Upset escape

Manila, July 2 (Reuters): Seven men escaped from a police detention centre in Manila today by sawing off prison bars while the officer guarding them kept nipping out to the toilet due to an upset stomach.

“Every time the guard went to the toilet, the prisoners took out a small saw and cut off the bars of their cell,” William Macavinta, a local police chief, told a television station, adding that the iron grills were old and rusty.

Two of the men were facing homicide charges and the five others were suspects in a series of thefts. Macavinta said the lone guard made over four visits to the toilet and noticed the escape hours later.

Heidi farm

Las Vegas (AP): Former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss is diversifying — opening a laundromat in Nevada and making plans for a legal brothel for women. The one-time leader of a high-priced ring of call girls to the stars is opening a 24-hour, coin-operated laundry,at a shopping centre in Pahrump, west of Las Vegas. Fleiss moved to Nye County in late 2005, after serving a jail term for running the prostitution ring in Hollywood. She announced plans to open “Heidi’s Stud Farm” in the town of Crystal, about 32 km north of Pahrump. The 20-man operation would be Nevada’s first legal bordello.

Rat roar

Los Angeles (AP): Disney has put a rodent on top of the box office, though not the studio’s venerable mascot, Mickey Mouse. Ratatouille, an animated comedy about a gourmet rat who gets a chance to cook in a French restaurant, debuted as the number one weekend movie with $47.2 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday. 20th Century Fox’s action thriller Live Free or Die Hard, Bruce Willis’s return as unstoppable cop John McClane, opened in second-place with $33.15 million.

Citizen test

Ottawa (Reuters): Most Canadians know so little about their own country that they would flunk the basic test that new immigrants are required to take before becoming citizens, according to a poll released on Friday. The Ipsos-Reid survey showed that 60 per cent of Canadians would fail the test.“Canadians appear to be losing knowledge when it comes to the most basic questions about Canadian history, politics, culture and geography ... (they) performed abysmally on some questions,” the firm said.