AUSTRALIA
Murderous matriarch jailed
Notorious gangland matriarch Judy Moran was jailed for 26 years yesterday for orchestrating the execution-style murder of her brother-in-law as he drank coffee at a busy suburban cafe. The 66-year-old was locked up for the slaying of Des “Tuppence” Moran, who died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head in Melbourne in June 2009. The man who fired the seven shots that killed Moran, Geoffrey “Nutts” Armour, was also sentenced to 26 years. Des Moran, 61, was a brother of Judy Moran’s husband, Lewis Moran, a member of the so-called Carlton Crew, who was gunned down while enjoying a beer at a Melbourne club in 2004. Judy’s children Jason and Mark were also shot dead in the city’s gangland war, which claimed about 30 lives after it began in the 1990s and was dramatized in the hit Australian series Underbelly. After she was sentenced, Moran, who is in ailing health and uses a motorized wheelchair, proclaimed her innocence from the dock. “Sir, you are wrong. I am innocent,” yelled the grandmother, who was the getaway driver for Armour and stashed the gun, a wig and a jacket worn by him in a hidden safe.
BELGIUM
Bonobos outsmart chimps
Belgian scientists were surprised by the results of an intelligence test that pitted bonobos against chimpanzees as part of a campaign to help publicize the African trade in bonobos as bushmeat. Bonobos, chimp-like apes who live in matriarchal family groups and frequently use sex to resolve social conflicts, defied expectations by beating chimpanzees in intelligence tests, because the chimps were too busy fighting among themselves for dominance. “Chimpanzees in the wild use sticks to fish for termites and bonobos in the wild don’t do that ... so we thought that the chimpanzees would be at an advantage,” biologist Jeroen Stevens said during a press conference. The brain test was part of a campaign by the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp in Belgium to raise cash to tackle the problem of bonobos being captured and sold as bushmeat.
ROMANIA
Fake cops steal gold
Police say robbers disguised as police officers stopped a car on a highway and forced the occupants to hand over almost 23kg of gold at gunpoint. Police spokesman Danut Dinu said three masked men forced the car to stop near the city of Pitesti on Tuesday. He says one robber threatened the driver and the passenger with a pistol, and they handed over 22.7kg of gold jewelry and spoons stashed in the car’s trunk. Dinu said the car was transporting the goods for a private company. Daily newspaper Evenimentul Zilei reported that the gold was worth US$1.42 million, without providing a source for the estimate.
AUSTRIA
Close, but no cigar (smoke)
Was it lit or was it cold? The status of a cigar in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mouth at an Austrian airport could decide whether or not he faces legal action. Smoking at airports is banned in Austria and an anti-smoking lobby said on Tuesday it plans to launch a suit against the former California governor for puffing on a stogie after arriving in June at Salzburg Airport, but officials suggest the affair will go up in smoke. Salzburg municipal legal expert Josef Goldberger told state broadcaster ORF that Arnie can ignore any requests from authorities to respond since the charge is not covered by treaties. Airport spokesman Alexander Klaus, meanwhile, said the cigar was out. “Burning cigars smoke and there were no puffs for Schwarzenegger,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Woman dies in recycling bin
A woman in Toledo, Ohio, who died after falling face-first into a recycling bin and wasn’t noticed until her husband came home from work had gotten stuck in a position in which she couldn’t breathe, a coroner said. Sheila Decoster, 62, was likely inside the bin for several hours before she was found on Friday, Lucas County Deputy Coroner Diane Barnett said. The woman’s husband saw her legs sticking out of the 240 liter container that sits alongside their porch. “I just happened to look to the left and, honestly, thought it was a dummy,” Richard Decoster told The Blade newspaper of Toledo. “I shook her leg and called her name, and I knew she was gone.” The couple, married for 43 years, kept their recycling and trash bins next to their porch, which does not have a railing. Investigators said it looked like Sheila Decoster was standing on her porch when she leaned over, lifted the lid on the bin and fell inside.
UNITED STATES
Child videotapes group sex
Authorities in Texas have charged a Dallas woman with forcing her six-year-old daughter to repeatedly videotape her having group sex. According to police records, the 24-year-old woman is charged with indecency with a child by exposure, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a US$10,000 fine. The woman, who was arrested on Saturday, was in jail on Tuesday on a US$50,000 bond. The Dallas Morning News reported on Tuesday that police went to the woman’s apartment acting on a tip. The mother has since told police her daughter used a cellphone to videotape three separate incidents involving six men, the newspaper reported.
UNITED STATES
‘Baby-selling ring’ busted
A San Diego, California, lawyer who specializes in reproductive law pleaded guilty on Tuesday for her role in what federal prosecutors called a “baby-selling ring” that charged a dozen couples more than US$100,000 to adopt babies born from surrogate pregnancies. Theresa Erickson, 43, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud before US Magistrate Judge William McCurine. According to her plea agreement, Erickson, along with a Maryland-based lawyer who also specializes in reproductive law and a Las Vegas woman, recruited women to travel to the Ukraine to be implanted with embryos created from the sperm and egg of donors. Once a gestational carrier, or surrogate, reaches the second trimester of pregnancy, prosecutors claimed the defendants would “shop” the babies by falsely telling couples that a couple who had intended to adopt the baby backed out of the deal. The new couple that agreed to adopt the baby would have to pay more than US$100,000 in fees.
UNITED STATES
Fast donkeys make waves
There’s a move afoot to make burro racing Colorado’s official summer sport. Republican state Representative Tom Massey says skiing has been declared the official winter sport, so he plans to sponsor a resolution next year declaring pack burro racing as the state’s official summer sport. Western Pack Burro Association spokesman Brad Wann tells KDVR-TV that donkey races are a tribute to the miners who would race back to the office with their donkeys after they struck gold to claim it. Today’s competitions are 8km to 47km long. Competitors run alongside the donkeys, which are required to carry 15km packs and mining tools.
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
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
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