Frustrated villagers in northeast India have grabbed spades and axes and started building their own road to the local town - after 20 years of government delays, a newspaper reported yesterday.
About 750 residents from seven villages are working on the 25-kilometre route to connect them to Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya, reported the Hindustan Times.
"Last month, we decided that we had waited long enough," Tyllilang Mukhim, a village elder from Nonglatem, told the newspaper, which published pictures of dozens of women preparing the rough ground using basic hand tools.
"Almost all of us grow a variety of vegetables, rice, ginger... and it is not possible to take them to the market before they rot," Mr Mukhim said.
The villagers plan to finish the job - first started by the state government in 1989 - within 25 days. State government officials blamed lack of funds for their failure to complete the project. (AFP)
Graduates get maps to find jobs
University graduates looking for work in a city in eastern China will be given "job-hunting maps" showing which companies are hiring and how to find them, state media reported yesterday.
The maps will be distributed for free at universities, bus stations and employment agencies in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from this month, the English-language Global Times reported.
"We clearly indicate which companies are currently hiring and provide detailed information to help undergraduates looking for a job in Hangzhou, especially new arrivals to the city," said Yu Yukuai, 22, who created the map.
"Hangzhou has lots of jobless undergrads right now. We want to provide a way to let them know who's hiring, where to go to relax, and what they should be on the lookout for during their search," Mr Yu added. (AFP)
Short workers chosen to stand near Sarkozy
France's opposition Socialists mocked President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday over reports his office asked factory managers to choose short employees to stand behind the diminutive leader during a speech.
The Elysee Palace firmly denied the claim from a union leader, as did the management of the Faurecia car parts plant, but a petite worker told Belgian television that she had been picked so as not to overshadow the President.
On September 3 last week, Mr Sarkozy went to the Faurecia plant in Caligny in Normandy, northern France, in order to defend his economic stimulus policies to workers in an industrial sector badly hit by the global downturn.
After touring the plant, the reportedly 1.65-metre-tall leader gave an address to a group of seated workers. Standing behind him was a small group of Faurecia staff, none of them markedly taller than him. (AFP)
H1N1 flu stops Italians from kissing saint's blood
Fear of H1N1 flu will stop devout Neapolitans from performing the time-honoured ritual of kissing the blood of their patron Saint Gennaro when the city's annual festival begins later this month.
The decision to forbid kissing of the glass phial containing the saint's blood was taken reluctantly by ecclesiastical and city authorities yesterday, and has brought protests from local politicians.
The phial will be put on display in the city's cathedral for a week from September 19 and the faithful will be allowed to touch it only with their foreheads.
Marco Di Lello, national co-ordinator of the Socialist Party, said the ban would "fuel the psychosis (over flu) which risks becoming unstoppable", and appealed to the archbishop of Naples to try to have the ban revoked.
In one of Italy's best-known festivals, Saint Gennaro's dried blood is said to liquefy twice a year, 17 centuries after his death. Some Neapolitans fear disaster may strike the city if the "miracle" does not occur. (Reuters)
New law clears WW2 Nazi 'traitors'
The German Parliament passed a law yesterday clearing the names of those branded traitors by the Nazis in World War II - ending a long, tortured debate.
Nazi military courts condemned about 30,000 people to death for desertion and treason and about two-thirds of those condemned were executed, Social Democrat (SPD) deputy Carl-Christian Dressel said in the debate in Parliament.
Historians say the Nazis used the treason charge to condemn soldiers and civilians to death for political resistance and for helping Jews.
More than six decades after the end of the war, the law granting blanket rehabilitation passed unanimously. State prosecutors reviewed traitor cases individually until now.
Backed by the ruling parties as well as the opposition, it was the final piece of legislation passed by Parliament before the September 27 federal election. (Reuters)
How to live long and prosper
Searching for the secret to a long and happy life? Then watch your back in Belize, keep off Qatar's roads and consider moving to Japan, where people live the longest and have access to the most hospital beds.
That's the message from the latest edition of The Economist magazine's annual book of global economic statistics and quirky facts, Pocket World in Figures.
Often described as the fact-lover's Bible, it covers more than 200 subjects in 189 countries, from GDP figures and exports to internet and obesity rates, and is sold around the world.
Japan tops the life expectancy table with an average of 82.7 years, ahead of Andorra, Hong Kong and Italy. Bottom of the pile are Afghanistan (43.8 years) and Zimbabwe (44.1). (Reuters)