Baby cut from murdered mother's womb found alive
Concord (New Hampshire): Police found alive a baby girl who was cut from her mother's womb and arrested two people in connection with the woman's murder, ABC television reported yesterday.

The infant's mother, 23-year-old Darlene Haynes, was found dead and wrapped in bedsheets in her Worcester, Massachusetts, apartment. The body had a large cut in her abdomen and a post-mortem showed that the foetus was missing. Haynes had been eight months pregnant.

Police detained a woman identified as Julie Corey, 35 and a man, who were found with the child in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Corey was charged as a fugitive from justice. The infant was brought to a hospital in Plymouth. The girl was doing well for the circumstances, ABC said. - dpa

Police warn teenagers on paid dates they risk jail
Hongkong:  Police have warned teenagers they risk being jailed for soliciting for prostitution if they arrange to go on paid dates over the internet, a media report said yesterday.

John Lee Ka-chiu, police director of crime and security, said teenagers could be fined up to HK$10,000 (1,282 US dollars) and sent to prison for six months, the South China Morning Post newspaper said.

"Using a website or chat room to seek or offer sexual services is against the law," he said.

He was commenting on the growing trend of "compensated dating" where teenagers provide companionship and sex to men in return for gifts and money in deals arranged via the internet. - dpa

Dog lost for nine years reunited with owner
Sydney: A mongrel called Muffy has a tale to tell a Hollywood agent might open a cheque book for, an Australian animal welfare group said yesterday.

The heartwarming story began in 2000 with Chloe Rushby getting a puppy on her eighth birthday and is to end next week with tears and wags as Muffy will be reunited with her now 17-year-old owner she hasn't seen in nine years.

Only Muffy knows what happend on her 3,000km journey from a loving home in the Gold Coast to Melbourne's cold streets.

A microchip in Muffy's neck giving an address alerted animal welfare group RSPCA that the scrawny animal wasn't just another stray.

"When the RSPCA described her I told them her name. I knew immediately it was our Muffy," Rushby's mum said. "It was totally out of the blue. After nine years I thought she was long gone."  - dpa

13 million abortions in China each year
BEIJING: Some 13 million abortions are carried out in China each year, in part because there is little education about contraception or disease for the rising numbers of young people who are having sex, state media said yesterday.

Fewer than one in three callers to a Shanghai hotline knew how to avoid pregnancy, and only one in five were informed about venereal disease, the official China Daily quoted a survey by the city's 411 Army Hospital saying.

"Sex is no longer considered taboo among young people today, and they believe they can learn everything they need from the internet. But it doesn't mean they have developed a proper understanding or attitude toward it," the paper quoted hospital gynaecologist Yu Dongyan saying. - Reuters