Mystery torch guard becomes Chinese sex symbol (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - A handsome but anonymous guardian of the Olympics torch on its troubled world tour has won legions of Chinese female fans -- and plenty of marriage proposals.

Known only as "Second Brother on the Right" because of his customary position by the flame, the young man with boyish looks and cropped hair is an Internet sensation and nationalist hero.

Pictures of him in regulation blue-and-white Olympics uniform abound on websites and Chinese media, with some fans likening him to Lei Feng, an idolized soldier of the Mao Zedong era.

"We love him not only because he is so handsome but because he represents the pride of China," one female blogger wrote.

The nameless hero's popularity soared as he was seen defending the torch from pro-free Tibet protests on its international tour before reaching China for the Games.

"Take your hands away from my dearest brother, you cop!" wrote another female fan, "Rabbit," next to a photo of a British policeman pushing the guard as he wrestled with a protester in a London street during the British leg of the tour.

Those demonstrations brought a counter-wave of patriotism among many young Chinese, who suspected a Western conspiracy to blacken China's name at one of its greatest moments.

Tiring of China's new wave of pop and TV stars, fans have idealized "Second Brother" as representing ancient values.

"They praised him for his 360-degree handsome look, well-built body in perfect proportion, refined and exemplary postures, smile and courtesy to torch bearers, his pals and audience, and determination to safeguard the Olympic spirit," reads his entry in the Wikipedia web database.

"In torch relay pictures, he stayed calm and confident during violent situations, and gracious, graceful and proud in most others ... Those (other) stars or idols lacking an unpolluted and vigorous temperament are not attractive any longer."

"Second Brother" is not the only hero among the torch guards, who, by contrast with their status at home, were sometimes vilified in the West for being unquestioning representatives of stern Chinese authority.

Other guards have been given nicknames such as "Leading Handsome," "Ravishing Hand," "Kindness" and even "Noodle Soup."

On return to China, where the torch relays were peaceful in the run-up to the start of the Games on Friday, authorities have kept the guards' identities a state secret.

But that has not dampened female enthusiasm.

"My dear Second Brother on the Right, please marry me!" begged one girl on a site with 542 pages of odes and photos to the nameless hero.

(Additional reporting by Liu Zhen; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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Museum defies pope over crucified frog (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian museum Thursday defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.

The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 meter 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.

Called "Zuerst die Fuesse," (Feet First), it wears a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and the feet in the manner of Jesus Christ. Its green tongue hangs out of its mouth.

Kippenberger's works have been shown at the Tate Modern and the Saatchi Gallery in London and at the Venice Biennale, and retrospectives are planned in Los Angeles and New York.

Museum officials in the northern bi-lingual Alto Adige region near the Austrian border said the artist, who died in 1997, considered it a self-portrait illustrating human angst.

Pope Benedict, who is German himself and was recently on holiday not far from Bolzano, obviously did not agree.

The Vatican wrote a letter of support in the pope's name to Franz Pahl, president of the regional government who opposed the sculpture. Pahl released parts of the letter, which said the work "wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God's love."

Pahl, whose province is heavily Catholic, was so outraged by the sculpture of the pop-eyed amphibian that he went on a hunger strike to demand its removal and had to be taken to hospital during the summer.

"Surely this is not a work of art but a blasphemy and a disgusting piece of trash that upsets many people," Pahl told Reuters by telephone.

"This decision to keep the statue there is is totally unacceptable. It is a grave offence to our Catholic population," he said.

Art experts defended the work.

"Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression," Claudio Strinati, a superintendent for Rome's state museums, told an Italian newspaper Thursday.

(Editing by Robert Hart)

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Italian museum defies pope over crucified frog (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian museum on Thursday defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.

The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.

The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 metre 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.

Called "Zuerst die Fuesse," (Feet First), it wears a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and the feet in the manner of Jesus Christ. Its green tongue hangs out of its mouth.

Kippenberger's works have been shown at the Tate Modern and the Saatchi Gallery in London and at the Venice Biennale, and retrospectives are planned in Los Angeles and New York.

Museum officials said the artist, who died in 1997, considered it a self-portrait illustrating human angst.

Pope Benedict, who is German himself and was recently on holiday not far from Bolzano, did not agree.

The Vatican wrote a letter of support in the pope's name to Franz Pahl, president of the regional government who opposed the sculpture. Pahl released parts of the letter, which said the work "wounds the religious sentiments of so many people who see in the cross the symbol of God's love".

Pahl, whose province is heavily Catholic, was so outraged by the sculpture of the pop-eyed amphibian that he went on a hunger strike to demand its removal and had to be taken to hospital during the summer.

"Surely this is not a work of art but a blasphemy and a disgusting piece of trash that upsets many people," Pahl told Reuters by telephone.

"This decision to keep the statue there is totally unacceptable. It is a grave offence to our Catholic population," he said.

Museum president Alois Lageder told Reuters the decision to keep the statue on display was made in order to "safeguard the autonomy of art institutions".

The board vote was 6-3 in favour. Art experts defended the work.

"Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression," Claudio Strinati, a superintendent for Rome's state museums, told an Italian newspaper on Thursday.

But Italy's culture minister, Sandro Bondi, said museums that receive state funds should not "exalt artworks of desecration, of useless provocation and of nonsense".

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch (AP)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player — too good, it turns out.

The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho's team, redistributing its players among other squads, and offered to refund $50 sign-up fees to anyone who asks for it. They say Jericho's coach, Wilfred Vidro, has resigned.

But Vidro says he didn't quit and the team refuses to disband. Players and parents held a protest at the league's field on Saturday urging the league to let Jericho pitch.

"He's never hurt any one," Vidro said. "He's on target all the time. How can you punish a kid for being too good?"

The controversy bothers Jericho, who says he misses pitching.

"I feel sad," he said. "I feel like it's all my fault nobody could play."

Jericho's coach and parents say the boy is being unfairly targeted because he turned down an invitation to join the defending league champion, which is sponsored by an employer of one of the league's administrators.

Jericho instead joined a team sponsored by Will Power Fitness. The team was 8-0 and on its way to the playoffs when Jericho was banned from pitching.

"I think it's discouraging when you're telling a 9-year-old you're too good at something," said his mother, Nicole Scott. "The whole objective in life is to find something you're good at and stick with it. I'd rather he spend all his time on the baseball field than idolizing someone standing on the street corner."

League attorney Peter Noble says the only factor in banning Jericho from the mound is his pitches are just too fast.

"He is a very skilled player, a very hard thrower," Noble said. "There are a lot of beginners. This is not a high-powered league. This is a developmental league whose main purpose is to promote the sport."

Noble acknowledged that Jericho had not beaned any batters in the co-ed league of 8- to 10-year-olds, but say parents expressed safety concerns.

"Facing that kind of speed" is frightening for beginning players, Noble said.

League officials say they first told Vidro that the boy could not pitch after a game on Aug. 13. Jericho played second base the next game on Aug. 16. But when he took the mound Wednesday, the other team walked off and a forfeit was called.

League officials say Jericho's mother became irate, threatening them and vowing to get the league shut down.

"I have never seen behavior of a parent like the behavior Jericho's mother exhibited Wednesday night," Noble said.

Scott denies threatening any one, but said she did call the police.

League officials suggested that Jericho play other positions, or pitch against older players or in a different league.

Local attorney John Williams was planning to meet with Jericho's parents Monday to discuss legal options.

"You don't have to be learned in the law to know in your heart that it's wrong," he said. "Now you have to be punished because you excel at something?"

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Ants bite, phones fly in Finnish summer bonanza (Reuters)

HELSINKI (Reuters) - They carry their wives, sit on ants, throw milking stools, boots and mobile phones -- here in the home of weird world championships, participants will do just about anything to win their offbeat crowns.

Normally reserved Finns say there is no better way to celebrate the short summer months than with contests that add a jolt of adrenaline and silliness to bright summer nights.

"Maybe we are a little bit crazy ... maybe we are just bored," said Toni Hautamaki, a sauna-championship spectator from Oulu.

With foreign visitors growing by about six percent in 2007 and many oddball competitions taking place in distant rural areas, Finland's funny business is also a spur for tourism.

Most of the 50 or so competitions that take place over the three summer months -- many billed grandly as world championships -- started at summer fairs or as village affairs.

But today the top competitions can each attract about 10,000 people to the Nordic country annually to watch or join in, staggering across hurdles with their spouses clinging to their backs or diving headlong into ponds of mud after a soccer ball.

Some events are so popular -- swamp soccer, wife-carrying and air guitar -- they have prompted other nations to hold their own contests to select who will compete in Finland.

Portuguese Olympic cross-country skier Danny Silva said these events bring out the best in the usually somber Finns, letting them goof off, dress up, and poke fun at themselves.

Silva, who was taking his first stab at swamp soccer in July, said it would have taken a great marketing effort to make such a competition succeed in his home town.

"Portuguese players like all the glamour, perfume, look all nice -- and here people just get down and get dirty," he said. "This is bizarre, but when you think about it, it makes training so much more fun."

Many of the events allow top athletes to add extra oomph -- and fun -- to their workouts. They also let them show off their "sisu" -- the Finnish version of perseverance and guts.

Finnish cross-country skiers use swamp soccer to train in the snowless summer months. Both work the same muscles, but slogging through a mud-soaked field adds an element of fun.

Self-mockery is core to the mix.

Writer Risto Etelamaki said mobile-phone throwing -- which originated from Finland's national strength in the sport of javelin throwing -- combines recycling philosophy with play.

"The sport is also a symbolical mental liberation from the restraining yoke of being constantly within reach," he wrote in his book "Funny Finnish Pursuits."

Finland, home of mobile phone giant Nokia, boasts one of the most mature mobile phone markets in the world, where people pay for pizzas, parking and tram tickets using cellphones.

KILLING MOSQUITOES

With tongue in cheek, some events purport to have roots further back in history.

Organizers say the wife-carrying contest is rooted in the legend of Ronkainen the Robber, who in the 19th century tested aspiring gang members by forcing them to lug sacks of grain or live swine over a similar course.

Another notion is that it stems from an even earlier tribal practice of wife-stealing, in honor of which many contestants now take up the challenge with someone else's wife.

Those hundreds of Finns who vie each year to keep their behinds longest in nests occupied by some 40,000 ants are, it is claimed, actually following an ancient health ritual -- one which keeps all their senses alive.

Boasting few disciplines in which its athletes excel on the global stage -- Finland ranked 44th in Olympic medals with four -- Finns find victory in finger-wrestling, mosquito-killing or ice golf equally rewarding.

"The tradition started as a big joke," said Arto Murto, manager of the swamp soccer championships. "It's our nature to create fun happenings, probably because our summers are so short."

Large parts of Finland are blanketed in near darkness for much of the winter and the weather in spring and fall is often cold and rainy, prompting locals to joke that the country has only two seasons -- winter and summer.

Finland's tourism board paid little attention when the first contests began 10 years back, but says the events are becoming a major draw.

"At first it was difficult to promote them as they were small local events where people did not speak any foreign language," said Liisa Renfors, a product specialist at the Finnish Tourist Board.

"(But now) they are raising the interest of foreign press and visitors -- probably because they are so different from anything else going in their own countries."

Finland's success has prompted rivalry and imitation from other countries in the region. Neighboring Estonia will host the world air guitar championships while Denmark has launched a championship in kicking a liter of vanilla ice cream.

But Finland's championships are still growing.

The annual beer float, which began with a few friends sitting in an inflatable boat sipping beer, attracted 1,400 participants this year in rubber boats, inflatable sofas and water scooters -- so many it forced local police to close down the Web site advertising the event, citing security concerns.

(Additional reporting by Attila Cser in Helsinki and Kim McLaughlin in Copenhagen; Editing by Sarah Edmonds and Sara Ledwith)

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Australia to put down orphan whale calf (Reuters)

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An baby whale which has been desperately trying to suckle from a yacht in a Sydney bay in a futile bid to find its missing mother is to be humanely destroyed, Australian wildlife officers said on Thursday.

The humpback whale, nicknamed "Colin" by Australian media, was found at the weekend attempting to suckle from a moored yacht at Pittwater Bay after being abandoned by its mother off Australia's east coast.

"Our hearts are breaking with what's happening with baby Colin," New South Wales state premier Morris Iemma said after the military volunteered floats to try to get the calf back to sea earlier in the day.

But a report by expert vets said blood tests revealed the two-tonne calf, believed to be only two to three weeks old, was in poor condition and unlikely to live through the night. It was suffering from shark bite wounds and breathing difficulties.

A team of park rangers and marine scientists had then decided to put down the animal after dark on Thursday, state wildlife officials said. Authorities expected to use a lethal dose of anaesthetic.

"There has been a deterioration in the whale's condition over the last couple of hours. We've decided it is in the best interests of the whale that it is put down," a Parks and Wildlife spokesman told journalists.

With time running out and rescue efforts becoming more desperate, an Aboriginal "whale whisperer" was brought to the bay during the afternoon to "talk" to the calf, Australian television reported. Colin had apparently responded, the report said.

Australia's military offered an empty fuel bladder as an inflatable raft to tow 5.5-metre (18-ft) Colin out to sea to try to unite it with a pod of passing whales.

But Peter Harrison, the director of the Southern Cross University Whale Research Centre north of Sydney, said another humpback mother was unlikely to adopt the orphan calf.

"We have occasionally heard reports where a calf appears to have lost its mother and goes searching for other whales and attaches itself to the pod, but there's no indication that they're adopted and fed," he told Reuters.

The whale's struggle to survive has captivated Australians, who strongly oppose Japanese "scientific" whale killing and flock to whale-watching tours during the giant mammals' annual migration to the Antarctic and return to breed in warmer Australian waters.

On Monday a team of workers towed the private yacht out to sea to try to lure the calf into deeper water, hoping that it would find its mother or another passing whale pod, but it was spotted close to the beach at Pittwater again on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; editing by Roger Crabb)

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Armchair Olympics fuels obesity fears in China (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Armchair athletics may not be an Olympic sport but it's the most popular activity in China this month, fuelling concerns about rising obesity rates.

Chinese media has even given its army of TV Olympic spectators a name -- otaku -- a Japanese word that means "venerable house" and usually refers to someone nerdy who is totally devoted to a hobby to the point of not leaving home.

Figures have shown about 840 million of China's 1.3 billion population tuned in to watch the August 8 opening ceremony of the Beijing Games and interest is expected to stay high to August 24.

Increased TV viewing, less physical jobs and a shift away from a traditional Chinese diet rich in vegetables and carbohydrates with little animal-sourced food to a more Western diet heavier in meat, eggs and dairy has piled on the pounds.

"Lots of mothers don't know what to feed their children anymore," said Zhao Hua, who was having lunch with her 6-year-old son Tanning at a massive McDonald's in the Olympics site.

"In the past it was good to be a bit fat because it was a sign of strength but now children are getting too fat."

Figures show about a quarter of Chinese adults are obese or overweight, which is lower than many other countries but has jumped from 13 percent in 1991 with forecasts it could double by 2028.

By comparison World Health Organization figures show 65 percent of adult Americans in 2005 were overweight or obese.

A University of North Carolina study, published in the July/August issue of the journal Health Affairs, showed of all developing countries, only Mexico's rate of obesity was growing faster than that of China.

The World Food Programme says a 6-year-old boy in China is now 13 pounds (6 kgs) heavier and almost two-and-a-half inches (6.4 cms) taller than a 6-year-old was 30 years ago.

