NEW ZEALAND
Gay groups slam ‘censoring’
McDonald’s said it was reviewing its Internet access policies yesterday after gay groups complained the fast-food giant was blocking their Web sites from its Wi-Fi network. Gay lifestyle Web site GayNZ.com sparked the review when it published an open letter condemning McDonald’s for “censoring” the free Wi-Fi access it introduced in its 132 restaurants in the country last month. It said GayNZ and other sites offering advice and resources to the gay community were barred, preventing access to information that could be “extremely valuable, even life saving, for young people.” “There is a difference between sexuality and sex. Perhaps your censors do not understand this?” the Web site said. McDonald’s said it barred gambling, tobacco and adult Web sites from its Wi-Fi service because it was a family restaurant chain and all content it allowed must be suitable for children to view.
PHILIPPINES
Web sex arrests made
Thirty-six people have been arrested for illegally selling Internet sex to Web users in the US, authorities said yesterday. The 36 were arrested in a raid on Monday on a supposed Internet cafe that was actually being used to sell pictures and videos of naked women to US clients, local police officer Myra Sapa said. Those detained would chat with clients via online messaging, posing as women and offering to disrobe and perform live sex acts in front of a Webcam, said Sapa, based in the northern city of Dinalupihan where the raid took place. “They would talk about sex and nudity until they convinced their clients to give them their credit card account number. Then they would send pictures and videos,” she said. “They pretended that they were these people on the videos. But it was not them. They were giving pre-recorded videos.”
PAKISTAN
Bhutto Zardari blasts killing
The son of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has condemned those who have praised the assassination of a provincial governor opposed to the country’s blasphemy laws. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told mourners on Monday at the Pakistan High Commission in London that people who have voiced support for the killer of Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer were “the real blasphemers.” “Because of you, the message of Islam is distorted in the eyes of the world,” said Bhutto Zardari, whose father is Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. “Those who attack my religion, especially those who corrupt its peaceful message, you are what I call covert blasphemers and you will be defeated. This will be our jihad.” Bhutto Zardari further pledged to defend Christians and other minorities in the country.
SWEDEN
Soccer player convicted
Retired goalkeeper Magnus Hedman was convicted on Monday of breaking sex crime laws by having sex with a prostitute. The Svea appeals court in Stockholm overturned a lower court ruling acquitting the 37-year-old keeper, who played club soccer Coventry and Celtic, and ordered him to pay 2,500 Swedish kronor (US$360) in fines. Liberian midfielder Dulee Johnson, recently released by Swedish club AIK, was also convicted of paying for sex with the same prostitute on a different occasion. Hedman admitted he had sex with the woman, but claimed he didn’t pay her and wasn’t aware she was a prostitute.
SYRIA
Honor killing sentence rises
Damascus has ordered the sentence for those convicted of honor killings tripled to between five and seven years. The local press reported on Monday that President Bashar Assad amended the current law which stipulated a jail sentence of just two years for those convicted of killing a relative for having illicit sex. Activists say about 150 to 200 women are killed every year in the country by their relatives to preserve conservative tribal notions of family honor.
UNITED KINGDOM
Assange appears in court
WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange was to appear in a London court yesterday as lawyers drew the battle lines in his fight to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning about alleged sex crimes. The mainly procedural hearing at the top security Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court was likely to confirm the date for a full extradition hearing which is expected early next month. The 39-year-old Australian computer expert, who has infuriated Washington by releasing details of secret US diplomatic cables on the Web site he represents, has protested his innocence over claims of sexual misconduct against two women.
GERMANY
‘Double chin’ drug tested
Drugs giant Bayer said on Monday it had launched tests into an injectable drug to combat the fat deposits that lead to the dreaded “double chin.” Bayer said in a statement it was conducting clinical trials into ATX-101, an injectable drug “for the reduction of localized fat under the chin (submental fat).” The firm is testing 720 people in 64 centers in Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain and Italy with a view to launching a product in Europe, Asia and South America in 2014.
UNITED KINGDOM
Pedophile leader jailed
The “Svengali-like” leader of an online pedophile ring, who drew in four female accomplices, was jailed on Monday for a minimum of nine years and might never be released. Information technology consultant Colin Blanchard, 40, convinced four women — Vanessa George, 40, Tracy Lyons, 41, Tracy Dawber, 44, and Angela Allen, 40 — to sexually assault young children and share the images. Lyons was jailed for seven years and Dawber was given a four-year term while fellow pedophiles George and Allen are already serving prison sentences. Police smashed the gang when a work colleague of Blanchard found child sex abuse images on his computer in June 2009 and called police. “Your influence Colin Blanchard — described this morning as Svengali-like, over four separate women so they engaged in sexual abuse of children of such tender years — is frightening,” the judge at Bristol Crown Court said. “It is more extraordinary when one appreciates you never actually met three of them face to face.”
UNITED STATES
TV exec murder trial starts
Jury selection has begun at the second-degree murder trial of a Buffalo, New York, TV executive from Pakistan charged with beheading his wife. Prosecution and defense lawyers expect it will take longer than usual to seat 12 jurors for Muzzammil Hassan’s trial because of media attention the case has received. In February 2009, Hassan walked into the Orchard Park police station and said his wife was dead. Police found Aasiya Hassan’s body inside the studios of Bridges TV, the Muslim-American TV station the couple ran. Both were from Pakistan. Hassan’s defense is expected to include claims he was a battered spouse.
CANADA
No rejecting gay weddings
Marriage commissioners in Saskatchewan cannot legally refuse to wed gay couples because of their personal religious beliefs, a court ruled on Monday. The province had asked the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal to consider the constitutional validity of a proposed law that would allow commissioners to refuse to solemnize gay marriages. The provincial court ruled that the proposed changes would be unconstitutional, and if enacted, “would violate the equality rights of gay and lesbian individuals.”
UNITED STATES
‘Stabber’ to face trial
A Michigan judge said there’s enough evidence for a man suspected in a series of knife-slayings and attempted slayings to stand trial in a case where the victim survived. Elias Abuelazam already faces two murder trials, and a hearing in Flint scheduled for yesterday would decide if he would be tried in a third killing. On Monday, a Burton district judge ordered the 34-year-old Abuelazam tried on a charge of assault with intent to murder in the stabbing of Antoine Jackson on June 12 last year. Abuelazam was arrested in Atlanta in August while trying to fly to his native Israel. He’s also charged with attempted murder in Toledo, Ohio.
UNITED KINGDOM
Prison officers injured
Two officers were hurt in a serious disturbance at a young offenders unit in southern England when prisoners refused to return to their cells, prison officials said on Monday. The incident involving inmates at Littlehey Prison was resolved at around 9:30pm with no further injuries to staff or prisoners, a spokeswoman for the prison service said. She said the four to five inmates involved have been relocated to a segregation unit and would be subject to disciplinary procedures. Her comments downplayed earlier remarks from a spokesman for the Prison Officers Association. Glyn Travis had said that a female officer was assaulted and a male officer was scalded with hot water in the incident. Travis said about 60 inmates were involved in the disturbance.
UNITED STATES
Abuse tipster talks to police
A man who sent Los Angeles County detectives graphic video depicting sexual assaults on disabled women has reached out to detectives after seeing coverage of the case on the news. He told investigators that a drug addict had given him a computer to clean its hard drive. The man was deeply disturbed by videos on the hard drive so he made copies and sent them to the sheriff’s department, along with a note. He said he did so anonymously because he feared for his safety. Authorities have identified two suspects in the case, though as many as 10 men are believed to be involved in the assaults.
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