■AUSTRALIA
Superjet technology tested
Australian and US scientists have successfully tested hypersonic aircraft technology that could revolutionize international flight, officials said yesterday. The trial was the first of up to 10 tests to be conducted at the Woomera desert range as part of a joint US-Australian military research operation, Defense Science and Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon said. The vehicle was carried into space aboard a rocket launched from Woomera and then dived back into the atmosphere to test the flight technology. Hypersonic technology could offer “quantum leaps” in speed and fuel efficiency and had the potential to dramatically reduce intercontinental travel times, Snowdon said.
■THAILAND
Brits top foreign choice
A recent survey of marriage preferences among women in the impoverished northeast region found that more than three-fifths wanted to marry foreigners, with British husbands topping the wish list, the Nation Daily Express reported yesterday. Of 488 single women living in the 19 northeastern provinces surveyed from March to last month, 61 percent said they deemed foreign men attractive matches because they are rich, and 53 percent said they thought foreign men respected women more than their Thai counterparts, the report said. Asked about their marital preferences among foreigners, 32 percent picked British men, 21 percent opted for Americans and 8 percent for Germans.
■NEW ZEALAND
Toddler bids for excavator
Three-year-old Pipi Quinlan is pretty smart on the computer — too smart for her parents, who woke up one morning to find she had bought a full-size excavating digger on an auction Web site for NZ$20,000 (US$12,200), the Rodney Times newspaper reported yesterday. Playing with the computer while her parents were sleeping at their home in Stanmore Bay, Pipi found the auction site TradeMe, which her mother had bookmarked, the report said. After a few clicks of the mouse she unwittingly made the top bid for a Kobelco digger. Her mum, Sarah Quinlan, immediately called TradeMe when she found out what Pipi had done. The computer is now kept out of her reach, the paper said.
■AUSTRALIA
Driver fined for drunken sex
A court in Darwin yesterday fined Brad Milne for driving while having sex with his girlfriend. The 33-year-old builder was also convicted of drunk driving and not wearing a seatbelt. A fellow motorist witnessed erratic driving and called police after Milne drew level with him at a traffic light, and he observed the amorous behavior.
■HONG KONG
Infants overpampered: poll
The attention of preening parents and maids might be hindering the development of pampered infants in the territory, doctors warned yesterday. Nearly eight out of 10 babies from nine to 12 months were reliant on spoon-feeding by parents or maids at a time when they should be starting to feed themselves, a survey found. And almost nine out of 10 infants surveyed had been taken to the doctor in the past six months with an average visit count of 3.47 times. The survey of more than 1,100 families in the city of 7 million by Hong Kong Chinese University confirmed suspicions that babies are being mollycoddled, researchers concluded. Pediatric specialists who supervised the survey warned that Hong Kong children might “lag behind” in development if parents and maids were overprotective.
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