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BERLIN (Reuters) – A man who announced his change of address in a local newspaper sparked national media attention on Thursday due to the unusual location of his “new home” – six feet under the ground.

Karl Albrecht, who died last month at the age of 88, penned the obituary himself in the style of a moving notice, inviting friends to a “lively” celebration at his new lodgings in a cemetery in Hamburg, northern Germany.

“I have moved house. My new address: Olhsdorf-Ruhewald cemetery, plot Bx 65/28C,” the announcement in the Hamburger Abendblatt paper said.

“I’ll be pleased to have a lively attendance,” it read.

Albrecht had left instructions for his family to place the notice in the paper, the national daily Bild reported.

The former insurance salesman had been a joker all his life and loved to laugh, his widow Anastasia told the newspaper.

“At the grave there’ll be schnapps for all the guests. He would have wanted that,” she said, adding he wanted the women to wear bright floral dresses.

“Nobody should turn up in black. My Karl could never stand gloominess,” she said.

(Reporting by Alice Baghdjian, editing by Paul Casciato)

The leader of South Korea's biggest Buddhist order has apologised after monks were filmed apparently gambling illegally.

Six leaders of the Jogye order offered to resign on Thursday after the secretly-filmed footage emerged.

Film apparently showing monks playing poker at a luxury hotel, some smoking and drinking, was aired on television.

Gambling is illegal in South Korea, apart from in designated places such as casinos catering mostly to tourists.

Gambling is also a violation of the code of conduct for monks of the Jogye order.

The six members of the order's executive committee offered to resign on Thursday to take responsibility for the incident.

Leader Master Jinje also said he would "self-repent" on behalf of the monks concerned.

The order says it has more than 10 million followers – about 20% of the population of South Korea.

But it has reportedly been hit by feuds and factional infighting.

Local media reports said that the footage was thought to have been shot by a monk from the same order described as an opponent of the current administration.

In a post on their Facebook page this week, the Malaysian Police said they had received hundreds of complaints and comments about the case after the four-minute video of the mother repeatedly striking the baby with her hand, her foot and a pillow went viral.

The video fueled anger and disgust among Internet users from Malaysia to Massachusetts, where local news broadcaster WWLP-22News reported receiving “many emails” about the footage.

The mother was 18 years old when she inflicted the beating on her 10-month-old child in May 2011, according to Arjunaidi Mohamed, the chief of police in Petaling Jaya, the suburb of Kuala Lumpur where the attack took place.

A friend of the mother, who had become concerned after witnessing her beating the child previously, filmed the violence and took the video evidence to the police the same day, Arjunaidi said.

As a result, the mother was convicted of child abuse and sentenced to 18 months in prison, he said, declining to disclose her name.

Attempts to obtain comment from the mother or a representative for her were unsuccessful Friday.

The baby was put into the care of a foster family after her mother’s arrest and is now doing “very well,” said Fatimah Zuraidah Salleh, deputy director of the children division of the Social Welfare Department.

Welfare officials check in every month with the foster family, who are unconnected to the family of the mother, Fatimah said.

The initial furor this week among Internet users over the video appeared to stem from uncertainty about when the beating took place and the current status of the mother and child.

Once the Malaysian Police clarified the situation, online reactions consisted of relief that the authorities had intervened and dismay that the mother had not received a harsher sentence.

“Good to hear police immediately took action and thanks for clearing the air,” a Facebook user named Prakash Raj said in a comment on the police’s page, adding that he thought the sentence was too light.

“She’s lucky that didn’t happen here in the States,” said another Facebook user, Cindy Watanabe. “Not only would her sentence be a whole lot longer, she probably wouldn’t have made it to prison to serve her time and would never be able to hurt another child again.”

A court will assess whether the mother, who is to be released in late November, will be allowed to regain custody of the child, should she wish to, Fatimah said, adding that the process is rigorous.

Arjunaidi, the police chief, refuted speculation that the mother had been raped before committing the abuse.

He said the woman was unmarried. He ascribed the cause of her actions to “frustration.”

It was unclear why the video had surfaced online a year after the event. The police are investigating the leak of the video, Arjunaidi said.

By Friday evening, some of the Facebook posts of the video were taken down.

CNN’s Alden Mahler Levine contributed to this report.

Ceuta and Melilla, fragments of Europe on north Africa's Mediterranean coast, came under Spanish control around 500 years ago.

