Everest conqueror Hillary lies in state

Hundreds of people queued yesterday to pay their last respects to Sir Edmund Hillary, the conqueror of Mount Everest, whose body lay in state ahead of his funeral in New Zealand today.

The flag-draped coffin of the first man to climb the world?s highest peak was carried into Auckland?s cathedral by members of the New Zealand armed forces, as local Maori stood in light rain and delivered a traditional welcome. Hillary, 88, who died after a heart attack on January 11, will lie in state for 24 hours to allow the public to farewell New Zealand?s greatest hero ? a former beekeeper who became one of the 20th century?s most admired adventurers and humanitarians.

Mass wedding for China?s 100 police couples

Chinese police work isn?t just about catching bad guys. Sometimes, officers find a catch. China?s Ministry of Public Security hosted a mass wedding ceremony for 100 police couples who met each other in the line of duty at stations around the country, Xinhua news agency said. ?Marriage is the happiest time of life. On behalf of the ministry, I wish you all sweet marriages,? security minister Meng Jianzhu told the newlyweds at the ceremony held last week at a ministry building in the Chinese capital. Groom Cui Wei, a policeman from the Tong Ren region in southwest China?s Guizhou province, was injured during a firefighting mission last month and attended the ceremony in a wheelchair. ?My wife and I come from a remote area and we never dreamed of such a day in our lives,? he said.

Boss fires staff for not smoking

The owner of a small German computer company has fired three non-smoking workers because they were threatening to disturb the peace after they requested a smoke-free environment.

The manager of the 10-person IT company in Buesum, told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper that he had fired the trio because their non-smoking was causing disruptions. Germany introduced non-smoking rules in pubs and restaurants on January 1, but Germans working in small offices are still allowed to smoke.

?I can?t be bothered with trouble-makers,? Thomas was quoted saying. ?We?re on the phone all the time and it?s just easier to work while smoking. Everyone picks on smokers these days. It?s time for revenge. I?m only going to hire smokers from now on.?

Climate change worsening people?s lives

Climate change is making it harder for many people to access clean water and food, and widening the spread of malaria and dengue fever, the world?s largest humanitarian aid agency said yesterday.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is asking donors for $292 million per year for 2008 and 2009 to help communities steel themselves for the threats of global warming. ?Response alone is no longer enough,? said Markku Niskala, secretary-general of the Swiss-based federation. Health care and disaster management make up 75 percent of the appeal.

The 186 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies around the world pledged at a strategy-setting conference in November to boost aid to those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, a phenomenon scientists have linked to emissions from cars, factories and power plants.

They also agreed to step up disaster preparedness and risk reduction programmes, especially for small island states, in delta regions and across Africa, where shifting patterns of weather, rainfall and temperature are expected to be most acute.

France?s oldest man dies, one WWI survivor left

France?s oldest man, a First World War veteran who refused a medal and spoke powerfully about the horrors of war, has died at 110, leaving just one veteran alive from the conflict.

Louis de Cazenave died at his home in the Auvergne region in central France on the day before, the government said.

President Nicolas Sarkozy called his death a reminder of the 1.4 million French who had lost their lives in the 1914-18 war. Cazenave survived both the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the Second Battle of the Aisne a year later, two of the bloodiest episodes of the ?war to end all wars?.

Born in October 1897, de Cazenave became an infrantryman in 1916 and retired in 1941. He refused a military decoration but was eventually awarded the civilian Legion of Honour in 1999. ?Some of my comrades weren?t even given a wooden cross,? he told Le Monde newspaper in 2005. Recalling events etched into his mind 88 years earlier, he gave a grim account of the offensive on German positions along the river Aisne which caused about 350,000 French and German deaths and led afterwards to a partial French mutiny.

?You should have heard the wounded between the lines. They called out to their mothers, begged us to go finish them off,? he told Le Monde.

The last surviving ?beardy,? the nickname given in France to First World War veterans because of conditions in the trenches, is now Lazare Ponticelli, 110.