SEOUL: Analysts watching the leadership succession process in secretive and bitterly cold North Korea are pondering a potential new clue Kim Jong-un's furry hat. The youngest son and heir apparent of leader Kim Jongil was seen wearing the same pricey otter fur headgear as his father during a visit to an art studio in Pyongyang reported by state media on January 23. A clear sign of Kim Jongun's rising status "is that he now wears the top-quality fur hat reserved for Kim Jongil", said a Seoul government official quoted by Chosun Ilbo newspaper on Saturday. The headgear designed by a foreign craftsman is a luxury only allowed to the leader, it quoted a defector, also unidentified, as saying. "It's an unwritten rule that nobody else can wear such a hat. So if Kim Jong-Un is also wearing one, it means he has now reached almost the same status as his father," the defector said. While other senior staffers sometimes wear similar hats, they are indust...

TOKYO: Hundreds of people living near a Japanese volcano that has been spewing columns of smoke and ash thousands of metres into the air were forced to evacuate their homes today, a local official said. More than 600 residents of the town of Takaharu in Miyazaki prefecture, on the eastern outskirts of the erupting Mount Shinmoedake, were sheltering in school gyms and community halls, an official said. Municipal authorities had issued an evacuation advisory for 1,158 residents in high-risk districts near the 1,421-metre (4,689-foot) volcano earlier today. The mountain in the Kirishima range in southwestern Japan has been belching smoke and ash into the air since late Wednesday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The agency has widened the area that it fears could be hit by a torrent of high-temperature gas and ash from two kilometres (1.24 miles) to three kilometres from the peak. It added that the dome of lava inside the volcano's crater, which grows as pressure...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI: The United States has no plans to halt aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti in spite of a crisis over who will be the nation's next leader but does insist that the president's chosen successor be dropped from the race, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday. Clinton arrived Sunday in the impoverished Caribbean nation for a brief visit. She met with President Rene Preval and earlier met with each of the three candidates jockeying to replace him. Only two candidates can go on to the delayed second round, now scheduled for March 20. The US is backing an Organization of American States recommendation that the candidate from Preval's party, government construction official Jude Celestin, should be left out in favor of populist rival Michel Martelly. The top US official at the United Nations, Susan Rice, said recently that "sustained support" from the United States required the OAS recommendations be implemented. Many Haitian...

PORT-AU-PRINCE: The United States has no plans to halt aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti in spite of a crisis over who will be the nation's next leader but does insist that the president's chosen successor be dropped from the race, US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday. Clinton arrived Sunday in the impoverished Caribbean nation for a brief visit. She is scheduled to meet with President Rene Preval and earlier met with each of the three candidates jockeying to replace him. Only two candidates can go on to the delayed second round, now scheduled for March 20. The US is backing an Organization of American States recommendation that the candidate from Preval's party, government construction official Jude Celestin, should be left out in favor of populist rival Michel Martelly. The top US official at the United Nations, Susan Rice, said recently that "sustained support" from the United States required the OAS recommendations be implemented. M...

KANO: Clashes between Christians and Muslims in central Nigeria last week have left 35 people dead, police said on Sunday, as fresh violence flared up in the flashpoint city of Jos. The incidents were the latest in a cycle of violence in volatile central Nigeria, where religious rioting has killed scores in recent years. "Thirty-five people have been killed in sectarian violence in Tafawa Balewa on Thursday," Bauchi police commissioner Abdulkadir Mohammed Indabawa, said. Only last week police had reported riots that had killed four people and arson attacks that had destroyed five mosques and 50 houses. In neighbouring Plateau state's capital of Jos meanwhile, more than a dozen people had died after clashes sparked by the stabbing Friday of university students by Muslim villagers, Muslim and Christian community leaders said. Churches, mosques, filling stations, houses and food kiosks were set ablaze over the weekend. On Sunday the military sent in reinforcements aid...

TUNIS: Thousands of Tunisians turned out on Sunday to welcome home an Islamist leader whose return from 22 years of exile indicated that his party would emerge as a major force in Tunisia after the ousting of its president. The reception for Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda party, at Tunis airport was the biggest showing by the Islamists in two decades, during which thousands of them were jailed or exiled by President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Ghannouchi was exiled in 1989 by Ben Ali, who was toppled on Jan 14 by popular protests that have sent tremors through an Arab world where similarly autocratic leaders have long sought to suppress Islamist groups. Protesters in Egypt demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule have been inspired by the example of Tunisia. Ennahda is expected to contest future legislative but not presidential elections, dates for which have yet to be set. The Islamists were Tunisia's strongest opposition force at the t...

SEOUL: Five Somali pirates were arrested on Sunday to be questioned over the hijacking of a South Korean chemical ship in the Arabian Sea and attempting a murder of the carrier's captain, local media reported. South Korea's navy rescued all 21 crew members aboard the chemical carrier Samho Jewelry on January 21 and captured the five pirates alive. Eight other pirates were killed. The five pirates, who the new agency said are at age between 19 and mid-20s, were flown to Busan, South Korea's southeastern port city, earlier in the day, to become the first pirates to stand trial in the country for seizing a South Korean vessel. The Busan District Court issued warrants to arrest the five pirates that the South Korean police have asked for on charges of maritime robbery and attempted murder, Yonhap news reported. Officials at the court and prosecutors' office in Busan were not immediately available for comment. They are accused of hijacking the 11,500-tonne ship this...

CARACAS: A fire set off a series of explosions at a military arms depot in the city of Maracay in central Venezuela today, injuring about 40 people and leading authorities to evacuate the area, an official said. Residents were being evacuated from areas within six kilometres (about four miles) surrounding the arms depot, Aragua state governor Rafael Isea told state television. He said about 40 people were reported injured in the explosions. The cause of the fire was unclear. Information minister Andres Izarra went on state television calling for calm and saying that authorities were tending to the situation. Isea said smaller explosions were continuing today morning and that firefighters would wait until they had subsided to approach those areas.

JERUSALEM: Israel's national airline has whisked some 200 Israelis, including families of Israeli diplomats, out of Egypt on board an emergency flight to escape the chaos engulfing the Arab country. An Israeli official said Saturday's flight included dozens of tourists as well as diplomat's families. The official said Israeli diplomats would remain in Egypt for the time being. A Cairo airport official confirmed that El Al arranged the special flight. El Al does not usually fly on the Jewish sabbath to appease observant Jewish passengers who do not travel on the day of rest. The flight reflects Israel's concerns over the situation in Egypt the first Arab country to reach peace with Israel. Israel watched fearfully as anti-government unrest roiled Egypt, one of its most important allies and a bridge to the wider Arab world. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered government spokesmen to keep silent. Officials speaking anonymously nonethless expressed concern violence...

BANGKOK: As slogans blared from megaphones denouncing Thailand's leaders at a recent "red shirt" anti-government protest, one group waved baguettes and held up French placards in solidarity with a popular revolt in Tunisia. While motivations of Thailand's protesters differ from those in Tunisia, the image illustrates how one protest can quickly feed off another thousands of miles away.

DAVOS: Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi told a gathering of the world business elite at the Swiss resort of Davos that her countrymen "yearn to be a part of the global community." "I would like to speak on behalf of the 55 million people of Burma who have for the most part been left behind," she said, in an audio address to the World Economic Forum, the world's most influential annual networking event. "We yearn to be a part of the global community: not only to be economically and socially connected, but also to achieve the domestic political stability and national reconciliation that would enable us to fully address the needs of our people," she added. Suu Kyi said her isolated, junta-ruled country has already "missed so many opportunities because of political conflicts" over the last five decades. But she acknowledged that without political stability and national reconciliation, the country could not be integrated in the glo...

