■ Australia
Indian engineer crushed
An Indian man was crushed to death by an elevator on an oil tanker docked in the southwest, police said yesterday. The 36-year-old man, an electrical engineer whose identity and hometown were not released, was trying to repair a faulty elevator on board the tanker on Saturday when the accident occurred. "He was attending to a faulty elevator when the elevator activated and trapped him. He died from injuries at the scene," said Ros Weatherall, a spokeswoman for Western Australia state police. Police and rescue workers pulled the man's body from the elevator shaft early on Sunday, she said.
■ Australia
Opera singer, no knickers
Renowned opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa pulled out of a series of concerts with Australian crooner John Farnham after learning that fans sometimes threw underwear at the pop star, testimony in court revealed yesterday. Concert promoter Leading Edge Events is suing the New Zealand-born Te Kanawa and her former manager, Nick Grace, for more than more than A$600,000 (US$464,000) for alleged breach of contract after the soprano pulled out of a series of concerts in 2005. Te Kanawa, who did not appear in court yesterday, has filed her own lawsuit against Grace over the failed concert series, billed as "Two Great Voices."
■ India
Composer Nayyar dies at 81
Bollywood music composer O.P. Nayyar, the creator of some of the industry's most memorable tunes, has died after a heart attack, a family friend said yesterday. He was 81. He complained of feeling uneasy a few minutes before he collapsed from cardiac arrest on Sunday, Rani Nakhwa said. Nayyar was a legend in the Hindi movie industry and had written lyrics that are remembered by several generations of Indian movie lovers. His memorable songs include Zara haule haule chalo more sajna or Walk a little slower, my love, Mera naam Chin Chin Chu or My name is Chin Chin Chu and Yeh hain Bombay meri jaan or This is Bombay, my love.
■ India
Himalayan tunnel collapses
A tunnel being built in the Himalayan foothills north of the country has collapsed, killing two construction workers and injuring 12, police said yesterday. The men were digging the tunnel in the Doda district of Jammu-Kashmir state when it collapsed, burying them under an avalanche of mud and stones late on Sunday, said District Superintendent of Police Manohar Singh. Villagers and police have already pulled the bodies out. Three men with life-threatening injuries were airlifted to Jammu, the winter capital of the state, Singh said. The area is about 210km northeast of Jammu. The tunnel was part of an infrastructure development project near the 390-megawatt Dulhasti hydroelectric project.
■ Vanuatu
Wanted man arrested
An Australian man wanted on fraud charges in two South Pacific countries pleaded guilty yesterday to entering a third island nation without a valid visa. Earlier this month, Peter Foster skipped bail in Fiji, where he had been due to face a court on fraud charges related to a resort development. He later turned up in Vanuatu, where he was arrested. Foster pleaded guilty before the Vanuatu Magistrates Court to entering the country without a visa, which carries a maximum penalty of 12 months in jail or a fine of US$1,860.
■ Italy
Pope tough on annulment
Pope Benedict XVI has warned Vatican judges to get tough on couples who ask the Catholic Church to annul their marriages. The Pope ordered the clampdown after new figures showed that the Church's appeals court allowed 69 annulments in 2005 for reasons which included husbands being too attached to their mothers. The court, known as the Sacra Rota, considers petitions from couples claiming their marriages were never truly valid. Apart from the get-out clause for women married to "mummy's boys," an "inability to assume conjugal obligations," usually due to a childhood trauma, appears among the successful reasons for annulment in 2005, as do alcoholism, use of cannabis, infidelity and a serious lack of "moderation in judgment" by a partner, meaning jealousy or a propensity to lie.
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