Man in India burned alive for stealing gas canister

LIMA, Peru- Indian peasants burned alive a man accused of stealing a gas canister in the latest outbreak of mob justice in Peru's remote southern Andes. Alejandro Noalca, 54, was taken to hospital and died hours later on Wednesday night, a hospital spokesman said on Thursday. Only the soles of his feet were burn-free. Chilling television pictures showed townsfolk tying him to a lamppost, beating him and pouring gasoline over him out of soda bottles, apparently after a town "trial." Noalca was later seen staggering away from the lamppost after his bindings burned through, but a woman poured more gasoline on him and the crowd set him alight again. Police later took him to a hospital in an ambulance. Percy Choque, the mayor of Azangaro where the incident happened, told Peru's CPN radio this was the eighth killing at the hands of a mob this year. Locals say these parts of Peru's highlands are largely forgotten by the state.The attack happened in the department of Puno, where a mob of Aymara Indians in the town of Ilave stoned to death a mayor accused of corruption in April. Across the nearby border in Bolivia, another mayor suffered a similar fate in June.-Reuters

Many misspelled names on a city library mosaic

SAN FRANCISCO, California- Livermore, a California city that prides itself as a center of advanced science, is spending thousands of dollars to correct many misspelled names on a city library mosaic, including that of Albert Einstein, a city official said on Thursday. The $40,000 mosaic outside the San Francisco area city's main library misspells the names of Einstein, the father of modern physics, William Shakespeare and other historical heavyweights. The city voted this week to spend $6,000 to fix the artwork." There were some members of the community who felt very strongly it had to be corrected," said city council member Lorraine Dietrich. Livermore is home to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory which does work on the U.S. nuclear weapons program. Maria Alquilar, the Miami artist who made the mosaic, said the errors would have been discovered sooner had city officials inspected the mosaic closely before its installation as she had requested.-Reuters

Hong Kong's main pro-Beijing party has demanded lawmaker to explain obscene sign

HONG KONG- Hong Kong's main pro-Beijing party has demanded newly elected lawmaker and radical activist "Longhair" explain showing his middle finger in the legislature house just hours after he was sworn into office this week." This sort of behavior from a lawmaker is unacceptable and he needs to account for it," said Ip Kwok-him, deputy chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, which has the largest bloc of seats in the legislature. Leung Kwok-hung, who shouted pro-democracy slogans before and after he read his oath of office, found himself in trouble at a news conference Wednesday when he made the middle finger salute while referring to another legislator, Philip Wong. The pro-Beijing Wong flashed his middle finger at demonstrators during a protest against a planned law banning subversive activities against mainland China last year and quickly drew public anger. Recalling the incident, Leung made the gesture himself to show what Wong did and demanded Wong apologize. Ip insisted that Leung's action was unacceptable. "Even if he says he was just trying to show what Philip Wong did, that is unacceptable," Ip told Reuters. His party will demand that Leung explain his behavior in a legislative sub-committee meeting next week. Leung, already embroiled in a battle to wear T-shirts to legislative meetings, was defiant. "I tell you, they are mad. I was just showing reporters what Wong did, their complaint is irrelevant," Leung told Reuters. "I am now challenging them to a public debate on whether I should apologize. If I lose, I will apologize." Leung wore a black T-shirt printed with pro-democracy slogans and the image of Che Guevara for his swearing-in and has vowed to dress similarly in future legislative sessions. Some of his more strait-laced colleagues have said such attire was not appropriate and the president of the legislature has called for all members to discuss the matter.-Reuters