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World News Quick Take

■ NEPAL
Parties seek extension
The ruling political parties and former communist rebels sought a five-day delay yesterday in election nominations as they continued talks on resolving a stalemate that has plunged the country into a fresh political crisis. The leaders of the six ruling parties and the former rebels met until midnight on Saturday, Minendra Risal of the Nepali Congress party said, and another meeting was planned for yesterday.

■ INDIA
Radio station in hot water
A private radio station has been threatened with government action after allegedly insulting the winner of the Indian Idol talent show and his entire ethnic group. The Red FM station provoked rioting by referring to contest winner Prashant Tamang from the northeastern town of Darjeeling as a "guard" -- one of the jobs frequently held by economically marginalized ethnic Nepalese. "It is prima facie evident that the remarks are in violation of the program code," the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement, which also branded the station "racist and insulting."

■ INDONESIA
Volcanic eruption likely
Scientists stepped up the alert level for a volcano in East Java and told people to stay away from the crater amid fears it is building up to an eruption, the vulcanology office Web site said yesterday. The office advised people to maintain a 5km safety zone around the crater and told residents to be prepared to evacuate at the first sign of any eruption. Although its slopes are sparsely inhabited, the peak is a popular domestic tourist destination and is located on a densely populated plain.

■ INDIA
Teacher forces girl to strip
A seven-year-old girl was made to strip naked by her teacher in a New Delhi school on Friday for not completing her homework, a police spokesman said yesterday. The nude girl had to stand on a desk in her class while other students were asked to boo her, the officer said. "The teacher was arrested on a complaint by the parents but she has been released as it was a bailable offence," Rajan Bhagat said. "This is barbaric," Shanta Sinha, head of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, said in a newspaper report. "No one has the right to outrage the modesty of a child."

■ AUSTRALIA
Costello hints at poll date
The general election is likely to be held on Nov. 24, or at least that is how it looks after Treasurer Peter Costello seemed to reveal the nation's biggest political secret while bantering on a TV show. Appearing on a special program on Saturday ahead of the Australian Rules football grand final, Costello was asked how he was feeling. His reply? "Toey," Australian slang for nervous. Was that because of the game or the election? Costello, set to become prime minister some time in the next parliament if his party wins another term, said they both culminate at this time of year, "the last day of September and the last day of November, isn't it?" With elections held on Saturdays, that would make polling day Nov. 24.

■ NEW ZEALAND
Quake hits off South Island
A strong earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.4 hit off the west coast of South Island at 6:24pm yesterday, but reports said the quake was too far offshore to be felt -- about 350km. Japan's Meteorological Agency put the quake's magnitude at 7.4, while Geoscience Australia said it was 7.6.

■ GUAM
Quake sways buildings
A strong earthquake swayed buildings yesterday but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami alert was issued. The magnitude 7.1 quake occurred at 12.09pm, with its epicenter at a depth of 30km, Japan's Meteorological Agency said on its Web site. Some residents said high-rise blocks swayed and goods fell off supermarket shelves. "We felt it. It was swinging back and forth for a minute or two," said Patrick Chan, a Guam-based meteorologist at the US National Weather Service.

■ MALAYSIA
Perak plans `toilet squads'
Perak State plans to set up ``toilet squads'' to monitor cleanliness at key tourist destinations following criticism of standards, the New Sunday Times said yesterday. The state was criticized in a recent auditor-general's report which charged that toilets in most recreational parks in the state were deplorable, poorly maintained and dirty, the newspaper said. Perak tourism committee chairman Mohamad Radzi Manan was quoted as saying that several squads would be formed to visit public toilets in tourist locations and report on hygiene and cleanliness.

■ VIETNAM
Bridge death toll rises
The death toll from the collapse of a bridge under construction in Can Tho Province on Wednesday has risen to at least 49, an official said yesterday, with three other people still missing. "The official cause of the accident is still unknown but the investigators have stepped up their work," the official said. He said 82 people were injured in the accident.

■ BAHRAIN
Fasters gain weight
Each night guests at a hotel buffet line up for meats, stews, curries and pastries, balancing food on their plates in precarious mounds to break the daily fast during Ramadan. The banquet often continues late into the night, and many Muslims end up gaining weight during a month that is meant to improve health and remind the devout of the plight of the poor. "I always put on a lot of weight during Ramadan. It's a big problem," student Ali Hussein said. "Firstly people eat too much, secondly they don't carry on their normal routine and sleep a lot, and thirdly Ramadan food is very rich."

