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World News Quick Take

■ AUSTRALIA

Blast kills winemaker

A leading winemaker was one of two people killed in an explosion yesterday at a winery in eastern Australia, an official said. Trevor Drayton, co-owner of Drayton's Family Wines in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales state, died when a massive fireball engulfed the winery's main shed, blowing off the roof and damaging a cellar door, said Joel Fitzgibbon, the local member of parliament. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. It may have been triggered when ethanol fumes were ignited by a spark from a welder, said Keith Tulloch, another Hunter Valley winemaker.



■ MALAYSIA

Dog shooters hit man

Town officials on a mission to shoot stray dogs accidentally hit a passing motorcyclist in the leg, a news report said yesterday. Wan Ah Chye, a 60-year-old electrician who was taking his wife shopping in Taiping town in northern Perak state, had to undergo surgery after the shooting, the Star daily reported. "I saw a dog running in front of my motorcycle and the next moment, I felt a sharp pain in my right calf," Wan was quoted as saying. The shooters, who work for the Taiping Municipal Council, took Wan to hospital when he showed them his bleeding leg, the paper reported. Local police chief Raja Musa Raja Razak was quoted as saying officials should make sure there are no passers-by when they shoot at dogs.



■ NEW ZEALAND

Police offer record reward

Police offered a record reward of NZ$300,000 (US$232,000) and immunity from prosecution yesterday for information leading to the return of nine Victoria Crosses and 90 other military medals stolen from the New Zealand Army Museum last month. The reward -- the biggest offered in New Zealand -- is supported by funds from British medals expert and collector Lord Michael Ashcroft and an anonymous New Zealand businessman, police said. The theft included nine Victoria Cross medals awarded to gallant New Zealanders, including the Victoria Cross and Bar awarded to Captain Charles Upham -- the only such double award ever made to a combat soldier.



■ PHILIPPINES

Janitor finds fetus in palace

A janitor found a dead fetus in a restroom at the country's presidential palace yesterday and police were looking for the mother, officials said. Brigadier General Romeo Prestoza, head of the Presidential Security Group, said authorities were trying to track down a woman seen leaving the restroom at dawn. Manila radio stations reported that officials were reviewing closed-circuit television footage in one of the buildings of the sprawling complex, called Malacanang palace, which houses President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's residence and offices.



■ FIJI

Coup leader calls for action

The country's military chief -- who used his troops to overthrow the democratically elected government in a coup -- yesterday called for action to rid the nation of its "coup culture" image. In a speech to a national reform council, self-installed Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama said the role of the military needed to be reviewed. "As the current head of Fiji's military, I am very much aware of the concerns regarding what is now being widely described as the `coup culture' in Fiji," Bainimarama said. "Fiji must rid itself of this reputation, and for us to be able to do this, we must address the fundamental problems and issues," he said.



■ ISRAEL

Military saves electricity

The military is installing automatic equipment to shut down electricity at army bases around the country as a cost-cutting measure, according to an army magazine. The main base in the center of Tel Aviv will go dark every night at 11pm, while the adjutant general's headquarters in nearby Ramat Gan will be unplugged at 6pm, the weekly Bamahaneh reported in its current issue. Also, sensors in rooms will turn off electricity if they fail to register activity for 10 minutes, the report said. The aim is to save US$2.5 million a year in electricity bills, the magazine reported.



■ SPAIN

Police broaden search

Police have broadened their search for a five-year-old girl who went missing a two-hour drive from where the British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared in May, officials said on Wednesday. Mari Luz Cortes was last seen on Sunday when she went to buy potato chips in her neighborhood of El Torrejon, a poor suburb of the southwestern port city of Huelva. Officers have begun scouring the estuary where the Rio Tinto and Rio Odiel merge, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity. More than 150 people, including police equipped with sniffer dogs, have been deployed in a wide-ranging search.



