■ MEXICO
Kids break hug record
More than 9,000 children embraced each other in a long row for longer than a minute in Monterrey on Thursday to celebrate Valentine's Day and set a new Guinness World Records mass hug mark, a local mayor said. "More than breaking a record, it's a matter of showing affection on this Feb. 14, the day of love and friendship," said Cristina Diaz, mayor of Monterrey's Guadalupe suburb. "Guinness record authorities are here with us to certify that, in all, there were 9,402 children," she said. The children beat the previous "biggest hug" record set by more than 6,000 children in northern Chihuahua state.
■ MEXICO
Model policeman arrested
A two-time Mexico City "policeman of the year" has been arrested on suspicion of extorting money from illegal "car-watchers" who demand tips for curbside parking. Police said Alejandro Garnino, who was awarded the city's highest police honor in 2005 and 2006, is suspected of charging up to 1,000 pesos (US$94) to allow dozens of car-watchers to operate outside one a stadium. "It is a shock to all of us," an official at Mexico City's police force said on Wednesday. He said Garnino turned himself in on Monday night. Corruption plagues the country's underpaid police forces, where officers regularly take bribes.
■ UNITED STATES
Missing painting located
A US$8 million painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat has been found in a Manhattan warehouse. Federal prosecutors filed papers on Wednesday seeking to seize the 1982 painting, called Hannibal. A courier smuggled the painting from London into the US via John F. Kennedy International Airport in August. Its last known owner was Brazilian Edemar Cid Ferreira, a former bank owner. Ferreira was convicted in Brazil on charges of fraud. A Brazilian court ordered the seizure of US$20 million to US$30 million worth of his art, saying Ferreira had bought the works with proceeds from illegal schemes. But Hannibal was found to be missing.
■ UNITED STATES
Bai Ling accused of stealing
Chinese actress Bai Ling (白靈) has been arrested at Los Angeles International Airport, and police accuse her of shoplifting two celebrity magazines and two packets of batteries from a shop. Sergeant Jim Holcomb said Ling was taken into custody on Wednesday. He said the items in question had a total value of US$16. The 41-year-old actress was detained by a store employee who summoned police. She was booked for investigation of misdemeanor shoplifting and released after agreeing to appear in court on March 5.
■ UNITED STATES
Drunk driver gets 15 years
A motorist accused of hitting two pedestrians while driving drunk and making it home with one of them lodged in his windshield has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Steven Warrichaiet, 40, pleaded no contest in December to charges of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle, hit and run resulting in death, injury by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle and hit and run causing great bodily harm. Authorities said he struck Tyrone Ware, 50, and Joann Carroll-Hildahl, 42, on the night of July 8 and then continued more than a kilometer to his home with Ware stuck in the windshield. Carroll-Hildahl was left lying on the pavement after the accident. She is paralyzed and in a nursing home, said Henry Williams, Ware's half brother.
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