PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Man chews to freedom
An Australian man chewed through clothing used to tie up a female companion to escape a terrifying rape-and-kidnap ordeal in rugged Papua New Guinea, media reports said. Government aid volunteer Sam Newbury, 23, was among a group of four Australians who were carjacked at gunpoint, robbed and taken into the jungle, where they were tied up and the young woman was raped. “They drove them north and took them into the jungle and tied them up and did all their wicked business,” Newbury’s brother Ben told the West Australian newspaper. “And then a big group of them left and he reckons they were all drunk and off their heads and they all left one bloke guarding them.” The guard stayed with the group for only about an hour before leaving, giving the Australians the chance to escape through the jungle to a coastal village, Newbury’s brother said. “Sam was like, ‘Stuff this, if they come back we’re screwed,’ and [they] started trying to escape,” he said. “The female companion, she was tied up with rags and undies and Sam had to chew through the rags and then she had a little pocketknife in her bag, so she managed to get it out and cut them all free.”
AUSTRALIA
‘Speeder’ acquitted by fan
A magistrate who admitted being a fan of the Top Gear motoring show has acquitted a Lamborghini-driving mechanic of speeding over a lack of evidence, reports said on Thursday. Magistrate Michael Wheeler disputed a policeman’s evidence that he could gauge the 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo was topping 155kph on a Perth highway, as he followed in a Ford Falcon patrol car. “With no disrespect to the Ford Falcon, could it cut the mustard with the Lamborghini being driven by the accused?” he said, according to AAP news agency. “It couldn’t even catch my car, in all honesty.” Wheeler said the “bog standard” police car was between 100m and 200m behind, making it impossible to “guesstimate” the Lamborghini’s speed.
AUSTRALIA
Men apprehend crocodile
Two men didn’t just run when they spotted a large crocodile at a popular swimming hole: They packed it into their car and took it away so it would not pose a danger to other bathers. The men found the 3.2m saltwater predator about 10km from their remote Aboriginal community of Gunbalanya on Wednesday, police said. “They took it back in the back of a Troopcarrier [four-wheel drive],” a Northern Territory police spokeswoman said yesterday. The men left the animal at a relative’s home, where it sat lazily in a pool of water in the front yard overnight — with its jaws and legs securely bound. “It appears that they knew what they were doing,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the animal was not harmed in any way. The reptile was later released into the East Alligator River with the help of wildlife officials.
HONG KONG
‘Milkshake’ case returns
A judge yesterday ordered American Nancy Kissel to stand trial again for the “milkshake” murder of her banker husband, handing a big setback to her defense team in the high profile case. When the judgment was announced, Kissel broke down in tears and had to be assisted from the court holding area by two female prison officers, Hong Kong government broadcaster RTHK reported. Her retrial is expected to begin on Jan. 10, with a pretrial hearing on Jan. 4. Kissel, 46, of Adrian, Michigan, was convicted of drugging then bashing her husband, Robert, to death in a luxury Hong Kong apartment and sentenced to life in prison in September 2005.
UNITED KINGDOM
Sloth, unicorn on the EDGE
A miniature sloth, the “Asian unicorn” and a bushbaby known as the rondo dwarf galago were yesterday added to the Zoological Society of London’s list of genetically distinct and endangered mammals. Three species of long-beaked echidnas are ranked equal first on the evolutionary distinct and globally endangered (EDGE) list, which identifies the world’s 100 most unique and threatened mammals. “EDGE mammals are one of a kind and they represent the true diversity of life on earth,” EDGE program manager Carly Waterman said. “If we let these species disappear, their extraordinary features and unique behaviors will be lost forever,” she added. The saola, or “Asian unicorn,” was unknown to western science until 1992. It lives in the jungles of Laos and Vietnam, but it is thought there are only a few dozen left in existence.
UNITED KINGDOM
Stonehenge receives grant
Stonehenge is getting a £10 million (US$16 million) grant that conservators say will help restore some dignity to a World Heritage site blighted by busy roads and cramped facilities. English Heritage said yesterday that it now has about two-thirds of the money it needs to revamp the area around the stones, although the group said the improvements probably wouldn’t come in time for the 2012 Olympic Games, when hordes of tourists are expected at the site. The grant is being awarded by the Heritage Lottery Foundation, which uses money raised through the national lottery to refurbish museums, parks and archeological areas. The monument’s vista is blighted by two busy roads, one of which runs right by it. There is also only one outdoor refreshment kiosk to serve the nearly 1 million visitors who see the site every year.