"We need to find the right investments and regulations to encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle, or we risk facing higher rates of death, disease, and disability and the related costs," warned researcher Barry Popkin.

The Chinese diet has changed, with hundreds of McDonald's and KFC outlets in China, but experts also blame a drop off in physical activity, with more cars and less bikes on the roads.

Chinese newspaper the People's Daily said China has fewer than seven training fields for every 10,000 Chinese, compared with 200 sports fields for every 10,000 people in United States, and Japan.

"Now all the teenagers just like to play video games and watch television and our children like McDonald's. It is not healthy," said Yu Yanbing who was tucking into some fries at McDonald's with his 3-year-old son Zixi.

(Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Chinese learn to party at Olympics beach volleyball (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - While the beach volleyballers tough it out in the sand, Tom Blaumauer and Chris McGee have faced an Olympic challenge of their own: how to encourage the Chinese to throw a Californian beach party.

Rock music, go-go-girls and rowdy singing in the stands have become as integral a part of beach volleyball as bikinis and board shorts but before Beijing, the announcers were worried the conservative Chinese might not catch the bug.

"We didn't know if they would react to the Western-style music we play. If not, what do you use?" said Blaumauer, who has led the commentary and entertainment at world tour events since the trend started about 12 years ago.

"Chinese music is just not so rocky and poppy. We need people up there stamping their feet. If they're sitting down and swaying gently, it's not so great."

Blaumauer and McGee, the voices of the U.S. tour, worked with Chinese announcers and DJs to put together potential playlists and taught volunteers how to get the crowd up and dancing.

A week into the event and "We will rock you" and "Minnie the Moocher" (Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi) were working as well in the 12,200-seat Chaoyang Park stadium as anywhere in the world.

The Beach Boys and Robbie Williams, however, were struggling unless there was a quorum of international fans.

A lot was lost in translation the other way as well, as tourists were bemused by high-pitched Chinese ballads and the rousing nationalistic chorus "Ode to the Motherland" that has all the Chinese on their feet and singing at the top of their voices.

"We go by who's here and what's going to work," Blaumauer said as a mixed crowd launched in to "Put your hands up in the air." He reckoned a tenth of the music they played was Chinese.

CROWD FUN

On the sand, McGee and his Chinese counterpart try to teach the crowd the rules of the game and hand moves to celebrate certain points, like a double-armed wave to German rap refrain "Mein block" when a player blocks the ball at the net.

The international crowd love it. The Chinese are not so sure, although they are becoming dab hands at the Mexican wave.

Certain players also have their own tunes like "American Woman" for the U.S. women's teams, "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" for the Australians and "Zorba the Greek" for, well, the Greeks.

Critics say the high-octane party atmosphere shows that beach volleyball is a lifestyle sport that has no place in the Olympics but given that events like weight lifting are now pumping up the music to keep people going, it seems they were on to something.

"You don't want people falling asleep in their seats," said Sinjin Smith, a former top player who has helped put together the entertainment program. "That's not going to happen here."

(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

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Bosnian divide keeps criminals waiting for jail (Reuters)

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnia's failure to establish a coherent system of government more than a decade after its ethnic war has had some strange consequences -- among them a dire lack of prison space for Sarajevo's small-time criminals.

The Bosnian capital, located in the Muslim-Croat half of Bosnia, has space for just 100 low-risk prisoners, while twice that number wait -- some for up to six years -- to serve their sentences.

A few km away stands a prison that could accommodate some of them. But it lies just inside Bosnia's Serb Republic, the other entity that emerged from the end of the war -- and there is no agreement between the two halves on taking each other's prisoners.

The shortage of space means that Amer Hamidovic, 22, waited two and a half years to start serving a seven-month sentence for dealing drugs.

"It was strange. I couldn't plan anything in my life, I just had to wait," he said, sitting in a common room where prisoners were watching the Olympics on television.

The long delays are among the many consequences that accompanied the division of Bosnia into a mostly Serbian half and a mostly Muslim and Croat half under the 1995 Dayton peace agreement. Each side runs separate institutions, including prisons.

"We can't take any more people than is our capacity," Alija Berberkic, the warden who oversees Sarajevo's prisons, said in an interview.

"The only answer is to come up with a common solution to Bosnia's problems. Why should we spend the money to build a new expensive system when we already have a working one just across the dividing line?"

The prison in question is on Sarajevo's outskirts, and Berberkic said it had space. But it lies just inside the Serb part of Bosnia, Republika Srpska.

The Bosnian Serb prison officials declined to comment and region's justice ministry officials were not available.

JAIL INSTEAD OF FINE

The most dangerous criminals in the Muslim-Croat region, such as murderers and rapists, are sent to a much larger prison outside Sarajevo.

But Berberkic said that about 200 people convicted in the city of lesser crimes are still living at home in the Sarajevo area, awaiting space in the city's prisons. Only about 100 are actually jailed.

"It is dangerous, but we can't do anything about it,' said Ferid Niksic, the assistant to the warden. "But it's not as though, if you just put away the 200 people, the situation on the streets would be ideal, without crime."

Waiter Sasa Martinovic, 23, waited the longest time to serve his time: six years from the day he got into a fight until he began a 20-day sentence.

"They ordered me to pay 1,000 Bosnian marka (500 euros) but I couldn't afford to pay." He chose to go to prison instead.

Niksic said that no convict waiting to serve sentence has run away in recent years.

"I wouldn't want to escape because I was not guilty," said Zlatko Gojsilovic, an accountant who says his superiors fraudulently got him to sign a document laundering 1.75 million euros (1.3 million pounds).

"I waited five or six months to start my sentence but that was good because I had time to finish up some work before coming in."

Senad Lihovac waited two months before beginning a 17-month sentence for killing someone in a traffic accident. He was barred from driving in the meantime.

The inmates in the Sarajevo prison, built a century ago under Austro-Hungarian rule, live in common rooms filled with bunk beds. Officials do not segregate them along ethnic lines, so Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs share the facilities.

"There are conflicts, but they happen on an individual basis rather than because of national identity," said Niksic, the warden's assistant.

How long might it take for the two halves of Bosnia to unify its prison system?

"Maybe 100 years," Niksic quickly responded.

Warden Berberkic was more diplomatic: "It all depends on the politicians."

(Additional reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Llama fetus ritual to help Bolivia's Morales? (Reuters)

EL ALTO, Bolivia (Reuters) - Muttering incantations at a witches' market above La Paz, Faustino Tinta sets fire to a dried llama fetus and wax trinkets, an offering his client hopes will help Bolivian President Evo Morales survive a recall vote.

Tinta, 53, is one of dozens of witch doctors who tend a warren of stalls in the Morales' stronghold of El Alto, making offerings that promise luck at work or in love, or to call up spirits and banish curses.

Inside his stall herbs hang on the wall next to a carving of Jesus and a picture of Morales. Outside, at around 13,120 feet above sea level, snow falls on the ground.

"Snow. It is a happy omen," he said, sprinkling alcohol on the palms of 23-year-old miner Javier Ramos. "Many people have come to make offerings to Pachamama for Evo."

August is the month of Pachamama, or Mother Earth, central to Andean culture.

Ramos wants spirits to protect him while he works underground at a gold mine in the town of Consata, 85 miles

north of La Paz, and to ensure that Morales wins Sunday's vote and pushes on with his nationalization and pro-poor reforms.

"I'm making this offering so things go well at work, so that nothing happens to me inside the mine, so I make money, and so that Evo wins," he said, his smile revealing tiny gold stars set into his teeth as the smell of caramel wafted from the burning pyre. "I will vote for him. Let's hope he wins."

POLITICAL CRISIS

Morales is expected to survive a recall vote this weekend but South America's poorest country is gripped by a political crisis that could deepen as right-wing opponents seek to derail his socialist reforms.

