World Briefs

Knut the polar bear, who became a worldwide media sensation as a cub in 2007, will soon be joined in Berlin zoo by Gianna, a female companion originally from Italy, German reports said yesterday.

The two-year-old Gianna, named after Italian rock singer Gianna Nannini, will be moved from Hellabrunn zoo in Munich and introduced to the strapping snow-white Knut in mid-September, daily Tagesspiegel said, citing a zoo official.

Knut drew an outpouring of sympathy around the globe after his mother cast him out as a cuddly cub.

He is now also two and will only reach sexual maturity in another two years. Because he has not encountered other polar bears since his early childhood, special measures will be put in place to ensure the meeting runs smoothly.

According to Tagesspiegel, the zookeepers will erect a so-called "canoodling fence" where the bears will be able to become acquainted before being allowed unfettered access to each other.

The world's longest wedding dress

A Chinese bride yesterday made a bid for the record books when she turned up for her wedding wearing a 2,162-metre-long gown.

More than 200 guests took over three hours to unroll Lin Rong's wedding train, which stretched nearly 2.2 kilometres and pin on 9,999 red silk roses for her wedding, Xinhua news agency said.

Groom Zhao Peng said he wanted to challenge the current world record of 1,579 metres.

"Both the length of the dress and the number of silk roses pinned on the wedding dress can make history. But it doesn't matter whether I can successfully register it on Guinness," the 28-year-old railway worker from northeast Jilin province was quoted as saying.

Zhao said he had sent an application to Guinness World Records and would also send a video of his wedding with his 25-year-old school teacher sweetheart.

Nairobi the place to get hair done

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has given a ringing endorsement to one feature of the Kenyan capital Nairobi - its hairdressers.

As she launched an 11-day tour of Africa on Wednesday, Mrs Clinton noted - and not with pleasure - that Americans have long paid close attention to how she wears her hair.

"My hairdoes have been the subject of Ph.D. theses, so I want everybody to know that I got a good one in Nairobi," Mrs Clinton said in an aside to an forum involving some 40 African countries.

Besides doing a commendable job on her hair, Mrs Clinton said that the two local hairstylists offered insight about Nairobi. "They said it's a wonderful place and a great place to raise children," she said.

Climate change prompts new prayer

Catholics in two southern Swiss Alpine communities want to give up a centennial tradition of praying for the retreat of mountain glaciers and switch to prayers against climate change instead.

Since the end of the 17th century, the faithful in the districts of Fiesch and Fieschental have blamed the nearby Aletsch glacier, the longest in the Alps, for flooding and prayed for it to melt. The tradition is augmented by an annual procession on July 31 to a local chapel.

Drought is now regarded as a potential threat.

Pampered dogs made to walk

Shanghai's pampered pooches may soon be forced to walk under a new set of proposed laws, which include banning dogs from riding on the bus or subway, state media reported Thursday.

As Shanghai's middle class grows, the number of pet dogs is also swelling with police issuing 164,000 new dog licences last year and the number of unregistered dogs believed to be greater, the Shanghai Daily reported.

Some Shanghai dogs' paws barely touch the ground. With wardrobes to rival their owners', they can often be seen trotting along in booties or sitting on their own chairs in the city's lanes while a master on a stool dotes on them.

Shanghai lawmakers concerned about a canine takeover have proposed banning dogs from public transportation, shopping malls and supermarkets and would like to clamp down on where dogs can be walked, the newspaper reported.