amily, health and religion - and not sex - make Filipinos most happy, according to a new Philippine Happiness Index. The index, crafted by Dr. Romulo A. Virola, Secretary General of the National Statistical Coordination Board, was posted on the Board's website on Tuesday.

Indian police are on a monkey hunt in northern India after a South Korean tourist accused a monkey of stealing his reading glasses. According to Investigating Case Officer Govind Singh, Kim Dang Hoon has already filed a formal complaint stating that the primate intruded into his room.

There have been claims by many villagers in the remote north eastern Indian village about spotting "bigfoot"-type hairy giants, who are huge and are roaming in the jungles. Prompted by numerous such claims, the authorities in the area have ordered an investigation into the sightings in the Garo hills area of Meghalaya state, close to the borders with Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Chasing his "amazing dream," 58-year-old Miles Hilton-Barber has set a world record as the first blind person to fly halfway across the world. Hilton-Barber, who lost his eyesight about 20 years ago, had voice-output technology installed on all the navigational devices on his microlight aircraft so he could complete the 13,500-mile flight from London to Sydney. Hilton-Barber, accompanied by his sighted co-pilot Storm Smith, took off in the two-seater microlight aircraft from Biggin Hill air base in south London on March 7.

An apparently upper-caste principal of a primary school in the Bhandara district of Maharshtra, India had a new way to "purify" the school premises and children from a previously employed lower-caste teacher. The principal sprinkled cow's urine in the school premises and on students to "purify" them from lower-caste teacher's "evil spirit. " A startling reminder that caste consciousness is still prevalent in India after more than 50 years of independence.