California to drivers: Drop the cell phone, dude (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Next week California will try to wrest cell phones from the hands of drivers, telling everyone from movie starlets and dot-com millionaires to surfers and soccer moms that conversations behind the wheel must be on a headset.

Several U.S. states and some two dozen countries around the world already have restrictions on mobile phones while driving but now such a law has come to California -- where the car is king and much of life is spent on the famously snarled freeways.

Californians interviewed by Reuters mostly supported the law requiring hands-free phones in cars and outlawing cell phones entirely for drivers under 18, which takes effect on Tuesday -- though they were puzzled by a loophole that allows seemingly more dangerous text messaging.

Others cast a jaundiced eye on lawmakers, who they blame for failing to build more freeways or public transportation in the face of increasingly gridlocked roads in the nation's most populous state and say hands-free conversations are no safer.

"I can't believe that (Californians) will put up with all these nanny, nit-picking laws," KFI-AM radio talk-show host John Kobylt told Reuters.

"It's stupid because we've gone over about seven different studies and each one of them says it's the conversation that distracts you, not holding the phone," he said.

TEXT MESSAGING OK?

Besides, he said, many Californians are forced to use their cars as offices while stuck on the freeway.

State Sen. Joe Simitian, who authored the bill, disputes those studies and says keeping both hands on the wheel is always safer. He expects his law to save hundreds of lives.

"There are more and more people out there on the highway and the CHP (California Highway Patrol) has collected data every year showing that cell phones are the number one cause of distracted drivers," Simitian said.

Fines for a first offense are $20 plus fees and $50 plus fees for subsequent convictions.

The Democratic lawmaker is working on a follow-up bill to outlaw text messaging in the car, which he says wasn't an issue when he began working on the first one in 2001.

Connecticut, New Jersey and New York already prohibit drivers from talking on hand-held cell phones, along with some two dozen countries around the world. In New Jersey, police have issued 35,000 tickets for using a hand-held phone or texting while driving since the law went into effect March 1.

But the random sampling of Californians interviewed by Reuters expressed ambivalence.

"On the one hand I don't want people crashing into each other, but I'm not going to go get an ear thing," 38-year-old bank employee Jason Fischer said in Los Angeles. "I'll give it up and then one day I'll make a call and get a ticket. I don't want a headset. I'm too lazy to get a headset."

Rachel Kucsulain, 36, said she rides her bike to her job as an administrative assistant in Los Angeles and wants cell phones taken out of the hands of drivers.

"I've almost been hit multiple times. I think it's totally a threat," Kucsulain said. "Two blocks from here someone (on a cell phone) turned on me as I was crossing a crosswalk. They were only inches away from me. It's just distracting."

(Additional reporting by Jon Hurdle in Philadelphia; Editing by Mary Milliken and Eric Beech)

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Aussie politician goes wild for wombats (Reuters)

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's top treasury official is taking five weeks leave to nurse endangered wombats, prompting the government to defend him on Friday against accusations he had abandoned his post during economic turmoil.

Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, a key economic advisor to the centre-left Labour government and a passionate animal conservationist, will miss a central bank meeting as he looks after 115 critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombats in northern Queensland state, his office told Reuters.

"Wombatty: Economy not his main concern," said a headline in an Australian newspaper ahead of a Reserve Bank board meeting where Henry would usually help steer on July 1.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose government is battling inflation at 16-year highs, interest rates at 12-year highs and public fury over rising fuel prices, said Henry's private leave, which began on Thursday, was a personal matter.

"The economy has been under significant international pressure and challenge since the day the government was elected. Over that period of time, and since we formed a government, the secretary of the Treasury has not been on any leave," said Rudd.

Henry attracted national attention last year as he joined protests against a cull of hundreds of kangaroos by Australia's military at a communications base in the capital Canberra. He lives on a farm and often cares for injured wildlife.

Before leaving, Henry told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that the Australian economy was in "pretty good shape", being in its 16th year of expansion.

"This place doesn't stop when I am not here," he said.

Rudd faced prolonged questioning on the issue during a morning interview and said the Treasury department was managed as a team, and not steered solely by Henry, who has served successive conservative and Labour governments.

Henry's boss, Treasurer Wayne Swan, said his secretary was taking leave with government approval.

"It's appropriate he takes a break now and gets re-charged. It's very important given the scale of the reform plans that the government has ahead of it," Swan said.

Northern hairy-nosed wombats, small, muscular marsupials, now live only within an area of three square kilometres and are at high extinction risk. The International Union for Conservation of Nature said they are one of the world's rarest large mammals.

(Editing by David Fox)

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Japan firm scraps ad after racial controversy (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese mobile phone firm has halted an advertisement depicting a monkey as a political candidate after bloggers said the commercial was a racial slur against U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

An ad aired by the mobile unit of eAccess Ltd showed the firm's mascot, a monkey, addressing a political rally in Japanese and surrounded by supporters brandishing placards with the word "Change".

Some bloggers said the eMobile ad was racist because it seemed to refer to Obama and his campaign slogan advocating change. Earlier this week Britain's Telegraph newspaper ran a story saying the ad "apparently portraying Barack Obama as a monkey has provoked a new row about racial depictions of the Democratic candidate".

Monkeys, while revered in parts of Asia, are viewed in the United States as a racial slur if used to depict African Americans.

eMobile said on Friday that the firm never meant to malign Obama but was withdrawing the ad after the outbreak of criticism in cyberspace.

"We had no bad intentions, but this is a cross-cultural gap issue and we have to accept it," eMobile CEO Sachio Semmoto told Reuters. "There are some African Americans in Japan, so we decided to take prompt action and shut down the ad."

Semmoto said the advertisement, which he said was produced by WPP Group Plc's JWT unit, had meant to underscore his firm's commitment to change.

"For two years I've been saying that Obama has the capacity to change America, the kind of capacity that Japan needs," said Semmoto, who has a reputation as a maverick and whose company has carved out a niche in Japan with a pricing model that differs from more entrenched competitors.

Monkey deities exist in Hinduism, Buddhism and Shintoism, and monkey figures are common in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in Japan, including the famous 17th century carving of three wise monkeys on the facade of the Toshogu Shrine in Nikko. In Hinduism, Hanuman is a monkey god revered for courage and power.

Semmoto is a director and trustee of Reuters Founder Share Company, which is charged with safeguarding Thomson Reuters independence, integrity and freedom from bias.

(Reporting by Nelson Graves; Editing by John Chalmers and Hugh Lawson)

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Single mom selling Fla. home and heart on Internet (AP)

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - She's tried night clubs and online dating sites, but now a 42-year-old single mother is looking for love where everyone else's heart is breaking — the real estate market.

After a year of trying to sell her four-bedroom home and eight years of singledom, Deven Trabosh is offering her South Florida home and a shot at marrying her on the Internet.

"I figured let's combine the ad because I'm looking for love and I'm looking to sell the house," said Trabosh, a Barbie-esque blonde who teeters around the nearly 2,000 square-foot house in patent leather heels.

"Marry a Princess Lost in America," Trabosh wrote in the ads she posted on eBay and Craigslist last week. She describes a life of romance and travel and a home decorated with vaulted ceilings, upgraded tile and a soaking tub in a gated community with a pool and tennis courts.

Trabosh, a licensed real estate agent who hasn't practiced in years, knew she would struggle to sell the home in the troubled real estate market, but insists her fairytale ad isn't just a sales gimmick.