NAIROBI: Somali pirates appear to have released a Thai fishing vessel and its 28 crew eight months after the ship was hijacked, the European Union Naval Force said Friday. The circumstances surrounding the release of the Tai Yuan 227 were unclear but the owner of the ship had received a call from the master saying it had been freed, although he did not know why, according to a statement from the force. The EU had not had direct contact with the ship. The vessel has 28 crew onboard from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Kenya and Mozambique. It was attacked on May 6, 2010, northeast of the island nation of the Seychelles. The crew were provided with fresh food and water by a U.S. warship after the release. The vessel is currently sailing away from Somalia. Meanwhile, South Korea said it would bring home a ship captain shot by Somali pirates during a rescue operation last week. A Foreign Ministry official said an air ambulance carrying the captain will arrive in Seoul on ...

JOHANNESBURG: Doctors discharged Nelson Mandela from hospital on Friday after he was successfully treated for breathing difficulties during a two-day stay where he laughed and joked with visitors. The country's surgeon general told reporters that the anti-apartheid hero had suffered an acute respiratory infection but was now sufficiently well to be treated at home, ending considerable concern about his health. "He has been discharged," said Vejaynand Ramlakan, who leads the team of military doctors assigned to care for the former resistance leader who left prison in 1990 and became the country's first black leader four years later. "Dr Mandela is in high spirits. For a 92-year-old he surprises us on a daily basis with his powers of recovery. "He is stable, but will be subject to intense monitoring," Ramlakan added, when asked about the follow-up treatment Mandela would receive. An ambulance was later seen arriving at the ex-president's home i...

SYDNEY: A top Australian medical body warned a renowned brain surgeon on Friday he risked turning his work into a "spectator sport" by offering people a chance to watch him operate to raise money for charity. Sydney-based neurosurgeon Charlie Teo said he auctioned a day in his company as a prize several times a year to raise money for cancer research. The winner would visit patients with him and possibly watch him perform surgery. The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons said it was against the idea. "We're not in favour of selling seats for surgery. We are not in favour of non-medical people being in an operating room just for the sake of viewing," said John Quinn, the college's executive director of surgical affairs. "It does raise ethical problems about spectator sport if your like, about the ethical issues of confidentiality and privacy and the ethical issue of selling seats for public viewing." Quinn said the days of surgeons perfo...

KUALA LUMPUR: Ethnic Indian activists in Malaysia have decried a government decision to retain a high school textbook that refers to the Hindu caste system. The dispute has aggravated many among Malaysia's ethnic Indian minority who complain that authorities in this mostly Malay Muslim country fail to respect their sensitivities. Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said late Thursday that a special panel will propose amendments that can be made to the book before it eventually becomes compulsory for high school literature classes. Mohan Shan, president of the Malaysia Hindu Sangam organization, said the book should be withdrawn entirely because it allegedly portrays ethnic Indians as coming from inferior communities.

CAIRO: "Maalish" is a favourite expression with Egyptians. Effectively used by the bumbling taxi driver who grazes over your foot, the seller who sold you a lemon, or a colleague who came in late and ruined the business deal of a lifetime. It means "never mind" . Living in the halo of their ancestors, with a sense of humour to get past the present, Egyptians are a verbose, slightly cynical, carefree lot. How then did 90,000 Egyptians gather on the streets on Tuesday to scream for change? What happened in Tunisia over the past weeks has been an inspiring revolution whose impact has not only rocked the banks of the Nile, but the entire Arab world. Egyptians at large looked on in wonder as the ordinary citizens of Tunisia were able to come together and bring down a totalitarian regime. While intellectuals whispered that the Arab world had just witnessed its first modern, civilian revolt, they agreed that Egypt shared some of the characteristics that led to the T...

TUNIS: Tunisia on Thursday unveiled major changes to its interim government in a bid to put an end to daily protests against figures linked to ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who stayed on in key posts. Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, who also served under Ben Ali, said on state television that he would remain but the crucial defence, foreign and interior ministry posts were replaced with new figures. "This is a temporary government with a clear mission -- to allow a transition to democracy. Its mission is to organise elections in which the people will be completely free to choose," Ghannouchi said in his address. "The situation is difficult and we must concentrate our efforts for the country to re-start... I hope everyone will get back to work," he said, after a wave of protests that came in the wake of Ben Ali's downfall on January 14. Hundreds of protesters who have camped out in front of Ghannouchi's offices for five days applauded a...

