World Briefs

Proposals to give the hundreds of thousands of Indonesian maids working in Malaysia a day off a week have drawn ire from both employers and business groups who believe households will break down.

While Filipino maids are generally given a day off each week, the 370,000 Indonesian maids who work in this Southeast Asian country of 27 million people are not generally given any time off.

The government had proposed the day off after a series of high profile cases involving mistreatment of Indonesian maids by employers, most recently a case in which a maid was assaulted with hot water, a hammer and scissors.

An SMS poll for the Star newspaper published yesterday showed that 76 per cent of 585 respondents believed that giving maids the day off was a bad idea. (Reuters)

Charge of burning daughter in ritual

A New York mother and grandmother were charged with setting a six-year-old girl on fire during a voodoo ritual that caused life-threatening burns over 25 per cent of the child's body, prosecutors said yesterday.

The girl suffered physical and emotional scars after she was set ablaze with lighter fluid and kept at home overnight until another relative insisted she be taken to the hospital, prosecutors said.

The 29-year-old mother was charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison. The grandmother, 70, was charged with reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. She faces up to seven years if convicted. (Reuters)

US owes millions in London fines

The US embassy owes nearly £3 million (€3.6 million) in fines for failing to pay London's congestion charge, British officials said yesterday.

The United States tops the list of embassies that face fines for not paying the eight-pound-a day charge levied on cars in central London and designed to limit the amount of traffic.

British authorities say the fee is a charge for a service that everyone must pay but Washington says it is a tax and diplomats are exempt. (Reuters)

CIA to recruit laid-off bankers

Laid off from Wall Street? The CIA wants you - as long as you can pass a lie detector test and show that you are motivated by service to your country rather than your wallet.

The Central Intelligence Agency has been advertising for recruits and will be holding interviews on Monday at a secret location in New York.

"Economics, finance and business professionals, if the quest for the bottom line is just not enough for you, the Central Intelligence Agency has a mission like no other," one radio advertisement for the agency says. (Reuters)

Fake IHT copies handed out

Greenpeace supporters handed out mock copies of the International Herald Tribune in several countries on Thursday to press world leaders to agree on ambitious efforts to tackle climate change.

The eight-page mock-up included everything from an environmentally friendly Gar-field comic strip to a horoscope (Sagittarius: "There is a limit to what you can do with the resources available to you").

There was even a full-page, but fake BP advert bearing the slogan: "We changed our logo. We can change the world".

The paper was handed out in Brussels' European quarter shortly before EU leaders were to begin a two-day summit at which the environment is on the agenda. In all some 50,000 copies were distributed free in the European capital as well as several cities in Asia, the United States and Mexico. (AFP)

Flyswatter-in-chief flexes his muscles

President Barack Obama hinted at the lethal force he will bring to bear on intruders who float past his security detail when he squashed a fly during an interview at the White House.

Midway through answering a question during an interview filmed on Tuesday with financial news network CNBC, the commander-in-chief found himself the focus of a particularly pesky critter buzzing around his head.

"Hey, get out of here!" he said, cutting short an answer about the US financial system to wave the fly away.

When the bug alit on Mr Obama's left wrist, the most powerful man in the world steadied himself, stiffened his lower lip in concentration, and killed it with a swift - and loud - slap of his right hand.

"Now, where were we?" a grinning President asked as the fly lay motionless on the carpet. (AFP)

Toddler ban prompts Parliament re-think

An Australian senator whose crying toddler was ejected from Parliament during a political vote has prompted a review of chamber rules and sparked a heated debate over child-friendly work practices.

Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said she was "humiliated" when Senate President John Hogg ordered her teary two-year-old daughter removed from the parliamentary chamber before a vote, in accordance with parliamentary rules.

"It shows that Parliament is still based on a very male model and I just think it's absolutely ridiculous," said Women's Electoral Lobby Chairman Eva Cox.

Mr Hogg said he was responsible for "proper conduct" in the upper house, but supported a review of rules which bar children and other outsiders from the Senate during votes. (Reuters)