World Briefs

Top US diplomat Condoleezza Rice took time out from her busy diplomatic schedule on Monday to play a little piano - in the form of a recital at Buckingham Palace for Queen Elizabeth II, royal officials said.

The Secretary of State, in London for talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, was accompanied in her performance of Brahms by Foreign Secretary David Miliband's wife Louise, and three members of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Dr Rice is an accomplished pianist who started playing when she was a child.

A palace mouthpiece said that Dr Rice "expressed a wish to play at Buckingham Palace and the Queen offered her to play in the music room". The Queen listened to part of the private performance and, afterwards, presented Dr Rice with a recording of the recital as a present.

Western Sahara wiped off the map

A Moroccan subsidiary of the fast food restaurant chain McDonald's apologised for cutting Western Sahara off a map of the country included on its "Happy Meal" children's toys, MAP agency reported on Monday.

"The toys included a small map on which the borders were incorrectly drawn. We profoundly regret making this mistake and we apologise to our loyal customers and our fellow citizens," said McDonald's Morocco in a statement.

MAP said bosses from the local food chain, who apologised after a joint Moroccan-Sahara association complained to the company about the error, plan to replace the offending toys that come free with a children's "Happy Meal".

Western Sahara was annexed by Morocco in 1975 following the withdrawal of former colonial power Spain, sparking a war with separatists from the Polisario Front before both sides agreed to a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991.

Rabat has offered a form of autonomy for the territory under Moroccan sovereignty, while the Polisario Front want a referendum on self-determination.

Police turn on Facebookers

Croatian police have detained and questioned web activists who are criticising or ridiculing the government, media and the opposition say, accusing authorities of violating basic civil rights.

Media said yesterday that police had detained organisers of a group on Facebook, the online social networking site, which called an anti-government rally in several towns, including the capital Zagreb, for December 5. The group has over 80,000 members.

"For the first time since the 1990s, Croatia is starting to enforce repression against its citizens who want to freely express their political stands," Nacional weekly said.

It said police had arrested a coordinator of the protests in the Adriatic city of Zadar. Business.hr news website said police had detained and questioned another activist in Zagreb, who had been posting protest posters on billboards in the capital.

Sarkozy 'voodoo doll' may be sold

President Sarkozy did not see the funny side of the novelty.

A French appeals court has said "voodoo dolls" of President Nicolas Sarkozy may remain on sale - but must carry a label saying they are offensive to him.

A lower court last month dismissed his demand for a ban, ruling the doll was "within the authorised limits of free expression and the right to humour".

The appeals court judge found that "spearing the doll... constitutes an offence to the dignity of Mr Sarkozy". But, he said, banning its sale would be "disproportionate and inadequate".

The judge ordered the makers of the kit - publishing company K&B - to pay Mr Sarkozy the symbolic sum of one euro in damages, as well as all other costs of the case.

Actor robots take Japanese stage

First there were dancing robots, then house-sitting robots and now a new breed of acting robots is making its big debut on the Japanese stage.

The play, which had its premiere at Osaka University, is one of Japan's first robot-human theatre productions.

The machines were specially programmed to speak lines with human actors and move around the stage with them.

Playwright Oriza Hirata says the work raises questions about the relationship between humanity and technology.

The play, called Hataraku Watashi (I, Worker), is set in the near future.

It focuses on a young couple who own two housekeeping robots, one of which loses its motivation to work.

Australians heading home

Australia's long exodus is slowing, with expatriates flocking home as high-paying jobs in Britain, the United States and Europe wither in the financial gloom, and Australia looks to ride out the global downturn.

Travel-hungry Australians have for years sought job opportunities overseas, filling positions in British pubs and European ski fields, or boosting careers in the financial heartlands of New York, London and Tokyo.

But with the US, Japan and much of Europe now in recession, unemployment rising and the United Nations estimating world growth will more than halve to one per cent next year, Australians living overseas are becoming harder to find.

Britain's The Times newspaper earlier this month pleaded with Australians and New Zealanders in an editorial to stay in the UK and help bolster the economy.

Around 400,000 Australians live in Britain.

"With the roof fixed in the good times, it is not surprising that many bright young Australians have remembered that back at home, the sun is always shining," the paper said.