World Briefs

Russia's plan to close gaming halls, from gaudy casinos crowned by extravagant neon structures to dingy dwellings containing a handful of slot machines, could turf a third of a million people out of work this week.

"I've got 800 staff looking at me every day for inspiration and hope," said Clive Tilley, who runs the 70-tabled Casino de Paris, Moscow's largest gaming complex where gamblers play under vines in mock French courtyards. "With the economy as it is now, it's not the time to pound the streets looking for work. It breaks my heart."

From tomorrow, the government plans to replace the casinos and gambling halls with Las Vegas-style gaming zones in four rarely visited regions considered in need of investment, including one near the North Korea border.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin came up with the idea in 2006 when he was president after the Interior Ministry linked several gaming operations in Moscow to a Georgian criminal organisation. (Reuters)

Novel way to curb bribe-taking

Nepal's anti-corruption authority has come up with a novel solution to rampant bribe-taking at the country's only international airport - the pocketless trouser. The authority said it was issuing the new, bribe-proof garment to all airport officials after uncovering widespread corruption at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport.

"We sent a team to observe the growing complaints about the behaviour of airport authorities and workers towards travellers and we discovered that the reports were true," said Ishwori Prasad Paudyal, spokesman for the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

"So we decided that airport officials should be given trousers with no pockets. We have directed the ministry of civil aviation to implement our order as soon as possible," he said. "We believe this will help curb the irregularities." (AFP)

'Spot the spy' game in S. Korea

South Korea's normally publicity-shy intelligence agency is creating a stir among liberal groups with a "spot the spy" flash video game offering a variety of prizes.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) is hosting the game on its website (www.nis111.co.kr) to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950.

The game, which runs from June 22 to July 21, challenges users to pick out spies and those who sympathise with communist North Korea. Two hundred lucky winners will receive laptop computers, digital cameras and game consoles. Bloggers who link the game to their personal web pages will get premium watches.

"This is designed to promote public awareness about security" especially among "young people who do not know North Korea well," an NIS spokesman said. (AFP)

Aussie premier 'hotter than Obama'

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is "uber-cute" - and even hotter than US President Barack Obama, according to gay fashionist Bruno.

Bruno, the alter ego of British satirist Sacha Baron Cohen, declared his admiration for the bespectacled Australian leader while on a visit to promote his self-titled film.

Dressed in a schoolboy's uniform, Bruno told assembled media that he had spent the night with Mr Rudd after they both appeared on the same live TV chat show on Sunday, adding: "Nothing happened.

We just stayed up all night talking.

"The reason I'm late is I just had breakfast in bed with Kevin Rudd. That guy is like, uber-cute," he said.

"I thought Obama was like the hottest guy in the world until I met Kevin." (AFP)

Slovak President forced off plane

Slovakia's President was evacuated from his official plane because of a telephone warning shortly before it was due to take off yesterday.

Ivan Gasparovic's aircraft was on the runway ahead of a trip to the Czech Republic when the head of Slovakia's state security service ordered an emergency check of the plane, Interior Ministry spokesman Erik Tomas said.

"The President's office received a phone call from a man who urged the President not to board the plane and leave for the Czech Republic because he was in serious danger," Mr Tomas said.

Police searched the plane but found no security threat, the spokesman said. The caller has been located and detained. (Reuters)