Morales and eight of Bolivia's nine provincial governors face Sunday's recall votes. Confident of victory, he approved the votes in an apparent bid to undermine his opponents and sap momentum from autonomy movements in natural gas-rich eastern provinces.

The president is very popular in and around La Paz, but his reforms, from energy and mining nationalization to the centralization of energy revenues, have polarized Bolivians.

"Evo is going to have the support of more people. He is going to win the referendum," said soothsayer Maria Samo, tossing coca leaves onto a crucifix placed on a piece of woven material in her own stall nearby.

"But his enemies will try to make trouble. There, look: that is his luck," added Samo, pointing to two stray leaves, their dark green upper side facing upwards. She has told fortunes for 25 years and followed in her grandmother's footsteps.

The dark side of the leaves denotes luck while the silvery underside is cause for worry, she said.

And another question on many Bolivians' lips -- will 48-year-old Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous leader and a former coca farmer, get married?

"No, I see no partner," she said. "He won't get married in the coming years."

(Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Georgia men claim hairy, frozen corpse is Bigfoot (AP)

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Bigfoot or big fat lie? Whenever someone reports sighting the hairy beast of yore (details always fuzzy) or capturing the hirsute humanoid on film (images always grainy), it scares up a dubious debate of international proportions. Friday was just the latest episode in the Sasquatch show, as unreal as it may be.

Two men who claim to have stumbled across a Bigfoot corpse in the woods of northern Georgia indignantly stood by their story at a news conference in Palo Alto during which they offered an e-mail from a scientist as evidence and acknowledged they wouldn't mind making a few bucks from the "find" they have kept stuffed in a freezer for over a month.

"Everyone who has talked down to us is going to eat their words," predicted Matt Whitton, an officer on medical leave from the Clayton County Police Department.

Whitton and Rick Dyer, a former corrections officer, announced the discovery in early July on YouTube videos and their Web site. Although they did not consider themselves devoted Bigfoot trackers before then, they have since started offering weekend search expeditions in Georgia for $499. The specimen they bagged, the men say, was one of several apelike creatures they spotted cavorting in the woods.

As they faced a skeptical audience of several hundred journalists and Bigfoot fans that included one curiosity seeker in a Chewbacca suit, the pair were joined Friday by Tom Biscardi, head of a group called Searching for Bigfoot. Other Bigfoot hunters call Biscardi a huckster looking for media attention.

Biscardi fielded most of the questions. Among them: Why should anyone accept the men's tale when they weren't willing to display their frozen artifact or pinpoint where they allegedly found it? How come bushwhackers aren't constantly tripping over primate remains if there are as many as 7,000 Bigfoots roaming the United States, as Biscardi claimed?

"I understand where you are coming from, but how many real Bigfoot researchers are out there trekking 140,000 miles a year?" Biscardi said.

Biscardi, Whitton and Dyer presented what they called evidence supporting the Bigfoot theory. It was an e-mail from a University of Minnesota scientist, but all it said was that of the three DNA samples sent to the scientist, one was human, one was likely a possum and the third could not be tested because of technical problems.

At least one other Bigfoot researcher, Idaho State University anthropologist Jeffrey Meldrum, called the trio's claims "not compelling in the least." He told the Scientific American that photographs posted on the Web site "just looks like a costume with some fake guts thrown on top for effect."

Whitton and Dyer have offered three different accounts of how they found the beast's remains.

In early videos, the animal was shot by a former felon, and the men followed it into the woods. In a second version, they found a "family of Bigfoot" in the north Georgia mountains. In the third, the two were hiking and stumbled upon the corpse with open wounds.

In one of their YouTube videos, they are shown speaking with a man they identify as a scientist. Earlier this week, they admitted that the man was Dyer's brother. Dyer said they were simply having fun.

Asked why anyone should believe his claims when he already had shown a flair for tomfoolery, he suggested that skeptics simply are jealous.

"They don't have a choice to believe us. We have a body," Dyer said.

___

Associated Press writer Juanita Cousins in Atlanta contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

Bigfoot Tracker: http://www.bigfoottracker.com

Big Foot Field Researchers Organization: http://www.bfro.net/

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Taking a serious jab at the history of gags (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A talkative barber asks a customer, "How shall I cut your hair?"

"In silence!" is the response.

That two-liner from ancient Greece is one of the many jokes writer Jim Holt found as he traced the evolution of jokes in his new book "Stop Me If You've Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes."

Holt, a New York-based science writer, said he always found joke-telling to be an interesting phenomenon.

"It's the only domain of creative activity where a very complex cerebral stimulus, a little bit of nonsense ... will elicit this massive and grossly physiological response," he said in an interview.

No one knows who uttered the first joke but Holt said that in ancient Athens comedians gathered in the Temple of Heracles to trade jokes.

A recent study by researchers at the University of Wolverhampton in England found that the oldest recorded joke was from 1900 BC in Sumeria, now southern Iraq. It's about female flatulence, showing toilet humour has always been popular.

Jokes may have flourished with the advent of urban life, as the growth of commerce and social interaction obliged people to humour each other, according to Holt.

While sex and scatological jokes continue to be favourites, he said western humour evolved from the mid-19th century into more of an intellectual exercise involving witty paradox.

Among today's professional jokesters, the stand-up comedians that are the staple of late-night television, Holt said that jokes have shifted away from punch lines to more observational humour in the style of American comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

One key function of the joke is to provide relief in the form of gallows humour, he said, even on topics that might seem highly inappropriate, such as the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York.

Some are in the form of children's knock-knock jokes: "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "9-11." "9-11 who?" "You said you'd never forget!"

"When people finally told 9-11 jokes, I mean, what a relief," he said. "And Holocaust jokes ... sometimes it's the only way to provide relief, in a sort of therapeutic way."

But he said he's also heard plenty of German Auschwitz jokes that are "just plain vile". With those jokes, including ones about race and handicaps, much depends on who tells the joke and their intention. Often the line is not so clear.

"I'm hoping that there might be a harmony between the values of humour and morality," he said. "But I feel certain this isn't the case. I think there are probably deeply immoral jokes that are very funny."

Holt doesn't think humour is a crucial quality for leadership and said many jokes by politicians are often bad. Even if the jokes are good, they can be risky, he said.

"Americans today have this incredibly thin skin," he said. "You always offend somebody."

(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando, editing by Patricia Reaney)

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Bloggers enraged over "pretty face" fakery (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Bloggers were up in arms on Wednesday over China's decision at the Olympic opening ceremony to have a pretty little girl lip-synching for the real singer who had crooked teeth.

Many said they felt cheated because one of the most touching moments of the critically acclaimed ceremony was not the real deal.

"Frankly, I think that's disgusting. Honestly, they're seven and nine years old! So young!" one New York teenage girl wrote angrily in her blog.

Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke was praised for her cute performance but organisers admitted on Wednesday that she was a photogenic stand-in for the real singer, Yang Peiyi, who was rejected because of her appearance.

"I find it sad that they ruined an otherwise pretty awesome ceremony with those fakes," another blog argued.

"So forget Beijing 2008. Best opening ceremony so far is still SYDNEY 2000! They didn't see it necessary to use computer generated images to impress the world."

The organisers have also admitted that the "live" television broadcast of the opening ceremony featured pre-recorded shots of fireworks.

A search on Google blogs showed what a can of worms had been opened. Indignation ranked alongside astonishment as their primary reaction.

"Apparently, the little girl whose voice was used, Yang Peiyi, wasn't cute enough. It was deemed bad for China's image to show a little girl with crooked teeth," one complained.

Hollywood has been a persistent offender in the past -- Audrey Hepburn in "My Fair Lady" and Natalie Wood in "West Side Story" were both dubbed by Marnie Nixon.

