ALMATY: Thieves used a crane to remove a four-tonne bronze statue of Lenin which they planned to sell for scrap, Kazakh state television has reported. The plot was foiled when authorities recovered the statue, four metres tall, and arrested one of the thieves following the daring theft on Saturday in the eastern city of Djambul, the television said on Tuesday.

``The thieves a crane operator and a merchant removed the statue with a crane and transported it to a hanger,'' the television said. Kazhakh police told the television that the thieves wanted to cut up the statue and sell the bronze in neighbouring Kirghizstan for 20,000 dollars. The statue was put back in its place on Tuesday, but the authorities were still looking for one of the suspects.

Tortoise smuggler

COLOMBO: Airport security arrested a Sri Lankan trying to smuggle 41 endangered star tortoises to Germany hidden in a consignment of water plants, customs officials said on Wednesday. Chandra Welikala was arrested while waiting to board a flight to Frankfurt, said Samantha Gunasekara, an assistant superintendent of customs.

Airport security said Welikala apparently planned to take the crates on to Waldfeucht, a small town in western Germany.

Yellow river in red

BEIJING: Threatening millions of acres of crops, the drought-stricken lower reaches of the Yellow river are about to set a record for their longest period without water, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The prolonged drought in north and northeastern China is expected to have a severe impact on the country's main autumn harvest.

Royal pains

LONDON: Prince Edward's long-term girlfriend says she's trying to ignore the continual guessing game about whether they will marry. ``There's no point in getting caught up in speculation. It's purely fuelled by people to produce a reaction,'' 31-year-old Sophie Rhys-Jones said in an interview published on Tuesday in Hello magazine.

``Sometimes it isn't easy if people are trying to push you towards something which you may not be ready for,'' she said. A publicist, she has been close to Prince Edward for four years. ``So it's important to ignore what people are saying and for things to happen naturally.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.