"I'm struggling...I don't want to lose my house and I want to find somebody," said Trabosh, who changed her name in the ad to Traboscia to keep people from finding her in the phone book. "So I came up with this dream plan because I've always dreamt about being a fairytale princess."

She listed the home for $340,000 on a sell-it-yourself web site, but upped the price, adding a $500,000 shipping fee to include her companionship on eBay.

Trabosh says eBay removed her ad, though she planned to change the wording and repost it. Under the site's prohibited services policy, eBay does not allow the sale of human beings, body parts or relationships, spokeswoman Catherine England said Friday.

Trabosh hasn't received any serious offers, but says she's had nearly 500 responses, mostly positive, including one from Ottie of Surrey, England, who e-mailed to say, "You are offering the perfect life with the perfect American princess."

She whips out her laptop to show off a picture of Claudio, a handsome Italian wine and cheese taster, who she's been corresponding with since he responded to the ad. Seated on a white leather love seat in her living room, she giggles almost girlishly about him. They're hoping to meet in Miami in a few weeks.

She's gotten criticism too. Her 21-year-old daughter Haley says she just wants her mom to find love, but her 14-year-old daughter says her mother is embarrassing her. Other have e-mailed to say she's selling herself short.

"I'm not selling myself. I'm selling love...to meet that true love," Trabosh says. "Of course, it's gonna take more chemistry and connection. It's not going to be instantaneous that I'm just going to be automatically for sale...it's a package deal for true love."

Trabosh isn't the first to use the Internet to hawk the unconventional. A heartbroken Australian man recently tried to sell his life online, including his house, job and friends. Others have sold body space, promising to display advertisements for the highest bidder.

"There is a plethora of quirky ads on craigslist that pop up on craigslist every day, and this appears to be one of them," spokeswoman Susan MacTavish Best said in an e-mail. "Scads of couples have met and, thus, married through craigslist over the last twelve years sometimes marrying the person who bought their tired couch."

Ideally, Trabosh hopes a European man will close the deal and says she's willing to move overseas.

"I know I'm putting myself out there. I'm sincere. I believe in true love," she says. "I want to get married again."

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On the Net:http://florence.en.craigslist.it/vac/725787925.html

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Mayor fuming over cigar case probe (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) - London's flamboyant mayor Boris Johnson is fuming after police took possession of a cigar case he removed from the looted home of former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Johnson, a member of the opposition Conservatives and a journalist, traveled to Baghdad in 2003 and wrote about his experiences in the Spectator magazine.

He handed the case to the city's Metropolitan Police on Monday, and wrote a letter in Tuesday's Telegraph complaining about the pettiness of a case which he blamed on the ruling Labour Party.

"We can confirm that the item in question has today been taken into police custody," the police said in a statement on Monday. "The item, a cigar case, will remain with the police while further enquiries, by the country of origin, are made."

The police will consider whether the case is of "archaeological, historical, cultural, rare scientific or religious importance" and whether it was illegally removed from Iraq.

Johnson said the investigation was opened after political rivals raised the issue with police, and accused the Labour Party of being "petty" and "time-wastingly idiotic."

He added: "I am accused by my political opponents of removing a cultural artifact from Iraq.

"As it happens, I also have in my possession a letter from the lawyers of Tariq Aziz, informing me that Mr. Aziz wishes me to regard the cigar case as a gift."

Iraq has lost thousands of priceless treasures since the 2003 invasion, many looted from museums and ancient archaeological sites, and officials have proposed an international ban on trading antiquities from the country.

The police said they were not investigating Johnson himself, and denied they were over-reacting.

"The MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) treats the theft of and cultural dealing of property from abroad very seriously.

"The steps we are taking are proportionate with a view to repatriating an item which could be of cultural or historical significance to the Iraqi's."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Matthew Jones)

(To read more about our entertainment news, visit our blog "Fan Fare" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare)

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Life in outer space? Astronomers hunt aliens (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's biggest astronomical observatories are teaming up for an unprecedented quest to find out whether there is life in outer space.

The project, led by Japanese astronomers, will bring together a dozen or more observatories from all over the country to study one star that researchers see as a potential home to an extraterrestrial civilization.

"Everyone wonders at least once in their lifetime whether space is infinite and whether aliens really do exist," said Shinya Narusawa, chief researcher at Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory in western Japan.

The search for aliens and UFOs is not new to Japan. Last year, unidentified flying objects grabbed the headlines after a lawmaker submitted a question to the cabinet on whether the country had confirmed any cases of their existence. The government's answer: no.

In the scientific world, Japanese researchers have used antennas to catch radio signals from outer space and analyzed the prisms of celestial lights to see if any laser emissions from space can be found, Narusawa said.

Their searches have not been too fruitful so far. The new project will involve multiple astronomers filming one star over several nights some time next year, along with the usual light analysis and recording of radio signals.

"When there are some suspicious signals, sometimes it's hard to tell whether they are artificial ones coming from the earth, for example from machines, or whether they are coming from the stars in the natural world," Narusawa said.

With multiple participants observing one star, it will be easier to check on whether the signals received are actually from the natural world, he said, adding that they have not decided on which star to observe.

The participants are realistic about the slim chance of encountering signals from outer space during the short experiment, but they see a larger significance.

"By thinking about outer space, we hope this will be an opportunity where people can re-appreciate the earth and human beings," Narusawa said.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; editing by Sophie Hardach)

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Prosecutors: No crying in death penalty closings (AP)

HAMILTON, Ohio - Prosecutors say there should be no crying during closing arguments in death penalty cases. Jason Phillabaum, an assistant Butler County prosecutor, filed motions this week asking that defense attorneys be blocked from using emotional appeals to a jury during the trial and sentencing phase of an upcoming death penalty case.

"Specifically, defense attorneys have strategically been known to cry on cue and beg for their client's lives," according to the motions, which notes previous cases where defense attorneys have been admonished for crying in front of a jury during closing arguments.

The motions came following a trial last month in which attorney Greg Howard cried while urging jurors to spare his client, Harvey "Shawn" Johnson. Johnson received life in prison for the kidnapping and strangulation of Kiva Gazaway.

Howard will help represent James O'Hara in a death penalty case in August. O'Hara is accused of stabbing Stanley Lawson in a Middletown apartment complex.

Phillabaum and county Prosecutor Robin Piper declined to discuss the motions, but Piper said he thought a trained professional should be able to control emotions in court.

Howard called the motions "petty" and said he can't wait to argue against them in a July 18 hearing before Common Pleas Judge Andrew Nastoff in this southwest Ohio city.

"They want to kill my clients. They want to win at all costs," Howard said. "They are tired of losing, so they are trying to limit what I can say in my closing arguments."

He added that if he could cry on cue, he would be in Hollywood.

"It is emotional; you are trying to save your client's life. It just comes out," Howard said.

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Information from: The JournalNews of Hamilton, http://www.journal-news.com/cgi-bin/liveique.acgi$schjnfront?jn ron t

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Leader of body parts ring apologizes in court (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New Jersey dentist behind a scheme to steal body parts from corpses, including that of British journalist Alistair Cooke, faced relatives of the dead in court on Thursday and apologized for the anguish he caused.

Michael Mastromarino, 44, in March admitted to leading a $4.6 million operation that stole body parts from funeral homes in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The ring dismembered more than 1,000 cadavers in unsanitary conditions, and sold parts to doctors who transplanted them into patients.

Mastromarino has pleaded guilty to body stealing, reckless endangerment and enterprise corruption. He faces 18 to 54 years in prison and was due to be sentenced on June 27.

