World Briefs

Seventy-eight Kenyans who burned to death in one of the country's worst accidents were buried together yesterday because their bodies were too charred to be identified.

President Mwai Kibaki and other officials donned face masks to block out the stench as a bulldozer poured soil over two large graves near the scene of Saturday's inferno on a road outside the central town of Molo.

At least 133 people were killed as a blaze lit by a cigarette engulfed a crowd of people that were scrambling for free fuel spilling from an overturned tanker.

Mr Kibaki said the nation was pained to the core by the tragedy, which came just days after a fire swept through a supermarket in central Nairobi, killing at least 27 people.

The two disasters have brought a torrent of accusations that his government is poorly prepared to deal with emergencies.

Chinese police chase dragon

Three Chinese police officers and more than ten civilians were injured in a clash after police tried to stop a traditional street dragon dance, state media said yesterday.

The local government in Dejiang county, Guizhou province, banned the dragon dance in the downtown area over safety concerns, and dancers were only allowed to perform in the suburbs.

"Dozens of dragon dancers, whose rehearsals were stopped Sunday, went to the county government complex and clashed with police and government employees when they tried to perform the dance in protest," Xinhua quoted officials of the local public security bureau as saying.

A crowd of more than 2,000 people were drawn to the scene. The protest turned violent when police tried to stop the dance and three police officers and more than 10 civilians were injured.

King's shrine lies in neglect

Jalalabad in east Afghanistan has new asphalt roads, traffic lights and a public park, but some residents say it is at the expense of historical treasures such as the tomb of an Afghan king and national hero.

The shrine of Amanullah Khan, one of Afghanistan's last monarchs credited with liberating the country from British involvement in 1919, is in a large marble plaza, covered by a dome roof held up by blue columns in the heart of Jalalabad. But his memorial has not been afforded the usual dignity expected of a revered king, as it is used as a trading spot for the city's firewood sellers and pakora makers, while others defecate on the footpath a few feet away.

Amanullah died in exile in Switzerland in 1960 after abdicating in 1929. He is buried at the shrine, alongside his wife, Soraya Tarzi, and his father whom he helped assassinate.

Saddam and Bush are taboo

For Baghdad schools, Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush and the sectarian slaughter unleashed after US troops invaded six years ago are non-issues, banned from books and their discussion taboo.

After years of dodging bullets and bombs to get to school, Iraqi teachers face new challenges as the violence ebbs, such as students traumatised by war, and finding a way to explain Iraq's tragic past without reopening old wounds and risking its future.

Saddam, a Sunni Muslim, brutally repressed Iraq's majority Shi'ites and minority Kurds. The now Shi'ite-led government has not yet devised a new curriculum dealing with Iraq's recent history.

Saddam once smiled from the front pages of almost every text book, and his portrait hung in every principal's office but at Al-Ibtikar Elementary, run by members of Iraq's Christian minority, the only person now beaming down from the principal's wall is Jesus.

Exotic smell key to chips' success

Food scientists at Leeds University say they may have found out why the great British chip smells so irresistible.

"Whether oven-cooked or fried, the humble chip doesn't smell of just chips - the aroma is much more complex and probably explains why chips are everyone's favourite," said Dr Graham Clayton, who led the research for National Chip Week that started yesterday.

"Aromas including butterscotch, cocoa, onion, cheese and would you believe... ironing boards, all combine to help make chips one of Britain's iconic dishes," he said.

The Leeds scientists collected the aroma from cooked chips, then separated the different compounds for analysis by an "aroma-meter" machine.