British sailors

IRAN said yesterday the 15 British sailors and marines it detained last week are healthy, have been treated in a humane manner and that the only female sailor among them has been given privacy.

But Mohammad Ali Hosseini, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, would not say where the Britons were being kept and reiterated that their case is under investigation.

1st cloned wolves

SOUTH Korean scientists, once led by disgraced stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk, said Monday they had created the world's first cloned wolves, which were produced to help an endangered species.

A team at Seoul National University, which produced the world's first cloned dog in 2005 -- an Afghan hound named Snuppy -- showed off the two Korean wolves named Snuwolf and Snuwolffy that were born a year and a half ago.

Mayor steps in

CHONGQING officials have intervened in a dispute between developers and the owners of a house isolated in the middle of a large construction pit, with the mayor saying "unreasonable demands" will not be accepted.

Mayor Wang Hongju yesterday said the government would try to solve the standoff between the house owners, Yang Wu and Wu Ping, and the developer "appropriately," but would not tolerate an exorbitant price or unreasonable demands.

Compensation

THE family of a girl who was attacked and killed by a tiger in a zoo in southwestern China will get 340,000 yuan (US$44,099) in compensation from the zoo, the Shanghai Evening Post reported yesterday.

The Yuantongshan Zoo in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, said it reached an agreement with the girl's family March 8 and would pay 340,000 yuan, including 20,000 yuan in funeral fees.