French first lady swipes at president's ex

France's first lady set the country's Twitter network alight on Tuesday with a good luck message to the parliamentary election rival of Segolene Royal, the Socialist politician who used to live with her partner President Francois Hollande. The message from Valerie Trierweiler entertained opponents of Hollande's Socialists and added a shot of venom days ahead of the June 17 ballot for the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly.

'Forest boy' puzzles German police

Berlin police on Wednesday released photos of an English-speaking teenage boy who wandered into the city nine months ago, saying he had been living for the last five years in the forest with his father.

Police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf said all attempts to identify the boy since he emerged in the German capital on Sept 5 have been unsuccessful, and they are now hoping the release of his photo may produce some leads.

"We have checked his DNA against all missing person reports, sent the data to Interpol so that they could check it internationally, but unfortunately without any success," Neuendorf said.

Michelle Obama digs a kitchen garden

US first lady Michelle Obama has adopted healthy eating and fighting childhood obesity as one of her pet causes. Her first book, American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America, tells of her experiences planting the first vegetable garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt and shares other stories of other community gardens across the country.

Blow darts just a breeze for Japanese old folk

In the concrete jungle of Tokyo, some 600 retirees have gathered to fight for supremacy - with blow darts. The ancient Borneo rain forest tradition of blow darting is picking up new fans thousands of kilometers away in Japan, where it is a rapidly growing sport among the nation's elderly.

Adele regains No 1 spot, holds off 3 album debuts

British singer Adele regained her place at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart for the 24th time on Wednesday with her Grammy-winning album 21, holding off new entries from Alan Jackson, The Beach Boys and Neil Young. Adele's 21 sold 75,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan figures in its 68th week on the chart, buoyed by NBC's special Adele Live in London, which aired on June 3. The album has yet drop out of the top 10 since its US release in February 2011.

'Darth Vader' boy from ad having heart surgery

The 7-year-old boy who starred as mini Darth Vader in a popular Super Bowl car commercial will have open-heart surgery this week to replace a pulmonary valve, and his mother said he is coming to grips with his fears ahead of the procedure. Young actor Max Page was born with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot, according to a statement from Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

Spider-Man swings into Tokyo for premiere

Andrew Garfield and the stars of The Amazing Spider-Man swung into Tokyo on Wednesday, bringing the comic book crime-fighter back to the big screen in the world premiere of one of the summer's most anticipated movies. Fans swarmed around the red carpet in Tokyo's posh Roppongi Hills area for a glimpse of Garfield, co-star Emma Stone and other cast members as a stuntman dressed as Spider-Man swung over the crowd, then scaled a wall into a large "web".

Raw, gritty film takes on Korea's powerful chaebol

A wealthy and powerful company chairman swings open the steel door of his family bank vault, revealing tottering heaps of money to the dazzled eyes of his male secretary. From that beginning, the raw and gritty The Taste of Money, which was in competition at the recent Cannes Film Festival, offers an unusually dark take on Korea's chaebol, the powerful family-run conglomerates whose products dominate domestic life and are known around the world.

Reuters

(China Daily 06/17/2012 page4)