"I am truly sorry for the pain that I have caused," Mastromarino said, turning to face five people who were in court to deliver statements. "May God have mercy on my soul."

Speaking outside the courtroom, relatives called his words hollow and urged State Supreme Court Judge John Walsh to put him in prison for the rest of his life.

"I felt like he had to say that. It wasn't from his heart," said Anthony Dumaine, 43, whose father, Thomas, had his body desecrated by Mastromarino's ring in 2003.

"What people do for greed is unimaginable," said Karen DelRe. Her father, James Thornton, had body parts removed in 2004.

One statement came from a recipient of the parts.

"The disgust factor is enormous," said Stephanie Berardini, 36, who underwent periodontal surgery throughout her mouth using tissue and bone implants from Mastromarino's cadavers.

As part of the scheme, a team of so-called cutters removed bones, skin and tendons in an unsanitary embalming room, prosecutors said.

There are three co-defendants. One pleaded guilty, another was convicted at trial and the third was awaiting trial.

Cooke, the former newspaper foreign correspondent and host of the PBS television show "Masterpiece Theatre" and BBC's "Letter from America," died in 2004 at age 95 in New York City.

(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Xavier Briand)

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Sports bra saves US hiker in German Alps (AP)

BERLIN - An American hiker stranded in the Bavarian Alps for nearly three days was rescued after using her sports bra as a signal, police in southern Germany said Monday.

Berchtesgaden police officer Lorenz Rasp said that he helped lift 24-year-old Jessica Bruinsma of Colorado state to safety by helicopter on Thursday after she attracted the attention of lumberjacks by attaching her sports bra to a cable used to move timber down the mountain.

"She's a very smart girl, and she acted very resourcefully," said Rasp. "She kept her shirt and jacket for warmth, but thought the sports bra could work as a signal."

An Alpine rescue team, including five helicopters and 80 emergency workers, had been searching for Bruinsma since she went missing June 16 after losing her way in bad weather while hiking with a friend near the Austrian border.

She fell 16.4 feet (five meters) to a rocky overhang, where she spent the next 70 hours on the narrow ledge, sustained by water that she found by breaking into a supply box on the ledge.

She badly bruised a leg and dislocated a shoulder in the fall, and the cliff was too isolated for her to climb free, Rasp said.

Rasp said the cable was only within reach because the timber transport system was out of service. When a repairman restored the line on Thursday, the cable car started moving up the mountain and Bruinsma's bra reached the worker at the base. He knew of the missing hiker and immediately called police.

Rasp said his team followed the cable line up the cliffside in a helicopter and found Bruinsma standing on the ledge, waving with her good arm. After circling once, they lowered a winch to Bruinsma and lifted her aboard.

"She did so well because she is in very good shape," Rasp said. "She has been training for a marathon — her goal is to finish in 3 hours and 10 minutes."

Bruinsma told Rasp that she has scrapped plans to stay in Berchtesgaden to learn German and plans to return home to Colorado Springs with her parents. He said she still plans to run the marathon, if she recovers in time to keep training.

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Beijing Olympic media centre hotel offers cash for coverage (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - The hotel hosting the official non-accredited media centre for August's Beijing Olympics is offering cash to reporters in return for positive media coverage.

The Gehua New Century Hotel, which describes itself as "China's first five-star hotel with a media-cultural theme", has promised journalists up to 1,000 yuan (74 pounds) for articles about it.

It is common practice in China for local media to be paid "travel expenses" of 200 to 300 yuan for attending news conferences -- in effect an incentive given that most taxi journeys in the city cost less than 50 yuan.

Hush money has also been paid to reporters by coal mine owners and, in some cases, colluding local officials to cover up fatal accidents.

The handout in Chinese on headed notepaper given by staff to the media after a Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) news conference at the hotel on Friday promised 100 yuan for a mention of the Gehua in reports.

Once verified by the public relations department, the document said, media can claim 500 yuan for a "positive" article on the hotel of 100 to 500 words in length and 1,000 yuan for an article of between 500 and 1,000 words.

"We want to extend our reputation through the opportunity of the Olympics, it is necessary to promote our brand," PR manager Zhao Xiaoda told Reuters by telephone on Monday.

"I understand it is different from international practice. It was a decision of the PR department not the hotel."

Formerly known as the Huabei Hotel, the 353-room facility was the home of the BOCOG media department before being extensively refurbished and reopened recently as the Beijing International Media Centre (BIMC).

It hosted its first BOCOG news conference last week and will be the workplace of up to 10,000 media who are expected to arrive in Beijing to cover the August 8-24 Games without official International Olympic Committee (IOC) accreditation.

The IOC has accredited 21,500 media for the Games.

(Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom and Liu Zhen)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "Road to Beijing" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china )

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Teacher fired for running from quake school (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese high school teacher has been fired and denounced by local media and Internet users for fleeing a classroom before his students during last month's devastating earthquake.

Fan Meizhong, a Chinese-language teacher at a private high school in quake-ravaged Dujiangyan in southwest Sichuan province, has been branded "running Fan" on Internet chat-rooms and come under fire for defending his actions online in a lengthy post.

The 8.0 magnitude earthquake on May 12 killed more than 70,000 people, including thousands of children at their desks in what many parents believe were shoddily made school buildings.

"At such a life-or-death moment, I would only consider sacrificing my life for my daughter. I would not do it for anyone else, even my mother," Fan wrote on popular online portal Tianya.cn ( http:/www.tianya.cn ).

"In a flash I felt it -- a big earthquake! Then I charged to the building's stairs," Fan said, adding that he was the first person to emerge from the school on to the soccer pitch.

None of the children in his literature class died in the quake.

China's education ministry confirmed that Fan had been dismissed, but said it was the school's decision and denied media reports that it had issued a special order demanding it. Fan said he had not ruled out suing the authorities over the decision.

Fan's account has enraged China, as it struggles to rebuild damaged cities and provide housing for millions of victims displaced by the quake.

"I know many teachers died protecting children during the earthquake... In this long essay, I can't see any 'person' here, I just see a big 'me'," a post in response to Fan's account said.

Despite a massive outpouring of charity in the wake of the quake, Chinese bloggers have been quick to round on those deemed unsympathetic.

Movie actress Sharon Stone drew scathing criticism late last month after suggesting that "karma" might have played a part in causing the earthquake after China's crackdown on unrest in ethnic Tibetan areas in March.

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie and Alex Richardson)

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Quebec girl takes father to court over class trip (Reuters)

TORONTO (Reuters) - A Quebec father has decided to appeal a decision by a judge who ruled he had no right to stop his 12-year-old daughter from going on a school trip, even though the girl has already gone on the outing.

The dispute began in May when the girl had a disagreement with her stepmother. That prompted the father to forbid the girl to go on a three-day outing with her classmates to celebrate their last year in elementary school. The girl then moved to her mother's house.

The parents, who live in the Gatineau region of Quebec, are divorced, and the father has legal custody.

Last week, Quebec Superior Court Madam Justice Suzanne Tessier ruled the girl could attend the outing despite her father's wishes. She went on the trip this week.

Kim Beaudoin, a lawyer handling the father's case, said the judge's ruling raises unsettling questions for families.

"It's dangerous to let kids play their parents. They have to learn to respect rules," Beaudoin said in an interview on Thursday.

Beaudoin said her client feels the judge had undermined his authority over his daughter.

"He doesn't think a judge should be allowed to take away a punishment," she said. "And he doesn't think another parent should be allowed to say 'Well, come live at my house, and you won't have to live that punishment.'"

Miriam Grassby, a family law attorney in Montreal, said it's not that simple.

