World Briefs

Hundreds of poor Hindu villagers in eastern India have refused to hand over a rare turtle to authorities, saying it is an incarnation of God, officials said yesterday.

Villagers chanting hymns and carrying garlands, bowls of rice and fruits are pouring in from remote villages to a temple in Kendrapara, a coastal district in eastern Orissa state.

Policemen have struggled to control the gathering and have failed to persuade the villagers to give up the sea turtle.

The turtle is protected in India and anyone found keeping one without permission can be jailed for a year or more and fined. But adamant villagers have refused to give up the reptile, saying the turtle bears holy symbols on its back and is an incarnation of Lord Jagannath, a popular Hindu deity. (Reuters)

'Unlucky' demon statues relocated

Thailand's main airport is to relocate 12 giant "demon statues" to boost the morale of staff who thought the figures brought bad luck, local media and officials said yesterday.

The statues at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport will move from the arrivals area to the check-in zone at a cost of around 1.7 million baht (€34,000), said Airports of Thailand (AOT) president Serirat Prasutanond.

"AOT has decided to move the statues to the check-in concourse to give passengers and other people a chance to appreciate the statues' beauty," he said in a statement.

But according to the English-language Bangkok Post newspaper, airport director Niran Thiranartsin admitted the decision had partly resulted from complaints from airport staff.

"The shopkeepers are blaming the 'demon statues' for the problems they have faced at the airport, which was seized late last year by demonstrators and supporters of the People's Alliance of Democracy" (PAD), the paper said.

"The guardian spirit statues will be shifted... to 'improve morale' of people working at the airport," the report added. (Reuters)

Alleged burglar caught napping

An exhausted Australian man fell asleep while apparently trying to pick the lock of a shopping centre after a "long night", police said yesterday.

The 35-year-old man was found snoozing outside a Perth shopping complex with a lock-breaking wire still in his hand, police spokesman Samuel Dinnison said. "It appears he fell asleep on the ground with the wire still in his hands and also in the door," he said.

Keys found on the man opened a car parked nearby which was filled with a large quantity of prescription drugs linked to the burglary of a pharmacy earlier in the morning. "He obviously had a long night, whatever he was doing, and that got the better of him," Mr Dinnison said. Police said the man has been charged with driving without a licence, burglary and attempted burglary. (AFP)

French women do get fat

Weight-watchers everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief. Contrary to their image as slim models of restraint, French women, it seems, really do get fat.

According to a 2009 study published yesterday, 15.1 per cent of France's women are classed as clinically obese, while a further 26 per cent are overweight.

The survey, conducted by TNS Sofres Healthcare and Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche, also pointed to similar trends among the male population, with 13.9 per cent of Frenchmen obese and 38.5 per cent overweight.

The world has long marvelled at the ability of the French population, and particularly its women, to remain thin in a country famed for its pastries, cheese and wine.

French author Mireille Guilano even published a diet manual in 2004 entitled French Women Don't Get Fat.

But the reality is that over the past 12 years, the average French person has put on 3.1 kg and added a further 4.7 cm around the waist, the survey showed. (Reuters)

Mini-dress university student readmitted

A female Brazilian student who was expelled from a Sao Paulo university after her short dress sparked student protests has been allowed back after federal prosecutors opened an investigation into the case.

The Universidade Bandeirante made the reversal after taking out advertisement space in Sunday newspapers to explain that it had expelled Geysi Villa Nova Arruda, 20, for her "incompatible posture with the atmosphere" at the school.

That decision, and video showing Ms Arruda being hounded out by hundreds of students at the university, prompted a heated debate in the Latin American country known for its racy Carnival festivities and tiny bikinis but which also has a strong conservative streak.

The university, which had described the protests against Ms Arruda in October as an act of "defence" by the student body, changed its stance yesterday after a federal investigation was launched.

Bandeirantes university had said that Ms Arruda's expulsion was due to her behaviour, saying she had acted provocatively.

"In fact, I was very scared. I was the victim," O Globo newspaper yesterday quoted Ms Arruda as saying. "I don't plan to change the way I am or the way I dress." (Reuters)