■ AUSTRALIA
Fatter `posties' allowed
The postal service has increased the maximum weight for mailmen and women by 15kg in an attempt to attract more "posties," media reported on Tuesday. Australia Post had a weight limit of 90kg for "posties" because its 110cc motorcycles had a safe working limit of 130kg -- 40kg for letters and up to 90kg for mailmen and women fully clothed. But after talks with motorcycle manufacturer Honda it was agreed the bikes could safely carry a "postie" weighing 105kg, said the Daily Telegraph newspaper. The union representing mailmen and women said the 90kg limit had caused recruitment headaches, but the company denied it had staffing problems.
■ AUSTRALIA
Pricasso aims high
A cheeky artist who uses his penis as a brush has entered a racy self-portrait for a top art prize. Tim Patch, who calls himself Pricasso, who usually exposes his talents at sex product fairs, has entered a painting for the Archibald Prize for portraiture. Patch uses his penis, not brushes, to apply paint to the canvas. "I had to use my bum to paint in the background, because you have to have the occasional break," Patch told the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday. His entry depicts himself nude, holding a blank canvas to hide his "brush." Finalists for the prize will be announced next month.
■ CHINA
Pokemon ban extended
SpongeBob SquarePants, Mickey Mouse and Pokemon are officially persona non grata on prime time. Beijing is extending a ban that virtually locks out all foreign cartoons from airing between 5pm and 9pm in a bid to protect its fledgling domestic cartoon industry. According to a ruling yesterday by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, no foreign cartoons or programs introducing foreign cartoons can be shown during "the golden hours" on all domestic cartoon channels and children channels starting on May 1. The move is intended to "spur the domestic cartoon industry," the agency said.
■ NEPAL
Police kill protester
Security forces shot dead a demonstrator during protests that have caused shortages of fuel and essential supplies and cast a shadow over upcoming elections, police said yesterday. Police opened fire late on Tuesday after anti-government protesters began throwing stones in Siraha, a town in the southern Terai plains bordering India that are home to half the country's population. The protesters are demanding greater autonomy for the Terai and its ethnic Madheshi people, who have closer linguistic and cultural links with northern India than with Nepal's hill people. It is the second death since Madheshi groups called an indefinite strike and began blockading roads last week to demand greater power and government job allocations.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Helicopter crash kills seven
An army helicopter crashed into a mountain near Seoul early yesterday, killing all seven people on board, an army official said. The UH-1H went down in Yangpyong, about 40km east of Seoul at around 1:40am, army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ko Dong-hun said. Two pilots, two medical officers and three soldiers died when the aircraft crashed while returning to base after transporting an emergency patient to a military hospital, he said. The bodies were sent to a military hospital in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, after being recovered from the mountain where the chopper was broken into two.
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