World Vignettes

Stones roll away from UK tourLONDON: British rock legend the Rolling Stones have axed the British leg of their world tour this summer becaus...

Stones roll away from UK tour

LONDON: British rock legend the Rolling Stones have axed the British leg of their world tour this summer because of a recent tax changes by the Labour government which they claim would cost them millions of dollars. The band told The Times today that if they went ahead with their four British concerts in August their entire European tour would run at a loss and they would be landed with a tax bill in Britain of 12 million pounds 19.5 million dollars. Mick Jagger, who is rehearsing in Munich, told the newspaper that it was a quot;very difficult decision to makequot; but that it would have been quot;foolishquot; to perform at a loss. He added that it had been a business decision rather than a political one. The band8217;s move, however, will be an embarassment for Tony Blair8217;s Labour government, which has tried to court the music industry and cultivate a quot;cool Britanniaquot; image. According to the newspaper, more top-selling British bands are planning to refuse to stage concerts inBritain, including the Spice Girls, Elton John and Oasis.

Man held for burying childHANOI: Police on Monday said that they had arrested a man who had buried alive his wife8217;s four-year-old daughter, whom he apparently hated because she had a different father. The girl, Cao Thi Be, was found dead in a hole about 0.7 metres deep near her home last Tuesday in the central province of Binh Thuan. An autopsy showed she died of suffocation. Her parents, father Pham Van Tho and mother Cao Thi Hiep, were married seven years ago, but the girl was fathered by another man when Tho was in prison serving a five-year term for assault. Tho, 33, hated and often beat the child, police said. On May 31, he returned home drunk, beat his wife and took the child away. Police believe that he put her in the hole, dug by local people to catch salamanders, and buried her in it. Tho who had fled was tracked down and arrested on Sunday.

Jet crashes into homes

PRAGUE: Two Czech MIG 21 military jets collided in mid-airand crashed into a residential area on Monday, injuring several people on the ground, the CTK news agency said. Two apartments were destroyed in the crash in the southern town of Ceske Budejovice while the plane pilots ejected themselves to safely. Among those on the ground, no one was seriously injured, the agency said.