■ CHINA
Heroin smuggler nabbed
Customs officials caught a heroin smuggler after noticing he was wearing "weird sandals," state media reported yesterday. Xinhua news agency said a Nigerian was detained last week in Zhuhai, bordering Macau, after he was caught carrying more than 2kg of heroin. It said attention was drawn to the man because he was "wearing a pair of weird sandals." "Police X-rayed his suitcase and found another pair of strange sandals in it," Xinhua said. The heroin was hidden in the soles of the sandals, it said. Xinhua did not describe the sandals.
■ CHINA
Web fraudster caught
Police in the south have arrested a man for running a phony Beijing 2008 Olympics Web site that bilked fans by running bogus contests, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday. Computer engineer Liao Peigui, 20, made as much as 400,000 yuan (US$53,000) from people he persuaded had won contest prizes, Xinhua said. "Winners" were asked to first transfer a deposit equal to 10 percent to 20 percent of the promised prize money into a bank account owned by Liao, the report said. Some individuals lost as much as 10,000 yuan, Xinhua said, citing Hainan Province police.
■ AUSTRALIA
Actress Lois Maxwell dies
Lois Maxwell, who starred as Miss Moneypenny in 14 James Bond movies, has died, the BBC reported on Sunday. She was 80. The Canadian-born actress starred alongside Sean Connery in the first James Bond movie, Dr No, in 1962 as the secretary to M, the head of the secret service. She died on Saturday night at Fremantle Hospital near her home in Perth, the BBC cited a hospital official as saying. Bond star Roger Moore said she was suffering from cancer. "It's rather a shock," Moore, who had known her since they were students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1944, told BBC radio.
■ NEPAL
King visits `goddess' temple
The increasingly isolated King Gyanendra has sought the blessings of a child some believe to be a living goddess in an ancient annual ritual considered crucial to preserve the monarch's power. Former Maoist rebels said Gyanendra's visit to the temple of the child "goddess" Kumari late on Sunday, the final day of a rain god festival, had bolstered their demand for the monarchy's abolition before constituent assembly elections on Nov. 22. The visit came a few hours after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala had taken the king's place at the festival. "This is a proof that he is still active," senior Maoist leader Dev Gurung said.
■ AFGHANISTAN
`Most wanted' plan launched
The US military has launched a new "Most Wanted" campaign offering rewards of up to US$200,000 for information leading to the capture of 12 Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. Posters and billboards are being put up in the eastern part of the country with the names and pictures of the 12, with reward amounts ranging from US$20,000 to US$200,000. The list is filled with local insurgent cell leaders responsible for roadside and suicide bomb attacks. "We're trying to get more visibility on these guys like the FBI did with the mob," said Lieutenant Colonel Rob Pollack, a US officer at the main American base in Bagram. "They operate the same way the mob did, they stay in hiding," he said.
■ AUSTRIA
New ear-lifting record set
A Pakistani man broke the world-record for "ear-lifting" in Vienna on Sunday, carrying almost 62kg from a cord attached to his right ear. Zafar Gill's feat earned him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, as part of a day of record-breaking attempts in the city, organized under the slogan "Vienna -- Recordbreaker." Gill had to use a special headgrip to protect both his ear and temple, as he lifted the weight for seven seconds about 10cm off the ground. After warming up with a more modest 30kg weight, Gill took up the record-breaking 61.7kg with only a brief cry of pain.
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