World News Quick Take

■ INDIA

Priest commits suicide

A Hindu priest killed himself with the promise he would come back to life after two days, police said on Monday. Manoj Baghel, described as an intensely religious man, poisoned himself in front of a small crowd on Saturday at a temple in Raigarh in Chhattisgarh state, police said. He was taken to hospital and died soon after. Police have registered a case of suicide, but have been unable to take the 25-year-old's body for an autopsy because supporters have insisted on returning the body to the temple and waiting to see what happens.



■ CHINA

Cash find leads to jail

A villager has been jailed for 10 years for keeping 80,000 yuan (US$11,000) in cash he found in a plastic bag at the scene of a car accident, local media reported yesterday. In April, Qin Li found a black plastic bag in front of a diesel truck that had crashed nearby his home in Liaoning Province. He took the bag home and discovered the cash inside. "After four days, Qin Li's parents deposited 70,000 yuan into two separate bank accounts and kept 10,000 for personal use," the Beijing News reported. Qin's lawyer argued that he had not stolen the bag surreptitiously, discovering the cash only upon returning home.



■ CHINA

More baby tigers killed

Two Siberian baby tigers have been discovered dead in a refrigerator at a zoo, the second such incident in less than a week involving the endangered species in a country where tiger body parts are treasured as medicines. State media reported on Monday that the baby tigers were found over the weekend in the freezer in the ticketing office of the Three Gorges Forest Wildlife Park in Chongqing Province. "They were born not long ago and are now dead," a park employee was quoted by the Beijing News as saying. The discovery came days after a Siberian tiger was found skinned and beheaded at a zoo in the same area.



■ INDONESIA

Inmates get Christmas gift

Jakarta 312 inmates on Christmas for good behavior, an official said yesterday. Another 7,500 or so received reductions in their sentences, ranging from 15 days to two months, Mohammad Syueib of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights told Elshinta news radio. Inmates must have a record of good behavior for the past six months to receive the sentence reduction, though those on death row or serving life terms are not eligible. Sentence reductions of up to six months are granted twice a year -- one to mark Independence Day and the other on major religious holidays, distributed according to a convict's faith.



■ INDONESIA

Boat sinks in storm

Rescue combed waters after a small boat sank in stormy seas off the western coast, leaving at least two passengers dead and seven others missing, police said yesterday. "The captain could not control the boat because of the high waves, and it eventually capsized in the Malacca Strait," said Agus Sarjito, a police chief on Sumatra island. The motorized, wooden ship was traveling between two coastal villages in Riau Province on Monday when the accident occurred, he said, adding almost all the passengers on board were women and children. Strong winds and 3m waves forced rescuers to briefly suspend search operations Tuesday, Sarjito said.



■ RUSSIA

Arms sales climb to US$7bn

Arms were worth a record US$7 billion this year, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Monday. "Since 2000 our arms exports have nearly doubled and in 2006 we hit the record sum of US$6.5 billion. This year we have a good chance of passing the US$7 billion mark," the Ria Novosti news agency quoted Ivanov as saying. These figures confirm the country's dominant position among arms exporters, Ivanov said. According to the head of the federal service for military technical cooperation, Mikhail Dmitriyev, the biggest sellers during the year were the Sukhoi and MiG fighter jets, Mi helicopters and T-90C tanks.



■ RUSSIA

Putin hopes to track dog

The national satellite navigation system is still taking shape, but Russian President Vladimir Putin already has a plan for how to use it: to keep tabs on his black labrador. Putin on Monday listened to First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov as he briefed the Cabinet on the development of Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). Putin then asked: "When will I be able to buy the necessary equipment for my dog Koni so that she doesn't run too far?" Ivanov responded that collars for dogs and cats with satellite-guided positioning equipment will be available for private consumers in the middle of next year.



■ GERMANY

Police target child porn

Prosecutors the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt are investigating 12,000 people on suspicion of possessing illegal images of children, state prosecutor Peter Vogt told German radio on Monday. "They face charges of downloading ... child pornography," Vogt told MDR radio. Vogt said the probe was launched in the spring and has since traced suspects in 70 different countries. It began the investigation after a tip from a Berlin internet provider.



