World Briefs

Parisian airports are offering free dance lessons in their terminals this summer to help passengers get into the holiday spirit.

"So if you're flying to Cuba you can learn salsa and if you're flying to New York you can learn hip hop," a spokesman for Aeroports de Paris (ADP) said.

The lessons last 15 minutes and passengers hear music and instructions from teachers through headphones. ADP said 4,000 people had already enjoyed free classes since the scheme was launched in late June.

Classes take place all day from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on busy summer weekends and an ADP statement said Oriental dance, mambo, modern jazz, rock'n'roll and tango were among the styles on offer in addition to salsa and hip hop.

Greeks used Olympics 'computer'

A mechanical brass calculator used by the ancient Greeks to predict solar and lunar eclipses was probably also used to set the dates for the first Olympic Games, researchers said on Wednesday.

The Antikythera Mechanism was retrieved from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901, an example of the technological prowess of the ancient Greeks. Researchers have now discovered that the device, made at the end of the 2nd century BC, used an intricate set of bronze gearwheels, dials and inscriptions to set the games' date.

The ancient Olympic Games, which marked the start of a four-year time span called an Olympiad, began on the full moon closest to the summer solstice, which meant calculating the timing required expertise in astronomy.

Using three-dimensional, X-ray technology, researchers deciphered tiny inscriptions buried inside the device's fragmented brass pieces that pointed to its Olympic role.

Devices of such complexity were not seen in the West again until the appearance of mediaeval cathedral clocks.

Nigerian 'big man' mentality

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua said on Thursday the biggest problem in Africa's most populous nation was poor leadership and rounded on public servants who abused their positions of power to gain personal wealth.

Even among fellow Africans, Nigeria, ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world, is seen as the home of the "big man" mentality, where bosses bark commands at all and sundry and travel in convoys with blaring sirens through the chaotic traffic.

"People use leadership positions to show arrogance, oppress others and misappropriate resources meant for the generality of Nigerians...," Mr Yar'Adua said in a statement.

Mr Yar'Adua was sworn in 14 months ago pledging respect for the rule of law, after eight years of rule by Olusegun Obasanjo, an overbearing ex-military ruler with a penchant for disregarding legal detail.

Improve or pay

Brazilians are so incensed with business and government call centres that provide shoddy customer service that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has issued a decree obliging them to fix customers' problems or pay a fine.

Customers wanting to fix their phone line or close a bank account are often placed on hold for extended periods of time or are repeatedly transferred from one department to another and their problems are never addressed. Utilities, banks and some government agencies give customers the run-around for days or weeks to avoid losing revenue, experts say.

Under the new decree, call centres can only transfer a call once, cannot make a customer wait more than two minutes and must provide a confirmation number for every call.

If a client wants a service cancelled, the business or agency must oblige immediately.

Fines will vary from 201 reais (€82) to three million reais (€1.23 million)

'Thou shalt nots'

As China is all set to host the Olympic Games, the rules on the organisers' official website say it all:

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.

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 tourists visiting Beijing for the Games. A battery of surface-to-air missile launchers are being deployed around the showpiece sites. Lighters have been banned on domestic flights while all public swimming pools in Shanghai will check shampoos and body wash.

Meanwhile dog meat is off the menu in the Chinese capital during the Olympics even if no mention was made of the many popular establishments that have donkey on the menu.

Rocky dispute

A furious dispute with Japan over who owns a desolate cluster of rocks has turned into a marketing opportunity for South Korean business tapping into patriotic fervour.

One bank has set up a popular "cyber branch" in the tiny Dokdo islands which lie about halfway across the sea to Japan while mobile phone companies have added ringtones eulogising South Korean rule over the islands. One is even offering a "Dokdo is our territory" call plan that lets subscribers donate to a campaign to promote the islands internationally as South Korean territory.

Both countries say their claims go back centuries though the diplomatic squabble has looked more intense after it was realised that the cluster of rocks might sit above valuable gas deposits.