■ AUSTRALIA
Language angers officials
Foul-mouthed British chef Gordon Ramsay prompted parliament on Thursday to push for tighter rules to protect viewers from swearing on television. Ramsay’s programs are ratings winners on free-to-air television, but prompted outrage earlier this year when one episode featured the volatile chef using a four-letter expletive more than 80 times in 40 minutes. The Catholic Church called for his shows to be scrapped or shown at a later time, and now an inquiry by the Senate, or upper house, has urged better warnings on programs and new ways for television stations to deal with complaints.
■ CHINA
Floods fulfill ‘Fuwa’ curse
Southern floods seem to have fulfilled the final stanza of an Internet curse involving Beijing’s Olympic mascots, but censors have been quick to remove postings that might fuel the superstition. After the devastating Sichuan quake, Internet users tied four of the five “Fuwa” mascots to the recent calamities that have struck ahead of the Games. One Fuwa is a panda, the totem of Sichuan. The others resemble a torch, reminding netizens of the protests against the international Olympic torch rally; a Tibetan antelope tied to widespread demonstrations in Tibetan areas; and a swallow that looks like a kite, linked to a deadly train crash in Shandong Province. The final Fuwa, sporting a fish, was left unexplained until widespread flooding claimed dozens of lives.
■ INDONESIA
Police get inline skates
Jakarta is rolling out a new weapon in its battle against gridlock: traffic police on inline skates. The idea is that officers will be able to reach traffic jams quicker than by car or motorbike, the Koran Tempo daily reported. Once there, they will be able to direct vehicles to get the city’s traffic flow moving again. The city’s top traffic cop Dua Sutirto said the force had hired a professional inline skater to teach the team of 20 officers before it is deployed on July 1. The capital suffers from some of the worst traffic jams in Asia and it remains to be seen what effect — if any — the inline skating police team will have on the problem.
■ PHILIPPINES
Residents ready for typhoon
The country braced yesterday for Typhoon Fengshen, a storm packing gusts of up to 160kph that was expected to hit the eastern region. Typhoon Fengshen was about 50km northeast of Eastern Samar Province’s Guiuan Township yesterday morning, the weather bureau said. It was expected to make landfall on Eastern Samar Province by yesterday evening. The weather bureau said the provinces of Masbate, Sorsogon, Albay, Catanduanes and the islands of Samar, Leyte and Biliran were expected to bear the brunt of the typhoon.
■ AUSTRALIA
Python found in toilet
A 1.8m python has been found in a toilet bowl in a high-rise apartment in the northern tropical city of Darwin, media reported yesterday. The Northern Territory News said the black-headed python was found in a 10th floor toilet. Reptile catcher Chris Peberdy told the newspaper the python, likely to be a runaway pet, had been traveling through the building’s sewer pipes. “When I saw it I was pretty shocked,” he said. “There is no possible other way it could have got there than through the toilet. I had to give him a wash because he was wet and a bit smelly.”
■ RUSSIA
Enema monument unveiled
A monument to the enema has been unveiled at a spa in the southern city of Zheleznovodsk. The bronze syringe bulb, which weighs 363kg and is held by three angels, was unveiled at the Mashuk-Akva Term spa, the spa’s director said on Thursday. “There is no kitsch or obscenity, it is a successful work of art,” Alexander Kharchenko said. “An enema is almost a symbol of our region.” The Caucasus Mountains region is known for dozens of spas where enemas with water from mineral springs are routinely administered to treat digestive and other complaints. Kharchenko, 50, said the monument cost US$42,000 and was installed in a square in front of his spa on Wednesday. A banner declaring: “Let’s beat constipation and sloppiness with enemas” was posted on one of the spa’s walls. Sculptor Svetlana Avakina modeled the angels holding the enema on those in works by Italian Renaissance painter Alessandro Botticelli.
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