'August mob' rocks Ambon<\/p>\n
AMBON, Maluku (JP): Bank employees across the city were
\ndumbfounded Monday when they opened their doors only to find huge
\ncrowds fighting their way in to have bank notes with serial
\nnumbers ending in 23 and 73 exchanged for 10 times the nominal
\nvalue.<\/p>\n
Police were called in anticipation of an incident. The crowds
\nin front of Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Central Asia were so
\nhuge that they triggered heavy traffic jams during the morning
\nrush hour.<\/p>\n
The people dispersed peacefully only after the banks announced
\nthat the news about the \"lucky\" bank notes was untrue.<\/p>\n
Bank officials apparently knew only too well how not to
\ndisappoint people. They told the booing crowds they were welcomed
\nto exchange their worn out banknotes for brand new ones.<\/p>\n
Antara reported yesterday that the bizarre news was broadcast
\nlast weekend by a private TV station. The lies swept through the
\nmarkets and coffee stalls on the city's streets.<\/p>\n
It turned out that the numbers were related to the year the
\nlate First Lady Tien Soeharto was born, 1923, and the age she
\ndied, 73.<\/p>\n
\"We spent the whole day answering telephone enquiries about
\nthe rumors,\" said Susanto Budiatmoko, deputy chief of the local
\nbranch of the central bank, Bank Indonesia. (pan)<\/p>\n
;RTR;
\nANPAi..r..
\n~Oddworld-Fake-Kidnapping
\nS. African chauffeur invented tourist kidnapping
\nJP\/1\/Oddworld<\/p>\n
Chauffeur invented
\ntourists' kidnapping<\/p>\n
JOHANNESBURG (Reuter): A chauffeur who sparked a massive hunt
\nfor three foreign tourists he claimed had been abducted confessed
\nhe was lying, ending a two-day drama that South Africans fear
\ntarnished their image abroad.<\/p>\n
An angry police spokesman said driver Peter Manyekane had
\nadmitted that the well-spoken British businessmen, kidnapped by
\narmed gangsters who stole his taxi in crime-ridden Johannesburg,
\nwere figments of his imagination.<\/p>\n
\"He made up the story,\" Captain Jan Combrinck told a news
\nconference. \"This complainant had us on a witch-hunt.\"<\/p>\n
The driver, apparently moonlighting by using his boss's
\nluxury-tour minibus as an ordinary taxi, was indeed hijacked in
\nthe rough black township of Alexandra and, fearing the
\nrepercussions, spun a story he thought might save him.<\/p>\n
;REUTER;LNT;
\nANPAi..r..
\n~Oddworld-US-messenger
\nMan scales antenna to be running mate
\nJP\/1\/Oddworld<\/p>\n
God wants more
\nhorses and bikes<\/p>\n
MIAMI (Reuter): A man who scaled a 120-meter radio tower
\nwanted to become Republican Bob Dole's running mate to spread his
\nmessage that God wants more horses and bicycles in the world,
\nMiami police have said.<\/p>\n
The man, carrying three suitcases, climbed a radio antenna
\nnear the Miami Herald's bayfront headquarters on Sunday, telling
\npolice he planned to stay up there for seven days, Miami Police
\nspokesman Angel Calzadilla said.<\/p>\n
He claimed to have been chosen as a messenger for God and
\ntossed leaflets from the top of the tower, some of which demanded
\na place on the Republican Party ticket with presumed presidential
\nnominee Bob Dole.<\/p>\n
\"He said God wanted more horses and bicycles, less asphalt, no
\nhigh-rises and an end to all pornography,\" Calzadilla said. \"He
\nsaid he had four years to get this done.\"<\/p>\n
\"One of his fliers said he wanted to get on the ticket with
\nDole in order to spread his message more effectively.\"<\/p>\n
Police spent seven hours trying to get the man down. They
\ntried a bullhorn but he was too far up the tower to hear so a
\nSWAT team member climbed half way up the tower and left a
\ncellular telephone and a drink for the man.<\/p>\n
A helicopter was sent aloft and police held handwritten
\nmessages up to its window, imploring the man to climb down the
\ntower to the cellphone. When he finally did, negotiators talked
\nwith him on the phone and persuaded him to return to Earth to
\ntell his ideas to the assembled media.<\/p>\n
He was identified as Carlos Paris Alvarez, 36, a student in
\ncommunications at Miami-Dade Community College. Police said he
\nwas taken to a hospital for psychological examination and had not
\nbeen charged but could face a trespassing charge if he is found
\ncompetent.<\/p>\n
;REUTER;LNT;
\nANPAi..r..
