US President George W. Bush declared his fondness for German asparagus yesterday, kicking off a news conference with a culinary comment before turning to Iraq and Iran.

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

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

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

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

Anger counselling for politician

An Australian politician who told a pregnant rival that her baby could be born a demon was ordered to seek anger counselling yesterday after a string of allegations about her caustic behaviour.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd interrupted his official visit to Japan to rebuke the junior member of his government, Belinda Neal, ordering her to improve her behaviour.

His intervention came after a string of media reports about Mrs Neal, including her comments to pregnant Liberal Party politician Sophie Mirabella, revelations she was suspended from a soccer team for kicking a fallen opponent, and allegations she threatened and abused staff at a restaurant north of Sydney after waiters asked them to move to a new table.

"I've said to her that there appears to be a pattern of unacceptable behaviour," Mr Rudd told reporters in Tokyo.

Neal is married to New South Wales state minister and political powerbroker John Della Bosca.

Witchcraft suspects buried alive

Villagers in India stoned four members of a family, including two women, and then buried them alive on suspicion of practising witchcraft, police said yesterday.

Lakhan Majhi, 65, was summoned to the house of the village head for a public meeting on Tuesday evening at Koilajuli Milanpur village in Assam.

Hundreds of his neighbours accused him of casting evil spells on a villager who died after getting sick. Mr Majhi had aroused suspicion by visiting the sick man to perform religious rituals, police said.

Villagers then pummelled Mr Majhi, his wife, his son and his daughter-in-law with stones and bricks, dragged them into the nearby jungle and buried them alive, police said.

Sudoku halts trial

An Australian drugs trial lasting more than three months and costing taxpayers over A$1 million (€608,000) has been aborted after a number of jurors were found to have spent up to half the time playing Sudoku puzzles.

Sydney District Court Judge Peter Zahra cancelled the trial of two men on drugs conspiracy charges after the jury foreperson admitted that four to five jurors had been playing the addictive number sequence game, local media reported. The judge was alerted after some of the jurors were observed writing their notes vertically, rather than horizontally. The game involves completing a grid of numbers in the correct sequence.

One juror said the game helped them to pay more attention by keeping their mind busy.

"Some of the evidence is rather drawn out and I find it difficult to maintain my attention the whole time," the juror was quoted saying by the Australian Associated Press.

Sex in confessional

An Italian couple who were caught having sex in a church confessional box while morning Mass was being said have repented and made peace with the local bishop.

The couple, in their early 30s, were detained by police earlier this month after they had made love in the confessional box in the cathedral in northern Cesena. They were cautioned for obscene acts in public and disturbing a religious function.

Their lawyer said they had been drinking all night and realised they had gone too far.

The lawyer told the area's local newspaper yesterday the couple met with the local bishop on Tuesday night, asked for his forgiveness and that he had given it.

Last week the bishop celebrated a "Mass of reparation" in the cathedral where the confessional box incident took place to make up for the sacrilege.