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.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema