Bear diplomacy: VIP pandas begin Parisian life
PARIS—TWO Chinese pandas got a red-carpet welcome on Sunday when they arrived in Paris for a new life in a country zoo after Beijing put aside its differences with France and extended the hand of bear diplomacy. The giant black and white bears—dubbed Very Important Pandas by the French media—arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport from Sichuan province in the “Panda Express,” a Boeing 777 specially decorated with a panda motif. China’s ambassador to Paris, a French member of parliament and zoo staff were on hand to greet them before the pair were whisked off in a truck with a police escort to their new home among the chateaux of the Loire valley. Huan Huan (Happy) and Yuan Zi (Chubby) are the first pandas sent to France since 1973, when Yen Yen—who lived till 2000—was given to then president Georges Pompidou along with another panda, which died shortly after arriving. The latest furry ambassadors, specially selected for their breeding potential by their keepers in the city of Chengdu, are bound for Beauval zoo for a 10-year stay among the 4,600 other animals living there. But the French public will have to wait until Feb. 11 to get their first glimpse of the bears in their specially built 2.5 hectare enclosure adorned with Chinese-style pagodas and marble lion statues. SEOUL, South Korea—south Korean customs officials say they have arrested eight men over a scheme to allegedly smuggle gold bars out of the country by hiding them in their rectums. The Korea Customs Service on Monday said the men allegedly transformed $260,000 in gold bars into small beads and smuggled them in their rectums to Japan two times in 2010 to avoid import taxes. South Korea says Japanese custom officials caught the men on their second attempt and sent them home after imposing fines. Later, one of the suspects allegedly orchestrated an unsuccessful bid to smuggle gold bars from Mongolia to Hong Kong using a similar method. Meanwhile, South Korean officials gathered evidence against them at home. They say the suspects recently admitted to the smuggling after initial denials.