January 14, 2010
Guru's distant cousins overseas often send despatches back to Blighty of strange goings-on abroad, much to the amusement of Yours Truly. Here are the latest wackiest stories:
One of India's most wanted militants has been sacked from his government job - 30 years after he last turned up for work.
Paresh Baruah, commander-in-chief of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), joined the state-run Northeast Frontier Railways as a porter in 1978. One year later, he went underground and became leader of the rebel group responsible for hundreds of bomb attacks.
Embarrassed railway officials have now admitted Baruah's name was still on the payroll. But rather than bury the fact, HR inevitably got involved and official dismissal procedures initiated. It was only after Baruah failed to turn up at the formal hearing that he officially dismissed.
According to news agencies, civil service authorities recently admitted paying salaries to 23,000 former, dismissed or dead employees at a cost of million of pounds annually.
One of India's most wanted militants has been sacked from his government job - 30 years after he last turned up for work.
Paresh Baruah, commander-in-chief of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), joined the state-run Northeast Frontier Railways as a porter in 1978. One year later, he went underground and became leader of the rebel group responsible for hundreds of bomb attacks.
Embarrassed railway officials have now admitted Baruah's name was still on the payroll. But rather than bury the fact, HR inevitably got involved and official dismissal procedures initiated. It was only after Baruah failed to turn up at the formal hearing that he officially dismissed.
According to news agencies, civil service authorities recently admitted paying salaries to 23,000 former, dismissed or dead employees at a cost of million of pounds annually.
The Taiwanese justice ministry has asked its prosecutors to read a
Japanese comic book dealing with compassion and tolerance in an effort
to improve their work performance.
The manga style story, entitled 'Love' is part of the ministry's efforts to promote what it calls "restorative justice" - which seeks to encourage reconciliation between the victims and the offenders, according to a government official.
German MPs hoping to de-stress in the parliamentary sauna will have to find another way of winding down following a decision to turn it into a toilet.
The sauna's lack of popularity among German legislators has proved its undoing, with the facility being used fewer than 200 times since it was opened in 2003.
A parliamentary spokeswoman was unable to say if German chancellor Angela Merkel, who admitted last year to being in an East Berlin sauna when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, was one of those who indulged in a steamy session.
The fantastically named executive chairman of Thai airways, Wallop Bhukkanasut, has resigned over allegations that he avoided thousands of dollars in excess baggage charges on a flight from Japan to Bangkok.
Wallop was accused of exploiting his position by transporting 30 pieces of luggage weighing nearly 400 kilos with his wife and a friend - when the permitted limit was 150 kilos.
The baggage bypassed the usual customs procedures, without the full excess fee being paid, with Wallop denying he sought to transport the goods for commercial gain. Somewhat bizarrely, he claimed to have been carrying fruit in the luggage on behalf of a friend which was to be donated to a Bangkok temple.
The manga style story, entitled 'Love' is part of the ministry's efforts to promote what it calls "restorative justice" - which seeks to encourage reconciliation between the victims and the offenders, according to a government official.
German MPs hoping to de-stress in the parliamentary sauna will have to find another way of winding down following a decision to turn it into a toilet.
The sauna's lack of popularity among German legislators has proved its undoing, with the facility being used fewer than 200 times since it was opened in 2003.
A parliamentary spokeswoman was unable to say if German chancellor Angela Merkel, who admitted last year to being in an East Berlin sauna when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, was one of those who indulged in a steamy session.
The fantastically named executive chairman of Thai airways, Wallop Bhukkanasut, has resigned over allegations that he avoided thousands of dollars in excess baggage charges on a flight from Japan to Bangkok.
Wallop was accused of exploiting his position by transporting 30 pieces of luggage weighing nearly 400 kilos with his wife and a friend - when the permitted limit was 150 kilos.
The baggage bypassed the usual customs procedures, without the full excess fee being paid, with Wallop denying he sought to transport the goods for commercial gain. Somewhat bizarrely, he claimed to have been carrying fruit in the luggage on behalf of a friend which was to be donated to a Bangkok temple.
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