HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) – A court in Germany sentenced a law professor to three years in prison for giving students better marks in exchange for sex and money.

The 53-year-old from the central city of Hanover admitted accepting 156,000 euros ($244,000) in total for awarding doctorates to students who failed to make the grade.

The man also told the court in nearby Hildesheim he had given female students better marks in return for sex.

The academic, whom the court on Wednesday convicted on 68 counts of corruption, said he had resorted to taking bribes because he was having financial difficulties.

His net monthly salary of nearly 5,000 euros had not been sufficient to pay off his debts, the court heard.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – A policeman in a small New Zealand town did not let the fact that he was naked hold him back from chasing a thief trying to steal his car.

The off-duty constable was asleep at his home in Balclutha, in the lower South Island, when his wife woke him in the early hours, the New Zealand Press Association reported.

When the policeman realized the sound his wife heard was someone attempting to start the couple’s car, he didn’t let the fact he was stark naked hold him back, bursting out the door with nothing more than a torch.

The offender bolted with the officer in hot pursuit, NZPA reported, but was soon after picked up by a police patrol.

“The offender…startled by the sight of a naked constable with just a torch coming towards him, took off,” local police were quoted as saying.

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Hackers have defaced the Web site of Indonesia’s information ministry in response to a government move to restrict access to pornographic material on the Internet, an official said on Friday.

Indonesia’s parliament on Tuesday passed a new information bill that criminalizes the transmission of pornographic material on the Web.

The Southeast Asian country has had a vigorous debate over pornography in recent years, exposing deep divisions in the Muslim-majority nation.

Hackers on Thursday posted a message on the information ministry’s Web site (http:/www.depkominfo.go.id) saying: “Prove that the law has not been made to cover government stupidity.”

The message was accompanied by a mocked-up photograph of a local information technology expert, who has been advising the government on the new law, depicted with a bare chest.

Screen shots of the hacked page were posted on the Detik news Web site and a cyber chat forum.

The message had been removed and the Web site was now running normally, said Gatot Broto, an official at the ministry.

The ministry said the law was a response to concerns in society about the negative impact of pornographic and violent sites as more Indonesians gain access to the Internet.

Under the law, anyone found guilty of transmitting pornographic material, false news or racial and religious hate messages on the Internet could face up to six years in prison or a fine of 1 billion rupiah ($109,000).

Indonesia’s parliament has yet to pass a controversial pornography bill, which aims to shield the young from pornographic material and lewd acts.

Earlier draft versions contained provisions that could jail people for kissing in public and criminalize many forms of art or traditional culture that hinge on sensuality, sparking criticism it could curb freedoms and hurt Indonesia’s tolerant tradition.

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland’s foreign minister faced calls for his resignation on Saturday after a tabloid newspaper published a suggestive text message he had sent to an erotic dancer.

Ilkka Kanerva sent about 200 text messages to Johanna Tukiainen, 29, and at first said they were related to her performing at his 60th birthday party.

On Friday he admitted the messages were not totally appropriate.

“I would not present them in Sunday School, but they are not totally out of line either,” the daily Helsingin Sanomat quoted him as saying.

The Ilta-Sanomat daily said that in one of the messages Kanerva had asked Tukiainen: “Would you like to do it in an exotic place? Where could it be?”

When Kanerva was asked whether ‘it’ referred to sex, he only said it was obvious that his message was an answer to an earlier question, Finnish News Agency STT said.

Fellow parliamentarian Tuija Nurmi, also of the conservative party, has said Kanerva should resign, and opposition leader Eero Heinaluoma said the situation cannot continue as it is now.

Conservative Party chairman Jyrki Katainen said he had confidence in Kanerva but his actions had been rash.

Finnish TV station MTV3 said it had heard from unnamed sources that Kanerva’s party has been preparing for his resignation. Kanerva insisted he would stay in his job.

Tukiainen, who has posed nude in magazines and is the leader of the Scandinavian Dolls erotic dance troupe, first sold the text messages to Hymy magazine, and then sought a court injunction to stop their publication. A Helsinki court rejected the request.

The magazine said it would publish the messages in its next issue, due to be released on Wednesday.

Kanerva’s longstanding partner has said she has accepted his apology over the matter.

This is not the first time Kanerva has been in trouble over his mobile phone use. In 2005, when he was the deputy speaker of parliament, he bombarded two models with text messages.