KAMPALA: A Ugandan gay rights activist who was late last year featured with other gays in a newspaper article headlined "Hang them" has been beaten to death in his Kampala home, rights groups said on Thursday. David Kato was one of three people featured in Uganda's Rolling Stone newspaper who this month won an injunction barring it from continuing its anti-gay campaign. "Witnesses told police that a man entered Kato's home in Mukono at around 1pm on January 26, 2011, hit him twice in the head and departed in a vehicle," New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement. "Kato died on his way to Kawolo hospital. Police told Kato's lawyer that they had the registration number of the vehicle and were looking for it." Police were unavailable for comment. It is not clear whether the murder is linked to Kato's activism or to his outing in the newspaper. Kato claimed to have received death threats since its publication. Friends of Kato...

JOHANNESBURG: Former South African President Nelson Mandela was in the hospital Thursday for what his office said were routine tests, as the 92-year-old anti-apartheid icon's overnight stay drew extraordinary media attention. Mandela undergoes regular hospital checkups, but his latest visit starting Wednesday stretched into an unusually long stay. Journalists were standing outside the hospital Thursday, watching Mandela's relatives and friends enter for visits. Current South African President Jacob Zuma's office cautioned reporters not to put pressure on Mandela's doctors, and to give him "the respect that he is entitled to." "President Mandela is comfortable and is well looked after by a good team of medical specialists," said a statement from Zuma's office, adding Zuma was being updated on Mandela while at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Mandela's office has released only a brief statement saying the hospital visit was for ...

TUNIS: Tunisia plans to overhaul the lineup of its interim government on Thursday, a move expected to see key loyalists of ousted leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali step aside in a bid to end persistent protests. Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 when weeks of violent protests against poverty, repression and corruption toppled him after 23 years in power. Since then, an interim government that includes many former ruling party officials has struggled to impose order. Protesters have been demanding for days that the makeshift coalition government be purged of Ben Ali's allies. They clashed with police again on Wednesday. "The reshuffle will be announced tomorrow, Thursday," government spokesman Taieb Bakouch was quoted as saying on the Tunisian state news agency on Wednesday. Political sources said the interior, defense and foreign ministers were to be replaced. Tunisia's uprising has electrified Arabs across the Middle East and North Africa, where many ...

BOGOTA: At least 20 miners were killed and six injured in a gas explosion inside a coal mine in Colombia, an official said. The blast occurred Wednesday at the La Preciosa mine in the northeastern town of Sardinata, Colombia's Ingeominas regulatory agency official, Marisa Fernandez, said. While four bodies were recovered, 15 workers trapped to death inside the mine and one died on way to a hospital, the official said. Preliminary investigations indicate the blast was caused by a build-up of methane gas, also blamed for an explosion four years ago at the same mine that left nearly 30 dead. Colombia's worst mining accident in recent years occurred last June at a coal mine in the northwestern town of Amaga, where 73 workers died after an explosion trapped them in a tunnel.

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict said public officials would do well to model themselves on Joan of Arc, French saint who was tried for heresy and burned at the stake for her convictions. Benedict highlighted the life of the 15th century mystic in his weekly general audience. For several months he has used his Wednesday catechisms to promote an important woman in the church's history. Joan of Arc led the French to several victories over the English during the Hundred Years War. She had said she heard voices from a trio of saints telling her to deliver France from the English. She was tried for heresy and witchcraft and burned at the stake in 1431, though her conviction was later annulled. She was canonized in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV. "Hers is a beautiful example of holiness for lay people working in public life, particularly during the most difficult situations," Benedict said. Benedict expressed bitterness at how Joan of Arc had been treated by the church, saying her h...

TUNIS: Tunisia has asked Interpol to help find and arrest ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family so they can be tried for theft and currency offences. Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on Jan 14 when weeks of violent protests against poverty, repression and corruption toppled him after 23 years in power. The uprising has electrified Arabs across the Middle East and North Africa, where many countries face similar problems. The French-based international police organisation said it had issued a global alert to seek the location and arrest of Ben Ali and six of his relatives. In Tunis, justice minister Lazhar Karoui Chebbi said the interim government which came to power after the revolt wanted to bring to justice Ben Ali, his wife Leila Trabelsi and other family members. "We are asking Interpol to find all those who fled, including the president and this woman, for trial in Tunisia," he said. Under this type of alert, Interpol said it had requested member...

