Maltese return

Valletta (Malta), April 21 (Reuters): A former British Royal Air Force employee has returned a history book to the Malta public library 42 years after he borrowed it and was given a cup of coffee instead of a fine.

Ernie Roscouet, a resident of the Channel Islands, inadvertently packed the book when he left Malta in June 1962 and returned it when his wife gave him a holiday to Malta as his 65th birthday present.

“It’s actually been on my conscience all this time,” he told the Times of Malta newspaper. Although he expected a fine he was given a cup of coffee instead.

“Perhaps this story will encourage others to bring back overdue books,” librarian Joe Debattista said.

Silent curse

Sydney (Reuters): Aborigines invoked an ancient curse on Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Tuesday by “pointing the bone” at the conservative politician to protest against his decision to scrap a top aboriginal body. Aborigines believe that to point a kangaroo bone at someone is to bring that person ill fortune, and the black magic is strong enough to cause death. An aboriginal woman dressed in possum skin and traditional tribal makeup confronted Howard on Tuesday after he made a speech in a rural town and pointed a one-inch bone at the politician to place a silent curse on him. The aboriginal woman, known only as Moopor, was not permitted to speak with the media, in line with aboriginal culture, but the head of the axed aboriginal body said the curse was a message to Howard to heed black Australians. “This curse could go two ways, it could enlighten him and lift a mental block that Howard has about indigenous Australians,” Aborigine Geoff Clark told reporters.