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World News Quick Take

■ INDONESIA
Girl dies of H5N1
A girl died of bird flu after coming into contact with an infected chicken, bringing the national death toll from the H5N1 virus to 79, a Health Ministry spokeswoman said yesterday. The 15-year-old girl died on Tuesday after being hospitalized for two days in Semarang, central Java, spokeswoman Lily Sulistyowati said. The country's two official laboratories have confirmed the girl had the virus, she said. Bird flu has killed at least 187 people worldwide since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in 2003, the WHO said. Although H5N1 does not infect humans easily, specialists fear the virus could mutate into a form that would be more threatening to humans.

■ JAPAN
Lavrov visits disputed islands
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited two of the four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan yesterday in an apparent assertion of sovereignty over them, news reports said. Russia captured the four islands at the southern end of the Kuril chain -- known as the Northern Territories in Japan -- from Japan during the closing days of World War II. Tokyo has demanded that Moscow cede all four islands, which are surrounded by rich fishing grounds. The dispute has kept the two countries from a signing a peace treaty formally ending their World War II hostilities.

■ JAPAN
Fishing boat seized
Tokyo confirmed yesterday that Russia has seized a Japanese fishing boat with a crew of 17 in waters east of the Kamchatka Peninsula and was taking it to a Russian port. The boat was captured by a Russian border guard vessel after Russian authorities inspected it on Friday on suspicion of carrying catch exceeding the declared amount, the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement. There had been conflicting information, with the Japanese media reporting on Saturday that the boat had been captured the day before, while the company owning the ship denied the reports.

■ CHINA
Students die in suicide bid
Two of five schoolgirls died in a group suicide bid after drinking alcohol, a tragedy sparked by insults aimed at one of the victims after she spurned advances of a classmate, Xinhua news agency said. Five fifth-grade girls from Anhui Province tried to drown themselves in a pond after class on Thursday after drinking wine and beer. "One of them quit and ran back to the village for help but the other four jumped into the pond, leaving two dead," Xinhua said, quoting police. Investigations showed that one of the girls, Wang Xiao, had rejected the advances of a classmate.

■ MALAYSIA
New Viagra developed
Researchers claim they have created a nutty alternative to Viagra based on walnuts in a pill more healthy than its pharmaceutical counterpart, a report yesterday said. Kim Kah Hwi, who headed the team of researchers from the the University of Malaya, said he was inspired to look into walnuts after reading about their use in history, the Star daily reported. "I read articles about the Romans and French having eaten walnuts for this purpose. I thought if it had been documented that long ago, then there surely has to be something there," he told the newspaper.

■ SMOALIA
Pirates seize Danish ship
A Danish cargo ship with five crew members was hijacked off Somalia's coast, the owner said on Saturday, citing a report by the French navy. The Danica White was on its way to the Kenyan port of Mombasa from Dubai when it was seized by pirates on Saturday or late on Friday, Jorgen Folmer, a spokesman for Danish shipping company H. Folmer & Co. said. The crew members are all Danish. Folmer said a French naval vessel in the area had confirmed the ship was hijacked but was unable to intervene because it could not enter Somali waters. "We don't know if they are safe," he said.

■ UNITED STATES
Manhood mousetrap mishap
An actor is suing Jackass star Johnny Knoxville, TV talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and radio personality Adam Carolla, claiming he was never paid US$10 million for doing a below-the-belt stunt that left him severely injured. Perry Caravello claims Kimmel never paid him for his work in the 2003 TV movie Windy City Heat. According to the suit, Knoxville also promised to pay him to promote the DVD release of the film on Carolla's show if he agreed to place his genitals in a mousetrap. "Plaintiff agreed to do so, and, much to his emotional tranquility and to his physical harm, was severely injured when the trap literally went on his manhood," the suit contended.

■ UNITED STATES
Driver has close scrape
A truck driver whose rig was 15cm too tall for New York's Lincoln Tunnel drove its entire 2.4km length, peeling the trailer's roof completely and ripping off decorative ceiling tiles. Flashing signs and officers using a loudspeaker had warned the driver, and it was unclear why he did not heed them, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the tunnel. "He misjudged the height of the tunnel, and once he was inside it he didn't realize the damage he was doing," said Roy Guzman, the safety director of the trucker's employer, U.S.A. Logistics Carriers.

■ UNITED STATES
Man smashes wiener record
An American broke the world record for hot dog eating at a regional contest in Phoenix, Arizona, smashing the old record held by a Japanese man by nearly six wieners. Joey Chestnut, 23, shattered the record held by Takeru Kobayashi by downing 59 and a half hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes during the Southwest Regional Hot Dog Eating Championship at the Arizona Mills Mall. "I always thought there was a limit -- a limit to the human stomach and a limit to human willpower -- but I guess not," said Ryan Nerz, who works for Major League Eating, which he describes as "a world governing board for all stomach-centric sports."

■ UNITED STATES
Shuttle workers to strike
A union representing 570 space shuttle program workers at the Kennedy Space Center voted to strike, less than a week before the planned launch of the shuttle Atlantis. The International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers, which represents the United Space Alliance employees, rejected a contract offer on Saturday, Florida Today reported. A United Space Alliance spokeswoman said the union could strike as early as this Sunday, two days after NASA plans to launch Atlantis. "The bottom line is, a strike would not affect the next launch or the next one after that," she said. The union's negotiating team felt the company's offer was "substandard," said Lynn Beattie, a member of the group.


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