■SOUTH KOREA
Elephant assault claimed
Seoul police are investigating whether a zoo’s elephant threw a stone at a woman visitor. The woman told police she was visiting the zoo at the Children’s Grand Park on Monday when she noticed an elephant picking up a stone with its trunk. After she turned away from 35-year-old Taesani, she was hit on the back of her head by a large stone, several newspapers reported. She reported the incident to police in Gwangjin district, who found that the scene of the alleged assault was out of range of security cameras. “Though Ms Kim believes the elephant threw a stone at her, it’s hard to conclude that the elephant attacked her since there are neither witnesses nor evidence,” Dong-A Ilbo newspaper quoted a police source as saying.
■CHINA
Xinjiang bans explosives
Police on Tuesday banned explosives from being transported in Xinjiang as more suspects were being investigated for a spate of mysterious syringe attacks. The Xinjiang Public Security Ministry said transport of weapons, ammunition, explosives and radioactive goods into or within the region would be suspended from Sept. 25 to Oct. 8. The ministry did not give a reason, but the dates cover the 60th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party rule on Oct. 1 and the holiday period afterward. The party has launched a nationwide security clampdown aimed at making the anniversary pass smoothly. The notice comes amid investigations into reported needle attacks in Urumqi that began Aug. 20 and apparently ended earlier this month.
■AUSTRALIA
No license for 50 years
A 67-year-old man pulled over for a traffic infringement told Sydney police that he had been driving without a license for 50 years. He was charged with failing to observe a stop sign. Next month he will have to be in court to explain why he hasn’t bothered to take a driving test for decades.
■PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Cult leader urged public sex
A cult leader promised villagers a bigger banana crop every time they had sex in public, Port Moresby’s Post Courier newspaper reported yesterday. People from Yamina in Morobe Province walked 12 hours to the nearest town to report the activities of cult leader Thomas Peli. Police sent to Yamina spotted Peli, but failed to question him because he escaped into the bush.
■FRANCE
Telecom to be monitored
The government ordered an official to monitor France Telecom’s health and safety meetings, following 23 suicides among company employees since February last year, Labor Minister Xavier Darcos said on Tuesday. Darcos said he wants monthly updates on the situation by the head of the body that oversees the nation’s labor inspectors. However, he didn’t acquiesce to a union demand that the telecom halt its corporate restructuring, which the unions say could be to blame, along with layoffs, for some of the suicides by employees.
■HONG KONG
Wives going without sex
Almost a third of middle-aged married women in the territory have had no sex for a year with their husbands, who blame their nagging for the lack of conjugal relations, a study of almost 3,000 married men and women published yesterday said. The study found that 31.6 percent of wives aged 45 to 59 had not had sex with their husband for a year or more. Younger wives fared better.
■SPAIN
Bolivia’s debt written off
Madrid on Tuesday said it would write off 60 million euros (US$87 million) in debt owed by Bolivia to help the impoverished country’s development. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said 60 percent of the debt would be forgiven outright, while 40 percent would go toward funding education projects. “It’s a gesture by Spain toward Bolivia’s development, toward young people who have no schools or have difficulties finding decent schooling, Bolivians who have no access to water or healthcare services,” Zapatero said during a press conference with visiting Bolivian President Evo Morales.
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