■CHINA
Official opposes ‘vulgarity’
A top Communist Party official has vowed to take disciplinary action against party members caught hiring female escorts or visiting “vulgar venues,” state media said yesterday. The warning comes following a spate of criminal and corruption cases in which party officials have been caught using prostitutes, maintaining mistresses or engaging in illicit sexual affairs, the Global Times reported. “Party officials ought to stay away from vulgar venues and are not allowed to visit sanpei xiaojie [female escorts] for entertainment,” the paper quoted Li Yuanchao (李源潮), a member of the party’s powerful Politburo, as saying. Li said members violating his instructions would risk demerits in their work appraisals.
■AUSTRALIA
Teen gains, loses license
A teenager lost his driving license just 45 minutes after it was issued when he was clocked at 45kph over the speed limit on a Melbourne highway, police said yesterday. The 18-year-old man had his brand-new license suspended for six months and was fined A$421 (US$378). “I don’t think he quite realized the seriousness of traveling at that sort of speed,” senior constable Bob Kucia said.
■KYRGYZSTAN
Bear attacks handlers
One person was killed and another wounded on Thursday when a bear rehearsing a “bears on ice” show attacked his handlers at a circus in the capital Bishkek, circus officials said. The five-year-old bear, part of a troupe of the prestigious Russian state circus, attacked and killed a director for the visiting circus during rehearsals. The bear was later shot and killed by local police. Training bears to ice skate is a standard stunt in the Russian circus.
■BELGIUM
Post Office doles out money
There were red faces in the Post Office on Thursday after a banking blunder handed out bonanza payments to 50,000 unemployed people. The 40 million euro (US$60 million) mistake came after the country’s employment agency, CAPAC, organized a dummy run of a new payments scheme ahead of its introduction on Nov. 12. In the exercise, CAPAC sent a series of payment orders to the Post Office, which acts as the agency’s bank. The Post Office was meant to enter the details into a special test computer system, to make sure that CAPAC put the information in the correct format. Post Office staff somehow failed to notice that the transaction was a technical exercise, and proceeded to enter the details into the genuine payment system, transferring about 800 euros each to 48,860 lucky unemployed.
■ITALY
Man tries hard to avoid wife
A Sicilian builder transferred from prison to house arrest tried to get himself locked up again to escape arguments with his wife at home, media reported on Thursday. Santo Gambino, 30, did time for dumping hazardous waste before being moved to house arrest in Villabate, outside the Sicilian capital, Palermo, news agencies reported. Gambino went to the police station and asked to be put away again to avoid arguing with his wife, who accused him of failing to pay for the upkeep of their two children. Police charged him with violating the conditions of his sentence and made him go home and patch things up with his wife.
■BULGARIA
Police arrest baby ring
Police reported on Thursday that they had broken up a scheme for selling babies in Greece. The system operated by transporting pregnant women to Greece, where they gave birth to children, who were then sold. The interior ministry in Sofia said the gang had organized up to five such trips per year since 2006. The women were paid 5,000 euros (US$7,500) for their babies. The couple, who allegedly organized the business by taking a 3,000 euro cut, have been arrested. Authorities broke up a similar ring in June.
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