■ URUGUAY

Giant rodent identified

Imagine a rodent so big it weighs one tonne and is the size of a bull. Scientists say they have uncovered fossil evidence of the biggest species of rodent ever found, one that roamed South America about 4 million years ago. The herbivore may have been a contemporary of saber-toothed cats in a prehistoric version of Tom and Jerry. A skull belonging to the species was first found on a beach. It spent two decades in a box at the Montevideo Natural History Museum until curator Andres Rinderknecht rediscovered it. The species is named Josephoartigasia monesi.



■ SWEDEN

Tenor collapses in court

The trial of a tenor accused of rape was interrupted on Wednesday after he collapsed in court and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, media reported. Tito Beltran had cried throughout the testimony of witnesses on Tuesday and passed out as the hearing neared the end, news agency TT reported, citing Beltran's lawyer Tomas Nilsson. The 42-year-old opera star is accused of raping the nanny of an artist in a hotel room during a concert tour in 1999. He has pleaded innocent. The trial in the southern city of Ystad has attracted huge media interest because some of the country's top artists were part of the tour and have been called to testify.



■ SWEDEN

Sex toy sparks bomb alert

A bomb squad called out to disarm a suspicious package on Wednesday did not find a ticking bomb but rather a vibrating sex toy. A janitor alerted police after he found the package in a garage of an apartment building in Goteborg, police spokesman Jan Strannegard said. The police sent out a team of explosives experts. After having cordoned off the area, they opened the package with bomb disposal equipment. "The package was vibrating when the janitor found it, but I think it had sort of died out by the time it was disarmed," Strannegard said. It was not clear who had left the package in the garage.



■ UNITED STATES

Colbert portrait hung

Stephen Colbert was denied when he tried to run for president this year in South Carolina. Now the fake TV pundit is getting some love from the city of his birth. His portrait was hung on Wednesday at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery in Washington for a six-week showing in what the museum considers an "appropriate place" -- right between the bathrooms near the "America's Presidents" exhibit. Museum officials stress it's only temporary. "We agreed to go along with the joke and hang it for a short time in between the bathrooms," said museum spokeswoman Bethany Bentley.



■ UNITED STATES

Bulldog back in the top 10

The bulldog has charmed its way into the top 10 most popular breeds in the US after an absence of more than 70 years, the American Kennel Club said. The No. 1 dog remained the Labrador retriever for the 17th consecutive year. The thickset bulldog, with its low-slung body, sagging snout and wide shoulders, last made the Top 10 list in 1935, when it also placed 10th. "The bulldog is both docile and adaptive and can thrive in small or large homes," the Kennel Club said on Wednesday. "It's an excellent all-around family pet." With the ascent of the bulldog, the miniature schnauzer dropped off the list. The Labrador retriever was followed by the Yorkshire terrier, the German shepherd and the golden retriever.



■ UNITED STATES

Spanking verdict overturned

A Fresno, California, appeals court overturned a US$1.5 million verdict awarded to a woman who was spanked in front of co-workers in what her employer called a camaraderie-building exercise. A jury in 2006 had ruled that Janet Orlando had suffered sexual harassment and sexual battery when she was paddled at home security company Alarm One Inc. But on Monday, a three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal overturned that verdict, ruling that the jury had been given improper instructions. Lawyers for Alarm One said that the spankings were not discriminatory because they were given to both male and female workers and that Orlando and others willingly took part.



■ UNITED STATES

MRSA riskier for gay men

Sexually active gay men are at much greater risk than heterosexuals of infection from a highly virulent bacteria that has proven resistant to most antibiotics, a new study released this week said. The research by the University of California in San Francisco found that the highly drug resistant "superbug" MRSA bacteria -- an acronym for methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus bacteria -- can be transmitted readily through homosexual intercourse, putting gay men at increased risk.



■ UNITED STATES

Cop loses pension case

A retired 225kg New York police officer cannot increase his pension check by blaming his disability on an accident, because a medical board had already found it was related to his obesity, a judge said. Paul Soto, 40, had requested a larger retirement pension, claiming that a fall at an apartment while on duty injured his knee and prevented him from full performance as a police officer. The Police Pension Fund medical board rejected the application and in May 2006 it recommended that he be allowed to retire with an ordinary disability pension, which pays an officer a pension of half his salary.
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