World Briefs

No luxury cruise but a ticket to jihad was the prize for the winners of a team quiz organised by Somalia’s insurgent Shebab group during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

Five neighbourhoods of the port city of Kismayo entered the radio-broadcast quiz organised by the al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab organisation. The competition consisted mainly of questions on science, culture and the Koran.

The winners were given a first prize consisting of one AK-47 assault rifle, two hand grenades, an anti-tank landmine and office supplies at a ceremony attended by hundreds of residents.

“The team in the first place gets the weapons and office equipment worth upward of $1,000,” Sheikh Abdullahi Alhaq said, sparking cheers and applause in the crowd.

“It was a wonderful event because I have never seen students being rewarded with weapons as a result of a competition”, Mohamed Hersi, a Kismayo trader who attended the ceremony, said.

The quiz show’s runners-up had to settle for an AK-47 and ammunition. (AFP)

Natural neon show

Spectacular green neon flashes flaring up the sea along Ireland’s east coast is not radioactive waste but a harmless natural phenom-enon, marine experts have said.

Hardy swimmers taking dips after dark in popular outdoor bathing spots such as the Forty Foot and Killiney Bay in Dublin have been enjoying the aquatic light show in recent weeks.

The Marine Institute said the flashes were most likely a bioluminescent plankton called Noctiluca scintillans - sometimes known as Sea Ghost or Fire of Sea – and not radioactive waste from Sellafield as some swimmers had feared. (PA)

‘Balloon boy case was a hoax’

The bizarre flight of a home-made helium balloon, thought to have a six-year-old boy aboard, was a hoax and publicity stunt, a Colorado sheriff said yesterday.

“It has been determined that this is a hoax, that it was a publicity stunt and we believe we have evidence at this point to indicate that this was a publicity stunt in hopes to better market themselves for a reality show,” Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden told reporters.

He said the family faced several charges.

The sight of the flyaway balloon on live TV gripped viewers for more than two hours last Thursday as the saucer-shaped contraption raced across the Colorado sky, tracked by US National Guard helicopters before the boy, Falcon Heene, was found alive and well in his attic.

Questions were raised after Falcon was asked during an interview on CNN why he had stayed in hiding so long when family members and other searchers were desperately calling his name. He responded: “You guys (his parents) said that, um, we did this for a show.” (Reuters)

Tempering with nursery rhymes

The BBC has defended a decision to change the ending of nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty.

A version used on the CBeebies channel was altered so rather than “couldn’t put Humpty together again” all the King’s horses “made Humpty happy again”.

The broadcaster said the change was made purely for creative reasons rather than trying to give a soft version of the rhyme for children.

Saudi woman sees red

A Saudi woman is suing for divorce after she found out that her husband had branded her “Guantanamo” on his cellphone, a report said on Sunday.

The wife took a look at the phone when her husband of 17 years left it at home, only to discover that his phonebook entry for her came under the name of the notorious US war-on-terror prison in Cuba, the Al-Watan newspaper reported.

Outraged, the woman, who was not identified, demanded divorce or, at the least, substantial damages, Al-Watan said. (AFP)

Moscow mayor dumps snow elsewhere

Moscow’s mercurial mayor is escalating his war on weather with plans to slash this winter’s snowfall by one-fifth in the Russian capital.

Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s office will marshal the Russian air force to intercept advancing storm fronts and hit them with dry ice and silver iodine particles in a scheme that could cost 180 million rubles (£3.66 million), but could save 300 million rubles (£6.11 million) in snow removal. (PA)