World Briefs

A dropped 'h' landed English-speaking French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in trouble yesterday after he was mistakenly quoted as saying Israel could gobble up Iran if it wanted to.

"I honestly don't believe that it will give any immunity to Iran... because you will eat them before," Mr Kouchner was quoted by Israel's Haaretz newspaper as saying in an interview about the possibility of Tehran gaining a nuclear weapon.

But the French Foreign Ministry issued a brief statement later saying Mr Kouchner had said "hit" - meaning carrying out a surgical pre-emptive strike - rather than "eat".

"He regrets the unfortunate misunderstanding this phonetic confusion has caused," the ministry said.

The letter 'h' is silent in French and many French people inadvertently drop it when speaking English. The foible gave rise to the Allo, Allo title of a British Broadcasting Corp TV comedy about wartime France and colours the accent of the blundering Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films.

EU protection for British pork pie

After a 10-year battle, a pork pie from an English market town will take its place alongside champagne and Parma ham as a protected European regional product.

Only traditionally-made pies from the environs of Melton Mowbray in central England, using uncured pork encased in pastry, will be allowed to carry the Melton Mowbray label.

No objections to the application were made before a deadline expired on Saturday, clearing the way for EU legislators to award the pie the kind of protection enjoyed by Europe's most prized delicacies.

"It's guaranteed to go through now," a spokesman for Britain's food ministry said.

Skydivers make jump over Everest

Three skydivers made the first-ever parachute jump over Mount Everest yesterday, organisers and participants said, culminating years of preparation.

About 32 skydivers from more than 10 countries including Britain, Canada, the US and New Zealand have been in the Everest region since last week to jump from an aircraft flying 142 metres higher than the Everest summit.

Yesterday, Wendy Smith of New Zealand, Holly Budge of Britain and Neil Jones (Canadian/British) made the leap, said Krishna Aryal, an official of the Explore Himalaya, the agency that provided the logistics.

"They looked like tiny birds flying in the blue sky as they jumped from the plane," Ms Aryal, who saw the jump from Syangboche in the Everest region, said.

All three were in freefall for nearly half a minute and then opened their canopies before landing at a flat drop zone after cruising over the mountain. They used parachutes that were larger than normal size to help them cruise and descend fast through the thin air of the world's highest drop zone. All three wore oxygen masks.

Tallest man becomes world's tallest dad

The world's tallest man, China's Bao Xishun, became the world's tallest father with the birth of his first child, a boy whose initial height seems a compromise between his gigantic dad and average-sized mum.

Mr Bao, a 2.36-metres-tall herdsman from Inner Mongolia, last year married Xia Shujuan, a pygmy by contrast at 1.68 metres. Their son measured 56 centimetres tall at birth, the senior doctor at Zunhua Hospital in Hebei province said. Although slightly taller than average for newborn children, Mr Bao's boy came up well short of the 75 centimetres claimed as a record birth length last year, also in China.

Mr Bao briefly lost his Guinness World Records title as the tallest man to Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk but regained it in August when Mr Stadnyk refused to be measured under new guidelines.

The former goat herder hires himself out for publicity stunts and his wedding last year was sponsored by, at least, 15 companies.

Bush seeks Jamaican help on athletics

Jamaica's Prime Minister said US President George W. Bush shrugged off his recent request for aid to Jamaica, asking instead how the Caribbean island could help the United States churn out more Olympic champions.

"When I met with US President George W. Bush last week at the US, the first thing that he said to me was 'What a powerful performance by your athletes in Beijing'," Bruce Golding said on Friday. "When I wanted him to assist Jamaica, he was only interested in asking how Jamaica could assist the US with its athletic programme," the Prime Minister said.

Swelling with pride, Mr Golding spoke at the official start of weeklong celebrations in Jamaica to mark the performance of its athletes, led by flamboyant sprinter Usain Bolt, at the recent Olympic Games in Beijing.

Cheering crowds lined streets across Kingston as all 56 Jamaican athletes who made the trip to Beijing joined in a motorcade celebrating their record haul of 11 medals in the Beijing Games, including six gold.

Mr Bolt shattered the world record each time to capture Olympic gold in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x100 relay. Jamaicans also swept the medals in the women's 100 metres.