In love? In Tokyo, they shout it out loud

TOKYO: Love really takes to the air in Tokyo once a year, when dozens of Japanese shout out their ardor for spouses, partners — and even themselves — at an event that’s also broadcast on national television. Japanese have traditionally valued modesty and reticence over outspokenness, but Kiyotaka Yamana, a Tokyo resident who started the “Love Message Yelling Event” after his marriage failed, said that didn’t mean they were unromantic. “The dominant image of Japanese men is of overworked businessmen, but I wanted to tell people around world that Japanese men are actually very romantic,” Yamana said. The event, which precedes “Love Your Wife Day” on Jan. 31, took place at the Hibiya Park in central Tokyo, co-hosted by a citizen group dedicated to devoted husbands. Most of the 30 or so participants took to the stage, yelling “I love you” or “Let me be with you.”

Debt-ridden sheikh

stages own abduction

BAALBECK, Lebanon: A Lebanese sheikh staged his own kidnapping allegedly in a desperate bid to secure a ransom and repay debts, a security official and his neighbors said Friday. Police arrested Sheikh Mohammed Majzoub, the prayer leader at a Sunni Muslim mosque in the town of Majdel Anjar, for “plotting a fictional kidnapping,” the official said on condition of anonymity. Majzoub’s car had been found late Tuesday with its engine still running and hazard lights flashing on a side road in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley. Majzoub, who is in his 20s, was found later on Thursday night, with his beard and and hair shaven off but otherwise unharmed. His “kidnapping” had prompted a major search operation in the eastern Bekaa, where sectarian ties are tense. Urging residents to remain calm, parliamentarians and officials had met with the Lebanon’s grand mufti and called on the police to find the sheikh immediately to preserve “civil peace.” The sheikh was now being grilled by investigators, said the security official.

Dog rescued from sea at home on saviors’ ship

WARSAW: A dog rescued from the Baltic Sea after braving a 75-mile journey on an ice floe is making himself at home on the Polish research ship whose crew rescued him, the captain said Friday. Jerzy Wosachlo, the captain of the Baltica, said the dog slept on a blanket in the ship’s laboratory, then shared a sausage breakfast with the crew. He said the dog often sticks close to the mechanic who saved him but also has started moving around as he pleases, enjoying the company of people. “We have enrolled him as a crew member,” Wosachlo said. Nicknamed “Baltic,” the dog — furry and friendly — will continue in that capacity unless his owner is found, the captain said. The ship is preparing to sail Feb. 10 on a mission — with the dog, unless he is afraid, Wosachlo said. After news of the dog’s rescue broke, four people called saying he was theirs. But the dog kept his distance from the first two, showing no recognition. Two other putative owners who had planned to come for the dog Friday canceled.

Pair allegedly use jury box to smuggle drugs

PUEBLO, Colorado: It was a dumb way to try to sneak drugs into prison. Pueblo County authorities said a 22-year-old woman worked out a plan with her boyfriend to get narcotics into jail Wednesday through a courtroom exchange at her own sentencing hearing. Officials learned of the plot because the woman in jail, Felisha Trujillo, and her boyfriend talked about the plot on a monitored phone line. Phil Martinez, 26, allegedly dropped a bag of narcotics in the jury box before Trujillo’s hearing, when the courtroom was empty. The alleged drug drop happened minutes after elementary school students had finished a mock trial in the same courtroom. Detectives were watching, and Martinez was arrested. Both Martinez and Trujillo face drug and contraband charges.

Australian Open invader faces charges

MELBOURNE: A man who invaded the Rod Laver Arena court at the end of the Australian Open semi-final between Briton Andy Murray and Croatian Marin Cilic Thursday night will face police charges. A man wearing a shirt emblazoned with Croatian colors invaded the court just after the players finished their match and approached Cilic as he was preparing to shake the chair umpire’s hand. After shaking Cilic’s hand, the man was intercepted and escorted off court. Cilic later played down the incident, but the embarrassing security breach has thrown the spotlight on security at the Australian grand slam. Players still remain vulnerable to crowd invasions despite pledges by tournament organizers to bolster security after Monica Seles was stabbed in the back by a Steffi Graf fan in a Hamburg tournament in 1993. A man was charged after he invaded the court at Arthur Ashe stadium at the US Open last year to kiss Spain’s Rafa Nadal on the cheek.

World number one Roger Federer was unnerved when a spectator jumped from the stands and tried to put a hat on his head during the final of the French Open.

Priest checks fingerprints for attendance

WARSAW: A Polish priest has installed an electronic reader in his church for schoolchildren to leave their fingerprints in order to monitor their attendance at mass, the Gazeta Wyborcza daily said on Friday. The pupils will mark their fingerprints every time they go to church over three years and if they attend 200 masses they will be freed from the obligation of having to pass an exam prior to their confirmation, the paper said. The pupils in the southern town of Gryfow Slaski told the daily they liked the idea and also the priest, Grzegorz Sowa, who invented it. “This is comfortable. We don’t have to stand in a line to get the priest’s signature (confirming our presence at the mass) in our confirmation notebooks,” said one pupil, who gave her name as Karolina. Poland is perhaps the most devoutly Roman Catholic country in Europe today and churches are regularly packed on Sundays.

— Compiled from agencies