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