World Vignettes

T-shirts cause furore in partyCOLOMBO: Thousands of Sri Lankan telecom workers overturned food tables and attacked a bar after organisers...

T-shirts cause furore in party
COLOMBO: Thousands of Sri Lankan telecom workers overturned food tables and attacked a bar after organisers failed to provide T-shirts they had promised, the Island newspaper said today. The occasion was the first anniversary celebrations of the take-over of Sri Lankan telecom by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp of Japan. The angry employees also attacked a van in which the T-shirts had been kept, the newspaper said. The celebrations were held over the weekend at a sports stadium. The NTT bought 35 per cent share of the Sri Lankan telecom, investing 225 million dollars. The telecommunication department said the incident was 8220;part of any big party with some people becoming a little too enthusiastic.8221;

Lethal bricks
NEW YORK: Part of a skyscraper wall has fallen apart, showering bricks down 39 stories onto a Manhattan street where they punched a hole in the roof of a passing commuter bus, slightly injuring a passenger. Lexington avenue between 46th and47th streets was closed while sidewalk sheds and wooden walls were installed to protect passersby yesterday. It was the latest in a recent string of accidents involving masonry or other objects falling from high buildings, including mishaps in Times Square and on Madison Avenue. The incident yesterday morning occurred at the 45-storey Bear Stearns building, which occupies a city block in midtown Manhattan. The falling bricks hit the roof of a six-story setback and bounced onto Lexington Avenue, where one crashed through the roof of a Brooklyn-bound private commuter bus that had just paused at a bus stop. The shaken passenger was examined at Bellevue hospital and released.

Balloon flight
ST LOUIS: After a turbulent start, US balloonist Steve Fossett was making good progress on Monday in his bid to make the first non-stop balloon flight round the globe, his flight centre said in St Louis.

The 54-year-old Chicago millionaire, making his fourth attempt at one of the few round-the-world feats stillunachieved, had flown 4,600 km by last afternoon.

After singeing his eyebrows and burning a wrist shortly after take-off from Mendoza, Argentina, he was now coping well, flying at 7,500 metres above the South Atlantic at 90 kms an hour. The balloon, Solo Spirit, on an oceanic southern hemisphere route to take advantage of strong jet winds, had three of its four burners working again, the flight centre said.