■ SOMALIA

Gunmen kill three in attack

Insurgents a Somali regional police chief's residence, killing his daughter and two bodyguards, witnesses said yesterday. They said the residence of Aden Hashi Gabo, the police chief of the provincial town of Baidoa, about 150km northwest of the capital Mogadishu, came under attack on Monday. "The insurgents fired machine guns and grenades into his house, killing his daughter and two bodyguards," said Hassan Sheikh Mumin, a resident. Another neighbor, Hussein Ali, said fighting raged for about an hour until policemen were sent to reinforce security.



■ ZIMBABWE

Missing Mugabe supporter

Police launched a manhunt for a senior official in Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party in connection with an investigation into illegal foreign currency deals, police said on Monday. Spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said detectives want to interview David Butau, a businessman and ZANU-PF member of parliament from Mashonaland Central Province. "We want to question him in connection with a case involving the externalization of foreign currency," Bvudzijena said. "We just want to seek clarification and it's urgent that we talk to him, but we can't find him." Central bank governor Gideon Gono has accused officials in Mugabe's party and government of fueling illegal trading of foreign currency.



■ CANADA

Jazz virtuoso dies

Oscar Peterson, whose flying fingers, hard-driving swing and melodic improvisations made him one of the world's best known and influential jazz pianists, has died. He was 82. Peterson died at his home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga on Sunday, said Oliver Jones, a family friend and jazz musician. He said Peterson's wife and daughter were with him during his final moments. Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion said the cause of death was kidney failure. Peterson's impressive collection of awards include the Order of Canada, seven Grammys and a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 1997.



■ UNITED STATES

Man crashes SUV, kills self

A man crashed his sport utility vehicle into the home of Army Secretary Pete Geren over the weekend and then shot and killed himself a short time later, police in Fort Worth, Texas, said. It was not immediately clear if the man, identified as 37-year-old Edward McKee, realized that the house he struck early on Sunday morning was that of Geren. Police said McKee then walked to his own garage about a block away and shot himself in the head. Geren, a former Texas congressman, was confirmed as army secretary in July. A message left for a telephone listing for Geren was not immediately returned late Monday.



■ UNITED STATES

Family settles for US$6m

The family of a woman from Costa Rica killed when the ceiling of a Big Dig tunnel collapsed on her car last year has agreed to a US$6 million settlement in Boston, Massachusetts, with the company that supplied the epoxy blamed for the accident, an attorney said. Milena Del Valle, 39, was killed July 10 of last year as she and her husband drove through an Interstate 90 connector tunnel. Her husband, Angel Del Valle, from Puerto Rico, escaped with minor injuries. Investigators determined that the ceiling collapsed because workers secured it with a fast-drying epoxy that was not safe to use for overhead loads.



■ UNITED STATES

Another surprise wedding

Some get surprise birthday parties. Ilda Ruth Southey, 85, gets surprise weddings. Twice in her life Southey was surprised with a wedding ceremony on Christmas Eve, both times to Francis Southey, 90. Her future husband planned their original wedding for Christmas Eve 1942 while he was stationed in Sherman, Texas, awaiting orders to ship off to Europe during World War II. On Monday, staff at the Waterford Senior Living facility where Ruth lives arranged the same surprise for their 65th anniversary. The couple renewed their vows in front of three generations of teary-eyed family and friends.



■ UNITED STATES

Spleens used to tell storms

Paul Smokov does not need radar or other high-tech equipment to forecast a major snowstorm. He consults pig spleens. "It looks like a normal year with no major storms," said the 84-year-old cattle rancher, peering at two of the brown, glistening organs on his kitchen counter. If the spleen is wide where it attaches to the pig's stomach and then narrows, it means winter weather will come early with a mild spring, Smokov said. A narrow-to-wider spleen usually means harsh weather in the spring, he said. The spleens obtained by Smokov this year are pretty uniform in thickness, which means no drastic changes. "The spleens are 85 percent correct, according to my figures," he said. As for the weathermen: "Those guys aren't any better.