NEW ZEALAND
Cash grab woman arrested
A woman who allegedly fled the country with her Chinese partner after a bank mistakenly deposited millions of dollars into his account was arrested on Friday, police said. Kara Hurring and Leo Gao left for China shortly after Westpac accidentally placed NZ$10 million (US$7.5 million) into Gao’s account in April 2009. Gao had requested a NZ$100,000 dollar overdraft. The error was discovered within days, but by then about NZ$6.78 million had allegedly been transferred to other accounts and the pair had left the country. Police met and arrested 31-year-old Hurring at Auckland airport early yesterday after she voluntarily returned to the country. Police said about half the money had been recovered, but about NZ$3,872,000 was still missing and Hurring would face charges.
UNITED KINGDOM
Novel ice cream for sale
A specialist ice cream parlour plans to serve up breast milk ice cream and says people should think of it as an organic, free-range treat. The breast milk concoction, called the “Baby Gaga,” is available at the Icecreamists restaurant in London’s Covent Garden. Icecreamists founder Matt O’Connor is confident his take on the “miracle of motherhood,” priced at a hefty £14 (US$23) a serving, will go down a treat with the paying public. The breast milk was provided by mothers who answered an advertisement on mothers’ Web forum Mumsnet. Victoria Hiley, 35, from London was one of 15 women who donated milk to the restaurant after seeing the advert. Hiley works with women who have problems breast-feeding their babies. She said she believes that if adults realized how tasty breast milk actually is, then new mothers would be more willing to breast-feed their own newborns. “What could be more natural than fresh, free-range mother’s milk in an ice cream? And for me it’s a recession beater too — what’s the harm in using my assets for a bit of extra cash,” Hiley said in a statement. “I tried the product for the first time today — it’s very nice, it really melts in the mouth.”
UNITED KINGDOM
‘Churnalism’ to be exposed
Hoax articles and lazy journalists are being pushed into the spotlight by a new Web site that aims to expose news outlets that regurgitate press releases — a practice known as “churnalism.” Churnalism.com, launched by the Media Standards Trust charity, allows users to copy and paste content from news releases and compare it with articles published by news outlets to see which reporters are less proactive and more reactive in searching for news. Media Standards Trust director Martin Moore says the site is meant to be an “accountability tool” that will ruffle some feathers in the media.
RUSSIA
Chechen leader seeks wife
The leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, said on Thursday he is looking for a second wife in addition to his present marriage, weighing into controversy on the place of Islamic customs in the region. “I am currently looking, but I just cannot find a beautiful one. If I do, I will immediately get married,” the Kremlin-backed Kadyrov told popular daily Komsomolskaya Pravda in an interview. The Kremlin credits Kadyrov with maintaining a shaky peace in Chechnya. Analysts say that in return he is allowed to implement a radical vision of Islam, which at times contradicts Russia’s secular Constitution. Polygamy is forbidden by Russian law. “If there is love, then four wives are allowed,” Kadyrov said, adding that four is the limit since Sharia law forbids taking more.
UNITED STATES
Las Vegas casino robbed
A man wearing a fedora hat, a fake mustache and sunglasses walked into a casino just west of the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday morning, stole about US$32,000 in chips and pulled out a gun after a dealer tried to stop the holdup, authorities said. Nobody was hurt during the morning robbery at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, and the robber escaped in a taxi, a Las Vegas police spokesman said. The man began grabbing chips from a table game when a dealer slapped his hand away, the spokesman said, and that’s when the robber produced a gun. A casino official said the robber made off with about US$21,000 in US$1,000 chips. The rest of the chips stolen were worth US$500, US$100 and US$25 each.
UNITED STATES
Army to probe unit
The military says the top US commander in Afghanistan will call for an investigation into charges that an army unit trained in psychological operations was improperly ordered to manipulate US senators to get more money and troops for the war. Rolling Stone magazine reported on Thursday that the staff of Lieutenant General William Caldwell ordered the unit to compile profiles, voting records and other information on visiting lawmakers to use in the effort. It says the campaign also improperly targeted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen. Caldwell’s office denies it. Caldwell leads efforts to train Afghan security forces.
UNITED STATES
Disney employee charged
Authorities say a Walt Disney World employee has been charged with sexually assaulting a single mother he lured to Orlando by offering her free theme-park passes and hotel discounts. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said 31-year-old reservations clerk Wilbert Brookins was charged on Wednesday with sexual battery. Authorities say the woman was trying to make a reservation several weeks ago when Brookins offered to use his employee discount. He spent the day with the woman and her two children on Tuesday at the Magic Kingdom. The woman told investigators that Brookins assaulted her in her hotel room that night after she fell asleep.
BRAZIL
Murder of young soars
The murder rate among young people has soared to epidemic levels, almost doubling between 1998 and 2008, the Justice Ministry said on Thursday. In its Map of Violence report, the ministry said the number of Brazilians aged 15 to 24 murdered rose from 30 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1998 to 52.9 a decade later. It did not say why the murder rate increased. Among the population as a whole, the murder rate in 2008 was 20.5 per 100,000, the report said. According to the latest figures available, the nation’s murder rate ranks sixth among 100 countries, both in terms of the population as a whole and among youths, the report said.
UNITED STATES
Toilet thief arrested
A New York burglar not only went to the toilet — he took it with him. The man broke into a Brooklyn apartment and, ignoring the more typical loot, seized the porcelain throne and staggered off down the block, the Brooklyn Paper reported Wednesday. Flush with the success of his crime, the burglar returned to the scene and told his victim, a lawyer: “I’m going to slit your throat,” the report said. A 53-year-old suspect was arrested the next day.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese