World Briefs

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi played "hide and seek" on visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday, hiding behind a column when she went to meet him for a brief Italo-German summit in Trieste.

Video footage of the gag (on La Repubblica newspaper) shows the German entourage advancing towards their official reception and Mr Berlusconi hiding behind a large column.

Reporters on the scene said he called out "coo-coo!" Mrs Merkel turned to him, laughed and said "Silvio!" and they embraced.

Mr Berlusconi's latest prank appeared to have gone down better with Mrs Merkel than US President George W. Bush's attempt in 2006 to massage her neck at a summit. Mrs Merkel raised her shoulders in surprise and the video became a hit on the internet.

Lighter sentence for fake tiger photographer

A farmer in northern China found guilty of doctoring photos of an endangered tiger after collecting a cash reward from wildlife authorities, has been handed a lighter sentence on appeal, local media said yesterday.

Zhou Zhenglong, a 54-year-old farmer from a mountainous county in northern Shaanxi province, was awarded a 20,000 yuan bonus last year, after he produced pictures which authorities said were evidence of a South China tiger.

The pictures, which showed a tiger crouching in a forest setting, sparked an internet furore led by experts who identified the photos as faked, and local media who accused officials of endorsing them as a means of promoting tourism in a poor region.

After months of dithering, authorities finally admitted the pictures were fake and sacked a swag of officials for their part in the scandal.

Mr Zhou, who had been given a two-and-a-half-year jail term for fraud and illegally possessing bullets in September, had the sentence suspended at his appeal, Xinhua news agency said, citing the Intermediate People's Court in Ankang, Shaanxi.

German lawmaker apologises for blocking Wikipedia

A member of Parliament who got a court order blocking online encyclopedia Wikipedia in Germany for two days because of entries linking him to communist-era security police apologised yesterday for overreacting.

Lutz Heilmann, a little-known MP of the Left party, made headlines across Germany and stirred complaints about censorship for winning the court injunction temporarily blocking the popular reference database.

Heilmann told Tageszeitung newspaper he took the step because the entry about him in Wikipedia included false information, suggesting he worked for former communist East Germany's Stasi. He said he realised he had made a mistake.

"I didn't think it through and didn't anticipate the consequences," he told the newspaper after he withdrew his court injunction on Monday.

He added that he was fed up with seeing what he called false statements about his past included in his entry. Wikipedia is edited by anonymous contributors.

Top anti-drink cop caught drunk driving

A senior Tokyo police official tasked with keeping the city's roads clear of drunk drivers has been arrested for driving under the influence, police said yesterday.

The deputy inspector, on his way home from a camping site, was caught late on Monday after bumping into another car and veering off the road, said a police official in Ibaraki. "He smelled of alcohol and he couldn't walk straight," the official said.

Local media said the arrested official had been in charge of a campaign to stop drunk driving, handing out stickers to bars and restaurants around the city.

"It is inexcusable for a member of the police to have caused this case and we plan to deal with it strictly," Tsutomu Sato, the head of the National Public Safety Commission told reporters.

Naked protest over rent hikes

Malaysian activists have threatened to stage a naked protest over a sudden hike in rental rates for government housing, drawing criticism from Muslim leaders and police yesterday.

Ramlan Abu Bakar of the Malaysian People's Reform Movement said its members were prepared to strip off outside the offices of the Chief Minister of Selangor state, after it more than doubled the cost of low-income housing.

"Protesting naked is our final act of desperation as the state government is literally stealing the clothes off our backs with this price increase," Mr Ramlan.

"They are not helping the poor people here who barely make enough to afford the present rental of 124 ringgit (34 dollars per month) so how can we afford to pay 250 ringgit?" he said.