Germans, who sometimes see themselves as guardians of the environment, are hoarding energy-guzzling incandescent light bulbs ahead of a looming EU-wide ban.
The Nuremberg-based GfK market research agency reported sales of incandescent bulbs had soared about 35 per cent in the first half of the year ahead of a ban that starts today.
Some German retailers said they have seen sales of 100-watt incandescent bulbs soar 600 per cent since the end of July. The EU is planning to phase out use of the incandescent bulbs as part of its push to save energy, cut greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. From today the light bulbs above 75 watts can no longer be produced or imported in the EU.
The ban will be expanded each year and by 2012 production and importing of all incandescent bulbs will be prohibited.
The EU Commission projects the ban on the energy-inefficient bulbs will save about 40 terawatt hours of energy in the EU per year - enough to meet the energy demands of a small country. (Reuters)
Sore loser
Talk about losing across the board: a man who complained to police that he was cheated by a prostitute found himself slapped with a heavy fine in Norway, where paying for sex is illegal, media reported yesterday.
"He contacted police because he felt he didn't get what he paid for," Kurt Pettersen of the Tromsoe police station in northern Norway told the local daily Nordlys.
The 28-year-old man had paid the Russian prostitute a sum in advance but the pair were ultimately unable to agree on the final price.
The man ended up with an 8,000-kroner (€930) fine.
The purchase of sexual services in Norway was banned on January 1, with offenders facing a fine, up to six months in prison, or both. (AFP)
"E-crime" gangs target older women
Criminal gangs tricking unwitting Chinese into releasing bank account information and other personal details are having the greatest success among older people and women, police said yesterday.
A crackdown on "e-crime" has revealed gangs operating out of six counties in China, who route money and internet communications through Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries to avoid detection. Most hook their victims through text messages that claim to be from banks or the police, tricking victims into calling fake numbers and giving their account details.
"The biggest characteristic is that these people are very slick talkers, also they use very sophisticated technology," said Huang Zuyue, vice director of the crimes investigation unit.
Other favourite tricks are to send "sweet words" to lure the victim into a revealing conversation, too-good-to-be-true schemes, threats of retaliation if money is not sent, and even fake kidnapping schemes, where the victim hears what they believe to be their child struggling or screaming.
About 70 per cent of the victims are elderly, and about 70 per cent are women. (Reuters)
Japan's next PM is a softie
Japan's next Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, likes to wash dishes, enjoys animal movies and is secretly addicted to shrimp crackers, according to his wife Miyuki, a newspaper said yesterday.
Mr Hatoyama, who heads the Democratic Party of Japan, which won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday, is "a natural person," Miyuki told the Mainichi newspaper.
"Hatoyama is often described as an alien, but he is truly an ordinary person, a natural person," she was quoted as saying. "He shows love without restraint, and in that sense he may appear to be an alien because he is unlike a Japanese," she added. (AFP)
Gorilla's Facebook
Users of the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter will be able to "befriend" rare Ugandan mountain gorillas and track their movements, a Wildlife Authority spokesman said yesterday.
In a scheme designed to promote Uganda's nascent tourism industry, users will receive regular updates about their endangered primate friends, Lillian Nsubuga said.
"Through geo-tracking and GPS, you'll be able to get information about new births within the family and other information," she said, referring to a programme that will launch online next month.
Wildlife officials also plan to install cameras around Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home to roughly half of the world's estimated 740 mountain gorillas, one of most endangered species on the planet.
Online users will be able to watch live footage of their "friends" eating and trekking through the thick terrain.
Mountain gorillas are one of Uganda's main tourist attractions and can only be found in two other countries, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. (AFP)