Wed, Sep 17, 2008 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■MALAYSIA

  Boy rescued from hot curry

  A two-year-old boy suffered severe burns on his body after he tripped and fell into a large pot of piping hot curry, a news report said yesterday. Mohamad Adib Alif Asrie was walking backwards outside a shop in the northern Kedah state when he tripped and fell into the pot of freshly cooked beef curry, the Star daily reported. Mohamad Adib’s screams of pain alerted his parents who were cooking nearby, and he was immediately sent to a nearby hospital. The boy suffered burns on 50 percent of his body, but was reported to be in stable condition.

  ■AUSTRALIA

  Man strangles wife over dog

  A man strangled his nagging wife after she upset his beloved pet dog as he tried to rock it to sleep, a prosecutor told a local court. Anthony Sherna, 42, then left his dead wife’s body on her bed for a few days, but not wanting his dog traumatized by the sight of a decomposing body, he took the Jack Russell to a pet resort. Sherna pleaded not guilty on Monday in Melbourne’s Magistrates Court to murdering his wife, Susanne, local media reported yesterday. The prosecutor told the court that Sherna and his wife lived in isolation in rural Victoria state, with no friends, no social life and just their Jack Russell Maltese terrier cross, Hubble, for company, the Herald Sun reported. Each night, Sherna rocked Hubble to sleep in his arms while listening to the radio, but one night in February his wife began shouting at him as he cuddled the dog. “I reached the threshold of the horrible life that we had together,” Sherna allegedly told police in an interview. Sherna put his dog to bed, grabbed a dressing gown cord and strangled his wife, the prosecutor said. Sherna told police his wife was agoraphobic and that both of them drank each day and argued constantly. He said they slept in separate rooms for a decade and had not had sex in three years. Sherna said his wife would not give him any money to spend and that life was a “pressure cooker.”

  ■AUSTRALIA

  Fast food delivered too fast

  A pizza delivery man gave fast food a new meaning when he was caught, and fined, for driving 53km over the speed limit. The 20-year-old man, driving on a provisional driver’s license, said he was speeding because he was 20 minutes late with his delivery in the northern town of Townsville. Police clocked him driving at 131kph in an 80kph zone on Saturday, but waited for him to deliver his pizza before booking him. On his return journey to the pizza shop, he was caught speeding at 133kph in the same zone. The delivery man, who was not named, was fined A$1,520 (US$1,226) and lost his license for 15 months.

  ■UNITED KINGDOM

  Pink Floyd’s Wright dies

  Richard Wright, the keyboardist whose somber, monumental sounds were at the core of Pink Floyd’s art-rock, died on Monday in London at age 65 of cancer. Wright was a founding member of Pink Floyd, and his spacious, enveloping keyboards, backing vocals and eerie effects were an essential part of its musical identity. Though Syd Barrett and then Roger Waters wrote most of the group’s songs, Wright shares credit on the improvisatory psychedelic studio works the band composed collectively, and he sang a few lead vocals, including on Astronomy Domine from the band’s debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Wright was the sole songwriter on The Great Gig in the Sky, a hymn-like track with a soaring, wordless female vocal at the center of The Dark Side of the Moon, the blockbuster 1973 Pink Floyd album that has sold some 40 million copies. Wright is survived by three children, Benjamin, Gala and Jamie and a grandchild.

  ■UNITED KINGDOM

  Darwin owed apology: cleric

  An Anglican clergyman says the church owes Charles Darwin an apology for misunderstanding the naturalist’s theory of evolution. The Reverend Malcolm Brown says the Church of England should say sorry for “getting our first reaction wrong” and leading others to misunderstand his ideas. Darwin’s theory that species evolve over generations through a process of natural selection was outlined in the 1859 book On the Origin of Species. Religious leaders of the time were largely hostile toward Darwin’s ideas and argued against them. The Church of England says his statement reflects its position but does not constitute an apology.

  ■UNITED KINGDOM

  Theater groups collaborate

  Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Philip Seymour Hoffman are backing a project to promote collaboration among theater companies in London, Sydney and New York. Producers at London’s Trafalgar Studios said on Monday that they are forming an alliance with the Sydney Theatre Company, run by Blanchett and her playwright husband Andrew Upton, and Hoffman’s LAByrinth Theater Company in New York. The US and Australian troupes will stage work at the West End venue and British plays will travel to Sydney and New York. The first play in the collaboration is Riflemind, Upton’s play about an aging rock band’s reunion, which opens tomorrow under Hoffman’s direction.

  ■ITALY

  Teacher accused of sex acts

  A female teacher who gave Italian language lessons to immigrant children has been accused of having “sex sessions” with five of her teenage pupils, news reports said yesterday. The boys, aged between 13 and 16, allege that the 23-year-old woman would invite them to her home following afternoon classes held at a Roman Catholic seminary in the northeastern town of Bassano del Grappa. There the woman would allegedly engage in sex acts with some or all of the boys. An investigating judge is to determine the mental state of the woman, the reports said.

  ■UNITED KINGDOM

  New coin features Charles

  The Royal Mint has issued a new coin featuring images of Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate his 60th birthday on Nov. 14. Officials said the coin was unusual because it features a member of the royal family on each side. The last coin to feature an image of Charles on one side and the queen on the other was issued when Charles turned 50.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Legendary sharkman dies

  Frank Mundus, the legendary shark fisherman said to have inspired the Captain Quint character in the movie Jaws, died in Hawaii at the age of 82. Mundus died on Wednesday at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu after a heart attack, his wife said. It was his second heart attack in four days. He suffered the earlier one on Sept. 6 at Kona International Airport after returning from a business trip to New York. Mundus had a history of heart disease, his wife, Jeanette Mundus, 46, said from their home in Naalehu on the southern tip of the Big Island.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Ancestor of ants discovered

  An ancient ancestor of ants has been discovered living in the soils of the Amazon rainforest. The species, named Martialis heureka, or “ant from Mars” because of its unusual features, is a pale-bodied, blind predator that uses oversized jaws to capture prey. Ants evolved 120 million years ago from wasp-like ancestors and rapidly adapted to living in soil, trees and leaf litter. Genetic tests on the 3mm-long species show it emerged at the very earliest stages of ant evolution, said Christian Rabeling of the University of Texas at Austin.

  ■UNITED STATES

  Dog dials 911

  A specially trained dog saved his owner’s life by dialing the emergency number 911 after the owner suffered a seizure, Phoenix TV station KPHO reported. Buddy, an 18-month-old German shepherd, was trained to recognize the signs of a seizure and use a special phone which is wired to call 911 whenever any button is pressed for more than three seconds. That’s what he did when his owner, Joe Stalnaker, suffered a severe seizure last Wednesday, responding with a series of barks and whimpers when he heard the operator answer. Stalnaker suffered severe head injuries in a military accident 10 years ago and his address is flagged in the police computer system with a notification that a trained dog might call 911 when the owner was incapacitated.

  ■MEXICO

  Explosion targets parade

  Explosions ripped through a crowd of people celebrating independence day, killing at least three revelers and wounding about 50, the Michoacan state government said. The explosions in the western city of Morelia on Monday might have been caused by grenades, El Universal daily newspaper said. Morelia is the capital of Michoacan, a state hit in recent years by drug gang violence. More than 2,700 people have been killed this year as violence between drug gangs spins out of control.
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