SYDNEY: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was named " un-Australian of the Year"by a men's magazine on Monday for publishing thousands of US diplomatic cables on his whistleblowing site. Australian-born Assange edged out God, Denmark's princess Mary and Prime Minister Julia Gillard to take Australian lads' title Zoo Weekly's dubious award for promising to dump 250,000 secret memos on WikiLeaks. "Dress it up any way you like but the WikiLeaks founder broke that famous rule 'What goes in the memo stays in the memo',"Zoo wrote. "Don't expect any buck's night invites anytime soon Jules." Assange is on bail in UK awaiting an extradition hearing. He is wanted in Sweden for questioning on sexual assault allegations. He has released classified documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and from US diplomats. afp

SANTIAGO: Chile's billionaire president has a reputation for taking risks, insisting on flying his own helicopter against the advice of his security detail. But his unplanned landing on a remote highway this weekend had various members of congress saying "enough" on Monday. Sebastian Pinera had tried to minimize Saturday's incident, denying that it was an emergency landing and saying he planned all along to refuel near Cobquecura, a small town near the epicenter of last year's devastating earthquake. "Unfortunately, cars and helicopters need gas," he said Sunday, laughing it off. But video of the incident shot by a local resident suggests the pit stop was hardly planned. The footage shows Pinera asking locals where they were and explaining that he had to land on the highway because the aircraft was running out of gas. He then makes a call for help describing the spot _ on a remote stretch of road about 20 miles (30 kilometers) outside Cobquecura _ a...

Relatives of Tunisia's ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali have arrived in Canada, a government official in Ottawa said. One of Ben Ali's many brothers-in-law arrived in Montreal on Saturday aboard a private jet accompanied by his wife, their children and a governess, the official said, confirming a media report.

NUEVO LAREDO (Mexico): Ten alleged drug cartel members were killed in a clash with Mexican soldiers in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, which borders the United States, the Mexican army said on Sunday. Soldiers on patrol on Friday in a rural area near the border area of Valle Hermoso found a camp of armed men, who opened fire on them. In the shootout "10 presumed aggressors were killed," the Secretariat of National Defense said in a statement. At the camp the soldiers found a rocket launcher, some 20 grenades, two grenade launchers, 24 rifles and a handgun, the statement read. The Mexican government sent thousands of soldiers and police in November to crack down on drug trafficking violence and strengthen security in Tamaulipas and the nearby border state of Nuevo Leon. At least three groups -- the Zetas, the Sinaloa and the Gulf drug cartels -- have been battling for control of area smuggling routes into the lucrative US market, and control of the local northeast...

SEOUL: South Korean navy commandos on Friday stormed a ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, rescuing all the 21 crew and killing eight pirates, military officials said. The SEAL special forces boarded the South Korean ship before dawn, freeing all the hostages and killing the pirates in cabin-to-cabin battles, they said. Five other pirates were captured. "This operation demonstrated our government's strong will that we won't tolerate illegal activities by pirates any more," Lieutenant-General Lee Sung-Ho of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told a news briefing. The South Korean skipper of the chemical freighter suffered a gunshot wound to his stomach during the raid but his condition is not life-threatening , the military said. No commandos were hurt. The rescue about 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) off northeast Somalia was seen as a major morale boost for the South's military. It has faced strong domestic criticism for a perceived weak response to ...

SAO PAULO: Brazilian officials say about 400 people are registered as missing after mudslides last week that killed 767 people. The Rio de Janeiro public prosecutor's office is tallying the list. The death toll from slides triggered by deluges in mountain towns just north of Rio ticked up Friday as recovery teams reached isolated areas and slowly dug out victims. Roads and bridges are washed out across the region, hampering the ability to get heavy machinery into the areas to speed up the recovery of bodies. The slides are the deadliest natural disaster to hit Brazil since flooding killed 785 people four decades ago.