Madrid says the urban enclaves are integral parts of Spain. They are surrounded by Morocco, which views the Spanish presence as anachronistic and claims sovereignty.

But improving relations were jeopardised in November 2007 by Spanish King Juan Carlos' II first visit to the territories in more than 30 years, which King Mohammed VI strongly condemned.

Spain also controls a scattering of islets along the north African coast, including uninhabited Perejil, which was at the centre of a spat in 2002 when Moroccan soldiers occupied it before being removed by the Spanish army.

More recently, differences over Ceuta and Melilla have not prevented a warming of relations between Morocco and Spain, particularly economic ones. Morocco's premier has advocated "neighbourly" talks on the issue.

With its rebuilt 15th century cathedral, shipyards and a fish-processing plant, Ceuta is viewed by Spain as the more strategically-valuable enclave. The town is a 90-minute ferry ride from mainland Spain.

Melilla, conquered in 1497, is a modern town with a distinctive old quarter.

The enclaves are surrounded by fences, intended to deter illegal immigrants. But Ceuta and Melilla are nonetheless used by many Africans as stepping-stones to Iberia. Many migrants are caught and some drown while attempting to make the sea crossing. People trafficking is common.

After a series of increasingly-desperate attempts by would-be immigrants to surmount the barriers in 2005, Spain and Morocco agreed to deploy extra troops to try to secure the borders.

Ceuta and Melilla are linked to Spain by ferry services to Malaga, Algeciras and Almeria. Borders and defence are controlled by Madrid. Tourism is an important money-earner with duty-free goods being a big draw for visitors.

Dubai A rare collection of photographs taken in Mexico by Italian photographer Tina Modotti during the 1920s has been opened to the public at the Dar Ibn Al Haytham for Visual Arts Centre in Al Bastakiya.

The Mexican Ambassador to the UAE, Francisco Alonso, along with officials from the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority inaugurated the exhibition on Tuesday.

Called ‘Tina Modotti: Una Nueva Mirada (A New Look),’ the exhibition features 26 photographs depicting post-revolution Mexico in the 1920s. The exhibition, which will run until May 20, is part of a world tour and will next be featured in Turkey before heading for Europe. "The Mexican government promotes [our] culture all over the world. We try to make a lot of cultural activities in order for people to see the Mexican culture even in the emirates," Alonso told Gulf News.

These government-owned photographs of Modotti provide a pictorial critique of the wide gap between the rich and the poor in Mexico at that time. Her subjects ranged from women, the labour class, to symbols of the revolution.

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Canada is the second largest country in the world after Russia. However, its population is only about one-fifth of Russia's.

Nearly 90% of Canadians live within 200km of the border with the United States, which means that Canada contains vast expanses of wilderness to the north.

The relationship to its powerful neighbour is a defining factor for Canada. The US and Canada have the world's largest trading relationship.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, involving Canada, the US and Mexico, has brought a trade boom for Canada. But thorny issues abound. American moves which impact on Canadian exports, in the form of tariffs on Canadian timber and increased subsidies for US farmers, have created particular tension.

Canada is also worried about pollution from US factories near the border, and about the possible impact on the environment of the exploitation of oil deposits in Alaska.

Canada pursues a foreign policy that is distinct from that of the US. The country has committed troops to the American-led war on terror, but does not back the US trade embargo on Cuba. Canada did not send troops to join the US-led war in Iraq.

After the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, the challenge of securing the 9,000-km Canada-US border from possible terrorist infiltration prompted both countries to look at ways of sharing information.

Immigration has helped to make Canada one of the world's richest nations. Challenges related to discrimination and integration are gaining increasing attention. Many recent newcomers hail from Asia. Canada's indigenous peoples make up less than two per cent of the population. The way in which provincial governments share land and natural resources with native groups is an ongoing issue.

Separatist aspirations in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec are a major domestic issue. A referendum in 1995 saw advocates of an independent Quebec only narrowly defeated. Subsequent opinion polls indicated a fall in support for independence and the pro-independence Parti Quebecois was defeated in 2003's provincial election.

The concept of nationhood for Quebec resurfaced in late 2006, when parliament agreed that the Quebecois should be considered a "nation" within a united Canada. The move was largely symbolic, having no constitutional or legal grounding.

Canada has been asserting its sovereignty in the Arctic with growing vigour and has become embroiled in territorial spats with the US and Denmark. At stake is the possible bounty from previously-untapped reserves of oil and gas.