■MALAYSIA
Nutty idea proves painful
A welder had to have a nut removed from around his penis after an attempt to lengthen it before he gets engaged next week went embarrassingly wrong, a news report said yesterday. The nut got stuck on his penis following an erection, the Star newspaper said, forcing him to seek help at a hospital in southern Johor state. Staff from the Sultanah Aminah hospital had to drain some blood from the penis and cut away a top layer of skin before the object could be removed, the newspaper said. It said the fire and rescue department were also involved in trying to remove the nut from the unnamed welder, who is in his 20s and hoped the nut would weigh down his penis to make it longer.
■HONG KONG
Seven jump from high-rises
Five people died and two were injured in a day of suicide jumps from high-rise buildings in the territory. Police said yesterday four of those who jumped were suspected suicides while three were still being investigated. All the incidents took place between 2am and 7:30pm on Saturday and were unrelated. Of those believed to have jumped to their deaths, two men, aged 48 and 49, were known to have mental problems. The youngest to have died was a 16-year-old girl who was certified dead after jumping from the 22nd floor of a building, while the oldest was a 86-year-old man, who is also believed to have jumped. Three cases are still under investigation: an 81-year-old woman who died, a 17-year-old male and a 37-year-old woman, both of whom were taken to hospital when they were found unconscious after falling from high buildings.
■JAPAN
Tokyo holds quake drill
Hundreds of Tokyo firefighters and troops, joined by US forces and rescuers from South Korea and Taiwan, held an annual quake drill in the capital yesterday. More than 15,000 people joined the exercise, including 600 firefighters, 700 US Navy personnel and several rescuers from Seoul and Taipei, a Tokyo government official said. To commemorate the Great Kanto Earthquake, which killed an estimated 200,000 people on Sept. 1, 1923, the Tokyo government has conducted major quake drills around the anniversary day every year.
■BANGLADESH
Floods displace thousands
At least 72,000 people in the north have been cut off from the rest of the country after several rivers burst their banks, news reports said yesterday as a flood warning agency forecast the situation is “likely to deteriorate.” Crops on 10,000 hectares of land were under water in the northern districts of Lalmonirhat, Rangpur, Kurigram, Nilphamari and Gaibandha, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported. The Daily Star newspaper reported at least 60,000 day laborers lost their jobs because of the flooding.
■NEPAL
Woman to skydive Everest
A British woman plans to make a parachute jump over Mount Everest hoping to become the first woman ever to skydive over the world’s highest peak, organizers said yesterday. Holly Budge, 29, plans to throw herself out from 142m above Everest, hurtling past it, before landing in a mountain meadow at 3,764m above sea level. She plans to attempt her dive in next month after taking off from an airstrip in Syangboche in the Khumbhu region of northeast Nepal, home to Everest, the world’s highest peak at 8,850m.
■SPAIN
Spanair rebuts claims
Spanair denied on Saturday government claims that it considered transferring passengers to another plane after detecting a problem with the jet that crashed last month in Madrid, killing 154 people. “At no moment did [Spanair] indicate that it was its intention to substitute the plane,” it said in a statement, explaining that it had informed airport officials that another plane was available in case it was needed. In an address to a parliamentary panel on Friday, Transport Minister Magdalena Alvarez said Spanair “informed the airport of the possibility of replacing the aircraft.”
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