World briefs

A 100-year-old British Indian man who claims to be the world’s oldest marathoner was all smiles after completing a 10-kilometre run at the Hong Kong marathon, yesterday.

Born in 1911 and affectionately nicknamed the Turbaned Torpedo, Fauja Singh finished the race in just over one hour and 34 minutes, raising HK$200,000 ($25,800) for the charity Seeing Is Believing.

“The weather was very pleasant, I enjoyed the race very much,” he said, as he crossed the finishing line, arms in the air. The centenarian attributed his physical fitness to his healthy lifestyle, including abstaining from smoking and alcohol and to following a vegetarian diet.

‘Royal’ misdemeanour

Police have downgraded charges against a man who mooned at the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh as they drove past thousands of well-wishers during a visit to Australia.

Officers told Brisbane Magistrates’ Court they have dropped a charge of wilful exposure against 22-year-old Liam Lloyd Warriner for baring his buttocks to the royal couple in October. The charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison.

Mr Warriner is pleading guilty to a lesser charge of creating a public nuisance, which carries a maximum penalty of six months.

Blowing hot and cold

The ethics committee of Israel’s Parliament has suspended an MP for dumping water on a colleague during a heated debate.

During the outburst, Anastassia Michaeli threw water on Raleb Majadale after he told her to shut up. Dripping wet, he chuckled and called her “crazy” as she stormed out of the room.

The incident occurred during a debate over whether an Arab-Israeli school had the right to take its students to a Tel Aviv human rights march.

Saudi activists sue over ban

Two Saudi female activists have filed law suits against the government for refusing to issue them driver’s licences and banning them from driving a car.

Manal al-Sherif, the icon of an Internet campaign launched last year urging Saudi women to defy a ban on driving, and human rights activist Samar Badawi filed their suits against the interior ministry.

Ms Sherif, who was arrested in May 2011 and detained for 10 days after posting on YouTube a video of herself driving, said she decided to file the lawsuit after having been denied a driver’s licence.

“There is no actual law that states woman can’t drive” in Saudi Arabia,” said Ms Sherif.

Women in the kingdom who have the financial means hire drivers. They also have to be veiled in public and cannot travel unless accompanied by their husbands or a close male relative.

Spider triggers police alarm

Police called out when an alarm went off after hours at a northern German bank found the culprit was – a small spider.

Having initially found nothing untoward at the bank in Lower Saxony state, officers called the bank’s caretaker to be on the safe side and went inside to investigate. There, they discovered the eight-legged creature had crawled on to a motion sensor.