World Briefs

Russia has urged revellers celebrating the New Year in saunas yesterday night to refrain from popping open the champagne until they have left the steam houses, warning it could prove fatal.

"I would like to make the following recommendation: drink after being in the sauna, not when inside," Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying on New Year's Eve.

"Maybe this sounds funny... But many people die in saunas," he added.

Enthusiastic sauna visitors, Russians often drink beer or vodka in the wood-panelled huts and hold alcohol-fuelled New Year's celebrations in the thousands of steam rooms and bath houses across the country. (Reuters)

Berlusconi pens love songs

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has turned to writing love songs as he recovers from an attack that left him with a broken nose and two broken teeth, reports said yesterday.

"In 2010, there will be a new record, the fourth, of the musical duo Berlusconi and (guitarist Mariano) Apicelli...," the daily Corriere della Serra said in a report.

Mr Berlusconi, who worked as a cruise ship singer in his youth, first collaborated with his friend Mr Apicelli in 2003.

The recordings would include songs entitled "There is love", "But if I lose you", and "Stay with me", it added.

Mr Berlusconi, 73, was attacked in Milan on December 13 by a man who hit him in the face with a miniature model of Milan Cathedral.

"He likes to write lyrics and enjoys singing them," said La Stampa daily. (AFP)

Pigs close motorway after crash

A busy motorway was closed for hours last Wednesday after an accident involving a lorry carrying a herd of pigs, posing a risk to motorists.

Some 12 pigs ran around on the carriageway of the M11 motorway north of London following the early-morning crash, involving a truck carrying a load of 82 animals.

The other pigs, each weighing some 125 kilos, were trapped in the wreckage, said a spokesman, adding that some of the escaped animals subsequently began grazing on a motorway embankment.

One carriageway was closed because of fears that the pigs could cross from lane to another and be a danger to road users. (AFP)

Escapee taunts police again

An escaped British criminal dubbed "the Facebook fugitive" has become an internet hit, taunting police via the online social networking site and notching up nearly 30,000 "friends" by yesterday.

Craig "Lazie" Lynch, 28, ab-sconded from prison in Suffolk, England in September, where he had been serving a seven-year term for aggravated burglary.

Over the Christmas holiday season, he has posted pictures of himself posing with turkey and tinsel - as well as a profile shot of him raising his middle finger in defiance and hints about his location.

On Christmas Day itself, he left a status update saying: "Merry xmas i made it"; while on December 27, he wrote: "Wake up people its the weekend where's the party at?"

Police confirmed they were confident the Craig Lynch featured on Facebook was the on-the-run convict. (AFP)

Caregiver jailed for mistreatment

A Hong Kong court has jailed a caregiver who forced a 65-year-old dementia sufferer to eat her own faeces, a judicial official has said.

Chan Sau-kuen force-fed the woman her own excrement on at least two occasions as punishment for soiling herself.

Jailing Ms Chan for six months on Tuesday and fining her $390 magistrate Symon Wong warned her she would "be punished by heaven" for behaviour that "deprived elderly people of their dignity," The Standard newspaper reported. (AFP)