Bloggers accepted that practice but one commented "Something about passing over a child for crooked teeth just seems, well, wrong."

They accused the Chinese authorities of being control freaks.

"China wants the Olympics as a stage to present a picture-perfect image to the outside world and perfection was clearly the goal for the dazzling opening ceremonies," one wrote.

Accusations of hypocrisy were also levelled at Beijing.

"Eager to put on a perfect Olympics, Beijing has swept its streets of fake designer handbags, pirated DVDs and phoney corporate logos. That dedication to authenticity apparently does not extend to Olympics ceremonies," said another blogger.

But the organisers were unrepentant.

Beijing Games spokesman Wang Wei said: "The song was pre-recorded ... The artistic directors just picked the best voice and the best performer."

(Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann and Kevin Fylan; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

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Beijing provides 100,000 condoms for athletes (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Sydney Olympics ran out. Athens doubled the number. So organisers of the Beijing Games are hoping 100,000 condoms will satisfy the needs of Olympic athletes.

While sex is not an Olympic sport it is expected to be an activity in the Beijing village housing 10,500 athletes, all of whom are in great shape and with plenty of free time on their hands once knocked out of the Games.

Athletes have received free condoms at every Olympics since Barcelona in 1992 to help raise awareness of AIDS, and Beijing is no exception.

"There are many young, strong, single people in the athletes' village and, like everywhere, some will fall in love or other things so we need to make condoms available," Ole Hansen, spokesman for UNAIDS China, told Reuters.

"A lot of these young people are not married or in relationships so we want to make sure they have the information and tools to protect themselves if they have sexual encounters."

The UNAIDS, the Beijing organising committee BOCOG and International Olympics Committee are providing 100,000 condoms as part of a campaign on HIV prevention and anti-discrimination.

At the Sydney Games in 2000 athletes quickly exhausted a supply of 70,000 and another 20,000 had to be brought in.

The Foundation for AIDS Research, amfAR, said 100,000 were distributed at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 after a plan to distribute 250,000 condoms met protests by religious groups and was scaled back.

At Athens in 2004 about 130,000 condoms were distributed.

Hansen said the number available at Beijing was based on previous Games' experience and in keeping with previous Olympics would be available at medical centres at athletes' centres in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong rather than put in rooms.

"We have people here from all religions and cultural backgrounds, some of whom may feel uncomfortable or offended with condoms in their room," he said.

To be discreet, two condoms are tucked inside every a brochure about HIV that are available at medical centres.

"No one can see that you are carrying condoms to save any embarrassment," said Hansen.

"People are encouraged to take the leaflets and to take as many as they like. They can use them or take them home for friends and spread the knowledge and awareness."

Chinese condom makers have jumped on the Olympics bandwagon.

One manufacturer, Elasun, has come up with a set of cheeky advertisements featuring a stickman swimming over a rippled condom that looks like a wave, riding two condom rings like a bicycle, and using a condom as a basketball hoop.

Condoms depicting the five Olympics mascots are also for sale on various online sites although nowhere to be seen in official merchandise stories.

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

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Obama, McCain reveal pop culture favorites (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Holy politicking, Batman.

U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have unmasked their favorite pop culture icons, including superheroes, with McCain favoring Batman and Obama choosing Spider-Man and Batman.

In interviews with Entertainment Weekly magazine posted on its Web site on Thursday, McCain, 71, and Obama, 47, also gave their picks for best on-screen president, top singers and most-liked television shows.

Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, said he chose Spider-Man and Batman because "they have some inner turmoil." McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, said Batman is a quiet hero who pursues justice "against insurmountable odds."

Both chose a winner. The new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" is burning up box offices with earnings of more than $400 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales.

In the world of music, McCain revealed a weakness for the Swedish disco-era band ABBA, late singer Roy Orbison and 1970s star Linda Ronstadt.

"But I like Usher too," McCain said, explaining he appeared on the TV comedy show "Saturday Night Live" with the 29-year-old rhythm and blues singer.

Obama favored an eclectic group of musicians, including Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow and John Coltrane.

As for TV, Obama listed throwback programs like "M*A*S*H" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show," while McCain named the more recent "Seinfeld," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Dexter."

Obama also proved a little behind the times on the last movie seen in a theater, which for him was the 2007 animated film "Shrek the Third." McCain said he had seen the blockbuster hit "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which debuted in May.

"I enjoyed that so much. The old guy wins," said McCain, who has been the butt of jokes because of his age.

One person poking fun at him has been Paris Hilton, the 27-year-old actress, singer and socialite, who called McCain a "wrinkly white-haired guy" in a Web video posted this week.

For favorite actor in the role of president, McCain picked Dennis Haysbert from the Fox network hit "24." Obama chose Jeff Bridges from the 2000 movie "The Contender."

"He was charming and essentially an honorable person, but there was a rogue about him," Obama said.

Obama said his first movie memory was "Born Free," the 1966 film about African lions. McCain remembered the 1942 Disney animated feature "Bambi."

"When his mother was killed. Oh, yeah, I cried," McCain said.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and John O'Callaghan)

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Olympic opening uses girl's voice, not face (AP)

BEIJING - One little girl had the looks. The other had the voice.

So in a last-minute move demanded by one of China's highest officials, the two were put together for the Olympic opening ceremony, with one lip-synching "Ode to the Motherland" over the other's singing.

The real singer, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, with her chubby face and crooked baby teeth, wasn't good looking enough for the ceremony, its chief music director told state-owned Beijing Radio.

So the pigtailed Lin Miaoke, a veteran of television ads, mouthed the words with a pixie smile for a stadium of 91,000 and a worldwide TV audience. "I felt so beautiful in my red dress," the tiny 9-year-old told the China Daily newspaper.

Peiyi later told China Central Television that just having her voice used was an honor.

It was the latest example of the lengths the image-obsessed China is taking to create a perfect Summer Games.

In a brief phone interview with AP Television News on Tuesday night, the music director, Chen Qigang, said he spoke about the switch with Beijing Radio "to come out with the truth."

"The little girl is a magnificent singer," Chen said. "She doesn't deserve to be hidden." He said the ceremony's director, film director Zhang Yimou, knew of the change. He declined to speak further about it.

China has been eager to present a flawless Olympics face to the world, shooing thousands of migrant workers from the city and shutting down any sign of protest.

The country's quest for perfection apparently includes its children.

A member of China's Politburo asked for the last-minute change during a live rehearsal shortly before the ceremony, Chen said in the Beijing Radio interview, posted online Sunday night. He didn't name the official.

During the live rehearsal, the Politburo member said Miaoke's voice "must change," Chen said.

"We had to make that choice. It was fair both for Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi," Chen told Beijing Radio. "We combined the perfect voice and the perfect performance."

"The audience will understand that it's in the national interest," Chen added.

He said he felt a responsibility to explain to the country what happened but on Tuesday the link to the video on the Beijing Radio Web site no longer worked.

Miaoke's performance Friday night, like the ceremony itself, was an immediate hit. "Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke becomes instant star with patriotic song," the China Daily newspaper headline said.

Zhang, China's most famous film director, was asked at a post-ceremony news conference about the little girl who swung on wires high above the Bird's Nest National Stadium during the performance.

"She is a lovely girl and she sings well," Zhang said, according to a transcript posted on the Beijing organizing committee's web site.

The switch became a hot topic among Chinese and raced across the country's blogosphere.

"The organizers really messed up on this one," Luo Shaoyang, 34, a retail worker in Beijing, said Tuesday. "This is like a voiceover for a cartoon character. Why couldn't they pick a kid who is both cute and a good singer? This damages the reputation of both kids for their future, especially the one lip-synching. Now everyone knows she's a fraud, who cares if she's cute?"

Others disagreed.

"They want the best-looking people to represent the face of China. I don't blame the organizers for picking a prettier-looking kid over the not-so-pretty one," said Xia Xiaotao, 30, an engineer.

