World at a Glance

Fayed clones for revengeLONDON: Egyptian-born billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed, still fuming over Britain's refusal to grant him citizenship,...

Fayed clones for revenge

LONDON: Egyptian-born billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed, still fuming over Britain8217;s refusal to grant him citizenship, is thirsty for revenge. 8220;Al Fayed says he is interested in having a hundred clones of himself made so he can come back to haunt the British establishment,8221; said his spokesman. He also plans to be mummified and put in the dome of London8217;s upscale Harrods department store.

Fayed8217;s spokesman said the 66-year-old business tycoon 8220;loves the place so much he wants to go on looking after it after he is dead.8221;

Marital alarm bells sound in Japan

TOKYO: In principle, says 30-year-old Machiko Imada, she would love to get married. But, she says, she has yet to find the right man. 8220;But even if I got married I wouldn8217;t want to simply take over the role of wife or mother.8221; 8220;I want a husband who helps with the household chores and children. But I8217;m afraid that in Japan men just don8217;t understand this.8221; Many Jap women are increasingly taking their time overdeciding when to marry and start a family.

The trend is ringing alarm bells because of the resulting drop in Japan8217;s Birthrate. In 1995 a Japanese woman on average had 1.42 children. This had dropped to just 1.39 in 1997 8212; yet to keep the population at its present 122 million, women would have to bear an average of 2.1 children.

Experts forecast that the Japanese population will start shrinking after the year 2007, a development that is anticipated to have far-reaching consequences for the economy. Growth is predicted to slow down in face of a decline in the work force, professor Hiroshi Ohbuchi of Chuo University in Tokyo told the news magazine Aera.

Dolly8217;s god tries to create a pig now

EDINBURGH: The creator of Dolly, the Sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, is trying to clone a pig. Prof Ian Wilmut told the BBC he developing a method to clone pigs so their organs could be used for human transplants. The BBC said researchers at Wilmut8217;s Roslin Institute in Edinburgh wereattempting to 8220;knock out8221; some of the genes in pig organs, which normally cause rejection in humans.The world8217;s first cloned pig is expected to be born by the end of the year, said the BBC.

Rescuers free child from well

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SAINT LOUIS, Missouri: After nearly five hours of careful digging, emergency workers rescued a 17-month-old boy who fell into a 4.9 meter 16-foot deep well outside his house in the Midwestern US state of Kansas, local media reported. Jesse, the child, was nervous but apparently in good health, fire-fighters in the town of Mulvane, Kansas, said.

Sharp Increase in malaria deaths

HANOI: A shortage of health facilities has led to a 250-percent year-on-year surge in malaria deaths in Vietnam in the first four months of 1999, an official paper said Saturday. The mosquito-borne disease claimed 44 lives between January and April, mainly in the central and southern regions, the Lao Dong trades Union newspaper said quoting a health ministry bulletin.More than 74,500 peoplecontracted malaria during the four months, and instances of the disease were spreading to the northern provinces, the report said.