■ IRAN
Army, CIA labeled `terrorists'
Lawmakers branded the US army and the CIA as "terrorists" in a statement read out at parliament on Saturday, media said. Signed by 215 members in the 290-seat legislature, it was an apparent response to reports that Washington is considering labeling a unit of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards a foreign terrorist organization. The members of parliament criticized the US army and the CIA for what they called terrorist actions, the official IRNA news agency said, citing the World War II atomic bombing of Japan, the Vietnam war as well as the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as examples.

■ IRAQ
Schools reopen at last
Schools reopened after an extended summer break yesterday following a sudden decision by the education ministry not to wait until the end of Ramadan to resume classes. Initial reports indicated that few students in Baghdad turned up for class, with parents preferring to wait a few days to judge the security situation. The ministry announced in a statement on Thursday that schools would open their doors yesterday for the country's more than 5.5 million pupils.

■ NIGERIA
Kidnapped worker sought
Italian oil company Saipem is negotiating with the kidnappers of a Colombian employee who was seized this week, the hostage's daughter said on Saturday. Colombian engineer Libardo Valderrama and a Filipino colleague were kidnapped on Thursday when gunmen attacked a compound belonging to Saipem in southern Nigeria. Another Colombian worker was killed in the attack. Valderrama's daughter, Sandra, said Saipem representatives told the family that the company has contacted the kidnappers and that her father "is doing well." "They told us to be calm because they are negotiating his release," she said by telephone from Ibague, a city about 150km west of Bogota.

■ SYRIA
Thousands mourn cleric
Thousands of people attended a funeral on Saturday for a cleric who had recruited insurgents to fight US forces in Iraq. Witnesses said a mosque in the city of Aleppo was packed with mourners for Sheikh Mahmoud Abou al-Qaqa, a Syrian Kurd who was shot dead after leading prayers on Friday. "The crowd was mainly young and many wept. The coffin was paraded in the district he preached in," one man who attended the funeral said. "No speeches were given. I think silence was best given the sensitivities generated by the killing." Qaqa's coffin was wrapped in the Syrian flag.

■ UNITED STATES
Stop signs draw laughs
A red sign that says "stop" is not enough to get everyone to stop, so Oak Lawn, Illinois, has installed joke stop signs beneath the regular ones with messages, including "WHOAAA" and "Stop ... and smell the roses." ``I thought it might make people smile and take notice,'' Mayor Dave Heilmann said as he launched the campaign on Friday. Other signs say "Stop ... right there pilgrim" or "Stop ... in the naame of love" after the hit by the Supremes. While the mayor was posing for a photo with one of the new signs, a driver sped by without stopping.

■ UNITED STATES
Toddler used as thief
A man who authorities say was caught on a surveillance video using his four-year-old granddaughter to steal a purse was arrested, police said. Daniel Twomey, 52, was arrested in a McDonald's parking lot in Connecticut. The video taken on Saturday shows an adult using a foot to push the girl under a swinging security door and the child stealing a worker's purse. Twomey faces potential charges of endangering the welfare of a child and employing a minor in a criminal act, Szalkowski said. He has been ordered not to have contact with his grandchildren.

■ UNITED STATES
Woman dies in hysterics
A woman late to her plane became angry, was arrested and was later found dead, police said. Carol Ann Gotbaum, 45, was arrested on Friday at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona after a conflict with staff who refused to let her board a plane preparing to depart. She was rebooked on the next flight, but "became extremely irate, apparently running up and down the gate area," US Airways spokesman Derek Hanna said. Officers handcuffed her and took her to a holding room, where she kept screaming. They checked on her when she stopped screaming. Hill said it appears Gotbaum may have tried to get out of her handcuffs and become tangled with the cuffs around her neck, choking her.

■ UNITED STATES
Extortionist kills himself
A man who agreed to plead guilty in a plot to extort more than US$1 million from Tom Cruise for the actor's stolen wedding photos was found dead in his home in Phoenix, Arizona, authorities said. Investigators said it appeared David Hans Schmidt, 47, who was under house arrest and faced up to two years in federal prison, had committed suicide. He was found dead in his townhouse around 3pm on Friday after police noticed a tracker placed on him had not moved and he had not checked in, said Lieutenant Anthony Lopez.

■ UNITED STATES
McCain talks Christianity
Senator John McCain said in an interview that he would prefer a Christian president over someone of a different faith, calling it "an important part of our qualifications to lead." In an interview with Beliefnet, a multi-denominational Web site that covers religion and spirituality, the Republican presidential hopeful was asked if a Muslim candidate could be a good president. "I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles ... personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith," he said in the interview published on Saturday. "But that doesn't mean that I'm sure that someone who is Muslim would not make a good president."


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