World Briefs

A victim of superstition on her Indian Ocean island home, 29-year-old Zaely never knew her twin sister, who was raised by somebody else. They were born in southeast Madagascar's Mananjary district, where locals believe twins bring bad luck. Unlucky parents are forced to give them up, or be ostracised by their neighbours.

Local taboos, or fady, are a major part of daily life on the giant island nation off Africa's east coast. Some Malagasy people exhume the corpses of long-dead relatives as a sign of reverence, for example. But while most fady appear quite harmless, some can be cruel.

Since 1987, two Mananjary orphanages have received 236 abandoned twins. But Madagascar may now be cracking down.

First comes a four-year scheme to raise awareness and try to break support for the taboo, including discussions with local leaders, parents and children, combined with media campaigns. In the longer term, tough new legislation is planned.

Ortega says US crisis is God's punishment

Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega, a US foe since the Cold War, said God was punishing the United States with the financial crisis for trying to impose its economic principles on poor countries.

"It's incredible that in the most powerful country in the world, which spends billions of dollars on brutal wars... people do not have enough money to stay in their homes," former Marxist guerilla President Ortega said..

"God is punishing the United States," for imposing flawed economic policies on developing countries around the world, said Mr Ortega, who first governed Nicaragua in the 1980s when his Sandinista government was locked in a war with US-backed Contra rebels.

Germany remembers Scottish general

A German village unveiled a monument over the weekend to the Scottish-born Prussian Field Marshall James Keith, in a rare act of remembrance in a country that has spent decades distancing itself from its military past.

Field Marshal Keith, a rebel exile who once governed Ukraine, Finland and Berlin, died in the battle of Hochkirch on October 14, 1758 fighting for Frederick the Great during the Seven Years War.

To mark the 250th anniversary of the battle and his death, the small village near the Polish border dedicated a memorial stone outside its baroque church to Field Marsahl Keith, who remains a relatively obscure figure in his homeland to this day.

Virgin celebrates 105th birthday

One of Britain's oldest residents celebrated her 105th birthday on Saturday, putting her long life down to not having sex. Clara Meadmore said she had never had sex because she has always been too busy for intimate relationships and it seemed like "a lot of hassle".

The former housekeeper and secretary said she knew she would remain single from the age of 12 and abstained as a young woman to concentrate on earning a living despite several offers of marriage, local newspaper, The Western Morning News reported. "I have just never been interested in or fancied having sex," she was quoted as saying.

She celebrated her birthday with a glass of wine with friends at the Perran Bay home for the elderly in Truro, Cornwall, southwest England, where she lives.

Miss Meadmore was born in Glasgow in 1903 but her family moved to Egypt, Canada and New Zealand, before she returned to Britain in her 20s.

Nervous anteaters evacuated after protests

Two anteaters at Bangkok's main zoo have been given a three-month holiday to recover after violent clashes between police and protesters erupted near their enclosure, the zoo director said yesterday.

The four-year-old male and female anteaters were moved to a zoo in Chonburi province east of Bangkok soon after Tuesday's protests, when tear gas and loud bangs rang through the streets around parliament next to their enclosures.

"A pair of anteaters had come from the United States about a year ago. This animal is sensitive about noise, and they have not yet got used to loud noises," Dusit Zoo director Kanchai Sanwong said.

The other animals in the park, however, had been there a long time and are used to Thailand's shaky political situation, with noisy protests often held in the Dusit government district, he said.

Two people were killed and more than 400 injured when the anti-government protesters tried to surround parliament, prompting police to try and break up the rally with tear gas.