World briefs

Vladimir Putin said yesterday he saw no need to hang his successor's portrait in his office once he steps down as Russia's President.

It is accepted etiquette in Russia for all officials to hang up a portrait of the head of state.

But Mr Putin's protege Dmitry Medvedev is expected to win next month's election while he stays on as a very influential Prime Minister.

"In order to establish my relationship with Dmitry Anatolyevich (Medvedev) I won't need to hang his portrait on my wall if he is elected President," Mr Putin said.

Model police officer arrested

A two-time Mexico City "policeman of the year" has been arrested on suspicion of extorting money from illegal "car-watchers" who demand tips for curbside parking.

Police said Alejandro Garnino, who was awarded Mexico City's highest police honour in 2005 and 2006, is suspected of charging up to 1,000 pesos (€64) to allow dozens of car-watchers to operate outside one of Mexico's largest stadiums.

"It is a shock to all of us. His conduct was such a shining example," an official at Mexico City's police force said. He said Mr Garnino turned himself in on Monday night.

Corruption plagues Mexico's underpaid police forces, where officers regularly take bribes to turn a blind eye to offences from traffic violations to kidnapping and drug dealing.

Spooked by ghost stories

China has added ghosts, monsters and other things that go bump in the night to its list of banned video and audio content in an intensified crackdown ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Producers have around three weeks to look through their tapes for "horror" and report it to authorities, the General Administration of Press and Publications said in a statement posted on the government website.

Offending content included "wronged spirits and violent ghosts, monsters, demons, and other inhuman portrayals, strange and supernatural storytelling for the sole purpose of seeking terror and horror", the administration said.

The new guidelines aim to "control and cleanse the negative effect these items have on society, and to prevent horror, violent, cruel publications from entering the market through official channels and to protect adolescents' psychological health".

Sues after losing £2 million

A British gambling addict who says he told bookmakers to stop taking his bets is suing William Hill for allowing him to lose £2 million.

Graham Calvert, a greyhound trainer from Tyne & Wear in northeast England, wants William Hill to pay back his losses, saying the company should have stopped taking bets from him after he told them he was an addict in 2006.

Despite closing one account and asking to be banned from betting, Mr Calvert says the firm allowed him to open another account two months later. The case opens at London's High Court on Monday and is expected to last five days.

William Hill denies any wrongdoing and says it plans to fight the allegations.

'Naked Cowboy' sues M&M

New York City street performer "The Naked Cowboy" is suing Mars Inc. for $6 million (€4.1 million) over the use of his trademark look - white underwear, cowboy boots and a hat - by a blue M&M candy on a Times Square billboard.

For nearly a decade, Robert Burck has been a fixture in Times Square, where he strums a guitar on a street corner while dressed in his skimpy signature costume.

In a lawsuit filed this week in Manhattan federal court, Mr Burck said that two oversized Times Square billboards that promote M&Ms used his look without compensating him.

Mr Burck has trademarked his signature look and has made several television and movie appearances in costume, including for a televised audition on the American Idol reality TV programme, the lawsuit said.

Sex auction sparks paternity row

A woman in Germany who became pregnant after an online sex auction has won a court battle to force the website that hosted the sale to reveal the names of the winners, so she can find out who's the father.

Six different men won internet auctions to have sex with the woman in April and May last year. They were only known to her by their online names, a spokesman for a court in the southwestern city of Stuttgart said yesterday.

"The woman wanted to discover which one of the men had made her pregnant," the spokesman said. "So she needed their contact details. Of course, if they're not willing to go along with the gene test, she'll have to take them to court."