■CHINA
Woman wins jackpot at last
A businesswoman who blew US$6.8 million in the gaming haven of Macau in two years scooped a slot machine jackpot just as she was threatening to sue the casino, a report said yesterday. The woman won a HK$5 million (US$640,000) slot machine payout on Monday at the Wynn Macau, part of the gaming empire of US tycoon Steve Wynn, the Standard newspaper reported. It was the second-highest slot machine payout in Macau’s history, the report said. Her win came a day after she threatened to sue Wynn Macau, claiming that payout rates on the machines are too low.
■MALAYSIA
Fireflies may be in trouble
A dazzling firefly population that is one of the country’s top tourist attractions faces destruction within months because of large-scale land clearing, a lawmaker said yesterday. “If we do not do anything, the lights will go out for the fireflies by the end of the year,” said Elizabeth Wong, who heads tourism and environmental affairs in Selangor. Wong said environmental groups had alerted the state government to the “impending destruction” of the riverside firefly colony, which lies about 90 minutes’ drive from Kuala Lumpur. Tour operators say the number of insects has fallen sharply because of development in the area.
■MALAYSIA
Stray dogs left on island
Villagers caught more than 300 stray dogs and dumped them on a mangrove island, driving the canines to cannibalism after weeks of starvation, animal welfare activists said yesterday. The plight of the dogs ignited outrage after activists released photographs showing dogs eating the carcasses of ones that had died. Residents of a fishing village on Pulau Ketam, another island, caught the dogs last month and took them to Pulau Tengah island. The villagers said they never intended to be cruel and believed the dogs could feed on wildlife. Volunteers from the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are helping the dogs.
■REUNION
Cult leader recaptured
Police recaptured a cult leader jailed for child abuse after he escaped last week from a prison in a helicopter. Dozens of police clad in bullet-proof vests raided a building on Wednesday in Saint-Denis, less than 2km from the prison where Juliano Verbard and two of his jailed followers escaped on a tourist helicopter hijacked by accomplices on April 27. The official announcement of the recapture came from Paris, where secretary of state for overseas affairs Yves Jego hailed “the remarkable work of the police and gendarmes on the island of Reunion.” Verbard, the leader of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary sect, was serving a 15-year term for raping and sexually assaulting children. His escape triggered a manhunt involving more than 1,800 police.
■AUSTRALIA
Giant spiders scare locals
Saucer-sized spiders are frightening the locals by turning up in parks in the far-north town of Bowen, news reports said yesterday. “They normally never venture out too far, but obviously, these ones have been flushed out for some reason,” Bowen pest controller Audy Geiszer told the Townsville Bulletin. Queensland Museum arachnid expert Robert Raven identified the animals as eastern tarantulas, the continent’s biggest spiders. The spiders are venomous but not deadly. They can kill a dog, but humans get away with feeling ill for a few hours.
■UNITED KINGDOM
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