"In Quebec, even if a parent has legal custody, both parents retain parental authority," she said. "If one parent has custody, the parents still have to make the decisions jointly."

The girl's lawyer, Lucie Fortin, maintained on Thursday that she exhausted all other avenues - including negotiating with Ms. Beaudoin - before presenting the petition to the court.

"This trip will not be possible next year," said Ms. Fortin. "It's the end of elementary school. It'll never come back. It's once in her life."

She also said it is an isolated case, and disagreed that the ruling would open the door for other children to rush to court whenever parents try to punish them.

"It's very, very rare," she said, adding that she finally decided to present the petition to the court last Friday because the girl's trip was planned for Monday

Ms. Beaudoin is preparing to file a formal appeal.

(Editing by Frank McGurty)

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Tiny Shetland island declares independence (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) - The owner of a tiny island in off Scotland declared its independence from the United Kingdom on Saturday, saying he wanted the territory, population one, to be a crown dependency like the Channel Islands.

In a declaration on his Web site, Stuart Hill, who owns the 2.5 acre island of Forvik in the Shetland Islands in the North Sea, said he no longer recognised the authority of the government or the European Union, and cited a centuries-old royal marriage dowry deal as the basis for his claim.

"Forvik owes no allegiance to any United Kingdom government, central or local, and is not bound by any of its statutes," Hill wrote.

Hill, 65, has lived in the Shetland Islands on the edge of the Atlantic since 2001, when his boat capsized there during an unsuccessful attempted to circumnavigate Britain.

He is Forvik's only resident, and his home is a tent on the storm-battered island. He says on his website that he plans to create Forvik's own currency -- the "gulde" -- print his own stamps and raise his own flag.

"There will be no income tax, VAT (value added tax), council tax, corporation tax, or any of the other taxes instituted by the British government," Hill wrote.

Hill's claim dates back to a 15th century arrangement between the Norwegian King Christian and King James III of Scotland when the Shetland Islands were effectively pawned to King James in lieu of a marriage dowry.

According to Hill's studies of the history of the island, in 1669 King Charles II re-confirmed Shetland's status at the time of the pawning, meaning the islands remained directly answerable to the crown -- represented today by the Queen.

"The monarchs and governments of Scotland, and Great Britain and the United Kingdom have for many years assumed powers over these islands of Shetland to which they were not entitled," he wrote.

"By declaring Forvik a crown dependency I am simply re-establishing the correct legal relationship between this part of Shetland and the crown.

Hill said he had written to the Queen offering his services as "steward" and recognising her as head of state.

"I also invite anyone from any country in the world, who supports these aims, namely to become free of liars, thieves and tyrants in government, to become a citizen of Forvik," he added.

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Titanic life jacket to go on sale in New York (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An unused life jacket from the doomed Titanic ship will go under the hammer later this month in New York, Christie's auction house said on Wednesday.

The cork-filled life preserver -- still largely intact, but stained and torn in parts -- was thought to have been found by farmer John James Dunbar on the Halifax shoreline after the passenger ship sank off Newfoundland.

The liner sank during its maiden voyage from the British port of Southampton to New York in April, 1912 when it hit an iceberg, causing some 1,500 people to die.

Christie's, which estimated that the life preserver would sell for 30,620 pounds to 40,828 pounds, sold another Titanic life jacket last year in London for 60,727 pounds.

Maritime specialist Gregg Dietrich said there was still huge public interest in Titanic memorabilia as the sinking of the ship, which had been billed as unsinkable, caused such a loss of life and was one of the first world-wide news events.

"The Titanic is really one of those bookmarks in time," he said during a press viewing of the item before the auction.

Dietrich said that after the London sale last year, Christie's was inundated with offers of what people thought were Titanic artifacts, but about 99 percent proved to be reproductions.

After getting a call in February from the Nova Scotia MacQuarrie family, who had kept the jacket safe for generations, Dietrich went to check its authenticity and found it had the correct dimensions and looked damaged by water.

He said the jacket -- believed to be one of six remaining -- appeared to have been unused because the shoulder straps were still intact whereas Titanic passengers tended to have had their life preservers cut off to avoid skin chaffing.

Dietrich said that the cork filling the jackets was so heavy that many of the survivors and victims of Titanic were found to have broken their jaws on the preservers when they hit the water after jumping from the ship.

The preserver will be the main item in Christie's Ocean Liner auction that also includes a second-class passenger list carried off by 12-year-old survivor Bertha Watt as well as her high school essay describing the night the Titanic went down.

Another item going on sale is a Marconi Gram sent by another survivor, Helen, to her family, estimated to fetch $7,000 to $10,000.

(Editing by Michelle Nichols and Sandra Maler)

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EU states oppose plan to end "bent cucumber" rule (Reuters)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Bent courgettes and cucumbers, misshapen garlic, warped leeks and onions? Who sets the rules?

One of the most popular jibes about EU over-regulation, where zealous Brussels bureaucrats are portrayed as wanting to set permitted sizes, lengths -- and "bendiness" -- for household fruit and vegetables, has come back to haunt the European Union.

But this time, Brussels wants to cut the red tape and get rid of what it calls "unnecessary marketing standards".

The trouble is, several EU governments don't like the idea.

As part of last year's reform of fruit and vegetable rules, EU farm ministers signed up to a deal to simplify much of tortuous policy and subsidy regulations. But Europe's farm chief got a shock when she tried to put some of that into practice.

Her idea was to scrap 26 out of 36 marketing standards that apply to a wide range of products such as beans, cauliflower, melons, spinach and watermelon. The 10 remaining items account for 75 percent of the EU's cross-border trade in this area.

When national EU experts saw what was being planned, a large majority of them -- notably those France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Spain -- objected. Only eight countries approved.

"The need for marketing standards has diminished because supermarkets have imposed their own standards," a diplomat said.

"But some member states like marketing standards, that governments, not businesses, set the standards against the misshapen apple or the over-bent banana," he said.

Despite the setback, EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel plans to press ahead. Privately, officials say she is surprised by the strong resistance, especially at a time of soaring food prices and worries about food security.

Part of her idea is to let misshapen fruits be sold in shops with a special label indicating for use in cooking which, the Commission says, makes far more sense than throwing them away.

"A lot of the member states did not like it. But the commissioner wants to push this idea so in July there will be a legal proposal," one official said.

But it looks as if Fischer Boel might draw some support, at least, from various quarters in the European Parliament.

"Finally, the European Commission comes up with a sensible idea aimed at getting rid of frankly silly rules which are all about the shape and not the quality of the product," the parliament's agriculture committee chairman, Neil Parish, said.

"Quite why the French, Spanish, Germans and Italians want to continue the unjustified ban on bendy cucumbers is beyond me."

(editing by Christopher Johnson)

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Swearing chef prompts tighter #*@%& rules (Reuters)

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Foul-mouthed British chef Gordon Ramsay prompted Australia's parliament Thursday to push for tighter rules to protect viewers from swearing on television.

Ramsay's programs are ratings winners on free-to-air television in Australia, but prompted outrage earlier this year when one episode featured the volatile chef using a four-letter expletive more than 80 times in 40 minutes.

The Catholic church called for his shows to be scrapped or shown at a later time, and now an inquiry by the Senate, Australia's upper house, has urged better warnings on programs and new ways for television stations to deal with complaints.

"People were offended by the way Ramsay directed his language toward restaurant staff in an abusive and aggressive manner," inquiry chairwoman Anne McEwen told parliament, saying submissions expressed concern about his swearing and attitudes.

