World Briefs

Hundreds of New York subway riders, unencumbered by skirts, trousers or modesty, took part in a spontaneous showing of leg despite sub-freezing temperatures.

The 10th annual No Pants Subway Ride on Sunday saw hundreds of New York strap-hangers shed outer garments from the waist down, even as they wore seasonally-appropriate jackets, scarves, earmuffs and other winter garb on their upper halves.

At 3 p.m. sharp, subway riders at six separate meeting points across the city, boarded predetermined subway cars, engaging in typically unassuming behaviour like reading a magazine or staring off into space. But as soon as the doors shut at the stop before they were due to get off, participants were instructed to stand up and shed their skirts and trousers.

The unusual yearly happening is also staged in some 50 other cities in two dozen countries around the world. (AFP)

Cross-eyed opossum is internet hit

A cross-eyed opossum in Germany called Heidi who is not yet even on public display has become an internet hit, winning more than 65,000 admirers on social networking website Facebook.

Heidi is thought to be two and a half years old, and was abandoned outside an animal shelter in North Carolina in the US. It has been in Leipzig zoo in eastern Germany since May.

The zoo believes the marsupial’s eye problem may be to do with her diet before she was abandoned, or because she is overweight, leading to fat deposits behind her eyes. Otherwise she is completely normal.

“Apart from aesthetically, this situation is not a problem,” the zoo says. “As animals that are active at night, opossums find their way around using their noses.”

“You can all visit me from July 1 ... but not all 65,000 at once,” reads a “message” from Heidi on her Facebook page.

Three stuck in Alps for five days

Rescuers airlifted three Ukrainian mountaineers alive from the snowy slopes of France’s Mont-Blanc range after they were stuck there for five days, police said yesterday.

The three were stranded at 4,300 metres in temperatures as low as minus 10 degrees Celsius. They had set out on Wednesday, and at least one of them was an experienced mountaineer.

“They dug a hole and built a wall of snow to shelter their tent from the wind,” said local police captain Benoit Tonnany.

The temperatures “could have been worse,” he added. “It can easily reach minus 30 (Celsius) at that altitude.”

Another official said the mountaineers were in good health when rescued and “weren’t even taken to hospital”.

Facebook denies shutdown rumours

A rumour Facebook was shutting down wafted over the web, forcing the hugely popular social network to deny it had any intention of closing.

The rumour was started by a satirical online website whose other news flashes include such items as “Alien Spaceships to Attack Earth in 2011” and “George Clooney Running for President”.

As unlikely as it would seem that the social network with more than 500 million members would shut down, the rumour spread rapidly on Twitter and on Facebook itself.

Islam teacher training in Vienna

Austria’s Islamic community is opening a new training centre for religion teachers in Vienna due to increasing popularity, the catholic press agency Kathpress reported yesterday.

The previous location had become too small and will now be replaced by a new centre, which will welcome a first batch of 160 students, Kathpress said.

Islamic tuition has been offered in Austrian schools since 1982, with some 410 Islamic religion teachers currently instructing 55,000 pupils who are of Muslim faith.

Saudi maid abuser jailed

A Saudi court in Medina has sentenced a woman to three years in prison for stabbing, beating and burning her Indonesian house maid with an iron, Saudi newspapers reported yesterday.

The Saudi woman was arrested after allegedly beating the maid so severely as to break bones and cause internal bleeding, putting a hot iron to her head and stabbing and slashing her with scissors. (AFP)