■ United States
Men sue over `enlargement'
More than 1 million US men feel let down by firms which offered penis enlargements achieved by taking a course of herbal pills. One dissatisfied customer, Michael Coluzzi, sued a company for false advertising, claiming he "experienced no increase in size." Coluzzi, from New Jersey, said he paid US$59.95 for a 30-day supply of Alzare pills, which claim a 95 percent success rate in increasing the length of a penis by 7.5cm. The tablets are said to include ginseng and yohimbe bark. Coluzzi said he saw no results and was unable to collect a promised refund from the manufacturer, Alzare LLC, based in Boca Raton, Florida.
■ United States
Jackson rushed to hospital
Pop legend Michael Jackson was rushed to a California hospital on Tuesday after being struck down by flu on his way to his child molestation trial, delaying the case for a week. The dramatic twist came after the 46-year-old began vomiting while being driven to court, where lawyers were to question prospective jurors who could send him to jail for 20 years. Jackson was taken to the emergency room of a medical center in Santa Maria, California, where he was put on an intravenous drip and treated for a "flu-like illness," doctors said. In the courtroom, potential jurors were bemused by the latest delay of the case. "Six months of this?" one juror was overheard to ask.
■ United States
Priest sentenced for rape
A defrocked Boston priest at the center of a sex abuse scandal that rocked the US Roman Catholic Church was sentenced on Tuesday to 12 to 15 years in prison for child rape. Paul Shanley, 74, was also sentenced to 10 years probation following his release for indecent assault and battery on a minor. A "street priest" who ministered to disadvantaged youths, Shanley was convicted last week of repeatedly molesting a student at his Sunday cathecism classes in the 1980s. His accuser, now a 27-year-old firefighter, was six years old when the abuse began. In passing sentence, Judge Stephen Neel said it was "difficult to imagine a more egregious misuse of trust and authority."
■ United States
Twin doctors sued for abuse
An attorney has filed the latest in a series of civil lawsuits against twin physician brothers, accusing them of impersonating one another and sexually assaulting female patients in an obstetric-gynecology practice. In a complaint filed in King County Superior Court by Seattle lawyer Harish Bharti, six female patients of Charles Momah said they were sometimes deceived into being seen, examined, operated on and sexually fondled by his twin, Dennis Momah, a general practitioner who is not certified in obstetrics and gynecology.
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