World Vignettes

The scientists tune in to the transmitters, which weigh less than a half-gram 0.0175 ounces, each morning to see where the beetles are. By monitoring their movements, we want to see how the beetles move to find clues on ways to improve urban environments for all living things, including humans,8221; Jari Niemela, from the University of Helsinki, said yesterday.

The results of the 10-day experiment will be published as part of a larger ecological project charting plants, insects and nature in Kerava, a town of 30,000.

Finns are famously enthusiastic about electronics, and have the world8217;s highest percentage of cellular phone users 42 of every 100 people in the country carry one, according to the World Bank. 8220;It8217;s unlikely beetles would be quite soenthusiastic the transmitters used in the experiment are about half the weight of the insects themselves.

But Niemela said that earlier experiments indicated their movements were not hampered in any significant way. Since the project began, Niemela8217;s team has lost track of two beetles, possibly because of power cuts in the transmitters.

8220;I don8217;t think the insects have gone off in a huff. We gave them a good rest and extra food before the experiment began,8221; Niemela said. It could be dead batteries or maybe they just headed off across the car park or street nearby.8221;

Viagra cocktails

ANGELES CITY: Bars in a northern Philippine city renowned for vice are offering a new drink Viagra cocktails with such enticing names as get it up. The concoctions are not typical gin and vodka, screwdrivers or exotic margaritas, but laced with the anti-impotence drug Viagra still banned in the country.

Cashing in on the Viagra craze, such establishments as Voodoo, Lollipop, Mudbones and Kokomo8217;s dotting thecity8217;s entertainment strip are even advertising their drinks on the internet. 8220;We8217;ve just received a rather large supply of Viagra and decided to put on a nature8217;s helper shooter on our menu, the Voodoo website says.

Foreign visitors to the city by the former US Clark airbase are estimated at 5,000 during the peak tourist months, primarily Germans, Australians and Americans. In another incident, a man who suffered a heart attack after using Viagra has sued its manufacturer.

Suharto8217;s ranch

JAKARTA: Hundreds of villagers plan to sue ex-president Suharto for allegedly seizing their land and building a prestigious cattle ranch there in the 1970s. They claim 300 hectares of Suharto8217;s 700-hectare Tri-S Tapos ranch belongs to 500 people in Cibedug village, about 50 km east of Jakarta.

The ranch sits in lush, hilly country and is considered one of Indonesia8217;s foremost cattle breeding and producing ranches.

A group of villagers have filed a complaint with the national human rights commission andsaid they were also planning to take suharto to court.

They said they had farmed the land for many years before they were pushed out in the 1970s. They want to start farming there again as many were running short of food because of an ongoing economic crisis.

A wild drive

MANILA: Philippine leader Joseph Estrada sparked panic among his bodyguards when he jumped into his car to drive himself to work, reports said on Friday. Estrada, 61, left his suburban Manila home in the upper middle class suburb of Greenhills on Thursday morning after banishing his driver to the back seat on the short trip to the Philippine National Police Headquarters, the reports said. The President8217;s security detail was stunned but formed a convoy in pursuit of the President. He stopped at red lights, ignoring police outriders who cleared a path for him at the opposite lane, and waved to pedestrians, and other motorists.8220;The president wants to assure that the streets of Manila are safe,8221; the Manila Standard quoted an aide.