In Brief

Israel elects new president JERUSALEM – Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres was elected yesterday as the country’s president, earning him a national honour that crowns the political career of the 83-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Peres won the second round of a parliament vote in which he ran as the sole candidate after the two other contenders dropped out of the race and threw their support behind him. * Couple die in recycling container ST LOUIS – The bodies of a man and woman, married and homeless, were found at paper recycling centres more than 1 600km apart after police say they fell asleep in a recycling container in St Louis.Thomas Jansen, 53, who had been missing since late last month, was found last week at a paper plant in Arizona.He was identified on Tuesday, using partial fingerprints, after workers found a body in a large container used to collect rejected material.The body of Jansen’s wife, Susan, 48, was found on May 24 on a conveyor belt at a St Louis recycling centre.Police believe the couple, who recently had become homeless, went to sleep in a recycling container in St Louis County when it was emptied into a truck and compacted.Officials said there were no obvious signs of foul play on either body.* Stressed Spaniards to smash hotel rooms MADRID – A Spanish hotel chain is running a competition for stressed executives to let off steam in a fashion usually reserved for rock stars – by smashing hotel rooms.NH Hoteles will allow 30 people chosen by a team of psychologists to help demolish the interior of the 11-year old NH Alcala hotel in central Madrid as part of its refurbishment, it said.The chosen 30, armed with mallet and hard hat, can destroy any part of the 146-room building, NH said, from bringing down walls to smashing windows.The demolition will take place on July 3.* Arab gets 20 years for kidnap BUCHAREST – A Romanian court yesterday sentenced an Arab businessman in absentia to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of masterminding the kidnap of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in 2005.Omar Hayssam, a Syrian-Romanian financier, disappeared from Romania last year after a local court let him leave a prison hospital to recover at home following surgery for colon cancer.His escape triggered the resignation of Romania’s chief prosecutor and of the heads of the Black Sea state’s main secret services last July.Nampa-AP-Reuters* Couple die in recycling container ST LOUIS – The bodies of a man and woman, married and homeless, were found at paper recycling centres more than 1 600km apart after police say they fell asleep in a recycling container in St Louis.Thomas Jansen, 53, who had been missing since late last month, was found last week at a paper plant in Arizona.He was identified on Tuesday, using partial fingerprints, after workers found a body in a large container used to collect rejected material.The body of Jansen’s wife, Susan, 48, was found on May 24 on a conveyor belt at a St Louis recycling centre.Police believe the couple, who recently had become homeless, went to sleep in a recycling container in St Louis County when it was emptied into a truck and compacted.Officials said there were no obvious signs of foul play on either body. * Stressed Spaniards to smash hotel rooms MADRID – A Spanish hotel chain is running a competition for stressed executives to let off steam in a fashion usually reserved for rock stars – by smashing hotel rooms.NH Hoteles will allow 30 people chosen by a team of psychologists to help demolish the interior of the 11-year old NH Alcala hotel in central Madrid as part of its refurbishment, it said.The chosen 30, armed with mallet and hard hat, can destroy any part of the 146-room building, NH said, from bringing down walls to smashing windows.The demolition will take place on July 3.* Arab gets 20 years for kidnap BUCHAREST – A Romanian court yesterday sentenced an Arab businessman in absentia to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of masterminding the kidnap of three Romanian journalists in Iraq in 2005.Omar Hayssam, a Syrian-Romanian financier, disappeared from Romania last year after a local court let him leave a prison hospital to recover at home following surgery for colon cancer.His escape triggered the resignation of Romania’s chief prosecutor and of the heads of the Black Sea state’s main secret services last July.Nampa-AP-Reuters