■ Australia
woman humps horse
police have charged a woman with bestiality after she was allegedly caught naked in a paddock having sex with a horse, police said. officers found the 35-year-old woman committing an indecent act with the horse when they were called to a field in the small town of lismore, north of sydney. "the woman was arrested and charged with bestiality and behaving in an offensive manner," a new south wales police spokesman said. the woman was granted conditional bail and is due to face lismore local court on dec. 18.
■ Australia
stingray stabs fisherman
a fisherman has survived being stabbed in the chest by a stingray, the marine creature that killed crocodile hunter steve irwin two months ago, police said. the fisherman was on board a prawn trawler off the south coast of the country on wednesday when one of the usually-placid creatures plunged a razor-sharp tail barb into his chest. police said the barb did not lodge in the fisherman's chest or cause any respiratory problems and he was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital with minor injuries. stingrays are frequently caught up in fishermen's nets and have been known to lash out when they land on the deck of a ship.
■ Philippines
doctor goes on rampage
a police doctor upset with being demoted shot his commanding officer and hurled a hand grenade at colleagues killing one, a spokesman for the police said yesterday. five colleagues and the doctor were injured in the blast late on wednesday night at the national police headquarters in camp crame in manila. chief inspector renato costabio flew into a rage when he was told of his demotion, reports said. he pulled out his service revolver and shot his commanding officer senior superintendent federico damata. damata was not seriously injured and was recovering from his wounds yesterday. he then hurled a hand grenade at colleagues killing one officer who tried to smother the blast with his body, police said.
■ Indonesia
us wrestling axed from tv
several popular us wrestling programs have been pulled from television, a spokeswoman said yesterday, following the death of a nine-year-old boy whose friends practiced fighting moves on him. smackdown and other shows produced by the stamford, connecticut-based world wrestling entertainment inc were last screened on tuesday evening, said a spokeswoman for indonesia's lativi broadcaster, the only company to have aired the programs. linda rifai said the screenings were stopped "to avoid stoking controversy" and not because the company was admitting a "correlation" between the death and its shows. the decision was taken following weeks of pressure from parents and educators who blamed the programs for violent child behavior and the boy's death on nov. 16 in bandung, west java.
■ Australia
troops home from tonga
about 50 australian troops returned home yesterday from tonga in a show of confidence that security had been restored in the south pacific island kingdom that was crippled by riots two weeks ago. "the situation in tonga has now stabilized and the tongan security forces can control security without australian military support," defense minister brendan nelson said in a statement.
■ United Kingdom
Amputee daredevil jailed
A double amputee was jailed for a year on Tuesday for having led police on a high-speed car chase in northeast England using wooden poles and broom handles to control the accelerator and brake. Robert Bate, 27, was sentenced in Newcastle Crown Court after admitting dangerous driving, driving while unfit through drugs, driving without a license, driving without insurance and failing to stop. "It's a miracle nobody else was injured," Judge David Hodson told Bate sentencing him to prison for 12 months and banning him from driving for two years. Bate lost both his legs in a rail accident when he was nine. The court heard that the pursuit hit speeds of 129kph.
■ United States
Snoop Dogg arrested
Rapper Snoop Dogg was arrested for investigation of illegally possessing a handgun and drugs as he left NBC Studios in Burbank, California, after performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, police said. The 35-year-old rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and two people in his entourage were arrested at around 6pm on Tuesday after a search of his home and car, Sergeant Kevin Grandalski said. Police seized a handgun and some illegal drugs, Grandalski said.
■ United States
Offenders face deportation
Immigration agents on Wednesday arrested 45 foreign-born New Yorkers from 19 countries who face deportation because they committed sex offenses against children. Those arrested included a man from Trinidad who got six months in jail for raping his 15-year-old stepdaughter and a woman from Romania convicted of endangering the welfare of a child after having sexual contact with a 13-year-old boy. The men and women were arrested after they showed up for scheduled visits with probation officers.
■ United Kingdom
Marines disappointed
More than 4,000 Marines serving in Afghanistan were left disappointed after the Ministry of Defense led them to believe that they would be getting a large increase in their wages, the Daily Telegraph reported yesterday. Marines who serve outside of Britain are paid an extra separation allowance and the way this was paid to troops was changed this month as part of reforms to the system. A ministry spokeswoman said that because of a blunder, marines thought they were getting a bonus of around ?3,000 (US$5,800).
■ Canada
Nude pothole protest
People in the small town of Leader, Saskatchewan, are so fed up with the rotten state of their main road that they came up with an unusual form of protest -- a calendar that shows them posing nude in the potholes. One man is shown sitting in a canoe that is perched in a pothole. Another has his dignity preserved by a well-placed hubcap. "The potholes are not small, one-foot [30cm] diameter potholes ... sometimes they're as deep as a foot deep and sometimes they will stretch for yards," Wayne Elhard, the local member of the provincial legislature, told CBC television on Wednesday.
■ Qatar
Chess players face tests
Chess' world governing body will introduce dope testing at the Asian Games this week, although the sport's top official in Doha said he had no idea how drugs could enhance chess performance. "I would not know which drug could possibly help a chess player to improve his game," competition manager Yousuf Ahmad Ali said.
China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites. In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants from dressing as characters from Pokemon or Detective Conan and prohibited sales of related products. China Military Online yesterday posted an article titled “Their schemes — beware the infiltration of Japanese militarism in culture and sports.” The article referenced recent controversies around the popular anime series Pokemon, Detective Conan and My Hero Academia, saying that “the evil influence of Japanese militarism lives on in
DIPLOMATIC THAW: The Canadian prime minister’s China visit and improved Beijing-Ottawa ties raised lawyer Zhang Dongshuo’s hopes for a positive outcome in the retrial China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian Robert Schellenberg, a Canadian official said on Friday, in a possible sign of a diplomatic thaw as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seeks to boost trade ties with Beijing. Schellenberg’s lawyer, Zhang Dongshuo (張東碩), yesterday confirmed China’s Supreme People’s Court struck down the sentence. Schellenberg was detained on drug charges in 2014 before China-Canada ties nosedived following the 2018 arrest in Vancouver of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟). That arrest infuriated Beijing, which detained two Canadians — Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig — on espionage charges that Ottawa condemned as retaliatory. In January
A sign hanging from a rusty ice-green shipping container installed by Thai forces on what they say is the border with Cambodia reads: “Cambodian citizens are strictly prohibited from entering this area.” On opposite sides of the makeshift barricade, fronted by coils of barbed wire, Cambodians lamented their lost homes and livelihoods as Thailand’s military showed off its gains. Thai forces took control of several patches of disputed land along the border during fighting last year, which could amount to several square kilometers in total. Cambodian Kim Ren said her house in Chouk Chey used to stand on what is now the Thai
NEW RULES: There would be fewer school days, four-day workweeks, and a reduction in transportation services as the country battles a crisis exacerbated by US pressure The Cuban government on Friday announced emergency measures to address a crippling energy crisis worsened by US sanctions, including the adoption of a four-day work week for state-owned companies and fuel sale restrictions. Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga blamed Washington for the crisis, telling Cuban television the government would “implement a series of decisions, first and foremost to guarantee the vitality of our country and essential services, without giving up on development.” “Fuel will be used to protect essential services for the population and indispensable economic activities,” he said. Among the new measures are the reduction of the working week in
RSS