World Briefs

French passengers on an Aer Lingus Dublin-Paris flight were thrown into panic when a faulty announcement told them the plane was about to make an emergency landing, the airline said yesterday.

An English-language announcement 20 minutes after leaving Dublin said the plane was heading into turbulence, asking passengers to return to their seats - but the pre-recorded French version said they were about to ditch.

One passenger told the Irish Examiner newspaper that a French man who was dozing next to him suddenly woke up and looked very startled.

"He translated what had been said to me. The message, he said, was that we should prepare for an emergency landing, note where the emergency exits were and await instructions from the captain.

"As there was turbulence as well I got quite alarmed. The woman behind me was crying.

"All the French freaked out," he said.

It took a few minutes before the cabin crew realised the error. "They then went back on the PA system and apologised for playing the wrong announcement in French," said the passenger. (AFP)

Changing image as fugitive haven

Brazil, fed up with its image as a haven for fugitive criminals, is launching a new campaign to catch wanted persons on arrival with the message that the South American nation is the "End of the Line".

Brazil's federal police will step up identity checks cross-referenced against Interpol alerts at airports, seaports and border crossings under the programme.

The aim is to reverse the perception by real-life criminals, like Britain's "Great Train Robber" Ronnie Biggs, and fictional ones, that the vast tropical country is an extradition-free sanctuary.

The image that especially annoys Brazilian authorities is the one trafficked in countless films and books abroad which feature a protagonist planning to escape justice by travelling to Brazil. (AFP)

Karaoke crooners get anti-drug song

Karaoke singers in Beijing are being forced to listen to an anti-drugs song before belting out tunes as part of a crackdown on narcotics use ahead of China's National Day, state media sad yesterday.

Police have told more than 1,200 karaoke venues in the capital to install the three-minute "educational video" as authorities clamp down on drug users and dealers ahead of the October 1 festivities, the Global Times reported.

"It pops up after you start the system. You can't cut it short but have to wait till the song finishes," said Li Tong, manager of a Party World karaoke venue.

China is planning a military parade, mass song and dance performances, and fireworks on October 1 to mark the day when revolutionary leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of Communist China in 1949 at Tiananmen Square. (AFP)

More than 40,000 Japanese aged 100

More than 40,000 Japanese people are aged 100 or over, up 10 per cent over last year, a government survey showed yesterday, in the latest reminder of the economic problems facing the world's most rapidly ageing country. Of the 40,399 centenarians, 87 per cent are women, the Health and Welfare Ministry said. An aging population that is also forecast to shrink is among the challenges facing new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his Democratic Party.

A smaller workforce will have to shoulder the burden of ballooning pension and healthcare requirements. Just over three people of working age now support each elderly person, but in 50 years the ratio will be closer to one to one.

Mr Hatoyama's Democrats have pledged to standardise the pension system with a minimum of 70,000 yen ($765) per month for those who had low incomes or lacked sufficient contributions to qualify for a pension.

Japan's centenarian numbers rank it second in the world behind the US, which now has more than 96,000. But the US population is more than double that of Japan.

Japan boasts the longest life expectancy in the world, with experts citing healthy diet, high quality health care and a tradition of active pensioners as factors in the phenomenon. (Reuters)

Tiger kills zookeeper

A zookeeper in Vietnam was mauled to death and another injured by a tiger that leapt out of its enclosure to attack the workers, newspapers reported yesterday. Zoo workers were planting trees in an adjacent enclosure when the tiger pounced on them after leaping over the dividing wall at the Dai Nam Zoo, just north of Ho Chi Minh City.

One worker leapt into a pond to dodge the animal, which attacked the others in front of horrified visitors. "The wall between the two enclosures was made of concrete and about five or six metres high," the newspaper Thanh Nien quoted Duong Thanh Phi, director of the private zoo as saying.

According to WWF, there are about 4,000 tigers left in the world and they are considered an endangered species. (Reuters)

Warning against felling trees

Bhutan has warned its citizens over cutting down thousands of young trees every year to make prayer flags, a threat to the tiny kingdom's lush scenery and the government's duty to bring "Gross National Happiness".

Himalayan Buddhists put up prayer flags for good luck or to help the dead find the right path to their next life. The more flag poles put up for the departed the better, and Buddhist monks say fresh poles must be used each time.

Having failed to convince its citizens to switch from wood to steel for prayer flags, the government of the Himalayas' last Buddhist kingdom is growing bamboo, which it hopes will be an attractive alternative. (Reuters)