\n~Oddworld-France-melon
\nSeed spitters try for world record
\nJP\/1\/Oddworld<\/p>\n
Seed spitters try
\nfor world record<\/p>\n
PARIS (Reuter): Hard on the heels of the Atlanta Olympics, 50
\nsportsmen are preparing for the Melon Seed Spitters World
\nChampionship on Aug. 18.<\/p>\n
Each competitor at Le Frechou, near Agen in southwest France,
\nwill be allowed three attempts to spit a seed in the village's
\n\"Melodrome\" sports arena, trying to break the record of 10.29
\nmeters set in 1995.<\/p>\n
Spits have lengthened considerably since the 5.8 meters
\nachieved in the inaugural competition 16 years ago.<\/p>\n
The current champion, 58-year-old Bernard Ricard, put his name
\nin the Guinness Book of World Records by breaking the 10 meter
\nmark for the first time last year.<\/p>\n
\"You have to use the Frisbee technique, spitting out the seed
\nso that it glides,\" Ricard told Reuters. \"It requires a big
\nintake of breath and it is vital to know which way the wind is
\nblowing.\"<\/p>\n
The championship was first created to entertain revelers
\nduring the village's annual melon festival, a tradition that
\ndates back to the 16th century.<\/p>\n
The International Melon Seed Spitters Federation (FICGM),
\nheadquartered in Le Frechou, now claims more than 500 members,
\nincluding some from Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
The group next year plans to launch a campaign to be included
\nin the 2004 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n
Cadangan<\/p>\n
;AFP;LNT;
\nANPAi..r..
\n~Oddworld-Singapore-reunion
\nMan finds real parents
\nJP\/1\/Oddworld<\/p>\n
Man finds
\nreal parents<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AFP): A man who was raised in Malaysia by foster
\nparents has been reunited here with his real parents and six
\nsiblings after 37 years of separation, an afternoon daily said
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
Lee Cark Sung, who was just one month old when his real mother
\ngave him to another woman, found his family after a Chinese-
\nlanguage newspaper here published an article on his search for
\nhis parents, The New Paper reported.<\/p>\n
His eldest brother Chua Seow Hong read the article,
\naccompanied by Lee's picture, and was struck by the close
\nresemblance between them, the report said.<\/p>\n
He called the newspaper, and they were reunited.<\/p>\n
The report said that Lee was teething by the age of one month.
\nIt is believed that a baby that teethes early will bring bad luck
\nto the family.<\/p>\n
The woman sold Lee to a childless Malaysian family and when
\nhis parents saw he was well cared for, they left him with the
\nfoster family in the southern Malaysian state of Johore, the
\nreport said.<\/p>\n
Lee was 22 when he discovered his foster parents were not his
\nreal parents after coming across his adoption papers.<\/p>\n
He remained single because he was unsure whether the date of
\nbirth on his birth certificate was correct. The date of birth is
\nseen to be of importance when arranging a marriage due to the
\nChinese love of astrology.<\/p>\n
\"I'm just glad I've finally come to know my real identity,\"
\nLee was quoted as saying after the reunion.<\/p>\n
\"Thirty-seven years in the world. And I didn't even know who I
\nwas,\" Lee, a machinery supervisor, said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/august-mob-rocks-ambon-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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