Broke but honest

A Bangladeshi taxi driver in New York said he returned a lost purse containing more than US$21,000 ($28,300) because his mother always advised him to be honest. "I'm broke, but I'm honest," Mohammad "Mukal" Asadujjaman, 28, said yesterday.

Felicia Lettieri, of Pompeii, Italy, and six relatives had taken two cabs to Penn Station on Christmas Eve. The 72-year-old Lettieri left her purse behind, with the group's travelling money, jewellery worth thousands more, and some of their passports.

Her sister, Francesca Lettieri, told Newsday that the driver had saved her family's holiday.

Mukal turned down a reward.