Foreign

Crazy World
All gold taste to real food A RESTAURANT in Düsseldorf, Germany, is putting gold-covered sausages on its Christmas menu. Owner Juergen Mauermann claims eating gold is healthy: "It's been done in Greece for hundreds of years. One of our cust...

'Colonial' memorials removed from Zim cathedral
HARARE -- Racial controversy struck Zimbabwe's Anglican church on Thursday as church authorities ordered the removal from its cathedral of hundreds of plaques and commemorations honouring the dead of "colonial" former Rhodesia. Parishioners were ...

Brits want tighter control of sex offenders
LONDON -- Pressure mounted on the British government this week to tighten controls on sex offenders following the conviction for murder of a repeat child molester who authorities knew was dangerous but could not contain. Public frustration boiled...

India blames Pakistan for attack
NEW DELHI -- The Indian government yesterday said it had evidence that a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group carried out the suicide attack on the Indian parliament which claimed 12 lives. Foreign minister Jaswant Singh said India demanded that...

Israel arrests 40 terror suspects
HEBRON -- The Israeli army launched deadly pre-dawn raids into West Bank towns yesterday, killing at least five Palestinians and arresting 40 as the government pursued its crackdown on suspects. A senior aide to beleaguered Palestinian leader Yas...

Zambian poll troubles US observers
LUSAKA -- With Zambian elections less than two weeks away, a centre headed by former US president Jimmy Carter expressed concern yesterday about ruling party abuses and voter apathy. In a report published ahead of the December 27 election, the Ca...

Brain abscess from piercing
NEW HAVEN -- Yale medical officials say they have linked a woman's brain abscess to her tongue piercing. The woman, in her mid-20s, developed symptoms of a brain abscess 18 months ago after removing a stud from her infected tongue. She had diffic...

Video sales coming up roses
LONDON -- Hmmm...this smells like a good movie. A chain of British video stores is using aromatherapy to help customers choose movies. Its business scents, chosen to sum up different kinds of movies are: a faint smell of gunpowder for action fil...

Winona Ryder's shoplifting 'mistake'
BEVERLY HILLS -- Actress Winona Ryder's arrest for allegedly shoplifting at a Saks Fifth Avenue boutique is the result of a misunderstanding, according to her lawyer. Store security guards detained the Oscar-nominated star of Girl, Interrupted an...

AFRICA BRIEF
Zambia mourns Chona LUSAKA -- Zambian president Frederick Chiluba has declared tomorrow a day of mourning for liberation leader Mainza Chona, who died in South Africa two days ago, state radio said yesterday. Chona was the nation's first prime ...

WORLD WATCH
Aborigine arrests on rise SYDNEY -- Nearly a third of Australia's indigenous people have been arrested in the past five years, a study released this week showed. The survey by the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra is the first in...

Crafty tradition
A craftsman applies paint to the roof of a traditional Thai spirit house in front of an office building in Bangkok yesterday. Thais believe they can keep away bad luck by providing houses for the spirits that reside on their property. (AP) ...