■ INDIA
Couple learn of ‘divorce’
A happily married couple in the northern part of the country got the shock of their lives when they learned they had divorced 10 years ago, the Times of India reported yesterday. Meena Verma, a mother of two children, tried to file a case against her in-laws for violence, only to be told by a court in Haryana state that she had been divorced for a decade. Her husband Virender told the Times of India his brother, a lawyer, had apparently forged the divorce a decade earlier, when the couple were contemplating making a similar complaint. “It seems the divorce was doctored to defeat Meena’s possible complaint,” he said.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Couple drives wrong way
A couple, aged 100 and 99, who drove the wrong way along a highway for more than 2km in New Zealand before crashing will probably be asked to surrender their driver’s licenses, police said yesterday. The duo amazingly managed to dodge oncoming vehicles during their wrong-way jaunt on New Zealand’s busiest highway near Wellington on Sunday, police spokeswoman Kaye Calder said. Their vehicle eventually collided with on oncoming car. They suffered minor injuries. Calder said the pair are unlikely to face charges. “I don’t believe any legal action will be taken — they may just be asked to hand in their license, given their age” to prevent them driving in future, she said.
■ AUSTRALIA
Cop busted in drug ring
A senior Australian police officer was arrested in connection to an international plot to import hundreds of kilograms of drug-making chemicals involving suspects in Europe and Asia, authorities said yesterday. Mark Standen, an assistant director of the New South Wales state Crime Commission, was charged in court yesterday with conspiracy to import controlled substances and supply prohibited drugs, and with perverting the course of justice. He did not enter a plea and was ordered to be held in jail until another hearing next Wednesday. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
■ CHINA
Beijing issues warning
The organizers of this summer’s Beijing Olympics on Monday reminded foreigners coming to China for the Games to behave, warning them that everything from protesting without permission to sleeping outdoors was banned. The extensive list, written only in Chinese and put on the organizers’ official Web site (www.beijing2008.cn), also said that purchase of Olympics’ tickets did not guarantee the holder would automatically get a Chinese visa.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Cancer patient wins bet
A terminally ill man, who was told he had a few months to live after being diagnosed with cancer, collected £5,000 (US$9,800) from the bookmakers on Sunday. Doctors had told Jon Matthews it was unlikely he would live to see Christmas after discovering he had mesothelioma — a cancer linked to asbestos. The 58-year-old, from Milton Keynes in southern England, placed a £100 bet that he would still be around in a year. Matthews, who was diagnosed in April 2006, was told the longest anyone had survived was 25 months. “Today is 25 months and a week, so I’ve beaten that record,” he said. He said half the money would go to the cancer charity Macmillan. “The other half I’m going to spend on myself — booze and fags probably — I don’t have anything to lose.”
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Man questioned in stabbing
A man in his 30s was being questioned by police yesterday after a 15-year-old schoolgirl, who was found stabbed in a lift, became the 16th teenager to die violently in London this year. Officers found the girl, who has not been named by police, on Monday, suffering from multiple stab wounds in the lift of a block of flats near Waterloo Station. Scotland Yard said detectives were keeping an open mind about a motive for the attack, but said it was not gang-related. Police said they had arrested the man in the Lambeth area but gave no further details of the suspect. Media reports said the suspect, who has not been named, could have been obsessed with his victim and been stalking her. Knife crime has blighted the capital this year with several killings dominating the headlines. Authorities have since launched a campaign to discourage knife crime in the capital.
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