World Briefs

German firefighters pumping water out of a flooded apartment in Essen found a three-metre-long python there, police in the western city said yesterday.

The fire brigade was called after a burst water pipe flooded the vacant apartment.

Police said it was unclear why the python, which was found on the bathroom window sill, was in the apartment. The tenant could not be contacted and police took the snake into custody.

Hallucinogenic choclates doom Berlin sweet shop

Police closed down a Berlin sweet shop after discovering the owner was selling chocolates and lollipops laced with hallucinogenic mushrooms and marijuana.

The 23-year-old owner of the shop in the trendy east Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg, an area known for its vibrant nightlife, was taken into custody on suspicion of drug-dealing.

"In the shop we found 120 pieces of magic mushroom chocolate and countless cannabis lollipops," said police, who confiscated around 70 sachets containing various drugs, about 20 marijuana joints, a range of pills and some jars of drug-laced honey.

Police said one customer, who appeared intoxicated, was arrested after trying to buy a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms from an officer in the shop.

Two charged over sex-and-angels case

Two men accused of sexually molesting a woman at church prayer sessions while claiming to speak to angels and banish curses were charged by Australian police yesterday with more than 220 sex offences.

The pair, aged 61 and 38, assaulted the woman who told police in Sydney she believed she and her family had been cursed by a member of the Australia-Greek community skilled at black magic.

"We will allege these women have been the cruel prey of callous individuals who used religious fear to manipulate and abuse them for their sexual gratification and financial gain," Police Acting Superintendent Gary Bailey told reporters.

He was referring to a second woman who last year reported similar offences of aggravated sexual assault and extortion against the pair. He said other victims could also come forward. No charges have yet been laid in the second case.

The offences occurred between 2001 and 2005. The first woman told police she was blindfolded and sexually assaulted during prayer sessions for which the men also demanded payment of up to A$1,000 (€574), Superintendent Bailey said.

The older man, who police said was a respected member of the Greek and Coptic Orthodox communities, told the first woman he was a spiritual mentor able to talk to angels and convince them to lift curses and banish evil spirits.

Pope prays for Alitalia as rescue bid falters

Pope Benedict told the official in charge of the latest faltering rescue bid for Alitalia yesterday that he has been praying for the Italian airline.

Asked by Alitalia's bankruptcy boss to say a "special prayer" for the loss-making airline, which has already defied two rescue attempts and now risks being liquidated, Pope Benedict replied: "I have been praying for you for some time."

Bankruptcy commissioner Au-gusto Fantozzi met the Pope at Rome's airport just before the Pontiff boarded an Alitalia flight to France for a pilgrimage to Lourdes, whose spring waters are believed by Catholics to have healing powers.

The German-born Pope, like Pontiffs before him, always uses planes laid on by Alitalia for his trips abroad.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, fulfilling an election promise, has rallied Italian businesses to rescue the airline, which has not made a profit since 1999.

But as the deadline for a deal between the investors and unions worried about thousands of job losses passed on Thursday, unions were citing "insurmountable difficulties" and investors said conditions were "not right" for talks to go on.

Militants chop nose of alleged informer

Suspected Muslim guerillas sliced off the nose of a villager in Indian Kashmir, thinking that he was an informer of Indian security forces, police said yesterday.

Manzoor Ahmad, a 45-year-old farmer was kidnapped by a group of militants on Thursday from his house in Doda district, south of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital.

"They (militants) beat him mercilessly and chopped his nose and fired in the air before fleeing," a police officer said.

Rebels have in the past killed or maimed people who they believe were helping Indian security forces put down a nearly 20-year revolt in the disputed Himalayan region. More than 43,000 people have been killed since 1989 when Muslim rebels launched a violent campaign opposing Indian rule in Kashmir. Human rights groups put the toll at 60,000.

MPs held up over French corn

Tempers popped over corn when guards in Albania's Parliament grappled with two lawmakers who tried to bring supposedly sterile samples of a French variety into the chamber.

"I told them these objects were not allowed in and blocked the door, but they hit and punched another officer," guard commander Arben Nika said in a statement after the tussle with two opposition legislators on Thursday. "I fell down and my leg bled," he said.

Agriculture Minister Jemin Gjana told the chamber that the corn, imported from France, had yielded a sterile crop in only two areas of the poor Balkan nation.

The two MPs tried to bring in samples of the corn they said had been planted in other regions but were prevented from entering the building.