Apology for cyclone named after Sri Lankan king

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's top meteorology official on Tuesday apologized for naming a deadly cyclone after a king who built massive irrigation tanks well over a millennium ago and was venerated as a god.

Political leaders and civil groups have protested the naming of a cyclone after King Mahasen, who ruled Sri Lanka in the 4th century. At least 18 deaths related to Cyclone Mahasen were reported in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka before it weakened by May 16. Bangladesh alone evacuated 1 million people from coastal areas.

S.H. Kariyawasam, director general of the meteorology department, said Tuesday that he apologizes "if any insult was caused to King Mahasen or the country's proud history."

Mahasen built 16 large reservoirs, including the massive Minneriya tank, and two irrigation canals that even today are part of the irrigation system in the north-central region. After his demise, people started venerating him as "God of Minneriya."

Groups such as the National Council for the Protection of Historical Irrigation Cultural Heritage, Buddhist monks and political leaders have said it was an insult to name a cyclone after Mahasen. The council even threatened to take legal action if the meteorlogy department fails to conduct a proper inquiry.

The department decided to drop the name Mahasen from the cyclone May 13 and requested that other countries follow suit, but the name continued to be used across the region.

In a letter addressed to the council Tuesday, Kariyawasam said Mahasen was among 23 names submitted by Sri Lanka in 2003 to the Panel on Tropical Cyclones for the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, which is responsible for naming tropical storms in the region. Eight other Asian countries also submitted names.

He wrote that the names "were merely proposed as Sri Lankan names and their selection did not have any basis, explanation or intention."

The president of the council, Buddhist monk Kamburugamuwe Vajira, accepted the apology but said Sri Lankans were greatly saddened by the use of the king's name.

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Pup named Huckleberry crowned ' beautiful Bulldog '

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — If at first you can't clean the Slobber and try again.

Just ask 4-year-old pup Huckleberry, who was crowned Monday as "Beautiful Bulldog." this year

Huckleberry competed for the title in 2010, just walk away empty-pawed. That changed this year, when he strutted along a blue track at Drake University in Des Moines, dressed in a beige dress as the main character in the movie "Forrest Gump".

"He is just a lover, said its owner, Stephanie Hein, Huckleberry sitting next to her toy miniature basketball and a suitcase similar to the one owned by Forrest Gump.

The competition is now in its 34th year and is held in front of the track and field meeting annual Drake Relays. The University mascot is a bulldog, and each year the winner becomes the mascot for the relay event.

Huckleberry beat other 46 bulldogs to wear the Crown and mantle, and competition was stiff. There was a bulldog dressed as a character "Thing" by Dr. Seuss, another wore an eyepatch and Earring hoop fake to match its owner dressed as a pirate. Diva, wearing a Tutu, took home the award for best dressed.

Huckleberry seemed unfazed by all the attention, more interested in a dog pie that is served annually from his throne, painted in gold. He threw in a few kisses slobbered its owners.

When not competing, Huckleberry loves to cuddle and hang out with a girl bulldog who lives nearby, according to Hein and her husband, Steven.

Huckleberry wore a Mohawk when he competed in 2010. But Stephanie Hein spent weeks narrowing and sow together this year's outfit, which included a checkered blue shirt similar to that worn by Forrest Gump.

"It was just a baby then," he said of his first attempt. "But it's definitely grown itself now."

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Follow Barbara Rodriguez at http://twitter.com/bcrodriguez

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Manual to "goblinproofing" chicken coops named Oddest Book Title

LONDON (Reuters) - A book offering advice on how to protect chicken coops from goblins has won the Oddest Book Title of the Year award, organizers of the contest said on Friday.

"Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop" by Reginald Bakeley and Clint Marsh attracted 38 percent of 1,225 online votes to beat craft manual "How Tea Cosies Changed the World" with 31 percent to win the 35th annual Diagram Prize.

Third place went to a book by Tom Hickman titled "God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis".

Also shortlisted for the award this year was a study of Adolf Hitler's health titled "Was Hitler Ill?", "Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts", and a guidebook titled "How to Sharpen Pencils".

Philip Stone, coordinator of the prize run by industry publication the Bookseller, said the award might seem just fun but publishers and booksellers were well aware that a title can make all the difference to the sales of a book.

"It spotlights an undervalued art that can make or break a work of literature," Stone said in a statement.

He cited books such as "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian", "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" as owing part of their success to odd titles.

"The kind of niche, off-beat publications that often appear on the Diagram Prize shortlist might not make their writers or publishers rich beyond their wildest dreams, but the fact writers still passionately write such works and publishers are still willing to invest in them is a marvelous thing that deserves to be celebrated," Stone added.

The Diagram Prize was founded at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1978, and past winners include "Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice" and last year's "Cooking with Poo", a Thai cookbook by Bangkok resident Saiyuud Diwong whose nickname is Poo.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith)

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