■ UNITED STATES
Singing drives woman nuts
A woman attacked a karaoke singer belting out Coldplay on Thursday night in Seattle, telling him he "sucked" before she pushed and punched him to get him to stop singing, bar staff said. The man was singing Yellow when it happened. When she was escorted outside, the 21-year-old woman "went crazy," bartender Robert Willmette said, throwing punches at him and others, including an off-duty police officer. Patrol officers and detectives then arrived at the neighborhood bar. Before police could handcuff the woman, she headbutted the off-duty officer at least twice. The woman was booked in jail for investigation of assault.
■ ISRAEL
Lecturer in hot water
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has demanded the suspension of a university lecturer for publicly cursing an Israeli officer during the evacuation of settlers illegally occupying two houses in the West Bank town of Hebron. Bar-Ilan university literature lecturer Hilel Weiss went to support the settlers as the army forced them out on Tuesday. As he was being dragged away by police, Weiss shouted at Colonel Yehudah Foux: "I wish your wife becomes a widow, that your mother goes into mourning and that your children become orphans." Barak wrote to professor Moshe Kave, rector of Bar-Ilan university near Tel Aviv, to demand Weiss' suspension until he publicly withdraws his comments.
■ UNITED STATES
Pants suit loser countersues
A man who lost a US$54 million lawsuit against his former dry cleaner is fighting their attempts to collect attorney fees from him. Roy Pearson filed an opposition to the defendants' motion for attorneys' fees on Friday, saying he should not have to pay the US$82,907.50 that the Chung family owes to defend themselves against his 2005 lawsuit. Pearson had claimed that the "Satisfaction Guaranteed" sign that once hung in the Chungs' shop was misleading and violated Washington's consumer protection act. A pair of his pants went missing, but a week later, the store owners said they were found. Pearson denied that they were his and sued.
■ UNITED STATES
Airport drops manhunt
Authorities have stopped searching for a man who bypassed security screening on Friday at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, and officials said he may have simply walked out of the airport. The man slipped past screeners shortly before 8am, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesman Jon Allen said. Officials searched about 15 planes on the ground and shut down a concourse without finding him, Allen said. "We will look into how this incident occurred and what we can do to ensure that it does not happen again," said Chris White, another TSA spokesman.
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