The inquiry stopped short of calling for new laws to tighten censorship, but made 20 recommendations to television stations to review the way they rate programs, what they consider to be coarse language, and how they respond to complaints.

The row came a year after authorities in Britain banned an Australian tourism campaign as offensive for featuring a bikini-clad model who asked "where the bloody hell are you?."

The Senate findings comes as Australia debates standards of language and behavior. A government politician is under fire for allegedly abusing staff at a nightclub north of Sydney, and for telling a pregnant rival her baby would be born a "demon."

The issue has consumed the Australian media, with prominent columnist Piers Akerman in Sydney's Daily Telegraph saying Australia was becoming a less civil society.

CRUDE CULTURE

Governor-General Michael Jeffery, who represents Britain's Queen Elizabeth as Australian head of state, told a newspaper interviewer that television programs glorified bad manners and foul language.

"There is a culture of crudeness. Crudeness in our language in high public life. The language you see coming out over the television, the language in political areas in some parts. It's a crudity which I don't think is a good thing," Jeffery told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Australia's Nine Network, which broadcasts Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares programs, strongly defended the shows, which it said were among the nation's most popular.

In an inquiry submission, executives defended Ramsay's use of expletives, saying the chef sometimes used them as praise.

Network director of regulatory affairs David Coleman told the inquiry that ratings for the Ramsay programs had increased since the public debate about swearing on television, with a typical program now attracting 1.4 million viewers.

He said the network had received only 12 written complaints about the episode which prompted the Senate inquiry.

"That is one written complaint for about every 117,000 viewers. I think that suggests we are not out of step with community standards," he said.

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Shorter hours for convenience stores? (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's 24-hour convenience stores, already struggling with lagging sales and growth, may soon face yet another threat -- moves to limit business hours and close the stores late at night.

The prefecture of Saitama, which borders Tokyo, may follow in the footsteps of the western city of Kyoto and urge convenience stores to close during late night hours in an effort to limit carbon dioxide emissions, Japanese media reported.

Kyoto, a former capital, wants to persuade convenience and other 24-hour stores to close late at night so as to improve evening views of the city and cut down on energy use. The Nikkei business daily said closures could last from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

The move is strongly opposed by the industry, which fears a withering impact on an already troubled sector also grappling with the specter of a higher tobacco tax, which could hit overall sales.

"Even if we only operate the stores for 16 hours, we can't stop the refrigerators," said Toshiro Yamaguchi, the president of Seven-Eleven Japan Co, which is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd, at a news conference in Saitama on Tuesday.

He said such cuts in operating hours would reduce each store's profit by 20 percent. "If this happens, our current business model will lose its foundation."

As of April, Japan had 41,360 convenience stores, according to the Japan Franchise Association.

Some city areas are so saturated that competing stores may be located within a block of each other, while others are located in rural areas so sparsely populated that the stores can be a lonely outpost of light amid the rice fields after dark.

Analysts said that while it is difficult to estimate the potential impact of the move without a concrete plan, their overall impression was that it was likely to be negative.

"This could cut profits and lead to less efficient operations and the increased loss of opportunities," said Masafumi Shoda, an analyst at Nomura Securities.

"But it depends on the store -- urban stores do better than others. There are some in the countryside that are inefficient."

Others said the impact would depend on what hours stores were forced to close.

"Closing convenience stores at 11 p.m. might be a bit too early -- they should wait until after the last commuter train runs, say until around 1 a.m. or so," said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments, adding that many businessmen who return home at that hour drop by to pick up a snack after an evening of drinking.

"But how many people really shop in the middle of the night? Staying open 24 hours means paying to employ part-time workers, which raises overall costs for the sector quite a lot."

Both said that if governments were sincere about reducing carbon emissions there were much more efficient methods, such as cutting back on the huge number of automatic vending machines.

(Editing by Michael Watson)

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Oregon woman plans to parade topless on July 4 (AP)

ASHLAND, Ore. - A woman seen frequently in Ashland riding topless on her bicycle says she plans to be in Ashland's Fourth of July parade free and independent of all clothing but a hemp G-string. The Chamber of Commerce says that's contrary to the rules for the family celebration. She says she'll sue if she can't parade as she wishes.

Jen Moss has been known as "The Naked Lady" since she moved to Ashland in May from Ojai, Calif., drawn by the town's nudity laws. They specify only that people must cover their genitalia in a city park or the downtown commercial district, which means Moss need not cover her breasts.

The police in California, she says, harassed her when she rode her bicycle wearing a G-string and pasties.

Moss applied for an entry for the parade, which draws thousands each year.

The Ashland Chamber of Commerce learned of her coverage plans from an online posting. She promised to lead in-line skaters "wearing only a hemp G-string and blowing a conch shell."

"We don't feel that someone in the parade who is topless or nearly naked is appropriate for a family audience," said parade chairman James Kidd.

He said a letter was sent to Moss on Monday and wouldn't speak specifically about the chamber's position until he was certain that she had received the letter.

Kidd did say that parade rules clearly indicate that entries must be appropriate for a family audience. He also said he understood that the Ashland city ordinance allows women to be topless.

"She's welcome on any other day of the year to do that," he said. "But not on the Fourth of July while in the parade."

City Council member Eric Navickas said he's on Moss's side.

If she can't be in the parade, Navickas said, it would be "an interesting commentary on our society that we're willing to tolerate dead bodies through our aggressive foreign policy from the war, but not healthy, naked bodies."

Moss told the Ashland Daily Tidings in an e-mail that if she can't be nearly naked in the parade, she would "run around near naked protesting their unconstitutional(ism) and un-Americanism." And she said, she would ask the American Civil Liberties Union for help in a lawsuit.

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Information from: The Ashland Daily Tidings, http://www.dailytidings.com

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Slimmer soprano back, says looks count in opera (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) - Slimmed-down soprano Deborah Voigt, back at London's Covent Garden four years after bosses fired her for being too fat, says opera, like other forms of entertainment, is increasingly obsessed with looks.

The 47-year-old American accepted an invitation from the Royal Opera House to return to the same production she was dropped from in 2004 when the casting director felt she would not suit the "little black dress" he envisaged for the part.

The decision sparked heated debate in the world of opera and beyond about the importance of artists' appearance. Voigt shed 120 pounds with the help of gastric bypass surgery and is back as Ariadne in Richard Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos."

Until recently opera had a reputation for casting large and barely mobile men and women as dashing heroes and beautiful queens based purely on the quality of their voice.

The shift in recent years towards good looks as much as talent, epitomized by the popularity of the "popera" genre, reflected the broader world of entertainment, Voigt argued.

"There's no getting around the fact that the face of opera is changing," she told Reuters in her back stage dressing room after the opening night of 'Ariadne'.

"It would be very easy to say, well, it shouldn't matter and in a certain decade it shouldn't have mattered when we didn't have to think about television and there wasn't so much competition for entertainment dollars."

Opera would have to draw the line somewhere, however.

"I'm hoping that we don't go so far as to put microphones on soubrette sopranos and have them singing Isolde," she explained, referring to testing Wagnerian roles such as that in "Tristan und Isolde" that Voigt recently sang at the Met in New York.

"I don't think that would be the case. Nonetheless, I think it would be foolish to think that singers don't have to be more concerned about their physique than in decades past."

ANGER, HUMOUR

Voigt said she was initially upset at being dropped by the Royal Opera House, although she now understood she would have looked out of place in the stylized 'Ariadne' production.