TUNIS: Tunisian authorities arrested 33 members of toppled leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's family as protesters rallied again to demand the rooting out of the dictator's former ruling party. The arrests were announced on state television, which showed footage of luxury watches, jewellery and credit cards seized in raids on homes of the former first family. Authorities had opened an investigation against them for plundering the nation's resources, it said. The mass arrest of Ben Ali's relatives showed how his influence has melted away since he dramatically fled to Saudi Arabia on Friday , following weeks of riots in the north African nation. The accusations include illegal property acquisitions and currency transfers . Charges of corruption and revelations of the Ben Ali family's lavish lifestyle helped fuel the anger of the protests against his 23-year rule which culminated in his toppling.

SEOUL: South Korea on Thursday accepted North Korea's offer of high-level military talks after months of tensions, the unification ministry said. Seoul was responding to a message earlier Thursday from the North's defence minister Kim Yong-Chun to his counterpart in the South, Kim Kwan-Jin. The ministry, which handles cross-border affairs, said it also accepted the North's suggestion of lower-level preparatory talks. Seoul also proposed separate discussions between high-ranking government officials to discuss the issue of denuclearisation. In a statement, the ministry restated Seoul's terms for dialogue -- that the North accept responsibility for two attacks over the past 10 months and show sincerity about nuclear disarmament. The ministry said it would come to the talks "on condition North Korea takes responsible measures concerning the sinking of the Cheonan and the attack on Yeonpyeong island and promise(s) to prevent any recurrence". "Separate ...

DUBLIN: A 1997 letter from the Vatican warned Ireland's Catholic bishops not to report all suspected child-abuse cases to police a disclosure that victims' groups described as "the smoking gun" needed to show that the church enforced a worldwide culture of covering up crimes by paedophile priests. The newly revealed letter, obtained by Irish broadcasters RTE, documents the Vatican's rejection of a 1996 Irish church initiative to begin helping police identify paedophile priests following Ireland's first wave of publicly disclosed lawsuits. The letter undermines persistent Vatican claims that Rome never instructed bishops to withhold evidence or suspicion of crimes from police. It instead emphasizes the church's right to handle all child-abuse allegations and determine punishments in house rather than give that power to civil authorities. The Vatican on Wednesday insisted that its response to the Irish bishops was designed to ensure that guilty priest...

RIYADH: Ousted Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been barred from any political activity relating to his country while he shelters in Saudi Arabia, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said today. "This act (of sheltering Ben Ali) should not lead to any kind of activity in Tunisia from the kingdom... There are conditions, and no act in this regard will be allowed," Faisal told Saudi television. Saudi Arabia has kept a total blackout on Ben Ali's activities since he landed early on Saturday in the Red Sea city of Jeddah with six members of his family. In a palace statement, Saudi Arabia said on Saturday the move was "out of concern for the exceptional circumstances facing the brotherly Tunisian people and in support of the security and stability of their country." Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia in disgrace after 23 years of iron-fisted rule following a wave of protests in which dozens of people were killed. "We support the Tunisian people in re...

COLOMBO: A Maldivian court has ordered a man to be caned 25 times in public and spend two years in jail for sexually assaulting a female Japanese teacher on the atoll nation, police said Wednesday. The sentence was handed down on Tuesday by a criminal court in the capital Male after the man confessed to the offence committed in November, police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam told AFP. Crime is rare in the Maldives, an Indian Ocean nation of 330,000 Sunni Muslims. The honeymoon destination has its own form of Islamic Sharia law that prescribes public floggings for those found guilty of sex offences. "The convict will be publicly caned 25 times at a time to be determined by the court," Shiyam told AFP when contacted by telephone. He said the victim had already left the country. No further details were available. The privately-run Minivan News website said the authorities prosecuted the man identified as Adam Shareef following a complaint from a witness. The teacher was attacked ...

