COLUMN

SANTIAGO: The Chilean government wants Google to fix its Earth geographical search programme that places a village named after Chilean independence hero Bernardo O’Higgins in Argentina. The satellite image shows Villa O’Higgins, a tiny hamlet 1,600km south of the Chilean capital, Santiago, on the Argentine side of the border. “Chile has asked for this to be rectified, and it can only be hoped they do it soon,” a foreign ministry spokesman said. He declined to say when the complaint was filed. Chile and Argentina share the southern cone of South America, where the border between the two nations runs through a complex landscape of islands, fjords and mountains. The two countries nearly went to war in the late 1970s over ownership of remote islands in the south. The dispute was resolved with the intervention of the Pope. “We have received the request and are working with our partners to get more precise data for the region,” Google spokeswoman Megan Quinn said. “We’re constantly working to improve the quality and accuracy of our maps.”
***
PATNA, India: Villagers at a wedding in eastern India decided the groom had arrived too drunk to get married, and so the bride married the groom’s more sober brother instead, police said yesterday. “The groom was drunk and had reportedly misbehaved with guests when the bride’s family and local villagers chased him away,” Madho Singh, a senior police officer said after Sunday’s marriage in a village in Bihar state’s Arwal district. The younger brother readily agreed to take the groom’s place beside the teenage bride at her family’s invitation, witnesses said. “The groom apologised for his behaviour, but has been crying that word will spread and he will never get a bride again,” Singh said.
***
ROME: An angry AC Milan fan put Brazil goalkeeper Dida up for sale on the internet ahead of today’s Champions League semi-final return leg against Manchester United. The 33-year-old, who joined Milan in 2000, was a hero after the shootout win over Juventus in the 2003 Champions League final but his popularity has slumped after a series of errors. He was criticised following last week’s 3-2 first-leg defeat to United at Old Trafford, when he flapped a Cristiano Ronaldo header into his own net and then left his near post exposed for Wayne Rooney to blast home a stoppage-time winner. Dida failed to attract great interest on eBay. The price, before the Brazilian international was removed from the auction site last Friday, had reached 71 euros after 25 bids.

Journey to Paradise

Copyright © 2003 [The National Online] Private Policy