"It's the unfortunate reality that these sort of things turn political," said marketing worker Zhang Xinyi, 22.

It was not the first time an Olympics opening ceremony involved lip-synching.

At the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Luciano Pavarotti's performance was prerecorded. The maestro who conducted the aria, Leone Magiera, said this year that the bitter cold made a live performance impossible for Pavarotti, who was in severe pain months before his cancer diagnosis. Pavarotti died in 2007 at age 71.

Also Tuesday, Beijing organizers confirmed that some of the opening ceremony's fireworks display — 29 gigantic footprints shown "walking" toward the National Stadium — featured prerecorded footage. The footage was provided to broadcasters "for convenience and theatrical effects," said Wang Wei, vice president of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee.

(NBC also has augmented its Olympic coverage in the past to set the right mood. That fire in the studio fireplace during the 2002 Salt Lake Games? It was just a video.)

Neither of the two little girls involved could be reached by The Associated Press on Tuesday, and it was not clear how the ceremony — or the controversy — might change their lives.

Peiyi is a first-grader at the Primary School affiliated to Peking University. Her tutor, Wang Liping, wrote in her blog that Peiyi is both cute and well-behaved, with a love for Peking opera.

"She doesn't like to show off. She's easygoing," Wang wrote. She and other school officials couldn't be reached Tuesday.

Miaoke, however, was a minor celebrity even before the opening ceremony. The third-grader appeared in a TV ad last year with China's biggest gold medal hope, hurdling champion Liu Xiang, and she was in an Olympics ad earlier this year, China Daily reported.

Her father, Lin Hui, told China Daily he learned Miaoke would be "singing" only 15 minutes before the opening ceremony began.

Lin "still cannot believe his daughter has become an international singing sensation," the report said.

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Chi-Chi Zhang and Isolda Morillo in Beijing contributed to this report.

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Newspaper apologizes for false royals story (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) - One of Britain's most-read newspapers was forced to apologize on Friday after falsely reporting that Queen Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip was suffering from prostate cancer.

London's Evening Standard made the apology after Buckingham Palace complained to the Press Complaints Commission about the August 6 front-page story.

"We now accept that the story was untrue and that he is not suffering from any such condition," the Evening Standard said.

"We unreservedly apologize both to him and to his family for making this distressing allegation and for breaching his privacy."

The decision to report the newspaper to the complaints commission was itself uncommon, but Buckingham Palace said it had done so because the story was not only not true but damaging and was being widely reported by other media.

"Buckingham Palace has always maintained that members of the royal family have a right to privacy, particularly in relation to their personal health," the palace said in a statement.

"For this reason, we have always refused to confirm or deny the persistent rumors that circulate about their health, particularly during the quieter news months."

The Standard's apology came two weeks after a judge made an important privacy ruling in Britain's High Court.

In that decision, Justice David Eady ruled that the tabloid newspaper News of the World had breached the privacy of motor racing chief Max Mosley by revealing his part in German-themed sex orgies with prostitutes.

PAPERS MORE CAUTIOUS

Lawyers said at the time that the ruling, while not a landmark, was likely to make newspapers more cautious about how they reported on the lives of famous people, and could make it easier for celebrities to sue newspapers over privacy.

"Until a few years ago there was no privacy law in this country and each case tried to stretch it a bit further," said Ramona Mehta, a defamation lawyer with the firm Mishcon de Reya.

"The Mosley case was the one that stretched it that bit further still, with the judge quite clear in his reasoning... It's forced editors to be more careful, certainly in a case of this nature, where it's a very high-profile royal."

English law has traditionally been protective of individuals in cases of libel, and those protections now appear to be expanding into the realm of privacy, although lawyers say it will take more cases before a new trend emerges.

In the case of Mosley, the newspaper was ordered to pay 60,000 pounds ($120,000) in damages, a relatively small sum compared to libel cases, although it also had to pay the high legal costs.

"If a newspaper gets a story about a footballer having a sex orgy with a Big Brother contestant, 60,000 pounds probably isn't going to stop them publishing," said Mehta.

But in the case of the royal family, who are favorite fodder for most British newspapers not just the tabloids, editors were likely to tread a lot more carefully, she said.

(Editing by Robert Hart)

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China to punish airlines whose passengers misbehave (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will punish airlines whose passengers refuse to disembark or misbehave in protest over problems like delayed flights, an official said on Thursday, as the Olympics host tries to lift standards before the Games.

Frustration at mysterious delays and abrupt diversions and cancellations have at times boiled over into violence at Chinese airports, with passengers trying to storm grounded aircraft and police having to be brought in to keep the peace.

There have also been cases in which passengers, after delayed arrivals, have refused to get off aircraft in protest.

Deputy head of the civil aviation regulator, Yang Guoqing, said enough was enough after numerous warnings to airlines to treat their passengers better appeared to have failed.

"We will severely punish airlines which experience aircraft occupations and other incidents as a result of service reasons which originate with the airline," Yang told a news conference.

"These measures include cancelling slots at corresponding busy airports."

State media reported this week that scores of Chinese passengers smashed computers and desks and clashed with police after a night stranded at an airport without accommodation.

More than 170 passengers were due to leave Kunming, capital of southwestern Yunnan province, on three flights operated by China Southern Airlines late on Monday, but the flights were cancelled due to bad weather, Xinhua news agency said.

The report blamed the melee on China Southern staff's "inappropriate working attitude".

Yang said customers must also be kept better informed about delays, especially those caused by bad weather, a big issue in China.

"If there is bad weather, for example, we will tell the media to publicise it so that passengers can be informed ahead of time and avoid long waits at airports due to the weather," he added.

Another worry, with the Games a week away, has been ensuring Beijing's main airport does not suffer delays from thunderstorms, which often strike the capital over the summer, just as athletes and other visitors arrive.

During last year's Spring Festival, riot police had to be called to Beijing airport after passengers angry at fog-related delays roughed up airline staff, attacked service counters and tried to storm grounded aircraft.

Former chief regulator Yang Yuanyuan told Reuters late last year that the threat of thunderstorms in August could be a big headache for air traffic controllers and passengers alike.

Huang Dengke, director of the watchdog's northern region, said records from previous years suggested rain was likely on August 8 and 9 -- when the Olympics open and when the airport will handle some 20 percent more traffic than normal.

But four nearby airports had been lined up to take diverted flights should that happen next week, he said.

(Editing by Chris Buckley)

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From bizarre to beautiful, Beijing cooks up a storm (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Fancy a seahorse kebab, deep-fried scorpion, or maybe duck liver paste shaped as a table tennis bat?

Beijing, a city known for its culinary diversity, is offering everything from the bizarre to the beautiful when it comes to food during the August 8-24 Olympics with visitors urged to be adventurous and not put off by the unusual.

Some of the city's estimated 40,000 restaurants have added sporting twists to menus in keeping with the Chinese tradition of marking special occasions with unique culinary creations.

The Quanjude, a well-known Peking duck restaurant, has a range of dishes with an Olympic theme such as abalone shaped like a rowing boat with asparagus oars, baby corn baseball bats, and noodle baskets shaped like the Olympic "Bird's Nest" stadium.

Sports bars around the city were hoping the influx of seven million visitors for the Games would benefit them, such as the W Restaurant and Bar in the popular Sanlitun area that is co-owned by former Swedish table tennis champion Jan-Ove Waldner.

"Everyone is going to be thinking sports all the time and we will have the Olympics showing all the time," said Chris Lee, chief executive of W Restaurant that has a table tennis table in the dining area for diners needing some exercise.

Even though dog meat has officially been taken off the menu for the Olympic Games so as not to offend foreign visitors, tourists can still find a wide range of unusual delicacies.

