World Briefs

A two-year-old Indonesian boy who smoked about 40 cigarettes a day has kicked the habit after receiving intensive specialist care, a child welfare official said yesterday.

Ardi Rizal shocked the world when a video of him drawing heavily on cigarettes appeared on the internet in May and drew attention to Indonesia’s failure to regulate the tobacco industry.

“He has quit smoking and the most important thing is he doesn’t ask for cigarettes anymore,” National Commission for Child Protection secretary-general Arist Merdeka Sirait said.

Six months after his father gave him his first cigarette, the overweight boy was smoking two packs a day and threw violent tantrums if his addiction was not satisfied. (AFP)

Coffin mix-up

Three coffins used to bring back some of the eight Hong Kong tourists killed in last week’s Philippine hostage crisis had been mislabelled, a Hong Kong government spokesman said yesterday.

The mix-up was discovered after the family of one victim went to a Hong Kong mortuary to identify their dead relative only to find the coffin contained the body of another victim of last week’s hijacking. A senior Hong Kong official and weeping relatives had laid wreaths on the mislabelled coffins at a sombre airport ceremony in Hong Kong last week.

“Three of the coffins were wrongly labelled,” a government spokesman said. “When the bodies were at the mortuary in Hong Kong, the error was discovered.” (AFP)

Fire at Phillips Collection

A fire yesterday damaged Washington’s world-famous Phillips Collection museum, which houses works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent Van Gogh, Willem de Kooning and Winslow Homer.

Washington’s deputy fire chief Kenneth Crosswhite said the one-alarm blaze broke out shortly before 8.30 a.m. (1230 GMT) and was quickly put out, but not before sprinkler systems and more than a dozen fire-fighters doused the roof and upper floors of the museum with water.

There were no injuries or structural damage, Mr Crosswhite said.

“Our concern now is for the artwork, because all four floors suffered smoke and water damage.” (AFP)

Fined over ‘pointless’ appeal

Two lawyers who repeatedly appealed minor traffic violations were fined and handed two-month bans by Germany’s highest court yesterday for making “absurd and abusive accusations” in their defence.

The Bavaria-based lawyers, who cannot be named under German law, faxed a 1,182-page appeal to the Constitutional Court accusing lower courts of a “maddening ignorance of constitutional rights”.

The court ruled that the lawyers, fined €300 and €1,100 respectively, did not have the right to “disrupt its ability to work” by “pointlessly” appealing the convictions. (AFP)

Human meat hoax

Vegetarian activists in Berlin have caused a stir with an advertising campaign for a new restaurant seeking human meat “donors” and “open-minded” surgeons.

“The Vegetarian Federation wanted with this striking human meat campaign to draw attention to the millions of people who suffer from the consumption of meat,” it said in a statement yesterday after revealing the hoax.

In the advertisements and internet videos, a mysterious restaurant called Flime is said to be opening soon, offering human meat on its menu, and seeks people to supply the eatery. (AFP)

Burger King to be sold

Burger King, the second-largest US hamburger chain, will be sold to 3G Capital investment house for $4 billion, the fast food chain announced yesterday.

3G Capital agreed to acquire all Burger King stock for $24 per share in cash, representing a 46 per cent premium, and will also assume the company’s outstanding debt, Burger King said in a statement. (AFP)

Mind my haemorrhoids

A Malaysian woman yesterday won a damages payout after suing her surgeon for taking photographs of her backside during haemorrhoid surgery, her lawyer said.

Freelance writer Lee Ewe Poh, 50, was awarded 35,000 ringgit ($11,000) in damages for invasion of privacy.

Ms Lee’s counsel Simon Murali said the court also ruled that surgeons must obtain their female patients’ consent before taking photos of their private parts.

“The judge said the doctor has a duty towards his patient and it is crucial that he must respect the modesty and dignity of his patients instead of violating it,” he said.

Mr Murali said Ms Lee underwent surgery at a private hospital in the northern state of Penang in 2006. She later discovered that her surgeon had photographed her while she was unconscious and without her consent.

Mr Lee reportedly said that the surgeon admitted he took the images but said it was for medical purposes, as reference material to show other patients, and that it was common practice. (AFP)