NETHERLANDS
Cafes may shun tourists
The new conservative Dutch government wants to force the country’s marijuana cafes to become “members only” clubs, a move that would effectively block foreigners from buying the drug. If the idea ever becomes reality — it would be legally complicated and politically divisive — it would be the latest of the country’s liberal policies to be scrapped or curtailed as the Dutch rethink the limits of their famed tolerance. While marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands, it has been sold openly in designated cafes for decades, and police make no arrests for possession of small amounts. Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten said that in the future, only residents of Dutch cities should be allowed to purchase cannabis. “Not tourists. We don’t like that,” he said on state television on Wednesday.
GERMANY
Court forbids pony tattoo
Tattooing a pony with the Rolling Stones’ famous “tongue” logo would infringe animal rights law, a German court ruled on Wednesday. The court in Muenster found against the white pony’s owner, who wanted to tattoo the animal’s right hind thigh to make it “more uniquely beautiful.” He had already shaved a large portion of hair from the animal and pre--tattooed the outline of a 15cm2 tongue. “The tattooing of a warm-blooded vertebrate contravenes animal protection laws,” the court said. “This forbids causing an animal pain without reason.” In addition, the court took into account the inability of the animal to understand why it was being tattooed. Moreover, the court said the owner’s desire to “beautify” the pony masked a more commercial purpose. “He wanted to make money from a ‘tattoo service for animals,’” the court said.
ARGENTINA
Slap inspires video game
A heated exchange on the floor of parliament took a nasty turn when an opposition lawmaker slapped the face of another deputy to the astonishment of television viewers. “I’ve had enough. I’m fed up after all these years with his recriminations and his personal attacks,” said Graciela Camano, head of a constitutional affairs committee on Wednesday after delivering a blow to her opposition colleague, Carlos Kunkel, during a heated altercation about the economy. The opposition lawmaker explained after the squabble that she had “taken enough” verbal abuse from Kunkel and had decided not to put up with it any longer. The exchange inspired a new video game on Thursday that allows players to throw their own punches at Kunkel in a boxing ring. The designers said the game was intended to deal a blow to Kunkel as Camano had, adding that “the difference is that this time Kunkel can punch back.” The free game can be found at www.playmygame.com/game/4268ezr.
UNITED STATES
Fox boss retracts Nazi slur
Roger Ailes, chairman of News Corp’s Fox News Channel, apologized on Thursday for describing executives of National Public Radio (NPR) as “Nazis,” the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said. Ailes lashed out at NPR in an interview with news and opinion Web site The Daily Beast over its firing of a commentator, saying executives of the publicly funded radio network “have a kind of Nazi attitude.” “They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don’t want any other point of view,” he said. The ADL said Ailes had apologized in a letter to its national director, Abraham Foxman. “I was of course ad-libbing and should not have chosen that word,” the ADL quoted Ailes as saying. “I welcome Roger Ailes’ apology, which is as sincere as it is heartfelt,” said Foxman, a Holocaust survivor. “Nazi comparisons of this nature are clearly inappropriate and offensive.”
UNITED STATES
Mom admits drugging toddler
A woman on Thursday admitted giving her two-year-old daughter marijuana and using her mobile phone to record the child smoking it. Jessica Gamble, 21, pleaded guilty to corruption of another with drugs and tampering with evidence, Cincinnati court officials said. Prosecutors dropped a child endangering charge in exchange for the plea, prosecutors’ spokeswoman Julie Wilson said. Gamble had faced a maximum sentence of 11-and-a-half years on all three charges. She now faces up to six-and-a-half years in jail. Gamble has suffered from learning disabilities and mental health issues, including depression, defense attorney James Hartke said. He said he hopes the judge will sentence her to probation. “That would allow her to go into parenting and substance abuse programs, and come out of this situation a better person,” Hartke said. The child is now being cared for by a relative.
UNITED STATES
Reptile thieves charged
Baltimore police say two brothers aged 11 and 14 have been charged as juveniles with stealing about a dozen reptiles and a hissing cockroach from a city-run nature center. Police spokeswoman Nicole Monroe said on Thursday that the boys would face charges including theft and breaking and entering. They have been released into their parents’ custody. Police said an iguana, geckos, chameleons, turtles and a wingless insect called a Madagascar hissing cockroach were taken in separate thefts from Baltimore’s Carrie Murray Nature Center.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number