World briefs

A Brazilian priest is missing after he drifted out to sea while trying to set a record for a flight using helium-filled party balloons.

Father Adelir Antonio de Carli began his flight suspended in a harness-like seat from 1,000 balloons on Sunday in Paranagua. He had intended to fly 20 hours due west but unexpected winds carried the 42-year-old Roman Catholic priest out over the south Atlantic. The priest was last heard from on Sunday evening when he used his cell phone to give his coordinates. Fr De Carli, who flew around 90 kilometres before losing contact, had wanted to draw attention to the work of his parish in Paranagua. He had reached an altitude of more than 5,000 metres in his contraption.

Rescue workers who searched the coast farther south, in Santa Catarina state by boat and plane found bits of balloons all along the coast.

Gory exhibit

Police in India want to display in a museum the head of a woman decapitated after she was accused of practicing witchcraft, hoping it will be a lesson for those who persecute innocent women.

A villager in Jharkhand state attacked the woman and chopped off her head at the weekend, apparently because he suspected her of being to blame for deaths in the family. He then walked into the nearest police station holding the severed head.

"I think displaying this head in a museum will create a sensation in society and could be helpful in preventing people from taking to such heinous crimes," a senior police officer said yesterday.

In rural India, villagers often accuse women of being witches and blame them for natural disasters or for an illness, death or theft. Hundreds of them are killed every year.

Magazine for snobs

Russia's super-rich love to flaunt their wealth. Soon they will have a magazine called Snob to help them. Mikhail Prokhorov - whose wealth is estimated at around $22 billion - plans to spend $150 million setting up a magazine, website and TV station called Snob.

"It's for people who are successful and those who want to be successful," said Andrei Shmarov, who will run Snob.

Mr Prokhorov, 42, made his fortune in the chaotic 1990s when businessmen bought up parts of former Soviet industries for a fraction of their real value. The Forbes Rich List has ranked him as the 24th richest person in the world. The Russian Shmarov said, "Snob to us means a person who is a 'self-made man', a person who has gained a right to snobbishness," emphasising the main difference with the British meaning which, he said, referred to inherited wealth.

The unmarried Prokhorov attracted headlines last year when French police detained him briefly in the ski resort of Courchevel as part of a probe into prostitution. They later released him without charges.

African 'trick' causes panic

Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's genitals after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumours of genital theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, dominating radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings. Purported victims claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

Chinese politics and sports

First came China's patriotic zeal, now China's zealous businessmen are joining the fray. In let's-make-a-deal China, it was never going to be long before public ire over Tibet demonstrations that have dogged the Olympic torch relay spawned commerce.

Local news media reported yesterday that droves of clothes makers have leapt onto the angry upsurge in nationalist pride, selling T-shirts proclaiming Chinese sovereignty over Tibet and denouncing Western targets.

"Go China!" the front of one T-shirt on sale declares in Chinese. "Anti-riot & explore the truth," the back says in less than perfect English.

"Tibet WAS, IS and ALWAYS will be a party of China!" declares another T-shirt shown on a state-run Shanghai news website Eastday.com.

One seller urged citizens to buy the patriotic designs and to wear them. "I hope that all compatriots in the country will use their bodies to show support for the Olympic Games and opposition to Tibetan independence," the seller said.

Big rise in 'trojans'

Cyber-criminals are behind a dramatic rise in stealthy programs called "trojans" that infect computers to sell rogue software, send unwanted e-mail or steal personal data, a study has found. In a report released in London, Microsoft said the number of trojans removed from computers around the world in the second half of last year rose by 300 per cent from the first half. The figure has risen so sharply because more computers are fitted with software that detects malicious programs and because criminals had come to see trojans as their "tool of choice", the report said. Trojans can log keystrokes to gather passwords, send spam from private computers or harvest email addresses or personal information for criminal purposes.