■ANTARCTICA
Ozone hole may be smaller
The World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday that the ozone hole is expected to be smaller this year than a year ago. “The meteorological conditions observed so far could indicate that the 2009 ozone hole will be smaller than those of 2006 and 2008 and close to that of 2007,” the UN agency said in a statement. The hole in the layer over the Antarctic was discovered in the 1980s. It regularly tends to form in August, reaching a maximum size late September or early October before it fills again in December. The size is dependent on weather conditions. This year, the hole began forming “earlier than before,” said the organization’s expert on the ozone Geir Braathen. On Wednesday, it stood at 24 million square kilometers, he said. Last year, the maximum was 27 million square kilometers, while in 2007, the maximum was 25 million square kilometers. Experts have warned that the damage to the ozone layer may only recover in 2075.
■AUSTRALIA
Father charged with rape
A man allegedly raped his daughter almost daily for 30 years and fathered her four children in a case that echoes the notorious incest crimes of Josef Fritzl in Austria, a report said yesterday. The man, now aged in his 60s, allegedly began abusing his daughter in the 1970s when she was 11 and continued for three decades even after authorities received warnings about his behavior, Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper said. Police reportedly decided to prosecute after receiving DNA evidence that the man was the father of his daughter’s children, all of whom were born with birth defects in major Melbourne hospitals. One of them later died. It said the woman reported the abuse to police in 2005, but then refused to cooperate further because she feared for her safety.
■SPAIN
Insult okay at work
Calling your boss “son of a whore” — once the ultimate insult — is no longer a sacking offense because the term is so common, El Mundo newspaper said on Wednesday, citing an employment tribunal. The newspaper said the Catalan employment tribunal ordered that an employee who was dismissed for insulting his manager should not only get his job back, but also receive 6,500 euros in compensation. The panel said the company failed to take into account the workplace atmosphere and the changing trend in language, which meant that the phrase was now “common usage in conversations.”
■FRANCE
Calais ‘Jungle’ to close
The government said on Wednesday that it would this week close a wasteland district of Calais known as “the Jungle,” where hundreds of migrants trying to get to Britain have set up home. Immigration Minister Eric Besson said some of the migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq and other troubled or impoverished nations would be sent home from the notorious zone in the Channel port. Besson said a police operation in the scrub land near the main port would be staged this week. Hundreds of mainly male migrants try to jump on trucks going onto ferries or to get on trains going through the Channel tunnel to get to Britain.
■BULGARIA
Same lotto numbers again
Sports Minister Svilen Neykov ordered on Wednesday a special review of the national lottery after the same numbers were picked in straight draws. The numbers 4, 15, 23, 24, 35, and 42 were drawn on Sept. 6 and again on Sept. 10 in consecutive lottery rounds. The probability of this happening is 4.2 million to one, mathematician Mihail Konstantinov said. Three of the numbers also appeared in the Sunday draw. Lottery deputy chairwoman Maria Yaneva excluded any possibility of manipulation, telling the 24 Hours newspaper that the numbers were drawn in different order each time.
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