■ THAILAND
Foreigners investigated
Authorities are conducting background checks on more than 1,000 foreigners working in the country after a spate of arrests for alleged child sex abuse, a senior officer said yesterday. Colonel Apichat Suriboonya, of Thailand's Interpol office, said police had contacted the home countries of many of the targeted foreigners, most of whom are teachers. "Before, educational institutions would only look at their academic qualifications, but that is not enough," he said. Apichat did not say how police had chosen the foreigners in question. Police said they arrested a British national on Tuesday for allegedly posting photos of naked children on the Internet.
■ CHINA
`Sexy' marriage ads banned
A city has banned the use of "seductive" words like "foxy lady," "handsome guy" and "moneybags" in marriage advertisements in a bid to stamp out fraud, domestic media reported on Tuesday. Many Chinese people still go to marriage brokers to arrange suitable life partners for their children, and often turn to adverts carried in newspapers, magazines and on the Internet. But after a series of complaints from people who said they had been cheated -- although how was not explained -- Zhengzhou, Henan Province, is reining in the industry, the Beijing News said.
■ CAMBODIA
PM sends mixed signals
The prime minister said on Tuesday that his daughter is a lesbian and he was severing ties with her, but he urged the country not to discriminate against gays. "My adopted daughter now has a wife. I'm quite disappointed," Hun Sen said. He made the comment during a speech at a university graduation ceremony. Hun and his wife adopted the daughter as a newborn. Hun Sen also told the National Institute of Education graduates that it is wrong to discriminate against gays. "Most of them [gays] are good people and are not doing alcohol, drugs or racing vehicles" like the members of youth gangs, he said.
■ GREECE
Saucy thieves grab cash
Two thieves armed only with ketchup ambushed a supermarket employee as he was taking cash to the bank, Greek police said on Tuesday. "The thieves jumped out of the bushes and threw two big bags of ketchup on the front window to stop the car," said a police official who requested anonymity. The man fought with his attackers who managed to flee on a motorcycle with only 400 euros (US$577) of the 140,000 euros he was carrying.
■ RUSSIA
Restaurant in meat probe
A Chinese restaurant in Moscow is being investigated for butchering stray dogs and selling the meat to diners as lamb, Russian police said on Tuesday. "A woman reported to the police that sacks containing something alive, that was moving and whining, were being loaded into the restaurant at night," a police spokesman said. "We went to the restaurant to check the meat ... and carried out tests," the spokesman said. "We found it was of poor quality, dangerous for your health, and from an unusual animal -- that it was dog meat."
■ GERMANY
Student finds art in couch
A student who bought a pullout couch for 150 euros (US$215) at a Berlin flea market found a painting worth several times that much hidden inside when she unfolded the sofa at home. The piece of art, a 26cm-by-39cm oil-on-shale painting was sold for 19,200 euros at a Hamburg art auction over the weekend, the Kunst Kettler auction house said on Monday. The piece titled Preparation to Escape to Egypt was painted by an unknown artist close to Venetian painter Carlo Saraceni between 1605 and 1620, the auction house said. The student's identity was not revealed.
■ GERMANY
Teen flees jail in suitcase
A 19-year-old woman has escaped from prison by hiding in a friend's suitcase. The fugitive hid inside the large case when her 17-year-old fellow inmate was released from the youth prison in northwest Germany on Friday, Lower Saxony ministry spokesman Dennis Weilmann said on Monday. The girl simply walked out of the building with her friend concealed in her luggage, Weilmann said. "Our staff are going to make sure they inspect big suitcases more carefully in the future," Weilmann said. Neither of the teenagers has since been caught. Both had been jailed for theft. The escaped prisoner had less than two weeks left to serve.
■ BELGIUM
Prison escapee recaptured
A notorious criminal who escaped from a prison after a hijacked helicopter crash-landed inside the prison grounds was recaptured on Tuesday in The Hague after a holdup, Dutch police said. Serial escapee Nordine Ben Allal had managed to flee in a car after the helicopter crash caused confusion and threw up billows of smoke in the grounds of Ittre prison. Police spokesman Wim Hoonhout said late on Tuesday two men had been pursued by police after a holdup in a motorcycle showroom and had been arrested after officers fired warning shots. "It was only in the police station that Ben Allal was identified," he said. The identity of his accomplice was not known.
■ United States
Quake shakes California
A magnitude-5.6 earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay area, rattling homes and nerves, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries. The moderate temblor struck shortly after 8pm on Tuesday, about 14.4km northeast of San Jose, according to the US Geological Survey. Residents reported feeling the quake as far east as Sacramento and as far north as Sonoma. The California Highway Patrol received no reports of damage or injuries, spokesman Tom Marshall said.
■ United States
Boy started wildfire
A boy playing with matches started a fire in north Los Angeles County that consumed more than 15,378 hectares and destroyed 21 homes last week, authorities said. The boy, whose name and age were not released, was interviewed a day after the Buckweed Fire was sparked on Oct. 21, sheriff's Sergeant Diane Hecht said on Tuesday. "He admitted to playing with matches and accidentally starting the fire," Hecht said in a statement. The boy was released to his parents, and the case will be be presented to the district attorney's office, Hecht said. She said she did not know whether he was arrested or cited by detectives.
■ United States
Couple offer deal of lifetime
Bob and Ricki Husick of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, are offering anyone who buys their home a full refund when they die. The Husicks have been trying to sell their suburban home for almost a year, but have failed to do so in the current shaky market. Some area homeowners have lowered prices, offered free trips and tried a variety of other gimmicks, but the Husicks came up with their own unique incentive. The couple have no heirs and want US$399,900 for the four-bedroom home, located about 32km north of Pittsburgh. Under the Husicks' offer, the buyer would get the sale price back when they die.
■ United States
Pig spat turns serious
A Minnesota woman wants abuse charges filed against an acquaintance who was pet-sitting for her potbellied pig and allowed the animal to get fat. Michelle Schmitz said her pig, Alaina Templeton, weighed 22.7kg when Schmitz left her with a co-worker who offered to care for the animal in February, when Schmitz went on medical leave to recover from ankle surgeries. Nine months later, the pig weighed 68kg, the Winona Daily News reported. Officers are investigating whether Alaina was abused by the sitter's neglect and overfeeding. Investigator Jeff Mueller of the Winona County Sheriff's Department said on Tuesday that no charges had been filed against the pig sitter, whose name was not released. Schmitz said she cried for three days after she discovered her pet's weight problem. "That pig is my life," said Schmitz, who has a tattoo of Alaina's name.
■ United States
Biggest black hole found
US astronomers have discovered the biggest black hole yet, found orbiting a star 1.8 million light years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia, with a record-setting mass of 24 to 33 times that of our Sun, NASA said on Tuesday. It beats the previous stellar-mass black hole discovered on Oct. 17 in the M33 galaxy, which has 16 times the mass of our Sun, the US space agency said. A team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, found the new black hole using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The discovery paper is to appear in the Nov. 1 edition of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
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