To publicize her return, Voigt posted a video on YouTube (http:/uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kQqPauyGiVU) in which she confronts the infamous "little black dress" in a New York hotel. The Royal Opera House's Web site links to the clip.

"We didn't part on the best of terms," the dress says in a man's voice. "It just seemed at the time that we weren't a good fit ... I realized I was wrong. Size doesn't matter."

Voigt said the radical weight-loss program was more a health decision than a knee-jerk reaction to her rejection, and her subsequent weight loss has opened up new opportunities.

It does require new vocal techniques, however.

"It occurred to me ... that I hadn't sung Ariadne since I was 120 pounds heavier, and it does feel different and I have to adjust technically, muscularly to how I approach the role."

That will not stop her attempting more "heavy" roles in the future like Isolde and other female Wagnerian leads, she added.

"I'm taking on really heavy roles and they cost more. Doing Tristan and Isolde is a really expensive night in terms of what it costs you physically and emotionally," she said.

"There is certainly going to be much more of Wagner and dramatic repertoire in the future."

(To read more about our entertainment news, visit our blog "Fan Fare" online at http:/blogs.reuters.com/fanfare)

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Scientists reverse vasectomy on endangered horse (AP)

WASHINGTON - Scientists at the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo have revealed they reversed a vasectomy on an endangered horse to allow it to reproduce naturally — the first-known operation of its kind on an endangered species.

Veterinarians said Monday that the surgery was performed in October 2007 on a Przewalski horse named Minnesota.

Luis Padilla, the zoo veterinarian who performed the reversal surgery, said the procedure was a first for this species and likely for any endangered species.

The horses are native to China and Mongolia and were declared extinct in the wild in 1970. Since then several hundred have been bred and reintroduced to the wild in Asia.

"This is kind of interesting turnaround," said Dr. Sherman Silber, a St. Louis urologist who pioneered reversible vasectomies in 13,000 humans and helped with the horse surgery. "We've made so much progress because the human really is the perfect model."

A similar surgery was successfully performed while Padilla was a resident at the Saint Louis Zoo in 2003 on South American bush dogs, which resemble Chihuahuas. They are classified as vulnerable but not endangered.

The "temporary vasectomy" could have a significant effect on how animals are managed in captivity by giving zookeepers a new way to control the animal's offspring without having to neuter them or use contraceptives that can change an animal's behavior.

Minnesota, the 20-year-old horse, had a vasectomy in 1999 at his previous home at the Minnesota Zoo. A vasectomy may be performed on an endangered animal because of space constraints, the size of species or if an animal has already produced many offspring and its genes are overrepresented in the population, said Budhan Pukazhenthi, a reproductive scientist at the National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Va.

Scientists later realized Minnesota was one of the most genetically valuable horses in the North American breeding program based on his ancestry. Zookeepers hope to find a suitable female for Minnesota in July.

Cheryl Asa, director of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's Wildlife Contraception Center, said the reversible vasectomy could be useful in isolated cases but probably won't be adopted broadly.

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On the Net:

National Zoo: http://nationalzoo.si.edu

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Manners still matter when you're poking on Facebook (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) - Should you reject a friend on MySpace? How do you ward off an old lover on Facebook?

Have no fear. Britain's etiquette bible has come to the rescue for social networkers who are at a loss about how to behave with online decorum.

Debrett's have helped to compile a new set of "golden rules" for devotees of sites like Facebook and Bebo.

The rules were put together after research by the telecoms company Orange showed that almost two thirds of social networkers are frustrated and confused by online etiquette.

It discovered that more than a quarter were uncertain about how to respond to unwelcome "pokes" or messages.

Eighteen percent confessed to being confused on "how to respond to my ex when in a relationship with someone else."

Debrett's etiquette adviser Jo Bryant tried to guide the confused through what can be a social minefield.

Acknowledging that social networking has made new demands on traditional etiquette, she said "My advice is to play it safe and always employ your usual good manners when online, treating others with kindness and respect."

And you should never throw caution to the wind.

Mark Watt-Jones, head of development and innovation at Orange, said "Whether you are checking your Facebook profile or posting photos of friends on MySpace at work, these guidelines will ensure you never lose old friends or make unwanted new ones."

The golden rules compiled by Debrett's with Orange are:

1. You don't have to make friends with people you don't know. Think before you poke.

2. Wait 24 hours before accepting or removing someone as a friend. The delay will help you gather your thoughts.

3. Birthdays, engagements and weddings are not "virtual" events. Always send cards or phone friends when there is an important event.

4. Think before posting a friend's photo what you would feel like if it was you.

5. Think carefully about your profile picture. Would you want it to be appearing in your local newspaper?

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Car gifted by Hitler to Nepal king awaits new home (Reuters)

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A car gifted by Adolf Hitler to a Nepali king is likely to be displayed in a palace museum after the Himalayan nation abolished the 239-year-old monarchy and the ousted King Gyanendra quit the palace.

Officials said a 1939 Mercedes Benz presented by the Nazi leader to King Tribhuvan, Gyanendra's grandfather, is now rusting at Nepal's main Narayanhiti palace grounds.

It is lying there for more than three years after an engineering college in Kathmandu, which was using it to train mechanics, said it did not have enough money and spare parts to restore the antique car.

But now efforts are being made to display the car in the palace, which the government says will be turned into a museum.

"We should display it in the new museum," said Govinda Prasad Kusum, a senior bureaucrat preparing an inventory of the property and other valuables of Gyanendra, which will be in possession of the government. "The car will be a major attraction there."

A special assembly elected in April overwhelmingly voted to abolish the monarchy last month and gave Gyanendra 15 days to vacate the pink pagoda-roofed palace, which he did last week.

The car was manually carried by scores of labourers for several days from Nepal's southern plains to Kathmandu in 1940, when the mountainous country had no roads.

Tribhuvan used the car when the Kathmandu valley had no other motor transport.

But after his death in the 1950s, the car gathered dust in the premises of the Thapathali Engineering Campus which used it as a model to train the mechanics there.

Its hood and doors are coming off, the inside of the bonnet is rusting and seats are torn, an official said.

Nepal, wedged in the central Himalayas between China and India, opened up to modern development in the 1950s.

It has a more than 500,000 vehicles including motorcycles, running in a road network of about 17,000 kilometres (10,625 miles) now.

(Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Sanjeev Miglani)

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N.D. man spells 'debouch' to win senior bee (AP)

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The word was "debouch," and Larry Grossman did just that, emerging as the winner of this year's senior spelling bee.

Grossman, 56, put himself in position to win by spelling "botryoidal." He clinched the title Saturday by correctly spelling "debouch," which means "to come forth; emerge."

Grossman, of Northwood, N.D., is a teacher and six-time winner of the North Dakota state spelling bee. For winning the 13th annual AARP The Magazine's National Spelling Bee, he gets to take home $500 plus bragging rights.

"This is a great feeling. `Great' doesn't seem like a very adequate word but that's all I can think of on short notice," he said.

In winning the contest for people 50 and over, Grossman didn't get the big bucks or the national television coverage that children get for winning the Scripps National Spelling Bee. On the other hand, the kids don't get to misspell two words.

Contestants in the senior bee's final, oral round are eliminated on their third misspelled word. The last four contestants all missed two words, making for a tense showdown.

"It was kind of like the bottom of the ninth with two outs," Grossman said.

Last year's third-place finisher, Michael Petrina Jr., of Arlington, Va., took second. Petrina was eliminated by misspelling "umbones," which is the word for a knob or protrusion at the center of a shield.