TOKYO: Japanese toilets are famed for functions such as posterior shower jets and perfume bursts, but entertainment company Sega has gone a step further by installing urine-controlled games in Tokyo urinals. Four types of "Toylets" games are available to be played during a test period ending this month at four male bathrooms in pubs and game arcades, in a project aimed at drawing attention to digital adverts. Each urinal is fitted with a pressure sensor, and a small digital display is placed at eye level. Digital adverts are shown after the games. Games include "Graffiti Eraser" in which a user tries to aim at the pressuresensor in the urinaltoerase virtual graffition the display. Or there's "Mannekin Pis" named after a Brussels fountain depicting a urinating boy which measures the volume of the user's stream. Another is called "The North Wind and The Sun and Me", in which the strength of a urine stream determines the extent to wh...

KUALA LUMPUR: Somali pirates kidnapped a record number of seafarers in 2010, in cases that left eight sailors dead, a maritime watchdog said Tuesday. Pirates in the lawless region hijacked 53 ships and captured 1,181 seafarers last year, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in a report. "More people were taken hostage at sea in 2010 than in any year on record," it said. The number of pirate attacks against ships has risen every year for the past four years, the IMB said. There were 445 attacks reported in 2010, up 10 percent from 2009. Some 188 crew members were taken hostage in 2006, 1,050 in 2009 and 1,181 in 2010. "These figures for the number of hostages and vessels taken are the highest we have ever seen," said Pottengal Mukundan, director of the IMB's piracy reporting centre, which has monitored the problem worldwide since 1991. "The continued increase in these numbers is alarming," he added. Hijackings off the coast of Somalia...

TUNIS: Thousands of protesters put Tunisia's new government under pressure Tuesday with activists rejecting the leadership just days after the ouster of the Arab state's former strongman. Tunisia's largest trade union and other groups have refused to recognise a transitional government that contains eight ministers from the discredited regime of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Key Islamist leader Sadok Chourou, who was imprisoned for 20 years under the old regime, led one of the rallies on the main avenue in central Tunis that was broken up by riot police firing volleys of tear gas. "The new government does not represent the people and has to fall," said Chourou, 63, ex-leader of the banned Ennahdha (Awakening) movement. Protesters chanted "We can live on bread and water alone but not with the RCD," a reference to the former ruling party, which has held on to key posts in the new government including the foreign, defence and interior ministries...

SEOUL: South Korea has ordered the culling of close to 2 million livestock across the country in order to slow the spread of the highly contagious foot and mouth disease (FMD), the government said. The farm ministry said yesterday it has ordered a little over 1.98 million cattle, pigs, goats and deer destroyed on 4,155 farms since the first FMD case was confirmed on November 29. In the past 50 days, the country confirmed 120 official outbreaks in five provinces and the port city of Incheon, west of Seoul, despite extensive quarantine efforts. Seoul also began giving vaccine shots to animals on December 25 as the disease effectively spread across the country. As of early Monday, quarantine authorities had ordered the vaccination of 3.58 million animals, with numbers likely to go up in the coming days. "Since the start of vaccinations, there has been less FMD suspected cases being reported," an official said. He added that in the past, vaccinations usually allowed outbr...

MELBOURNE: Ever thought of a yacht having buildings, helicopters , submarines and a beach? Well, you could take a ride in one such yacht worth a billion dollars the most expensive ever very soon. The staggering 155-metre Streets of Monaco yacht is expected to cost over $1.1 billion to build and is modelled on a section of Monte Carlo. Currently in the design stage, the super-ship will feature smaller versions of the state's famous landmarks such as the Monte Carlo Casino and racetrack, as well as swimming pools, tennis courts, a cinema, a go-kart track and a Hotel de Paris. Instead of traditional decks the one-of-a-kind ship will have buildings, and instead of a swimming platform it will have a beach. Travellers would also be able to enjoy spot waterfalls, a swim-in Jacuzzi-bar , helicopters and submarines on board. Yacht Island Design has designed the yacht, that could be home to 16 guests and 70 crew with the main apartment spread over three floors and 445 square metres...

