World Vignettes

Samoans think a world of their nameAPIA: England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand are not just places, they are the names of people in Samo...

Samoans think a world of their name

APIA: England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand are not just places, they are the names of people in Samoa thanks to a curious habit here of honouring key events and places in naming children. Samoans, a highly migratory people, honour their adventures abroad when they return home. So when Fatu returned to Samoa in 1962 with fresh memories of New Zealand’s Waikato River, and that same year the Waikato rugby team toured his nation, he agreed with his village pastor that his newborn son should be given a special name — Waikato Fatu. Then there is Rotorua, a waiter now honouring New Zealand’s geothermal heartland, Aukelanis (Samoan for Auckland) and at least one Ueligitone (Wellington). Looking down the list of witnesses in a recent court case, police officer Wairarapa Young is named bringing instant recognition to islanders here of another New Zealand province. Some proud parents choose a whole country to name their children such as Niu Sila or NewZealand.

Dog neuterers have their day

BANGKOK: Bangkok authorities are offering dog-owners 50 baht (1.25 dollars) each to have their pets neutered in a bid to reduce the more than 1.2 million strays roaming the Thai capital’s streets. Supong Limtanakool, an adviser to the Bangkok governor, said strays accounted for more than one third of the 3.6 million dogs in the city of some eight million residents, against a stray population of 440,000 in 1995, the Bangkok Post daily said. Another adviser to the Bangkok governor, Apichart Wongsekaew, said many people abandoned their pets when they grew from puppies and were no longer as attractive.

Child abductor executed

BEIJING: The head of a child kidnapping ring, found guilty of abducting 12 young boys, has been executed in South-west China, the official China daily reported on Monday. Yan Guangfen was executed last Thursday after being condemned to death by a court in Chongqing. Between May 1996 and last February, Yan and hisaccomplices kidnapped 12 boys and sold them for about 70.000 yuan (8.454 dollars). The children had since been found and returned to their parents, the paper said, without specifying their ages of the kidnapped boys. Child-selling rings have previously been reported in the Chinese press, with boys often adopted by couples without male offspring. In early April, the authorities said 52 people had been convicted, seven to death, for having abducted and sold 112 women and children in the south-eastern province of Fujian.