AUSTRALIA
Captured fugitive gets life
A man who eluded police for seven years by living in the bush was yesterday sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murders which prompted his life on the run. Malcolm Naden, the nation’s most wanted fugitive until his capture in a remote cabin in northern New South Wales early last year, had pleaded guilty to strangling two young mothers, Kristy Scholes and his cousin Lateesha Nolan, in separate incidents. Supreme Court Justice Derek Price said the murder of Scholes, who lived next door to Naden’s grandparents, where he lived, was a “cold-blooded merciless killing that was sexually motivated” and required a life sentence. The judge found that the murder of his cousin after she had driven him to a beach to go fishing had not been premeditated, but that the woman had suffered a prolonged period of pain and terror before she died.
AUSTRALIA
Host sacked after gay probe
A radio host was sacked on Thursday after asking Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard whether her live-in partner, Tim Mathieson, is gay. Howard Sattler posed the question on the premise of clearing up rumors and things “you hear.” Speaking on Perth’s 6PR, Sattler told Gillard he would offer her a chance to clear up “myths, rumors, snide jokes and innuendo,” then asked: “Tim’s gay?” Gillard replied: “Well that’s absurd.” “But you hear it,” Sattler said. “He must be gay, he’s a hairdresser. It’s not me saying it.” The prime minister dismissed the claim, saying: “I don’t think that in life one can look at a whole profession full of different human beings and say: ‘Gee, we know something about every one of those human beings.’” Sattler persisted, apparently seeking a direct denial: “You can confirm he’s not [gay]?” Exasperated, Gillard said: “Oh, Howard, don’t be ridiculous. Of course not. Let me bring you back to earth.” Sattler was suspended by Fairfax media following widespread public condemnation of the interview.
AUSTRALIA
Man jailed for whipping
A man who whipped a Muslim convert as a religious punishment for drinking alcohol was sentenced yesterday to at least 16 months in jail. Wasim Fayad, 45, was convicted earlier this year of the 2011 attack on Christian Martinez. Sydney Central Local Court Magistrate Brian Maloney sentenced Fayad, who had been Martinez’s spiritual mentor, to a maximum of two years in jail for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The attack happened after Martinez called Fayad to admit he had spent a night out drinking and doing drugs. Fayad showed up at Martinez’s Sydney home and whipped him 40 times with an electric cord while three other men held him down on his bed.
SWEDEN
Bestiality banned
Authorities will next year introduce a total ban on bestiality, which until now has only been illegal if cruelty to the animal could be proven, the government said on Thursday. “The government is now tightening the rules surrounding bestiality so there will be no doubt about the fact that it is prohibited to inflict suffering on animals,” Minister for Rural Affairs Eskil Erlandsson said in a statement. “There should be no doubt that bestiality is unacceptable.” Until now, bestiality was illegal in Sweden only if it could be proven that the animal had been subjected to suffering. From Jan. 1, any sexual act with an animal will be punishable by a fine, a maximum prison sentence of two years, or both, even if the animal shows no sign of injury or suffering.
ITALY
Rape comment sparks outcry
A councillor belonging to Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League party called on Thursday for the country’s first black minister to be raped, sparking an outcry and her expulsion from the party. “Won’t someone rape her, just to make her understand what victims of this terrible crime feel? For shame!” Dolores Valandro, a councilor in Padua, wrote on Facebook alongside a photograph of African-Italian Immigration Minister Cecile Kyenge. Valandro was apparently reacting to an article on a Web site called “all immigrant crimes,” which detailed an alleged attempt by a Somali in Genoa to rape two Romanian girls, media reports said. Kyenge said “everyone should feel offended” by the comments, and said she had long battled against violent language and behavior. Valandro later apologized, saying: “It was a something I said in a moment of anger. When I’m angry I vent that way.”
AUSTRALIA
Hotel to employ jester
Wanted: A jester. Wallflowers need not apply. A hotel is advertising for a modern-day court fool, who is communicative, extroverted, musical, creative and imaginative. Applicants are asked to bring — and play — their musical instrument during the job interview. Also welcome: creative costumes. The successful candidate will earn 1,400 euros (US$1,900) a month. Hotel director Melanie Franke says those interested should not think they are on a fool’s errand in applying. She says the idea is to treat guests like royalty, adding that “jesters were a luxury that royal families indulged themselves in.”
NICARAGUA
Waterway deal approved
Lawmakers on Thursday approved a controversial deal that would allow a Hong Kong company to build a US$40 billion oceanic waterway to rival the Panama Canal, and then manage it for the next 50 years. The law granting the concession to HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment, known as HKND Group and owned by Beijing-based entrepreneur, aims to fulfill a long-held national dream for a waterway linking this nation’s Caribbean coast to the Pacific. The project is highly controversial because the little-known company was founded less than a year ago, and because of its huge pricetag — the equivalent of twice this impoverished country’s GDP. Opposition politicians, environmentalists and indigenous communities have criticized the project, saying the government of President Daniel Ortega is “mortgaging Nicaragua” to a company created by “a Chinese businessman nobody knows.” Ortega — whose administration has diplomatic relations with Taiwan and not Beijing — was set to sign the agreement with the company in Managua yesterday.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not