World Briefs

Oscar winner Marion Cotillard gasped in pain after France's Culture Minister accidentally stuck a pin into her chest as he decorated her with the Order of Arts and Letters yesterday.

Ms Cotillard has spent much of her time in Hollywood since winning the Oscar for her performance as the singer Edith Piaf in La vie en rose in 2008 but she was back in Paris to receive the decoration from Culture Minister François Mitterrand.

Mr Mitterrand, who praised Ms Cotillard's "charm, natural grace and beauty", inadvertently skewered the actress as he pinned the medallion naming her as Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on to her blouse.

She appeared to suffer no damage, however, and burst out laughing as Mr Mitterrand hastily apologised. (Reuters)

'Space flight experience required'

For astronauts worried about their future with Nasa, good news: a private company is hiring.

Bigelow Aerospace, a Las Vegas-based firm headed by hotelier Robert Bigelow, owner of Budget Suites of America, posted a recruitment notice for astronauts on its website.

Only professionals with space flight experience need apply, which limits the pool of possible applicants worldwide to little more than 500.

Nasa's shuttle fleet is scheduled to be retired at the end of this year. With no successor craft on the near horizon, thousands of workers expect to lose their jobs.

Bigelow seeks staff for its planned orbital space complex, prototypes of which already are in orbit. The company plans a series of inflatable space habitats that can be used for research, tourism, manufacturing and other activities.

As part of running the Bigelow space complex, company astronauts may be tapped for spacewalks, the job note says. (Reuters)

Pyjamas and bedsheets for Zuma

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has given Jacob Zuma a gift of blue pyjamas and bedsheets, according to an official list of the presents received by the South African President.

The entry in Mr Zuma's long-awaited "declaration of interests", reported yesterday by the Sapa news agency, was likely to raise eyebrows since both men have recently been the subject of sex scandals.

Mr Berlusconi's presents, given at a G8 summit last year, included pyjamas, two bathrobes, two sets of bedsheets, two jackets, two pairs of sunglasses and leather bags.

Sapa news agency also said one of Mr Zuma's three wives had received a foot spa from former British first lady Cherie Blair, and another had got a tea set and lamp shade from US first lady Michelle Obama. (Reuters)

Suspected serial rapist arrested

German authorities said yesterday they have arrested a man suspected of raping as many as 18 women and sexually assaulting dozens more in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands over a 19-year period.

The 46-year-old German father-of-two is suspected of raping the women in blocks of flats, student hostels and old people's homes, where his targets were members of staff, or in cars or on foot.

He is also suspected of up to 60 cases of sexual assault, mostly involving a trick whereby he pretended not to have the use of his arms and to need help urinating.

Police arrested the man in the Eifel region in Germany near the Belgian border on Saturday after Belgian authorities issued a European arrest warrant. (AFP)

Mineral water ousts fizzy drinks

Canned fizzy drinks are out and small bottles of mineral water are in, according to Britain's Office for National Statistics in its latest annual rejig of the "shopping basket" of goods it uses to calculate inflation. The ONS has also ditched pitta bread in favour of garlic bread and included cereal bars in the basket for the first time, reflecting the increased popularity of the foods.

Statisticians base their monthly calculation of consumer price inflation on a basket of 650 items in 12 sectors, including food, clothing, housing and household services, furniture, transport, recreation and culture, and restaurants and hotels.