■ CANADA
'Pedophile' pleads innocent
Canadian pedophile suspect Christopher Paul Neil, who was nabbed in Thailand last year after police “unswirled” his altered photograph on the Internet, pleaded innocent yesterday to charges of abduction, molestation, kidnapping and producing child pornography. “I deny all charges,” Neil, 32, told the Bangkok Criminal Court through a Thai interpreter. Prapat Dawan, the father of two boys allegedly abducted and molested by Neil, told the court that the suspect had ruined his reputation and those of his sons. In what might turn into a civil case should Neil be found guilty of criminal charges, Prapat demanded 300,000 baht (US$9,524) in compensation from Neil. “I have no money,” Neil responded to the judge’s question of whether he would pay Prapat compensation. “I have no job. I’m having financial problems.”
■ UNITED STATES
'Lorenzo's Oil' Odone dies
The man whose parents’ battle to save him from a nerve disease was depicted in the movie Lorenzo’s Oil died on Friday at his home in Virginia, having lived more than 20 years longer than doctors had predicted. Lorenzo Odone, who doctors had predicted would die in childhood, died one day after his 30th birthday, said his father, Augusto Odone. Lorenzo Odone had come down with aspiration pneumonia recently after getting food stuck in his lungs, his father said. He began bleeding heavily, and before an ambulance reached their home his son was dead, Odone said. “He could not see or communicate, but he was still with us,” Odone said on Friday. “He did not suffer ... That’s the important thing.” Odone was found at age six to have adrenoleukodystrophy, or ALD. His doctors told his parents the disease — caused by a genetic mutation that causes the neurological system to break down — would lead to death in two years.
■ UNITED STATES
Marine dies over US$8
On leave from the violence he had survived in the war in Iraq, a young Marine was so wary of crime on the streets of his own home town that he carried only US$8 to avoid becoming a robbery target. Despite his caution, Lance Corporal Robert Crutchfield, 21, was shot point-black in the neck during a robbery at a bus stop on Jan. 5. Feeding and breathing tubes kept him alive for months, until he died of an infection on May 18. Two men have been charged in the attack, and prosecutor Bill Mason said on Friday the case was under review to decide whether to seek the death penalty. “It is an awful story,” said Alberta Holt, the young Marine’s aunt. “They took it, turned his pockets inside out, took what he had and told him since he was a Marine and didn’t have any money he didn’t deserve to live. They put the gun to his neck and shot him,” Holt said. The two men charged in the attack were identified as Ean Farrow, 19, and Thomas Ray III, 20, both of Cleveland. Their attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
■ BELIZE
Tropical storm weakens
Tropical Storm Arthur weakened to a dissipating depression on Sunday after soaking the Yucatan Peninsula. But heavy rains still threatened to cause dangerous flooding and mudslides in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned that remnants of the first named storm of this year’s Atlantic Hurricane Season could rain a total of 12cm to 25cm across portions of Belize, Guatemala and southeastern Mexico, with isolated rainfall up to 38cm possible.
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