"There were a lot of good spellers up on stage during the finals and it was sort of luck of the draw," said Petrina, 63, a retired lobbyist for the personal care products industry.

Finishing third was Scott Firebaugh, of Knoxville, Tenn. Firebaugh tripped up on the word "wampumpeag," a string of polished beads or shells.

Firebaugh has plenty of experience with spelling bees. He finished 16th in the youth Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1967 and now coaches youngsters in spelling.

He said he studied a list of 6,600 words a day to prepare. But math, not spelling, is his strong suit: He's a high school math teacher.

"I like the structure of it," he said of spelling. "I've noticed that the national bee, with the kids, a lot of them say math is their favorite subject."

Norman Zucker, of Sebastopol, Calif., came in fourth. Bill Long, of Salem, Ore., was fifth.

Forty-seven people from 24 states competed. The 16 oral-round finalists advanced from a round in which spellers had to correctly write down 100 words that were read aloud to them.

Those words included "petrographer," a person who studies rocks, and the dauntingly vowel-less "crwth" — pronounced CROOTH — a Welsh stringed instrument.

(This version CORRECTS the name of the winning word, debouch instead of botryoidal).)

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Wyo. festival to offer chances to dunk a Democrat (AP)

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Republicans will get a rare opportunity this weekend to show that the Democrats are all wet. All they need is $5 and a good throwing arm.

Four Democratic candidates for federal office have volunteered to get dunked in chilly water at the annual Jackalope Days festival in Douglas, about 115 miles north of Cheyenne.

When someone hits a target with a softball at the "Dunk a Democrat" booth, in will go House candidate Gary Trauner, or Senate hopefuls Chris Rothfuss, Nick Carter or Keith Goodenough. The money will go to the Converse County Democratic Party.

"It's a commitment. It's a sacrifice. It's one of those things that needs to be done if we're serious about this election," said Bill Luckett, executive director of the state Democratic Party.

Last year's event yielded $400. The party hopes to double that amount this year.

State Rep. Dave Edwards, a Republican, said he might watch, but not give it a shot. "That would be me contributing to their campaign," he said.

The county has about a 4-to-1 ratio of registered Republicans to registered Democrats.

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Drivers turn to blow-up dolls to beat traffic rules (Reuters)

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Drivers in New Zealand's largest city of Auckland are turning to inflatable passengers to try and beat transit lane rules.

Blow-up dolls, shop mannequins and dogs dressed up as children have all been used to try and justify driving in lanes where vehicles are required to have at least three occupants.

"There were some odd people that tried these antics," North Shore city council traffic safety manager Andre Dannhauser told Reuters.

Drivers caught trying to beat the system are fined NZ$150

($114).

Enforcement officers taking pictures of offending cars in transit lanes have been treated to a wide range of excuses from caught-out motorists, Dannhauser said.

"The most common one is the imaginary passengers they claim we couldn't see because they were so small," Dannhauser said.

For a while some enterprising students charged a small fee to get driven past the enforcement officers, before running back up the road to repeat the trick. "The money they generated from that was not enough to pay for the beer for the thirst they generated," Dannhauser said. (NZ$1=$1.32)

(Reporting by Adrian Bathgate; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Officials shut eatery after finding turtle in sink (AP)

YORK, Pa. - Putting a snapping turtle in the kitchen sink got a York city restaurant shut down. Jim Zhao is working to bring his Panda Chinese Kitchen back up to code and hopes to be able to reopen on Thursday.

Zhao told WHTM-TV that "in China, a turtle is like a Buddha." It's supposed to bring good luck. Inspectors ordered the restaurant shut down on Friday after finding the turtle and other health code violations.

Zhao says he rescued the turtle because he saw a man trying to get rid of it in the parking lot, so put it in the sink until he could release it. He's now given it to a friend.

Zhao says the restaurant has never been shut down under his management, although he acknowledges that it has been closed in the past for other health code violations.

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Information from: WHTM-TV, http://www.whtm.com

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NZ drivers turn to blow-up dolls to beat traffic rules (Reuters)

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Drivers in New Zealand's largest city of Auckland are turning to inflatable passengers to try and beat transit lane rules.

Blow-up dolls, shop mannequins and dogs dressed up as children have all been used to try and justify driving in lanes where vehicles are required to have at least three occupants.

"There were some odd people that tried these antics," North Shore city council traffic safety manager Andre Dannhauser told Reuters.

Drivers caught trying to beat the system are fined NZ$150 (57 pounds).

Enforcement officers taking pictures of offending cars in transit lanes have been treated to a wide range of excuses from caught-out motorists, Dannhauser said.

"The most common one is the imaginary passengers they claim we couldn't see because they were so small," Dannhauser said.

For a while some enterprising students charged a small fee to get driven past the enforcement officers, before running back up the road to repeat the trick. "The money they generated from that was not enough to pay for the beer for the thirst they generated," Dannhauser said.

(Reporting by Adrian Bathgate; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Rude traveling salespeople evicted from Minn. hotel (AP)

MOORHEAD, Minn. - About 40 traveling salespeople were thrown out of a hotel for "very, very rude behavior," a motel manager said.

The salespeople, mostly in their mid-20s, were peddling cleaning supplies, but they sure left behind a mess, said Derek Crockett, front desk manager at the AmericInn Lodge & Suites.

Crockett's staff began getting complaints about the guests less than two hours after they checked in Monday night. The guests were drinking, partying and smoking in nonsmoking rooms, he said.

When the staff told them to leave, they "just started getting a little irate" and made threatening comments to housekeepers and security staff, Crockett said.

Police who were called to the hotel to keep the peace made no arrests, Deputy Chief Bob Larson said.

Crockett said the guests also punched holes in the walls, ripped a toilet paper holder off the wall and pulled out a couple of window screens. The rooms were still closed off Tuesday so the staff could assess the damage, he said.

The guests will be charged for the rooms and the damage. "It's going to be over $1,000," Crockett said.

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Players up half the night watching replays (Reuters)

TENERO, Switzerland (Reuters) - Several Germany players were up half the night watching television replays of their 2-0 Euro 2008 win over Poland, center back Per Mertesacker said Monday.

The squad did not arrive back from Sunday's Group B game in Klagenfurt in Austria to their Swiss base until the early hours and for many players sleep did not come easily.

"It's the best possible way to spend the night, isn't it? ... watching TV replays from 2am to 4am," Mertesacker told a news conference. "But it's difficult to sleep when you've been out on the pitch and anyway self-analysis is a good thing.

"It's great watching the match on TV ... with so many different angles. You definitely see things that can help you improve."

Germany's victory was popular back home where the match gained a peak TV audience of 26 million, the German Football Association said.

"We had not reckoned with figures anything like that," said team manager Oliver Bierhoff.

"It just shows the status the German team enjoys back home."

Germany's next game is against Croatia in Klagenfurt on Thursday.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)

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Bush falls for German asparagus (Reuters)

MESEBERG, Germany (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush, a fan of Texas beef, declared his fondness for German asparagus on Wednesday, kicking off a news conference with a culinary comment before turning to Iraq and Iran.

Bush, who met German Chancellor Angela Merkel north of Berlin, caused a stir two years ago when, at another joint appearance with the German leader, he referred repeatedly to "the pig", or roast wild boar, that awaited him that evening.

On Wednesday, he praised a dinner of white asparagus, a seasonal delicacy in Germany, which the two leaders had enjoyed the previous evening.

"I loved dinner last night," Bush said.

"And for those in the German press who thought I didn't like asparagus. You're wrong. The German asparagus are fabulous," he said, before the news conference switched focus to the conflict in Iraq, Iran's nuclear programme and climate change.

