NY cab driver returns $21,000 to visitor

PATCHOGUE, New York: A New York City cab driver is being praised for returning over $21,000 lost by a visitor from Italy. Felicia Lettieri, who’s 72, left her purse in a Manhattan taxi on Christmas Eve. It contained traveling money for her and six relatives. Police told them not to get their hopes up about finding it. The cabbie drove about 80 km, to a Long Island address he’d found in the purse. No one was home, so he left his phone number, and later returned with the money. Lettieri’s daughter, Maria Rosaria Falonga, told Newsday from Pompei, Italy that the cabbie also left a note. He told her: “Don’t worry, Felicia. ... I’ll keep it safe.” The driver, Mukul Asaduzzaman, could not be reached for comment. He refused a reward.

China plans world’s highest airport

BEIJING: China has announced plans to build the world’s highest airport in Tibet by 2011, further accelerating investment into the restive Himalayan region, state media said Tuesday. The 14,553-foot Nagqu Dagring Airport is expected to surpass Bamda Airport, also in Tibet, by 335 feet as the world’s highest altitude airport, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The new airport is part of Beijing’s ongoing plan to encourage development of transportation and other industries in the long-isolated region as a way to promote its economic growth and raise living standards. Six new railway lines in and around Tibet are in the works, following the opening in 2006 of the final link in a line from Beijing to the capital Lhasa.

8-year-old boys save drowning man

ADELAIDE, Australia: Two 8-year-old boys in a young lifeguards training program rescued a man who was struggling in the ocean off Australia’s east coast. Jake Satherley told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that he and friend Spencer Jeams saw a middle-aged man having trouble Sunday off Northcliffe beach, in Queensland state. “We saw him put his hand up and saying, ‘help, help,’ so we went over to him and pulled him on our board,” Satherley said Monday. The boys are part of the under-14 lifeguard-training program at Northcliffe Life Saving Club. Club president David Shields said he’d never seen a rescue like it. “They really did perform well above their years,” he told ABC. “We’re just so proud of them and the way they acted instinctively.”

In Miami, sex offenders out in the cold

MIAMI: Florida’s oddly frigid weather has spelled nightmare for tourism, potential disaster for the citrus industry and cold comfort for sex offenders living rough under a bridge here. Strict rules dictate that sex offenders registered in Miami-Dade County must stay far away from places where children congregate — so far that many have been forced to live in a tent camp under a bridge on a causeway that links Miami’s white sand beaches to the mainland. As record colds persist, sex offenders said they were poorly equipped for the bone-chilling weather. Many huddled in tents in layers of thin sweatshirts. Fires were not allowed, they said, and a handful of generators were running low on gasoline. “Sometimes we have gas and sometimes we don’t,” said a man who asked to be identified as Chuck. He wore a red sweatshirt with the hood pulled over two ski caps. “We could use some heaters.”

For sale on Internet — Ukraine’s votes

KIEV: For sale: my vote in Ukraine’s election on Sunday. From 300 to 500 hryvnias ($37-$63). Can gather others who want to sell. Several offers have appeared on the Internet from disenchanted citizens in the ex-Soviet republic who say they are ready to sell their votes in the Jan.17 election for president. “I don’t believe in our democracy and so I am selling my vote in the elections. Maybe there will be 10 other votes for sale. The only discussion on price will be upwards,” said one Internet advertisement from Lviv in western Ukraine. The State Security Service had no comment to make on the offers, but a central election commission official said buying votes was illegal and subject to criminal prosecution. It did not appear, however, to be an offense to offer votes for sale.

Woman awakes to find intruder in bed

n WASHINGTON: D.C. police said a woman awoke to find a stranger cuddling her in bed. Police said they don’t know how the man got into the Glover Park home early Sunday. Sgt. Nicholas Breul said the woman woke up and startled the intruder, who fled the scene. Police said the woman was not injured and she was not able to give a good description. Investigators are looking into the possibility that the incident is related to others, some including sexual assaults, in the past two years on or near the Georgetown University campus. The most recent was reported in August. Victims’ descriptions suggest that more than one man is involved.

— Compiled from agencies