TORONTO/OTTAWA: Canada moved on Monday to tighten its mortgage rules for the second time in less than a year, citing the need to prevent the kind of housing market problems that led other countries into financial crisis. The new rules, designed to ensure Canadians don't take on more debt than they can handle, took aim at mortgage amortization, refinancing and the use of lines of credit secured by homes. Many U.S. homeowners borrowed against the rising value of their houses and refinanced mortgages to fund spending in the run-up to the global recession. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who warned that Canadian interest rates were bound to go up, said the new measures would "have some moderating effect on the (housing) market." "The main reason we're taking the action is for the longer term, that we avoid even the beginning of the development of the kinds of issues that have happened in some other countries, that have been very damaging to families," Fla...

MOGADISHU: Fourteen Indian sailors convicted of illegally exporting charcoal from areas controlled by Somalia's Shebab rebels have been freed after paying fines, an official said. The sailors were sentenced by a Mogadishu court on Saturday to one year in prison or a fine of USD 10,000 (7,500 euros) for illegally exporting charcoal from Somalia. They were released yesterday. "The Indian crew members regained their freedom (Sunday) afternoon after paying money to avoid serving the prison term. They can go home now," said General Abdulahi Moalim Ali of Somalia's prison service. The crew was arrested last week by the Western-backed Somali government's coastguards while transporting the charcoal from the country's southern port of Kismayo. Charcoal is a key source of revenue for the Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab militia controlling much of Somalia's southern and central regions. Most of the charcoal smugglers use Indian dhows to take their cargo to Gulf state...

JUBA: Southern Sudan's president on Sunday offered a prayer of forgiveness for northern Sudan and the killings that occurred during a two-decade civil war, as the first results from a weeklong independence referendum showed an overwhelming vote for secession. Exhausted poll workers who counted ballots overnight and deep into Sunday morning posted returns at individual stations, and a count of a small sample showed a 96% vote for secession. Sudan's south ended its independence vote on Saturday, a vote most everyone believes will split Africa's largest country in two at the divide between Sudan's Muslim north and Christian and animist south. The two sides ended a more than two decade civil war in 2005 in a peace deal that provided for last week's vote. If everything stays on track, by July Southern Sudan should be the world's newest nation . At a church service Sunday, Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir a stoic man not known for showing emotion smiled, ge...

TUNIS: The Tunisian army launched an assault on Sunday against supporters of ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali holed up inside the presidential palace on the outskirts of Tunis, a security source told AFP. "The army has launched an assault on the palace in Carthage where elements of the presidential guard have taken refuge," the senior source said on condition of anonymity. A witness in the area said by phone he had heard "an exchange of fire" nearby. He said the army had set up a large security cordon outside the palace. Another witness said she had seen "at least two helicopters flying over the presidential grounds." State television reported that police officers sheltering inside a business school near the palace had asked the army to intervene.

TUNIS: Tunisian politicians were holding talks on Sunday to try to form a unity government to help maintain a fragile calm two days after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted by violent protests. Tanks were stationed around the capital Tunis and soldiers were guarding public buildings, but after a day of drive-by shootings and jailbreaks in which dozens of inmates were killed, residents said they were starting to feel more secure. "Last night we surrounded our neighbourhood with roadblocks and had teams checking cars. Now we are in the process of lifting the roadblocks and getting life back to normal" said a man, Imed, in the city's Intilaka suburb. Sunday is not a working day in Tunisia and the streets were quiet, but some people were moving about, shopping for food. For the first time in several days, a handful of commercial vehicles -- vans and pick-up trucks -- could be seen moving about with deliveries. The only occasional sounds of gunfire overnight w...

ATHENS: Greek authorities say a ship carrying a reported 263 migrants has sunk west of the island of Corfu and 22 passengers are missing. Coast guards say they were alerted yesterday night by a passenger on the Hasan Reis saying that the boat was in danger, but high winds prevented rescue boats immediately taking to the water. The passengers in the ship were rescued by a Dutch cargo ship about seven hours after the call that alerted the coast guard. The ship's captain reported he took 241 people on board and that the Italy-bound Hasan Reis sank. Authorities say they are waiting for the cargo ship's imminent arrival at Corfu harbour. A helicopter search has found no survivors at sea.