In 2002, Bush fainted and fell from a couch after choking on a pretzel.

His father, former President George Bush, famously angered American broccoli growers by publicly declaring his aversion to the vegetable.

(Reporting by Kerstin Gehmlich)

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Girl survives lightning strike, then wins $20 (AP)

BLANCHARD, Mich. - No one quite understands the term "striking it lucky" better than 16-year-old BreAnna Helsel. The Michigan teen survived being struck by lightning and went on to win $20 in the lottery the next day.

Helsel was at her home in Blanchard, about 50 miles northeast of Grand Rapids, watching thunderstorms roll by on June 6 when she noticed rain entering an open kitchen window.

"She went to close the window and the lightning came through and hit her," her mother, Linda Johnson, told The Daily News of Greenville. "We think it must have hit the house or something."

Helsel struggled to describe the sensation she felt as the electricity passed through her body.

"It felt like when your foot falls asleep," she said.

Helsel said she saw the electricity shoot out of her fingers and into the overhead lights, immediately knocking out the house's power.

At first, the teenager didn't want to be checked out at a hospital, but when she started complaining about a tingling sensation in her arm, she and her mother drove through the rain to get to Spectrum Health Kelsey Hospital in Lakeview.

Helsel was checked out and the only signs of the lightning strike were some darkened fingertips on her right hand and a shaking arm from damaged muscles that will require some therapy. A full recovery is expected.

"Everyone said I'm really lucky," she said.

Hospital employees suggested that Helsel was on such a lucky streak, she should immediately play the lottery. She's too young, so her mother went out the next day and bought a Michigan lottery ticket for her.

"And we won $20," Johnson said, laughing. "What a way to start the summer."

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Alleged wig-wearing robber fails to plan escape (AP)

FORT WORTH - A would-be bank robber was taken down by four civilians and arrested Friday after getting his money but failing to plan his escape, police said.

Police arrested Larry Don Enos, 57, and charged him with aggravated robbery, said Lt. Paul Henderson, a Fort Worth police spokesman.

Enos was in jail Friday evening waiting to be transferred to a holding facility in Mansfield, jail spokesman Lt. K. R. Ulrickson said. Bond had not been set yet and it was not known if Enos had an attorney.

The incident began when a man with a handgun walked into a bank and told an employee: "This is a robbery. I want the money from the drive-thru and the money from the cash register." The man was wearing a fake beard, mustache and wig, Henderson said in the online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

After getting the cash, the alleged robber - who apparently took a taxi to the bank robbery, KTVT reported - told the teller to drive him from the bank, but the teller refused, Henderson told The Associated Press.

The teller instead tricked the alleged robber, giving him keys and saying they went with a car in the parking lot. They didn't.

Foiled, the man attempted to steal a car from a woman in the ATM drive-thru, but she needed space to pull up. The robber allowed her to pull up, but she just kept driving, Henderson said.

"Smart lady," Henderson said.

The man then tried to steal another woman's car, Henderson said. This woman wanted time to get her children out of the car.

That's when two soldiers and two other bystanders took the man down and detained him until police arrived, Henderson said.

"He probably picked the wrong date to commit a bank robbery," Henderson said. "Everything went wrong."

The civilians did not wish to be identified, Henderson said. No injuries were reported in the robbery.

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Add oil! Add oil! (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing organizers are promoting an officially sanctioned chanting routine for Chinese spectators at August's Olympics, state media said Thursday.

Incorporating the ubiquitous Chinese sporting chant, "Jiayou" or "add oil," the four-step routine is designed to help spectators cheer in a "smooth and civilized manner" at the August 8-24 Games.

The chant will be promoted by television programs, video presentations and squads of cheering volunteers at the venues as well as by the education ministry, the People's Daily reported.

The routine begins with "Olympics -- add oil" accompanied by two claps and a double thumbs up, before continuing with "China -- add oil" with two more claps and raised fists.

The "China" and "Olympics" can be replaced to allow support for other countries or individuals, the paper said.

Possible lack of sporting etiquette has been a major concern for city authorities during preparations for the Games and a series of educational programs have been instituted.

Users of public transport in the Chinese capital are briefed on the rules of Olympic sports on special television screens, while special projects have taken place in many city schools to teach the children about the history of the Games.

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney and Liu Zhen; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Artist claims record with quarter-mile drawing (AP)

MONTERREY, Mexico - He forgot to eat, sleep or even drink water. But Mexican artist Filemon Trevino accomplished his lifelong dream of entering the Guinness Book of World Records.

In a news conference Wednesday, Trevino presented a Guinness certificate declaring his quarter-mile-long pencil drawing as the world's largest.

The Monterrey artist said he spent 6,000 hours and used 800 pencils to complete his representation of the heart and circulatory system, with symbols including doves, geometric shapes and hundreds of yards of intertwined tubes.

He says breaking the record became an obsession that led him to neglect his health.

He was hospitalized seven times for dehydration, heart and kidney problems and fainting spells, all attributed to long hours spent drawing in a hot, stuffy room.

"I forgot to drink water," he said. "I didn't know anything about friends, my family or anything else in the world. I started to grow a beard and lost (35 pounds) 16 kilograms."

Trevino started the drawing in July 2004 and completed it in August 2005. But he could not apply for the world record until he found someone willing to display the work and sponsor Guinness' $600 entry fee.

The work was unveiled in March at the Regiomontana University.

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McCain Googling for VP? (Reuters)

RICHMOND, Virginia (Reuters) - It turns out choosing a vice president isn't that complicated after all.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain joked on Monday that Google, the popular Internet search engine, had made investigating his list of potential candidates a little bit easier.

"You know, basically it's a Google," he said to laughter at a fund-raising luncheon when asked how the selection process was going. "What you can find out now on the Internet -- it's remarkable."

Vice presidential candidates go through rigorous screening to determine whether they would help a White House aspirant in a general election -- and to make sure there is nothing in their background that could be damaging down the road.

McCain, 71, has faced high scrutiny in his search because of his age.

The Arizona senator, who wrapped up his place on the top of the Republican ticket earlier this year, said he still had some time to complete the search for a number two.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, editing by Alan Elsner)

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Man once world's most obese fetes birthday on bed (Reuters)

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico's Manuel Uribe, once the world's most obese man, celebrated his 43rd birthday on Wednesday with a very short trip outside his house.

In only his third outing in six years, Uribe, sitting on his huge reinforced bed, was dragged outside his garage bedroom and onto the pavement outside his house in Monterrey in northern Mexico. Presents of suckling pig and lamb arrived.

Still weighing the size of three hefty men, Uribe sat on his bed wearing only a bedsheet, drank a beer and chatted to his mother, girlfriend and neighbours in the cool evening air, waiting for a cake.

"I'm happy that it is my birthday," he told reporters interviewing the man who weighed 717 pounds (324 kg) in May after losing 518 pounds (235 kg) since March 2006 on a diet of grapefruits, egg-white omelettes, fish, chicken and vegetables.

Uribe is still unable to move his swollen legs and his dream is to walk again and visit the mountainous countryside around Monterrey.

Uribe spent the 1990s eating pizzas and burgers in the United States where he worked as a computer repairman. Addicted to junk food, he eventually tipped the scales at 1,235 pounds (560 kg) back in Mexico, bingeing on greasy tacos.

His bulk made him the world's heaviest man and won him a place in the 2008 edition of the Guinness World Records.

(Reporting by Tomas Bravo; writing by Chris Aspin; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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