World Briefs

A veteran climber was found dead in the Himalayas yesterday, days after he was injured and became stranded, a mountain rescue company and a close friend said.

Gerold Biner, flight operations manager for respected Swiss firm Air Zermatt, said the body of Slovenian Tomaz Humar was recovered early yesterday by a three-man rescue team.

"They called me... to tell me the rescue mission was over," he said.

Humar, 40, last contacted his base last Monday to say he had been injured while climbing the 7,227-metre Langtang Lirung.

It was not immediately clear when Humar died.

Humar, who was married with two children, had climbed many mountains around the world. (PA)

Zsa Zsa's £70,000 bill

Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor's lawyer blames convicted swindler Bernard Madoff for a hefty tax bill owed by his client.

According to documents obtained by The Associated Press last Friday, the Internal Revenue Service has filed a claim of more than $118,000 (£70,000) for the years 2001 and 2002 against the 92-year-old actress.

Gabor's lawyer Chris Fields estimates that Gabor lost about £4.2 million in Madoff's pyramid scheme and the tax bill is part of the fallout. (PA)

Stripper truck banned

Live strippers on the back of a truck is too much - even for Sin City.

A Las Vegas strip club has agreed to stop an advertising promotion in which it hauled bikini-clad exotic dancers around in a truck with clear plastic sides.

The truck had rolled along the Las Vegas Strip from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. trying to lure customers to the club. Three sides had untinted windows, offering views of the strippers dancing around a stripper pole. (PA)

Population decline mourned

Historic Venice is approaching the dread status of living museum, with a population now below 60,000, considered by some to signal the end of the city's viability.

As native Venetians flee in droves to the mainland for cheaper housing and easier living, those who have stayed marked their modern-day demise with a mock funeral procession yesterday.

But Venice city officials say reports of the city's death are premature. In fact, as of last Thursday, the population rose back up 60,025. (PA)

Kidnap suspect dies

Mexican authorities say a suspect linked to the shocking kidnap and killing of the 14-year-old son of a prominent businessman has died in prison of a heart attack.

The Public Safety Department says Sergio Ortiz had been suffering from health problems since he was arrested in late 2008.

Prosecutors say Ortiz was apparently shot by criminal associates after the kidnapping. (PA)

Seals can stay

The seals can stay and play at a San Diego swimming cove after a judge ruled that harbour seals that have colonised the cove in La Jolla for more than a decade can remain there. That overruled an earlier decision to have the city remove the seals because their waste bacteria was dangerous for humans.

San Diego County Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor ruled that a state law signed by the governor last July will allow the cove to be designated as a marine park starting January 1, and that there is no reason to evict the animals before then. (PA)

Vaccination deaths probed

Two people in China who received swine flu vaccinations died in the past week but at least one death appears unrelated to the vaccine and the other was being investigated.

The country's health ministry reported the deaths last night on its website - the first time China has announced deaths with potential links to the Chinese-made swine flu vaccine.

A post-mortem examination showed one victim suffered a heart attack and, "experts have basically ruled out the possibility that the patient's sudden death was the result of immediate allergic reactions to the flu vaccines," the ministry statement said.

An autopsy on the second person was scheduled for last Friday, but no results had been reported yesterday morning. (PA)

Death payment ruling

A top court has found the Colombian government liable for the police killing of an innocent construction worker during the botched rescue of a prominent journalist nearly 19 years ago.

The Council of State ruled that the Defence Ministry and national police were responsible for the January 1991 killing of German Eduardo Giraldo and ordered the state to pay his family £107,000 in damages.

Defence attorneys were first notified last Friday of a July court ruling that said police found Giraldo in a Medellin house while searching for kidnapped journalist Diana Turbay and others being held on orders of the late drug lord Pablo Escobar. (PA)

Legion of Honour award

US actor and director Clint Eastwood has been awarded the Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur (Commander of the Legion of Honour), by French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysée Palace in Paris. (PA)