DONKEY RESTAURANTS

The Guolizhuang restaurant specialises in animal penises while there are several donkey restaurants.

Stalls along Snack Street in the Wangfujing shopping district sell a range of delicacies on sticks such as seahorses for 30 yuan (2.26 pounds) and cicadas for five yuan.

The Chinese traditionally believe certain animals or their organs have medicinal properties.

"The seahorses are good for men's kidneys and their virility. Those (crustacea) are for the girls to improve their skin and looks, and these (lizards) are for both the boys and the girls, they boost your virility," said food vendor Sun Hainan.

However there appeared to be few takers on Snack Street.

"I haven't tried them and I'm not going to," said 11-year-old Fang Jie from Chingdao who was in Beijing for the Olympics.

One of China's largest travel services, China International Travel Service (CITS), said visitors might consider things eaten in China to be distasteful but they needed to "bridge the cultural gap and look at it with an open mind."

"There have been periods of severe famine even as recently as the late 1960s when tens of millions died of starvation in the Great Leap Forward. Back then you would have been glad for what is on today's menu," said CITS in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Reuters Television; Editing by Steve Ginsburg)

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Study looks to save rattlers from Canadian roads (Reuters)

DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK, Alberta (Reuters) - In this arid river valley in southeastern Alberta, Adam Martinson is trying to find out why rattlesnakes cross the road.

Martinson, a University of Calgary student working on a Masters degree has come to Dinosaur Provincial Park, listed as a United Nations World Heritage site, to study why snakes slither onto -- and too frequently die on -- the asphalt blacktop of the region's roads.

"Road mortality is a significant factor of influencing snake populations around the world," Martinson said. "In southern Alberta it's particularly important because the snakes aren't moving very fast across the roads and there is a huge amount of development."

Snakes are pressured by both oil and gas exploration in the Western Canadian province's semi-desert southeast, but also by residential development in the booming region.

For prairie rattlesnakes, considered to be potentially a "species at risk" by the Alberta government, and bull snakes, their nonvenomous cousins, roads are a deadly hazard.

The snakes move onto roads looking for safety, food, mates and the heat absorbed by the asphalt. However, when a vehicle approaches the snakes don't move.

They coil themselves up in a defensive posture and the rattlers shake their tails to warn off the danger.

It's a strategy that has served them well for millions of years but is of little use in fending off a truck.

"It happens almost every day," Martinson said.

One South Carolina study found that more than 80 percent of timber rattlesnakes that tried to cross roads travelled by 2,000 or more vehicles a day were killed.

"We're trying to learn ... how we can design roads and plan for roadways that are going to have less of an impact on snakes," he said.

Part of Martinson's study includes trying to get a firmer handle on just how many bull and rattlesnakes there are in southern Alberta. Both species are considered "data deficient" by wildlife conservation agencies, meaning that no one really knows how many of the reptiles live in the region.

The snakes are a key to the area's ecosystem, keeping a check on rodent populations. They are also prey for other creatures.

For his study, Martinson traps snakes within the park and releases them onto a control road, where he tracks how fast they move across the surface and at what angle.

He'll use the data to create a model to predict the probability of a snake being killed based on traffic density.

But here, just before the prairie descends to meet the Red Deer River, an area famous for striking badlands geography and its rich beds of dinosaur fossils, it's clear what the risks are for the reptiles.

Stretched out on the asphalt, partially flattened is a prairie rattler nearly three feet (one metre) long. A conservation officer stops his truck, scoops up the dead serpent and throws it into the vehicle's bed. It's another statistic for Martinson's study.

(Writing by Scott Haggett; editing by Rob Wilson)

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Beer and spies: "Stasi pub" divides Berliners (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) - Two Berliners have caused a stir with a new "Stasi Bar" where guests can sip beer surrounded by listening devices and shredded documents, a stone's throw from the former headquarters of East Germany's dreaded secret police.

Owners Willi Gau, 60, and Wolfgang Schmelz, 53, say they want to provoke debate with their small bar.

But groups representing victims of the notorious Stasi have slammed the idea as tasteless.

"We mean it in a satirical but serious way," said Gau, standing by the entrance of his bar "Die Firma" (The Firm), where guests are greeted by a large sign featuring the emblem of the Stasi.

Inside, a mannequin dressed as an East German police officer and sporting a baton and handcuffs stands in front of a poster reading "Welcome to the capital of the German Democratic Republic (GDR)."

The owners serve beer and traditional East German food next to old typewriters and an urn reading "E.H. - 1912-1994," alluding to former GDR leader Erich Honecker. Regular guests can apply to become "Stasi informants" and get a discount.

"We respect the victims. We do not want to brush it under the carpet," Gau said, before adding it was time to take a new approach to Germany's painful past. "After 20 years we should change the way we talk about that topic."

Founded in 1950, East Germany's Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the Stasi, was seen as one of the most repressive police organizations in the world.

It infiltrated almost every aspect of life, using torture, intimidation and a network of informants to crush dissent.

Marianne Birthler, who heads a government office looking after the Stasi archives, said the new bar was "hard to beat in terms of tastelessness."

"The many people who know about the inhuman methods of the Ministry for State Security ... certainly won't enjoy their beer in this bar," Birthler was quoted as saying by daily newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung.

Siegfried Reiprich, who works at a former Stasi prison which has been turned into a memorial, said the pub was an "insult to the victims." Peter Alexander Hussock from victims' organization Help told daily Bild the issue was too serious to joke about.

"Many people still tremble when they think about the Stasi. They suffer from insomnia and physical problems," Hussock said.

By the time East Germany collapsed, the Stasi had some 91,000 full-time staff and a vast network of informants.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, demonstrators stormed Stasi headquarters in Normannenstrasse in East Berlin, where Gau and Schmelz have now opened their bar.

(Writing by Kerstin Gehmlich; Editing by William Schomberg)

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Artists and writers launch London "School of Life" (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) - A group of artists, writers and intellectuals has launched a new "university" in London, designed to help those too tied up with work to appreciate the finer things in life, like art, books and travel.

The School of Life, operating out of a small shop in the arty district of Bloomsbury describes itself as a "chemist for the mind" that plans to dispense "cultural solutions to everyday ailments".

It hopes to inspire those who have got out of the habit of reading decent books, cannot keep conversation flowing at dinner parties, or need to expand their holiday horizons.

The philosopher Alain de Botton, author of "How Proust Can Change Your Life", and Sophie Howarth, a former curator at the Tate Modern gallery, are among the faculty members.

"The School of Life is open to everyone seeking intellectual and personal adventure," the school says on its website.

"Our audiences, like our faculty, are characterised by curiosity, sociability, open-mindedness and an appetite for life."

The founders believe that people with too little time to spare need after-hours instruction in how to use what little they have to live a more fulfilled existence.

"Perhaps you have a burning question for a palaeontologist. Perhaps you're considering a career change and want to talk first-hand to a photographer or landscape designer.

"The School of Life has a large freelance faculty who are willing to meet with you for an hour of chat in exchange for a small fee," the website explains, listing 50 experts.

HOLIDAY IN YOUR BEDROOM

Among courses being offered later this year are instruction in life, love, work, family and politics. A typical course, in love, will explore why relationships are so complicated and why attraction ebbs and flows.

"We draw on ideas from philosophy, psychoanalysis, literature and art. We discover what the likes of Plato, Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Freud had to say about compassion, empathy and self-love," the instructors promise.

Courses run for six weeks and cost 195 pounds.

There are also lessons in how to make more scintillating conversation at dinner parties, lectures in the value of punctuality, and discourses on what books you should read.

On holidays, one suggestion is to head to the Lofoten Islands, north of the Artic circle in Norway, or to take an intense, introspective journey around your own bedroom.

Later this year, de Botton, one of Britain's most high-profile philosophers and thinkers, will teach a course in travel appreciation at Heathrow airport.

