World Briefs

Hooded gunmen on Saturday massacred 14 people at an amateur football match in Honduras’s second city, San Pedro Sula.

“There were 14 of them at a football field in the Felipe Zelaya housing development; some guys showed up and started firing at them. Ten of them were killed instantly,” said police commissioner Leonel Sauceda.

Four more shooting victims were rushed to hospital but died there shortly after arriving.

Another police spokesman in San Pedro Sula, Juan Lopez, said five to eight hooded assailants came out of the risers and opened fire on the 14.

Deputy Security Minister Armando Calidonio said authorities thought the bloodbath could be a case of score settling between criminals but did not offer more details. (AFP)

Tasty gowns

Models donned tasty numbers to walk down the catwalk at the 16th annual Salon du Chocolat in Paris.

They were dressed in ball gowns made of chocolate.

The fashion show was part of the annual industry exhibition in the city that partisans proclaim is the chocolate capital of the world. (PA)

Hot iron wake up call

Two brothers suffered serious burns on their legs and hands after a school hostel warden in Pasir Mas, Malaysia, burnt them with a hot iron when trying to wake them up for prayers.

The 16 and 12-year-old had to be treated in hospital for their injuries. The family has complained to police.

Their mother Siti Fatimah Mat Yusof, 52, said: “My sons told me this was his (the warden) way of waking up the students every morning. Sometimes he would use a cane or a broom.

“He would also splash the students with water and soap to wake them up. That morning it was the hot iron.” (PA)

Billionaire gets housing subsidy

Internet mogul Ma Huateng is number nine on Forbes magazine’s list of the richest people in China, with a fortune of $4.4 billion. But he gets $450 a month in official housing subsidies.

Mr Ma, 39, is the chairman of Hong Kong-listed Chinese web portal Tencent and has been deemed a “local leading talent” by the government in the boomtown of Shenzhen on the border with Hong Kong, where the company is based.

The title gives him the right to 3,100 yuan a month in housing subsidies over a five-year period as an incentive to buy or rent a flat in the city, according to the state-run Global Times.

The news has triggered uproar among the public, particularly the online community, amid soaring property prices and rising concerns over the country’s widening income gap. (AFP)

Bear necessities

Hungry bears in northern Russia have resorted to digging up graves after the dry summer destroyed their natural sources of food in forest berries and mushrooms.

Officials in Komi, on the Arctic Circle, said that brown bears have several times dug up coffins in rural cemeteries.

This summer was Russia’s hottest on record, with forest fires and droughts wiping out woodland and crops. With the winter hibernation period approaching the bears are desperate to build up fatty reserves. (PA)

British food no longer a turn-off

Foreigners have for decades branded British food as bland and unhealthy, but a new survey has suggested the country’s culinary reputation is changing.

A survey of 26,000 people in 36 countries by VisitBritain, the national tourism body, found that a majority of people in 27 nations disagreed with the statement that “British food is very bad”.

Russia, Estonia and Egypt were the most enthusiastic about British food, while Spain, Italy, Japan and France were the least impressed. (AFP)

Car maintenance dipsticks

Most men are complete dipsticks when it comes to car maintenance, according to a poll.

As many as 58 per cent of male motorists admit they have no idea how to look after their vehicle or what lies under the bonnet, the survey of 1,500 male motorists by www.webuyanycar.com found.

A third of men said they do not know the meaning of warning lights on the dashboard and 31 per cent refuse to carry out the most basic maintenance tasks with one in five (21 per cent) even avoiding filling their car up with fuel, preferring to have someone else do it. (PA)

Transsexual lifts Scrabble crown

A transsexual wearing a pink wig and matching pvc dress was crowned as the UK’s national Scrabble champion, yesterday.

Mikki Nicholson, 32, from Cumbria, who said he has been diagnosed by a psychologist as a woman trapped in a man’s body, appeared for the final with lipstick, manicured nails, and a hint of stubble.

His pink plastic dress was trimmed with black lace.

Mr Nicholson, who has not undergone any surgery for his condition, began playing scrabble on the internet just five years ago.

An 86-point word “obeisant”, meaning respect, proved crucial in the deciding fifth game, picking up an extra 50 points for using all the letters.

Mr Nicholson, who is unemployed, was up against four-time champion Mark Nyman, a wordsmith who has spent time in Dictionary Corner on Channel 4’s Countdown. (PA)