10 METRO Monday, September 14, 2009 D METROWorld AMERICA: Delilah, a 5.4m (18ft) Burmese python who lived in a Florida garden feeding on rabbits, is taken away by wildlife officers after neighbours feared it could escape. Its a monster of a snake, said one handler Picture: Orlando Sentinel china: A former employee of a Coca-Cola bottling plant has been detained by police. Reports suggested that the employee was being investigated for allegedly accepting bribes of more than ten million yuan (1.1million). A Coca-Cola spokesman in Hong Kong confirmed the detention of a former employee of the companys Shanghai bottling plant, but did not give any further details. State media reports said police detained the employee, surnamed Zhu, two weeks ago in a corruption investigation, but did not say when he allegedly took the bribes or what they were for. Zhus contract with the plant has been terminated. Taiwan: Officials were yesterday seeking Switzerlands consent to return 14.5million frozen in two bank accounts that a court said the islands former president illegally obtained and laundered. On Friday, Taipei District Court sentenced former President Chen Shui-bian to life in prison for corruption, finding him guilty of embezzling $3.15million (2.15million) during his 2000-2008 time in office and receiving bribes worth more than 6million. Chen rode to power in 2000 on a promise to clean up decades of corruption. Government prosecutors plan to send the verdict to Swiss authorities seeking the return of the money. iSRaEL: President Shimon Peres was discharged from a Tel Aviv hospital yesterday after fainting on stage during a talk. The 86-year-old (pictured) passed out briefly, then revived on his own seconds later, and was admitted to a medical centre for observation. Tests showed Mr Peres to be in good health. The presidents demanding schedule was blamed for the collapse. After his discharge, Mr Peres was due to meet US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who is in the region trying to renew peace talks with the Palestinians. aMERica: A fugitive who eluded police for two days was captured in Kansas after he took two newlyweds hostage in their home, only to fall asleep when they gave him pillows and blankets. The 23-year-old suspect, Jesse Dennis Dimmick, was arrested after the couple slipped out while he dozed, and is expected to face murder and theft charges in Colorado. aMERica: Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the father of the green revolution who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in combating world hunger, died from complications of cancer in Texas. He was 95. Mr Borlaug (pictured) received his Nobel award in 1970 for bringing agricultural innovations to the developing world. Many experts credit the green revolution with averting global famine during the second half of the 20th century and saving perhaps 1billion lives by doubling world food production between 1960 and 1990. china: Six workers died yesterday in a fall down the elevator shaft of a skyscraper under construction in Hong Kong. The accident happened at the International Commerce Centre in the Kowloon district, which will be 118 stories high when completed next year, making it one of the tallest buildings in the world, as well as the tallest in Hong Kong. The men fell after a working platform collapsed in the elevator shaft. Two workers were declared dead at the scene while one received treatment at the site, according to police spokeswoman Anne Lam. Police could not confirm a report that the workers fell from the 30th to the 10th floor. noRTh KoREa: A public propaganda campaign is under way to prepare people for the succession of Kim Jong Ils youngest son as leader. Broadcasts have begun mentioning Kim Jong Un by his full name not done in the past and his qualifications. Citizens are obligated to have speakers in their homes to listen to broadcasts of the ruling Workers Party and its propaganda. Mr Kim, 67, (pictured) thought to have suffered a stroke last year, has not publicly named his successor but is widely reported to be grooming the 26-year-old to take over. iRaq: Gunmen broke into the home of a Kurdish policeman in the northern city of Kirkuk while he was away early yesterday, killing his wife and three children as they slept. Omed Abdul-Hamid had already left for work when the gunmen burst into the house and sprayed the woman and children, aged three to ten, with bullets, police Brig Gen Sarhad Qadir said. The attackers did not steal anything, suggesting it was an insurgent attack, he said. The oil-rich city has been at the centre of tension between Arabs and Kurds, who want a self-governed Kurdish region despite opposition from Arabs and the Turkomen ethnic minority. Child bride of 12 dies giving birthBy AHMED AL-HAJA child bride of 12 died after struggling in labour for three days to give birth. Fawziya Abdullah Youssef died of severe bleeding while giving birth to a stillborn baby in the al-Zahra district hospital of hodeida prov- ince, 223km west of the capital Sana. child marriages are widespread in Yemen, the Arab worlds poorest country, where tribal customs domi- nate society. More than a quarter of the countrys females marry before the age of 15, according to a recent report by the Social Affairs Ministry. Fawziya was only 11 when her fa- ther married her off to a 24-year-old man who works as a farmer in Saudi Arabia. Ahmed al-Quraishi, chairman of the Siyaj human rights organisation which promotes child rights inYem- en, said he found Fawziya in the hospital while investigating cases of children who had fled from fighting in the north. This is one of many cases that ex- ist in Yemen, said Mr al-Quraishi. impoverished parents in Yemen sometimes give away their young daughters in return for dowries or to protect them from illicit relation- ships, he said. in February, parliament passed a law setting the minimum marriage age at 17, but this is now under re- view as some lawmakers consider it un-islamic. An Indian idol maker from the state of West Bengal works on a semi- finished clay statue of Hindu goddess Durga in his workshop in Allahabad. Durga Puja, an annual Hindu festival that involves worship of the Goddess Durga, who symbolises power and the triumph of good over evil in Hindu mythology, culminates in the immersion of the idols in bodies of water Picture: AFP Born Idol Fire kills 38 in drug rehab clinicA FIRE at a drug treatment centre in Kazakhstan killed 38 people early yesterday. The blaze broke at 5.30am local time and spread over an area of 650sqm in Taldykorgan in the Central Asian nations south. Emergency workers evacuated 40 people from the building during the fire, the cause of which was not yet clear. Prime Minister Karim Masimov demanded the setting up of a special committee to investigate the incident. Deputy Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov was travelling to the site of the fire yesterday to see for himself the devastation that was caused. Violations of safety regulations are common in the former Soviet state and deaths caused by accidents and fires are frequent. According to Emergency Situations Ministry, statistics, there have been almost 10,000 fires in Kazakhstan in the first eight months of 2009. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html