World Briefs

Malaysian authorities are investigating claims that an island in the Muslim-majority country was used as a location shoot for a 'nude run' on a European reality show, a report has said.

Photographs of a group of men and women running naked on a beach allegedly taken from an episode of Survivor Robinson Ekspeditionen, reportedly broadcast in Denmark, were published on the front page of a Malaysian tabloid.

According to the tabloid, 16 out of the 22 participants stripped naked for the run while five others got to keep their underwear on. A female participant who refused to strip was kicked out of the show.

Communications and culture minister Rais Yatim said that Malaysian's film production guidelines prohibit obscenity or overexposure of the body parts. (AFP)

Zoo evacuated after orang-utan escape

An Australian zoo was evacuated yesterday when an orang-utan escaped after using a branch to scale an electric fence around her enclosure, zoo officials said.

Adelaide Zoo said patrons were evacuated as a precaution when 27-year-old Karta, described as "extremely intelligent", breached the electric fence yesterday morning.

Zoo curator Peter Whitehead said Karta got as far as a boundary fence but was still some distance from the public before seeming to realise she was in the wrong place and returning to her enclosure.

Mr Whitehead said although the primate showed no aggression during her 30-minute escapade, she was secured inside her night den before the public were readmitted.

"She was probably secured by the time we got most of the people out of the zoo," he said. (AFP)

Spanish ticket wins €126 million

A lottery player in Spain has won €126 million, the biggest ever European jackpot for a single ticket, lottery organiser EuroMillions said on Saturday.

The winner of the Friday night draw conquered odds of 76 million to one to snare the windfall which ballooned after the jackpot was not won in the previous six weekly draws.

The Madrid lottery shop which sold the winning ticket said business was brisk all week as punters saw the jackpot rising. Ana Maria Rincon, who runs The Black Cat lottery kiosk on the city's Alcala Street said, "We don't know anything about the winner or their nationality.

"It could have been a tourist or from someone outside Madrid because we are right in the centre of the city."

The winning numbers were 4, 29, 23, 31, 24 and the Lucky Stars 9 and 8. The total jackpot was €126,231,764. (Reuters)

Airline for 'pawsenger'

Move over Jet Set - here comes the Pet Set. An airline catering exclusively to furry passengers takes to the skies this July with a promise to make air travel everything the domestic animal could want. The first Pet Airways flight will depart July 14 from Teterboro, outside New York, en route to Washington, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles,.

"Pet Airways was created to provide a safe and comfortable solution for the transport of pets," said founder Alysa Binder and her husband Dan Wiesel in a company statement. "Inspiration for the concept came from difficulties encountered when shipping Zoe, our Jack Russell terrier, across the country."

Flights, which will cost $49 each way, will be on a modified Beechcraft 1900 supplied under contract with Suburban Air. The plane usually fits 19 passengers. This time there will be room for 50 cats and dogs. "There will be two pilots and a pet attendant. Everything is done for the safety and comfort of the pets," Mrs Binder said.

Pooches and kitties won't actually get seats. They'll travel in kennels stacked on custom-made shelves. Like many flights in these security conscious days, a check-in two hours before take-off is requested. (AFP)

Star Trek beams up $72.5 million

The new Star Trek movie beamed up an estimated $72.5 million in North American ticket sales for its first weekend in theatres, leading the box office race and re-energizing the venerable science-fiction franchise.

Combined with another $4 million grossed from Thursday evening's preview screenings, Star Trek tallied $76.5 million in US and Canadian receipts, its distributor, Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures studio, reported yesterday.

But that number still leaves last weekend's $85 million Friday-through-Sunday tally for X-Men Origins: Wolverine as the year's biggest movie debut so far. (Reuters)

Singing thief

Clearly unfazed by the swine flu outbreak, a machete-wielding Mexican thief dressed like a crooning cowboy stole his victims' belongings, and forced them to listen to him sing, authorities said.

Police arrested Vicente Fernandez decked out in a singing cowboy outfit, with a 40-centimetre machete he used to frighten passersby into handing over their loot, police spokesman Alfredo Barro said. But his crime did not stop there: at least one victim - machete pressed to his throat - was forced to listen to the thief belt out his own bit of warbling. (AFP)