World Briefs

A US robber who went back to the scene of the crime to ask his victim out on a date was arrested after the woman chatted with him while her cousin called the police.

Diana Martinez was parked in front of her Columbus, Ohio, apartment when three men pointed a gun at her head and stole her purse and her friend's wallet, local media report.

Ms Martinez screamed and hit one of the men with her car door. They fled when a nearby neighbour threatened them.

But less than an hour later, Ms Martinez spotted one of the men leaning against a banister overlooking the parking lot.

"He asked if I had a boyfriend," Diana Martinez said.

Then he asked her out.

"We are not exactly sure what he was thinking at the time," said Columbus police Sgt. Sean Laird. (AFP)

Nadal kissing bandit

The New Yorker who ran onto the court and kissed Rafael Nadal after his fourth-round victory at the US Open faces jail time on trespassing charges, prosecutors said.

Noam U. Aorta dashed onto the court past security guards just after six-time Grand Slam champion Nadal, trying to complete a career Slam on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts, defeated French 13th seed Gael Monfils early on Wednesday.

The intruder raced up to Mr Nadal as he was changing his shirt and kissed the Spanish tennis star before guards apprehended him and took him away.

"For me, it wasn't a problem. The guy was really nice," Mr Nadal said. "He said, 'I love you,' and he kissed me."

Mr Aorta, 23, who lives near Arthur Ashe Stadium, faces charges of interference with a sports event and criminal trespass, which could bring a combined maximum of one year in jail and fines of $5,000. (AFP)

Advanced animal hospital

A £15 million animal hospital is said to be the most advanced of its kind in Europe.

The newly-opened University of Glasgow facility for small animals will treat about 6,000 pets every year.

The hospital has MRI and CT scanners, an underwater treadmill and a pain and rehabilitation centre. Around 120 veterinary students and 30 veterinary nurses will be trained there each year. (PA)

Frozen blood artwork

A head made from frozen blood, the latest in a series of self-portraits by artist Marc Quinn, was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in London yesterday.

Mr Quinn has been making casts of his own head and creating models using his own frozen blood since 1991. He has made a new one every five years to document how he is ageing, but the first three are all overseas.

The gallery said the acquisition of the latest edition, made in 2006 and entitled Self, was a major addition to its contemporary collection.

"Quinn's Self is an outstanding acquisition - a major icon of contemporary British art, both startling and revealing," said Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery.

The gallery paid £300,000 for what it describes as an "unconventional, innovative and challenging" piece of art, bought using a grant from the Art Fund charity and other donations.

Mr Quinn used about five to six litres of blood for the artwork, which he said was all about pushing the boundaries. (AFP)

'The Insider'

A Hong Kong court yesterday convicted a former senior banker at Morgan Stanley of insider dealing over a large Chinese overseas acquisition, in the city's highest-profile market misconduct case.

Du Jun, former managing director of fixed income at Morgan Stanley Asia, was found guilty of using inside information to trade CITIC Resources shares, an arm of China's largest investment conglomerate CITIC Group.

The court heard that over nine occasions in 2007, the banker spent a total of $11 million to acquire 26.7 million shares in CITIC Resources while he was advising the company on oil asset acquisitions in Kazakhstan and north-eastern China. (AFP)

'Sword ninja killer' jailed

A South African teenager who dressed up in a ninja outfit and hacked a fellow student to death with a sword during a rampage through his school was jailed for 20 years by a court yesterday.

Morne Harmse wore a home-made mask over his black-painted face during the school rampage in Krugersdorp near Johannesburg last August in which he also wounded another student and two school employees. The dead pupil was 16 years old.

Mr Harmse, who was 18 at the time, pleaded guilty earlier this year to murder and three counts of attempted murder. The prosecution had sought a life sentence. (AFP)

Nine women rescued from villa

Turkish paramilitary police have rescued nine young women held for two months in a villa in Istanbul after being duped with the promise of taking part in a reality television show, a security source said yesterday.

Police raided the house in the suburb of Riva, on Istanbul's Asian side, earlier this week after receiving a tip-off that the women were being held there against their will, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The women had been selected from among participants who had answered an advertisement looking for contestants for a reality television show.

But there was no such programme, and instead naked pictures of the women were put on the internet, the source explained.

The women were not locked up in the villa and they did not face violence, but they were threatened that they would have to pay 50,000 liras ($33,270) for breaching their contract if they left the house.

A suspect was taken into custody during the raid on the house, but was later released, the source added. (AFP)