World Briefs

Ever wondered how Santa Claus can travel around the world in just one night on his reindeer-pulled sleigh and deliver toys to all the children?

"He exploits the space-time continuum," says Larry Silverberg, a professor at North Carolina State University.

Santa's magic may go far beyond merely travelling across 322 million square kilometres to visit hundreds of millions of homes of believing children in just one night, Mr Silverberg said, adding, "He understands that space stretches, he understands that you can stretch time, compress space and therefore he can, in a sense, actually have six Santa months to deliver the presents."

Mr Silverberg said his research has established that Santa does not, as commonly thought, carry enough presents for each child in his sleigh. And then there's the age-old question that Santa has to address every year - who's been naughty and who's been nice?

Santa's trip takes in all continents and all time zones. Mr Silverberg says his sleigh is equipped with an onboard sleigh guidance system, adding that his reindeer, are genetically bred to fly, they balance on rooftops and see in the dark.

Tom Cruise says he was 'arrogant'

Actor Tom Cruise called his behaviour on NBC's Today show three years ago as "arrogant" and said he learned a lesson from the interview in which he dismissed psychiatry as pseudoscience.

The actor has been ridiculed for over-the-top behaviour in TV interviews and generated tabloid headlines over his love life and vocal support for the Church of Scientology, which is critical of the prescription of mind- and mood-altering drugs.

Mr Cruise was contrite in an interview with host Matt Lauer yesterday, his first appearance on the show since the 2005 incident.

"After looking at it I really thought it's not what I intended. I thought in looking at myself that I came across as arrogant," Mr Cruise said.

"I absolutely could have handled that better," he said.

Rappers shot over "cranky old man" lyrics

A 70-year-old man opened fire with his hunting rifle on a rap group at a concert in northeast Senegal at the weekend because he felt their song lyrics were insulting him, police and local media said yesterday.

Five young people were wounded in the shooting incident at Lobali village in the Matam region on Senegal's border with Mauritania, some 700 kilometres from the capital Dakar.

The man told the rappers to stop when they started singing about a "cranky old man", and when they did not, he opened fire with his rifle.

"The elderly gentleman felt that these young people were insulting him in their songs," the officer added, saying the man was arrested.

Shoe-throwing hero

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush has become the talk of Iraq, hailed by marchers as a national hero.

The little-known Shi'ite reporter, said to have harboured anger against Mr Bush for the thousands of Iraqis who died after the 2003 US-led invasion, had previously made headlines only once, when he was briefly kidnapped by gunmen last year.

TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi remained in detention yesterday, accused by the Iraqi government of a barbaric act. He would be sent for trial on charges of insulting the Iraqi state.

His employer, independent al-Baghdadiya television, demanded his release and demonstrators rallied for him in Baghdad's Sadr City, in the southern Shi'ite stronghold of Basra and in the holy city of Najaf, where some threw shoes at a US convoy.

Bruni sues over nude image

French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is suing a fashion chain for selling bags emblazoned with nude images of her bag.

At a court hearing yesterday in the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, Ms Bruni-Sarkozy's lawyer said the former model was demanding €125,000 in damages from local chain Pardon which sold the bags there for a few days.

Ms Bruni-Sarkozy, 40, rose to fame as a model before becoming a pop singer.

The founder and manager of the Pardon chain, which sells clothing and fashion accessories in Reunion but does not trade in mainland France, withdrew the bags from stores at the weekend.

Ms Bruni-Sarkozy's lawyer said the damages demanded were based on what the first lady's image would be worth at current modelling rates, although she specified that her client no longer wished to market her image as a model.

The bags showed a picture of Ms Bruni-Sarkozy taken in 1993, during her modelling days. It shows her standing in a pigeon-toed pose, covering her private parts with her hands. An original print of the black-and-white photo by Michel Comte fetched $91,000 at an auction in New York in April.

Customers were given a free bag if they spent more than €5.