British artist Damien Hirst's human skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds will go on show at an Amsterdam museum in November.

The artwork named For the Love of God was unveiled last year at London's White Cube gallery and later sold to an anonymous investment group. The skull fetched $100 million, but it was a private transaction and the fact that Mr Hirst was part of the group of investors who bought it raised questions about its true value.

Encased in a layer of platinum and covered with diamonds, the skull will be exhibited at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum for six weeks starting on November 1 before embarking on a world tour, the museum said.

No nuns on catwalk

An Italian priest who had planned an online "pageant" for nuns has suspended the project, saying he was misinterpreted and had no intention of putting sisters on a beauty catwalk.

"My superiors were not happy. The local bishop was not happy, but they did not understand me either," Fr Antonio Rungi told Reuters by telephone from his convent in southern Italy yesterday. "It was not at all my intention to put nuns on the catwalk," said Fr Rungi, a priest of the Passionists religious order, speaking from his convent in the town of Mondragone.

Fr Rungi's idea appeared in newspapers around the world after he wrote of a contest for nuns on his blog, called by some Sister Italy 2008. "It was interpreted as more of a physical thing. Now, no one is saying that nuns can't be beautiful, but I was thinking about something more complete," he said.

He said his concept for the contest, in which nuns would vote for themselves on his blog, would include attributes such as their spirituality, social awareness, charity and other qualities. Fr Rungi wrote in his blog that his intention was to show "the interior beauty" of a nun.

Cupid's arrow hits Olympic archers

South Korea's top male and female archers capped gold medal performances at the Beijing Olympics by announcing wedding plans just as the games ended, an archery official said yesterday.

Park Sung-hyun, 25, who led the women's team to a gold medal and won an individual silver in Beijing, is to marry Park Kyung-mo, 33, who had similar success at the Games.

The two, known for their cool composure in competition, struck up a relationship while training for the Olympics. They surprised team mates and coaches by announcing at a Beijing restaurant that they were engaged, local media reported people close to the two archers as saying.

China to target lovers of corrupt officials'

China will go after the lovers and family members of corrupt officials by amending an existing law to make it easier to prosecute them, a state newspaper said yesterday, as the government tries to tackle a surge in graft.

"Spouses and children of and/or people who have 'intimate relations' with corrupt officials could be jailed for more than seven years if they are found guilty of taking advantage of such officials' positions to get bribes or make money illegally," the China Daily said.

Chinese media often report lurid stories of officials' extra-marital affairs. Last year, a former senior official in north China was given a death sentence for killing his mistress with a car bomb after tiring of her constant demands for money.

President's aide quits over pay hike move

A senior aide to Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma has resigned amid a public outcry over a request made to Parliament to increase the President's salary tenfold in one of the world's poorest countries.

Mr Koroma, who vowed "zero tolerance" towards corruption after winning an election in September, had not been consulted about the initiative by the Office of the Secretary of the President and had not approved it, the government said.

"His Excellency Ernest Bai Koroma has regrettably accepted the resignation of the Secretary to the President, Mr James Sanpha Koroma, with immediate effect," an official statement.

The proposals sent to Parliament last week foresaw increasing Mr Koroma's nominal salary from 2.5 million leones (€570) a month to 25 million leones (€5,700) a month.

Most people earn less than a dollar a day in the former British West African colony.