A Bangkok security guard has been arrested for allegedly beating to death eight guards who slept on the job and badly injuring eight others in a year-long killing spree, police said yesterday.
"I used to wake them up, but they scolded me. So I've remained enraged since then," Wittaya Jaikhan, 30, was quoted as saying by the Bangkok Post after his arrest.
Mr Wittaya, a guard at a Bangkok hospital, told police he would cruise the streets of the Thai capital during his off hours, looking for sleeping guards who, he said, did not deserve their pay. He shook them awake but if they kept on dozing, he beat them with an iron pipe or a wooden stick, police said.
Voters prefer politician nude
More Australian voters would like to see Labour Opposition leader Kevin Rudd naked rather than their current Prime Minister, John Howard, a poll showed yesterday, two weeks out from a hard-fought general election.
The question was posed in a Galaxy poll of 1,200 voters and published in Zoo magazine, the Australian Associated Pres reported.
The survey found 34 per cent of respondents wanted to see Mr Rudd, 50, with his gear off, more than double the 16 per cent who said the same thing about Mr Howard, 68.
Anti-gambling candidate
Australia is a nation of gamblers who are now backing an anti-gambling candidate for national Parliament, with a strong chance he could end up deciding if government laws pass in the upper house Senate.
Nick Xenophon has spent a decade trying to help problem gamblers and curb the spread of gaming or slot machines, known as "pokies" in Australia, and is now running as an independent Senate candidate in the November 24 general election.
Analysts believe Mr Xenophon has enough support to win a seat, enabling him to take his "No Pokies" campaign to the national stage, where he could have the deciding vote on crucial legislation.
Michelin guide leaks ratings
The first Michelin guide ratings for restaurants in Los Angeles and Las Vegas were accidentally posted on its website, forcing the guide to announce the honours before its anticipated launch today.
No restaurant in Los Angeles, a city of more than three million people, received the guide's coveted three-star marking, the guide said in a statement on Friday. Three restaurants earned two stars, including Spago, Wolfgang Puck's Beverly Hills flagship, a favourite of the city's rich and powerful.
Cutting costs on safe sex
Aiming to combat AIDS by cutting the cost of safe sex, the European Parliament's Socialist group have launched a campaign to press EU governments to cut sales tax on condoms.
The 27 European Union member states are free to fix their own Value Added Tax rates on condoms, with a nimimum level of five per cent. It is as high as 25 per cent in Sweden and Denmark.
"Cutting VAT on condoms to the minimum rate would be both a practical step in tackling AIDS and a powerful symbolic gesture on World AIDS Day (December 1)," Socialist group vice-president Jan Marinus Wiersma said on launching an online petition at www.socialistgroup.eu.
World Health Organisation figures showed HIV infection rates were growing in Europe, with nearly 27,000 new cases reported in 2005, he said.
Fisherman charged for rescue
The Portuguese air force has charged a fisherman almost €13,500 for rescuing him from the high sea after he became ill with appendicitis, infuriating the fishing community. "It is unacceptable, illegal and revolting," said the Association for the Safety of Men at Sea in a letter to the defence minister.
The air force is suing the fisherman for the cost of helicopter rescue, which is not covered by medical insurance. He says he does not have the money to pay.
Golden glow for landmarks
Four London landmarks will be bathed in golden light every night this week to mark the return to the city for the first time in 35 years of the treasures of Tutankhamun, Egypt's boy king.
The Tower of London, the Wellington Arch, the London Eye and the O2 arena, which will house "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs", will be lit up in gold to emulate the precious metal that the tomb's discoverer Howard Carter said he saw everywhere in 1922.
Organisers have already sold 325,000 advance tickets for the exhibition which opens on November 15 and runs through August 2008.