"Alain will introduce you to people whose lives are intimately linked to the airport, explore the iconography of airports for artists and writers, and help you think more deeply about how we might all improve ourselves in the art of travelling," the course notes explain.

(Editing by Robert Hart)

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Don't streak, get drunk or sleep outside (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Do not sleep outdoors to save money at the Olympics. It is banned to "maintain public hygiene and the cultured image of cities."

Do not let the stifling summer heat tempt you into streaking, do not get drunk nor set off fireworks nor wave "insulting banners."

Anyone with mental illnesses or sexually transmitted diseases is banned. Smoking is not allowed at Olympic venues.

The rules on the organizers' official website say it all:

"Foreigners must respect Chinese laws while in China and must not harm China's national security or damage social order."

The security-obsessed authorities are taking no chances with the 500,000 tourists set to hit Beijing for the Games.

A battery of surface-to-air missile launchers are being deployed around the showpiece sites.

No detail is too trivial.

Lighters have been banned on domestic flights. Commuters are being asked to take a swig from water bottles on the subway to ensure they do not contain suspicious substances.

All public swimming pools in Shanghai will check shampoos and body wash.

OBSESSIVE MANAGEMENT

Authorities have promised "civilized and convenient" security checks but have been accused of obsessive stage management -- visa restrictions have been tightened for visitors and Beijing is being rid of petitioners, the homeless and migrant workers.

Up to 1,000 Chinese families are opening up their homes to Olympic visitors, a move that would have been unheard of before the reform and opening up of China in the 1980s.

But the hosts could still be in for a culture shock.

Retired school teacher Yuan Xioaoqing, who is opening up her home, said "Foreign students like to stay out all night on the weekend. But in more intellectual and traditional Chinese households there is no way the kids would go out like that."

Beijing has learnt a lesson from the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Dog meat is off the menu in the Chinese capital during the Olympics in case animal rights groups are offended.

Exotic names and alarming translations abound in Chinese restaurants which are being given a linguistic makeover, though only in select restaurants.

Out goes the traditionally named "husband and wife's lung slice" appetizer which is being replaced by the more linguistically correct "beef and ox tripe in chili sauce."

But no mention was made of the many popular establishments that have donkey on the menu.

The authorities have also worked hard to eliminate "Chinglish" from road signs and menus in the run-up to the Olympics, even if efforts have been a little hit and miss.

Gone is the infamous "Racist Park" signpost for the Ethnic Minorities Park.

Anyone hoping to scoop up a bagful of cheap pirate movies or music could be in for a disappointment. The city has announced a round-the-clock drive to stamp out bootleg sellers, but pirated DVDs are still available if you know where to look.

Yet however much they are obsessed by security and a burning desire to portray the squeaky clean image of a well ordered society, the Chinese insist the welcome will be warm.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said: "China is a safe place. Please be assured. China is a nation with great hospitality and courtesy."

(Editing by Jon Bramley)

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Sex and the city forbidden, but let the Games begin (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) - Whatever happened to the Mongolian prostitutes? Where have all the "money boys" gone?

Looking for a high-class hooker in the lobby of a five-star hotel? It could be a tough assignment.

Anyone hoping for some readily available sex-for-sale in Beijing during the Olympics may be in for a shock. China is clearly keen to portray a squeaky clean image at the Summer Games and picture postcard Beijing is a top priority.

Prostitution is illegal in China. Banished after the Communist revolution in 1949, it returned with a vengeance in the 1980s when the country embarked upon economic reforms and started opening to the outside world.

For prostitutes and pole dancers alike, pickings now are slim. They cannot wait for the Olympics to end.

Climbing down from her pole in a sparsely populated bar in Beijing's Sanlitun area, 22-year-old Yang Shuo sighed.

"Business is OK but it could be better," she said. "It's the Olympics, you know. Police are cracking down on places like this."

Looking out on a tacky bar filled with a handful of customers, she said: "I am looking forward to the Olympics finishing."

For the oldest profession in the world, drumming up clients at the Olympics is hard work.

"Business is terrible," confessed one prostitute as she strode up to a passing westerner in a downtown Beijing street offering "Sex, Sex, Sex".

"We have been thrown out of the hotels," said the woman in her mid-30s, wearing a low-strung orange top. "We have to do our business on the streets and cut our prices."

"CLOSED FOR RENOVATION"

She normally charges 600 yuan (45 pounds) for three hours. The special Olympic price is now down to 500 yuan.

"I hate the Olympics. We can't wait for them to finish -- then business can return to normal."

The outlook was equally bleak at a bar once notorious as a haunt for picking up Mongolian prostitutes. The guard outside said: "It is closed for renovation. It will not be re-opening until September."

Trying to find out how business was for the money boys -- China's name for gay rent boys -- was not easy. None was prepared to talk unless you paid them first.

The Chinese government has told discos, karaoke bars and other entertainment venues to install windows in private rooms and ensure staff dress modestly in an effort to crack down on prostitution and drugs.

The Ministry of Public Security has decreed that entertainment venues must install transparent partitions between rooms that ensure "the whole environment of the consumer's entertainment area in the room can be seen".

Discos and karaoke bars in China frequently have private rooms for hire and are a favourite place for businessmen to entertain guests, sometimes with prostitutes.

Skimpy outfits were also officially discouraged. Staff members should "dress tastefully and not be too exposing".

(Writing by Paul Majendie; Editing by Nick Macfie)

(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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Olympics-Wear ox pendant to avoid rat clashes, leaders (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - Astrology expert Raymond Lo has a word of warning for China's Olympic leaders -- they should wear an ox pendant to ward off bad karma at the Olympics.

The Beijing Games open at eight minutes past eight o'clock in the evening on the 8th day of the 8th month in 2008, a time that traditionally offers the perfect combination of good luck and prosperity.

The Olympics are being staged in the Year of the Rat but, according to Chinese animal astrology, that could spell trouble for anyone born in the Year of the Horse.

Lo, a noted exponent in Hong Kong of the ancient art of feng shui, said "The clash between the Rat and the Horse is a serious clash between water and fire.

"For people born in the Year of the Horse, it is recommended that they wear a pendant of an ox which will help to attract away the Rat so as to minimise the influence of the clash."

He pinpointed the birthdays of China's leaders -- President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao were both born in 1942, the Year of the Horse in the 12-year cycle of Chinese animal astrology.

In a telephone interview from Hong Kong, Lo explained: "The traditional belief is that you need an animal to attract away the rat."

AUSPICIOUS DAY

But he was full of optimism for China's big day on the world stage on 8/08/2008. For the number eight is lucky in Chinese as it is pronounced like the word "Fa" which is part of the expression meaning "to get wealthy".

"According to the calendar it is an auspicious day. There is nothing wrong with choosing this date, it still represents a positive energy."

Marriage registration offices in Beijing are predicting that more than 9,000 couples will tie the knot on August 8.

"If you pick a good day, this indicates a smooth beginning to the marriage," Lo said.

But, as China has learnt to its cost in a turbulent 2008, not all is positive energy in the Year of the Rat, which also symbolises the turbulent relationship between earth and water.

China was hit by crippling blizzards at the start of the year, rioting erupted in Tibet which prompted worldwide protests surrounding the Olympic torch relay and then the Sichuan earthquake struck.

Those grim milestones for China had an intriguing symmetry.

The snowstorms struck on 25/01. 2+5+1=8.

The Tibet riots erupted on 14/03. 1+4+3=8.

The earthquake struck on 12/05. 1+2+5=8. That was also 88 days before the start of the Olympics.

"The number eight can be negative as well," Lo warned -- and the worst may not be over.

"You can see water trouble will be stronger in the second half of the year because of these seasonal elements," he said.

"For example the Tsunami took place in December in 2004. Usually water is more powerful in the months after August."

(Editing by Miles Evans)

(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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