World Briefs

A British grandmother was fined and electronically tagged for selling a goldfish to a child, triggering criticism yesterday of over-zealous use of animal protection laws.

Pet shop owner Joan Higgins, 66, was fined £1,000 and given a dusk-to-dawn curfew for selling an animal to a person under the age of 16, but her 47-year-old son Mark - also ordered to do community service - slammed the ruling as a farce.

The pair were prosecuted after the local council sent a 14-year-old boy to buy a goldfish in a "sting" operation following reports that their shop had sold a gerbil to a teenager with learning difficulties. The shopkeepers sold the fish without asking his age or how the fish would be cared for, prosecutors said.

"I think it's a farce and legal lunacy...," said Mark Higgins, noting that his mother was also given an electronic tag.

"What gets me so cross is that they put my Mum on a tag - she's nearly 70. You would think they have better things to do with their time and money." (AFP)

Sells sister, aged seven, for sex

A 15-year-old sold her seven-year-old sister for sex with up to seven men at a party near their home in New Jersey.

Police said yesterday the child later got dressed and two strangers walked her home. She was treated at a hospital.

The teenager, who stayed behind, also took money to have sex with others at the party in an apartment on Sunday. She has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes. Her name was not released because of her age.

Police are trying to track down those who attended the party.

The girls' parents reported them missing on Sunday afternoon and police were at the home when the seven-year-old returned. (PA)

Dog goes nuts

Three orphaned baby squirrels have been fostered by a toy poodle named Pixie.

Owner Gail Latta, from North Carolina, said her dog had recently had puppies and treated the squirrels like her own.

She said Pixie seemed upset when the squirrels were sent to an animal rehabilitation specialist, but has recovered. (PA)

Recession hits US churches

Donations to US churches have fallen for the second consecutive year and as the economy recovers slowly religious leaders are hoping thrifty faithful are not the new norm - at least when it comes to giving.

Nearly 40 per cent of churches reported a decline in donations last year, prompting many pastors to prod their congregation about the importance of giving in the bad times as well as the good.

A fifth of churches had to cut their budgets by five to 20 per cent or more in 2009 because of falling donations.

So-called mega churches, with congregations in the thousands and budgets in the millions, were among the hardest hit, according to the research, with nearly half of them reporting reductions in donations. More than half of churches on the US West Coast said donations fell. (Reuters)

Unpaid air hostesses strip for calendar

Flight attendants owed up to nine months' wages by a grounded Spanish airline have posed nude for a calendar to draw attention to their plight, one of the cabin crew turned models said yesterday.

The calendar, numerous excerpts of which appeared in the Spanish media, shows the Air Comet attendants, all female, posing provocatively in and outside airline cabins, and in one case on top of a jet turbine.

"We are just demanding our rights to receive what is ours, we each have eight or nine months of unpaid salaries," attendant Adriana Ricardo, who appears in the calendar, said. (Reuters)

Female impersonator

A Washington woman who pretended to be from the FBI conned her neighbours into taking jobs as her assistants.

Brenna Reilly, 29, has been sent for trial on a charge of impersonating an agent.

She told people in her apartment complex that she was the FBI's director of forensics and two of them agreed to work as her assistants. (PA)

Mafia boss leaves money to charity

The family of a late Taiwanese Mafia boss has donated 60 million Taiwan dollars (US$1.9 million) to charities to fulfil the gang leader's dying wish.

Lee Chao-hsiung, an influential triad leader in Taiwan, died of liver cancer on March 11, aged 73. His son donated the money in his name to disabled people and low-income families as well as four major religious organisations.

About 1,000 people, including several gang bosses, attended a ceremony to set up a makeshift shrine for Mr Lee, known as the "Mafia arbitrator". He was best known for helping to negotiate the release of a number of kidnapped politicians and businessmen.

His funeral, set for late April, is expected to draw more than 20,000 people in one of the island's largest gang funerals. (AFP)