■ United States

Karaoke can be bad for you

Two people were killed and another injured early on Friday when an argument between two men escalated into gunfire in a karaoke club in Flushing, New York, police said. The argument began at 2:15am in the Red Rose nightclub. One man, Chan Quin Zou, 32, of Manhattan, was killed when the second man fired several times at him. Zou was hit four times, with one of the bullets also hitting a waitress in the leg, Detective Kevin Czartoryski said. A fifth bullet hit a second waitress in the head; she died at a nearby hospital. On Friday, detectives combed through the club, finding blood-stained napkins on the stairs, carpeted in purple with pink luminescent designs.

■ United States

Singer got Hilton tattoo

Paris Hilton left a permanent impression on ex-boyfriend Nick Carter -- literally. When the couple got tattoos together three weeks before their breakup late last month, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, 24, got ``Paris'' tattooed on his wrist, People magazine reported. Carter wouldn't say what Hilton had tattooed, but the pop star says he's harboring no regrets about the untimely ink: "No [I don't regret it], because I love her. She'll have a place in my heart, always." Hilton, 23, is speaking about the breakup as well. The hotel heiress-reality TV star told Us Weekly she decided to end it while having her makeup done at a photo shoot, but only after getting her psychic's opinion.

■ United States

Thief publicly punished

A woman who stole US$4.52 worth of fuel was ordered to stand outside the gas station wearing a sandwich board sign that declared: "I was caught stealing gas." Sherelle Purnell obeyed the court order, although by the time she arrived 90 minutes late to her Friday sentence, the crowd of people that gathered to watch her had dispersed. "There were parents who came with their children, wanting to teach them a lesson," said Jan Phipps, manager of Gordy's Tiger Mart, which pushed for the unorthodox punishment. Purnell, 18, who was caught on tape speeding away from the gas pump, walked along the convenience shop's grassy storefront as passing drivers honked horns and made catcalls.

■ United States

US opposes representation

The Justice Department said in a federal court filing on Friday that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who were seeking to file petitions challenging their detentions were not entitled to access to their lawyers to do so. The department said the prisoners were not entitled to see their lawyers because they were foreigners held outside the jurisdiction of the US. The government argued that despite the 6-3 Supreme Court ruling on June 28 that Guantanamo prisoners could challenge their detentions in federal courts, the prisoners still did not enjoy the rights provided by the Constitution.