BERLIN. Landlord arrested for spying on tenants

German police have arrested a 60-year-old landlord after discovering he used cameras and microphones to spy on his tenants for a decade while they bathed and slept. The man had installed surveillance in the bedrooms, bathrooms and living areas of two flats 10 years ago in the southern city of Ingolstadt, Bavarian police said recently. He taped at least seven current and previous tenants ? and an unknown number of their guests. He was arrested on charges of invasion of privacy after one of his tenants discovered the bugging last week while she was cleaning the flat. The landlord admitted to police he had been watching and recording tenants and guests. Police suspect he had sexual motives.

BUDAPEST. Feather shortage leaves pillow makers flat

A good night?s sleep on luxury Hungarian down pillows is likely to become a rarer experience as Hungary?s poultry sector declines in the face of mounting problems. According to British retailers, pillows and duvets made from Hungarian goose feathers are ?soft,? ?luxurious? and have an ?unparalleled ability to spring back to shape.? The feathers are hand-plucked from geese which are given a special diet, raised for longer than most competitors, bathed in summer and kept sufficiently cold in winter to develop big feathers, a Hungarian producer says. But in recent years Hungary?s poultry sector has been hit by repeated bird flu outbreaks, leading to the culling of 1 million birds, mostly water fowl, and a doubling of feed prices. ?Producers are getting into an impossible situation,? said Peter Kovacs, managing director of Hungaria Tollfeldolgozo Kft, which exports most of its products to Europe and the United States.

TOKYO. Robot with soft hands chats, serves meal

A pearly white robot that looks a little like E.T. boosted a man out of bed, chatted and helped prepare his breakfast with its deft hands in Tokyo Tuesday, in a further sign robots are becoming more like their human inventors. Twendy-One, named as a 21st century edition of a previous robot, Wendy, has soft hands and fingers that gently grip, enough strength to support humans as they sit up and stand, and supple movements that respond to human touch. It can pick up a loaf of bread without crushing it, serve toast and help lift people out of bed. ?It?s the first robot in the world with this much system integration,? said Shigeki Sugano, professor of mechanical engineering at Waseda University, who led the Twendy-One project (http://twendyone.com) and demonstrated the result recently.

TOKYO. Disabled could think their way around «Second Life»

People with severe paralysis could find new opportunities from shopping to doing business or making new friends in the virtual world of Second Life by just thinking about it, if experiments being conducted by a Japanese university bear fruit. In a recent demonstration, Junichi Ushiba, an associate professor at Keio University and head of the project, showed how electrodes attached to the scalp can pick up the electrical changes associated with brain activity.