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PHOTO: AP

■ Indonesia
Odd playmates thriving
Two month-old Sumatran tigers are inseparable playmates with a set of young orangutans. The friendship between five-month-old female primates Nia and Irma and month-old cubs Dema and Manis has blossomed at the Taman Safari zoo, where they share a room in the nursery. Abandoned by their mothers shortly after birth, the four now play fight, nipping and teasing each other, and cuddle up for a shared nap when they are worn out. "Like human babies, they only want to play," zoo keeper Sri Suwarni said on Wednesday. The exceptional friendship will likely be short lived, because as the animals grow up their natural instincts will kick in, said veterinarian Retno Sudarwati. "When the time comes, they will have to be separated ... It's sad, but we can't change their natural behavior. Tigers start eating meat when they are three months old."

■ Afghanistan
Bomb kills two, injures 48
A roadside bomb in western Farah Province left two civilians dead and 48 wounded, including 10 children and dozens of construction workers, officials said yesterday. The blast targeted a police vehicle near a school in the center of Farah city. The vehicle was slightly damaged and two officers were also wounded, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said. "It is the work of enemies of Afghanistan," he said, suggesting the Taliban militants were behind the attack.

■ East Timor
Rebel holed up in town
Officials called on fugitive rebel leader Alfredo Reinado to surrender yesterday as international troops surrounded a mountain town where he and scores of armed followers were holed up. Reinado, who deserted the army last year and is wanted for his alleged role in deadly clashes that brought down the government, stole more than 20 automatic weapons from a police post on Sunday, officials said. He has taken refuge in the town of Same, 100km south of the capital, Dili. He has been a fugitive since last September, when he escaped from jail.

■ China
Bike thieves targeted
The government is cracking down on bicycle theft, offering rewards for tip-offs on offenders. "People who provide the police with clues resulting in arrest of more than 15 bike pilferers and seizure of over 50 stolen bikes will, as of Wednesday, be awarded a maximum of 5,000 yuan [US$625]," Xinhua news agency quoted a Ministry of Public Security official as saying. The ministry would "take measures to quell rampant bicycle theft such as attaching ID cards to every bicycle produced, requiring real-name identification in bicycle trade and establishing a database of thieves," the official said.

■ India
Landmine kills eight
A powerful landmine triggered by Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh killed eight people yesterday, including six policemen. Four other policemen were injured in the blast. "Maoists blew up a patrolling team in the forested stretch and then started indiscriminate firing on the police team," a police officer said. The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless laborers.

■ United Kingdom
Band needs to pipe down
Health and safety inspectors have told members of a traditional Scottish band to wear ear protectors after discovering their drums and bagpipes made more noise than a jet engine, the BBC said on Wednesday. The broadcaster's news Web site said an audiologist visited the Wick Royal British Legion Scotland Pipe Band and recorded their bagpipes at 108 decibels and snare drums at an ear-splitting 122 decibels -- a total of 230 decibels. At take-off, the engine of a jet aircraft generally reaches about 140 decibels. Band secretary John Bogle was quoted as saying the 40 band members had been told to consider buying ear plugs.

■ United Kingdom
Hotel tycoon Forte dies
The man who created one of the world's largest hotel and catering businesses, Lord Forte, has died. He was 98. Born in Italy in 1908, Charles Forte moved to Scotland with his family as a child and learned his trade in the family restaurant. He became a manager of one of the family restaurants at 21 and never looked back. At 26 he opened the Strand Milk Bar in London, an idea imported from the US and aimed at young people who were excluded from pubs. He took over other catering establishments in central London and acquired the nickname Mr Piccadilly. He then started moving into roadside restaurants and hotels both in Britain and abroad, creating an empire which, by 1995 had 940 hotels.

■ Germany
Man names son Jihad
The interior ministry is appealing against a decision by the Berlin authorities to allow an Islamist to name his son Jihad, the Arabic word used for holy war. Reda Seyam fought for 18 months for permission to give his sixth child the name after the registry in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg initially rejected his application, saying the name was inappropriate because of its association with terrorism, and "may endanger the child." This week a court overturned the ruling, on the grounds that Jihad was "a recognized male forename in the Arab world and loved by Muslims." Seyam, 47, was shown on television this week defending the terror attacks on the US on Sept. 11 2001, and on Bali in 2002.

■ Italy
Grenade in potato sack
A 74-year-old woman who bought a sack of potatoes at a local market near Naples got an unwanted extra with her purchase. "I found a bomb in the potatoes," Olga Mauriello said. "I went to the market to buy some potatoes and that's where the bomb was. But this bomb was covered in dirt, and I put it in water and got all dirt off. And then I realized `It's a bomb!'" Police said the grenade was of a type used in World War II. Authorities believe the mix-up happened at a farm, where the grenade was plucked along with potatoes. Explosives experts safely detonated the grenade.

■ France
Picasso paintings stolen
Two paintings by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso valued at US$66 million were stolen this week from the Paris home of his granddaughter, Diana Widmaier Picasso, police said on Wednesday. A police spokesman said the two stolen paintings were Maya a la poupee (Maya with doll) from 1938, and Portrait de femme, Jacqueline. The spokesman said there was no obvious sign of a break in at the apartment.

■ United States
Smith's mum loses appeal
Anna Nicole Smith's estranged mother on Wednesday lost a court appeal to prevent her daughter's burial in the Bahamas, and the funeral is now set for today. Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, had appealed to Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal against a lower-court ruling that gave custody of Smith's remains to the court-appointed guardian for her daughter, Dannielynn, for burial next to Smith's son, Daniel, in the Bahamas. Daniel died in September, three days after Dannielynn's birth.

■ United States
FDA approves canine drug
Dogs who get a little green under the fur while traveling gained the first drug on Wednesday to prevent canine vomiting associated with motion sickness. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the drug, Cerenia, is the first to prevent and treat vomiting in dogs. When used in tablet form, the Pfizer Inc drug can prevent vomiting associated with motion sickness, the FDA said. The agency also approved an injectable form of the drug, known generically as maropitant citrate, that it said can prevent and treat acute vomiting.

■ Mexico
Soldiers accused of murder
Four soldiers were arrested and accused of raping and murdering a 73-year-old woman, in a case that has outraged Indian groups in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz. Prosecutors said on Wednesday the victim was bound, beaten and sodomized on Sunday and died at a local hospital from injuries sustained in the attack. The four soldiers -- whose names and ranks were not made public -- were arraigned late Tuesday in the city of Orizaba, Veracruz, on charges of rape and homicide, state Attorney General Emeterio Lopez Marquez said. The attack allegedly occurred in the mountain town of Soledad Atzompa.

■ Honduras
Full ties with Cuba restored
Honduras named its first ambassador to Cuba in 45 years on Wednesday, restoring full diplomatic ties with the communist island for the first time since the Cold War. "Today, we have sealed our relationship with Cuba," said President Manuel Zelaya following a two-hour meeting with visiting Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque. Zelaya announced that Juan Ramon Elvir will be sent to Havana as Honduras' ambassador. Honduras broke off diplomatic relations with Havana in 1962, when Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States. It renewed formal relations with the island in January 2001, but did not name an ambassador until now.

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