Software giant Microsoft Corp. has matched a reward being offered in the search for a missing Canadian teenager who ran away from home after his parents took away his Xbox 360 video game console.
Microsoft, which makes the Xbox 360, said it would match the existing reward of C$25,000 (€15,500) for information leading to Brandon Crisp's return.
"Like everyone, we are deeply worried about the disappearance of Brandon Crisp," the company said in an e-mail. "Law enforcement has contacted Microsoft about this matter and we are cooperating fully with them. We are unable to comment further on the nature of our cooperation because of the ongoing investigation."
The 15-year-old has been missing since October 13. He ran away from his home in Barrie, Ontario, north of Toronto, after his parents took away his gaming privileges because of his excessive playing of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Drunk driver protests drink-drive charge
An Austrian man, charged with drink driving, drove to a police station to complain about the charge while drunk, officials said yesterday.
The 65-year-old had his driving licence and car keys first taken away from him on Sunday after driving while over the alcohol limit in the northern city of Linz.
He then went home, picked up his spare car keys, went back to the abandoned car and drove to police headquarters to explain why he was unhappy with the charge.
"When the driver tried to show police officers what had happened the first time, they detected he was still under the influence of alcohol," police said in a statement. The driver was charged a second time.
Burnt investors won't rest in peace
Dozens of people protested outside an insurance office in Shanghai yesterday, demanding the return of money lost in a scheme promising big returns on investments in memorial halls for ashes of the deceased.
The protesters, mainly retirees, had bought into investment products in the 1990s linked to returns on sales of cemetery plots and repositories for ashes that were later exposed as classic pyramid schemes.
The company, based in the province of Jiangsu which adjoins Shanghai, had been wound up as an illegal operation, but investors had not had a penny returned, protesters said.
State media said investors had tried unsuccessfully to sue a local branch of China Pacific Insurance, the country's third largest insurer, for underwriting the company.
"When they sold us this product, they told us it would make better returns than having the money sitting in the bank. Now it has been 10 years and we still cannot get our money back," said a 65-year-old woman surnamed Xu outside the offices of China Pacific Insurance in Shanghai's financial district.
"You owe me money and you are a liar. You don't even know how mean you are," said a banner held by one of the protesters.
81-year-old man finds love online
An 81-year-old Chinese man has proved age need not be a barrier to internet love, marrying a 58-year-old bride he met online, a local newspaper reported.
Wu Jieqin, a retired Beijing art professor who has spent time in an aged-care home, married Jiang Xiaohui, 23 years younger, in a ceremony on the weekend, the Beijing News reported.
"The internet doesn't belong to the young alone," he told the paper. He said he had been using the internet since 1998. "There are no rules against old people seeking love online."
But to reach the altar, Mr Wu had to overcome the opposition of Ms Jiang's parents, aged 85 and 86, who feared he was too old.
But she won them over. "His voice is very youthful. Not like an 80-year-old," Jiang told the paper. "He's very romantic."
China kicks off farmers' Olympics
Fresh from hosting the Olympics, China opened its "National Peasants' Games" on Sunday, showcasing the athletic achievements of its 750 million farmers.
Around 3,500 rural residents from around the country will compete in sports ranging from the more traditional basketball and athletics to tailored ones such as tyre-pushing and tug-of-war, the official Xinhua news agency said.
"Unlike most games that highlight the limits of physical strength and competitiveness, the games for peasants emphasise more on recreation and less on the results," Xinhua said.
Authorities in Quanzhou, in eastern Fujian province, built or renovated 15 venues to host the events, Xinhua said, with a price tag close to one billion yuan (€116 million).
It is the sixth instalment of the games, which are held every four years.
Aiming to narrow the gap between cities and the countryside, Beijing has pledged to boost rural spending and is carrying out reforms such as letting farmers transfer their land-use rights.
"A successful national Peasants' Games showcases the achievements made by the Chinese people in the 30 years of the reform and opening up to the outside world," Xinhua quoted Agriculture Minister Sun Zhengcai as telling the opening ceremony.
Reluctant groom sets hotel on fire
A Japanese man set fire to the hotel where he was due to get married at the weekend, rather than go through with the ceremony later the same day, newspaper reports said yesterday.
Tatsuhiko Kawata, 39, had gone along with wedding plans despite already having a wife, the Yomiuri newspaper said.
"I thought if I set a fire I wouldn't have to go through with the wedding," the Yomiuri quoted him as telling police.
Guests at the hotel were evacuated and no one was injured when he started the fire in the early hours of Sunday morning at the resort hotel in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo.