■NEW ZEALAND
Droop-eye Santa gets lift
A Santa with a droopy eye has received a US$100,000 face-lift in the run-up to Christmas so that his aging face does not scare children. The 20m tall fiberglass Santa has been among the festive decorations in Auckland since 1960, but in recent years began to struggle with one of his eyes that was made to wink and a mechanical finger that moved in a welcoming gesture. “There was a concern the guy did look a little creepy. It was the finger and the Sad Sack, winking, droopy eye,” Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney told local media. The Santa, which stands on a street corner in the city center, has undergone extensive facial work over the past four months at a cost of over US$100,000. His face remains bandaged ahead of a public unveiling tomorrow, but his mechanical finger has been replaced with a static digit.
■HONG KONG
Master beat up mistress
A kung fu grandmaster, who trained under the same teacher as martial arts star Bruce Lee (李小龍), has been jailed for assaulting his mistress, a court report said yesterday. Leung Ting (梁挺), the founder of the internationally known Wing Tsun Association, which has tens of thousands of members, was sentenced to two months for the assault on Rita Lip Sik-ying (聶式盈), 45, his lover of five years. The prosecution said the assault occurred in March after the couple rowed over a matter relating to Leung’s former wife. Lip told the court Leung pushed her down, banged her head on the floor, kicked her in the stomach and boxed her ears, a report in the South China Morning Post said. Leung, 62, pleaded not guilty, claiming a hysterical Lip had banged her own head against the floor because he would not give her money.
■AUSTRALIA
Second twin waking up
A second Bangladeshi twin began returning to consciousness yesterday, three days after being separated from her conjoined sister in a landmark operation, the hospital said. Krishna was opening her eyes and slowly becoming more alert as she came out of an induced coma, a statement said. Her sister, Trishna, was already awake and talking after the surgery that doctors have hailed as a success. “Krishna is waking up slowly. She is more alert, starting to breathe more and opening her eyes,” the statement from the Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital said. “Trishna continues to do well. Both girls are in a serious but stable condition.” A team of specialists worked for 32 hours on Monday and Tuesday to divide the two-year-olds’ connected skulls, brains and blood vessels in a procedure that took two years of planning and preparatory operations.
■INDIA
Men want equal rights
A group of husbands tired of being harassed by their wives are demanding the local government create a male protection society to address their grievances. The men, who said they had enough of their “nagging” wives, dressed up in clothes traditionally worn by grooms and paraded through Lucknow this week to ask for a National Commission for Men. “We are asking for equal rights. We want somebody to listen to the grievances of men,” said Subhash Dube, a medical doctor who described himself as a victimized husband.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Swine flu shots expanded
Healthy children between six months and five years old will be vaccinated against swine flu, the Department of Health in London has confirmed. The expansion of the British government’s inoculation programme was revealed as the latest weekly bulletin showed a sharp rise in patient deaths in England and the number of children being admitted to hospital. The overall number of new cases showed a second successive weekly fall. Health officials estimate there were 55,000 new cases this week in England compared with 64,000 last week. There was a slight drop in Scotland. The number of people who have died from swine flu in the UK has reached 214.
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