused Adelaide Zoo orangutang enclosure last week for a month-long experiment dubbed "the human zoo." Groups of humans will spend week-long shifts locked in the enclosure during the zoo's opening hours, with the public viewing them through large perspex windows. They will be studied by animal behaviorists trying to work out ways of improving living conditions for captive great apes such as chimpanzees.

■ China
Hong Kong to get pandas
A pair of pandas will be presented to Hong Kong this year to mark the 10th anniversary of its handover to the country, state media reported yesterday. The pandas will be sent to Hong Kong in the first half of the year, Xinhua news agency said. The country gave another pair of pandas to Hong Kong in 1999, and last September the Hong Kong government requested a second pair. The country often uses pandas as a goodwill gesture.

■ United Kingdom
Urinal thief relieved
A man who walked into a pub and stole a urinal from the men's toilet has given himself up, British police said on Tuesday. The unnamed 42-year-old handed in both himself and the urinal at Salisbury police station in Wiltshire, southwest England, and was given a caution. The man, who is from Salisbury, walked into the Royal Oak in Southampton, on England's south coast, ordered half a pint of lager and then went to the lavatory, where he spent 40 minutes expertly removing the urinal from the wall. He was caught on the pub's closed circuit television (CCTV) system. According to police, he said he took the urinal as a "souvenir."

■ Canada
Flying banana planned
A Montreal artist will release a 300m banana-shaped airship into the sky late next year. The helium-filled balloon, made of bamboo and synthetic paper, is expected to float from Mexico into Texas airspace, where it will circle for up to a month, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported. It will drift in a low orbit some 20km to 30km above the Earth until it disintegrates. The project will cost about C$1 million (US$900,000), roughly one-eighth of which has been raised so far.

■ United States
Hit man e-mail scam
Dentists, doctors, lawyers and other professionals in the Pittsburgh area have been targeted by a "hit man" e-mail scheme, receiving messages that tell them to pay up to keep their lives, the FBI said. The e-mail, which was sent to most recipients around Christmas, tells the reader that there is a contract out on his life, generally for US$50,000. It says that if the recipient sends the "hit man" more money than that -- generally ranging from US$80,000 to US$150,000 -- the hit man will leave him alone. The FBI became aware of the scam when people in Atlanta and New Orleans received similar e-mails early last month. The scheme seems to have originated in Russia.

■ United States
First execution of the year
A man convicted of killing four restaurant employees during a 1992 heist in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Tuesday became the first inmate to be executed in the US this year. Corey Hamilton, 37, died of a lethal injection at 6:14pm at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma. About 20 relatives of the victims witnessed the execution. In 1993, Hamilton and three others were convicted of shooting four restaurant employees in their 20s and 30s at point-blank range during a hold-up.

■ United States
Terrorism appeal heard
A federal appeals court is weighing whether to restore the only charge against alleged al-Qaeda operative Jose Padilla that carries a sentence of up to life in prison. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals was set to hear arguments yesterday over the conspiracy charge that was dismissed in August by a judge who ruled it was essentially the same as two other terrorism-support counts against Padilla and two co-defendants. The three men are charged with being part of a US cell that provided cash, supplies and recruits to Islamic extremists. Prosecutors asked the court to reinstate the charge of conspiracy to "murder, kidnap and maim persons in a foreign country." They argue that the charge against Padilla was dropped in error, saying the District Judge Marcia Cooke used the wrong legal analysis.

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