World briefs

Greek police yesterday arrested a culture ministry employee after discovering dozens of ancient Greek and Byzantine coins, icons, ceramic jugs and other antiquities in his home, an official said.

The collection included 57 clay amphorae - ancient ceramic vases used to store wine, oil and other goods - as well as bronze coins dating back to the Hellenistic period between the fourth and first century BC and two Byzantine religious icons.

"He has been taken to the prosecutor to be charged with antiquities theft," a police official said.

Sacked for ignoring President

An emergency Cabinet meeting in Guinea-Bissau has dismissed the heads of state television and radio after their stations failed to cover the opening of Parliament by President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira.

A Cabinet statement issued late on Monday described the omission as unacceptable and recommended that the Information Minister restructure the two organisations to make them more effective.

Stowaway piglet survives ordeal

A piglet is recovering after being found in the back of a delivery lorry full of toilet paper at a British supermarket.

The animal, about two or three weeks old, was discovered in the lorry at a store in Ilkeston, central England, and immediately named "Andrex" after the toilet paper brand.

Staff wrapped the piglet, which had cuts and bruises to its snout, in a quilt and handed it to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

Indian villager marries daughter

A villager in eastern India married his teenage daughter on grounds that he was following divine instructions, police said yesterday.

Afazuddin Ali, 36, appeared before a court on Monday after villagers in West Bengal complained that he had confessed to marrying his daughter, who was now pregnant, six months ago. But he was released because police had filed the wrong charges.

Police said they would try to bring new charges against him.

Wild pig shoot-to-kill alert

One of the most popular tourist destinations in China is waging a week-long campaign to hunt down wild pigs which have been frightening visitors to its famed West Lake, state media said yesterday.

Professional hunting teams from the West Lake district of Hangzhou, the capital of the coastal province of Zhejiang, were under orders to shoot to kill the animals, Xinhua news agency said.

A regional official said the campaign began on Monday and that police would also get a piece of the action, as they were under orders to guard road junctions to prevent injuries from the pigs.

Salaries at $2,821 per week

At $2,821 per week, people in Manhattan earned three times the average US wage in the first quarter of this year, boosted by financial sector bonuses, government statistics showed on Monday.

Equivalent to nearly $147,000 per year, average weekly pay for Manhattan residents shot up 16.7 per cent from the same period of last year, maintaining its spot as the wealthiest county in the US.

Nationally, the average rise was 5.1 per cent to $885 per week, or $46,000 per year, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics said.

Losing baby weight with sleep

Researchers have presented a conundrum to new mothers, saying that women who want to lose the extra weight gained in pregnancy should try to get more sleep.

They found that mothers who slept five hours or less a day when their babies were six months old were three times more likely than more rested mothers to have kept on the extra weight at one year.