The World

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/12/2010 (5752 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

South Korea lights Christmas tree

GIMPO, South Korea — As troops stood guard and a choir sang carols, South Koreans lit a massive steel Christmas tree that overlooks the world’s most heavily armed border and is within sight of atheist North Korea.

The lighting of the tree Tuesday after a seven-year hiatus marked a pointed return to a tradition condemned in Pyongyang as propaganda. The provocative ceremony — which needed government permission — was also a sign that President Lee Myung-bak’s administration is serious about countering the North’s aggression with measures of its own in the wake of an artillery attack that killed four South Koreans last month.

In Seoul, a senior South Korean government official said the military would remain prepared for the possibility of a “surprise” attack in coming days. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Writer defends pedophile book

BARTOW, Fla. — A man who wrote a how-to guide for pedophiles said Tuesday his book is not obscene.

Phillip Greaves, 47, of Colorado arrived at jail in Florida on Tuesday morning and is due in court this afternoon, officials said.

He was arrested Monday in Colorado and charged with violating Florida’s obscenity law, a third-degree felony. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in state prison.

Speaking to reporters outside the jail Tuesday, Greaves denied the book is obscene and said he plans to fight the charge.

The book was briefly for sale on Amazon.com but was yanked in November after it prompted online outrage.

Kayaker pulled under by crocodile

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — For weeks, three kayakers exploring a series of rivers through the heart of Africa had come together in close defensive formation designed to ward off hippo and crocodile attacks.

The boaters — two Americans and a South African — travelled some 1,600 kilometres of river this way. They were paddling in synchronous strokes, just one to 1.5 metres from each other, on a quiet stretch of the Lukuga River in Congo when a crocodile slipped up from behind and ripped trip leader Hendri Coetzee from his tiny red plastic boat.

For about 20 seconds after the crocodile grabbed Coetzee by the shoulder and overturned his boat, the craft shook as the crocodile pulled him from the tight-fitting cockpit, Chris Korbulic said.

Korbulic and Ben Stookesberry got off the river, composed themselves, then continued downstream, taking out at a village. Coetzee’s body has never been found and he is presumed dead.

— The Associated Press