Japan's imperial palace said yesterday a grandchild of the emperor had skipped school after suffering from anxiety over "the wild behaviour of a few boys," but denied she had been bullied.
A palace official said Princess Aiko, granddaughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko and daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako, did not attend school this week because of "a strong stomach-ache and anxiety".
She developed the symptoms "after confronting the wild behaviour of a few boys," said Imperial Household Agency official Issei Nomura. However, he denied that the boys had bullied her. (AFP)
Web-obsessed couple starve baby
A South Korean couple left their baby daughter to starve to death at home while playing an internet game which simulated child-rearing, police said yesterday.
The man aged 41 and his 25-year-old wife were arrested on Thursday, five months after they reported the death of their three-month-old baby, a police investigator in the city of Suweon just south of Seoul said. The father met his wife in 2008 through the internet. They had been on the run since their baby died.
The couple had "raised" an online girl character while neglecting their own prematurely born daughter, feeding her just once a day in between 12-hour stretches at a neighbourhood internet café, Yonhap news agency said. (AFP)
A vacant job in crisis-hit Greece
Good at maths? Got nerves of steel? Crisis-hit Greece, which has suffered its fair share of abuse about questionable economic figures, is looking for a new statistics chief.
An advertisement in the latest edition of The Economist says the country is seeking an executive chairman for the independent Hellenic Statistical Authority, or EL.STAT. The successful candidate is expected to be experienced in statistics, know how to manage a sizable organisation and have a working knowledge of Greek.
The job came up in October after the previous incumbent resigned amid reports that Greek data may have somewhat understated the country's indebtedness. (Reuters)
Aussie underwear goes bananas
Australian underwear company AussieBum has been monkeying around and the result is a range of men's underwear made with bananas.
The new eco-friendly banana range of undies incorporates 27 per cent banana fibre, 64 per cent cotton and 9 per cent lycra, AussieBum's Lloyd Jones said yesterday.
The banana fibre used in the underwear is made from a bark weave from the banana plant and makes the underwear not only lightweight, but also very absorbant, he said. (Reuters)
Men banned from women's hair salons
The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas banned men in the Gaza Strip from working in women's hair salons, vowing to arrest and try offenders.
Over the last three years, several beauty parlours and hair salons in the Gaza Strip have been the target of explosions and other attacks, which Hamas have blamed on radical Islamist groups who share the ideology of al Qaeda.
Such groups, which seek to defy Hamas rule in Gaza and criticise its leaders for not implementing strict Islamic law, have been blamed for attacks on places in the territory such as internet cafes and Christian schools and property. (Reuters)
Armed trawler repels pirate attack
Armed, private security guards on a Spanish trawler repelled an attack by pirates in the Indian Ocean yesterday, the second such incident in two days, Spain's fisheries federation said.
The attack on the trawler Intertuna II took place 350 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, the federation, Cepesca, said in a statement.
"There was an exchange of fire between the pirates and the security guards on board. The pirates finally fled."
It said there were no injuries or damage in the incident. Another Spanish fishing boat, the Intertuna III, also fled the scene after spotting the pirates, it said. (AFP)
Jailed for benefit fraud
A woman who claimed almost £43,000 in benefits while secretly working in a nursing home under the false name of Florence Nightingale was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment yesterday.
Dianah Woodriffe, 54, fraudulently claimed thousands of pounds of incapacity benefit, housing benefit and council tax benefit over eight years while claiming she was not physically fit enough to work.
While secretly working in a Leicestershire nursing home between 1999 and 2008, she claimed £35,261 in incapacity benefit, £5,754 in housing benefit and £1,772 in council tax benefit, Leicester Crown Court was told. (PA)
Sticking point
Singapore is to keep a ban on chewing gum sales, a policy that has helped shape the city-state's international image as a tightly controlled, squeaky-clean island.
The ban, first imposed in 1992, is necessary to reduce litter and vandalism, Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, parliamentary secretary of the national development ministry, said.
"The government stands by its decision to ban chewing gum as the rationale is based on maintaining a clean and comfortable living environment," he said. (PA)