HONG KONG
Phooey art sells for HK$2m
A popular piece of street art destroyed by the authorities and later recreated has fetched almost HK$2 million (US$258,000) at a Sotheby’s auction, a new record for its French creator. The ceramic mosaic of 1970s US cartoon character Hong Kong Phooey — a mask-wearing dog who is an expert in kung fu — was recreated by high-profile French street artist Invader after being removed from a wall in the territory last year. It was expected to sell for HK$1.5 million, but exceeded that at Tuesday night’s auction when it went for HK$1.96 million. Invader’s Hong Kong Phooey mosaic first went up on a wall in a quiet street in the upmarket Happy Valley neighborhood in January last year, but the artwork was taken down within weeks by the authorities, sparking outrage from residents. The artist recreated the piece after expressing his deep disappointment over its removal.
AUSTRALIA
‘Stupid’ Irish teen fined
A “remarkably stupid” Irish teenager was fined on Tuesday when firefighters had to rescue him after he became stuck in the roof of a nightclub he was trying to enter. Hugh McMahon, 18, was ordered to pay a A$900 (US$736) fine and A$1,700 compensation to the club at Surfers Paradise, on the east coast, a court official said. He had pleaded guilty to charges of trespassing, willful damage and failing to leave a licensed premises. The court heard McMahon had tried to enter the SinCity nightclub in Queensland after he was twice ejected, climbing through an air vent after breaking into the building early on Tuesday, but he became tangled in wires and trapped between pipes in the roof cavity, and the fire brigade had to cut him out. During his rescue, the teenager told police he had attempted similar feats in Ireland and was only caught once, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported. “Drunk or sober, it was an absolutely remarkably stupid thing to have done,” Magistrate Ron Kilner said.
FRANCE
Paris to sue Fox News
The city of Paris said on Tuesday it plans to sue Fox News of the US for reports that there were “no-go zones” in the capital that police and non-Muslims avoid. The reports in the wake of the attacks in Paris two weeks ago have been widely derided and prompted Fox to issue an on-air apology for suggesting parts of Paris and the English city of Birmingham were run under Shariah law. “A complaint will be filed in the coming days,” despite the apology, said a source at Paris City Hall. The news channel broadcast a map outlining the so-called no-go zones, which an expert, Nolan Peterson, said felt like Afghanistan or Iraq. Asked about the prospect of a lawsuit, Fox News executive vice president Michael Clemente said: “We empathize with the citizens of France as they go through a healing process and return to everyday life. However, we find the mayor’s comments regarding a lawsuit misplaced.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Terror attack widow jailed
The widow of a man killed in the 2005 terrorist attacks on the London transportation system has been jailed for stealing money from the compensation fund intended for her son. Louise Gray was sentenced to two years, eight months in prison after stealing £43,000 (US$65,000) from her son Adam, who was 11 when his father was killed. Gray had earlier pleaded guilty to the theft. Judge David Goodin said a prison sentence was necessary because she betrayed her son’s trust. He called it “an act of wickedness almost beyond belief.”
RUSSIA
Two performers jailed
Two performance artists were jailed for 10 days on Tuesday after throwing holy water at Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum on Red Square and shouting: “Rise up and leave.” The men were sentenced to 10 days in police cells for petty hooliganism after the protest they carried out on Monday, an Orthodox holiday, a member of their art group, Irina Dumitskaya said. “Ten days for basically just pouring water,’ she said. “When it rains, it pours on the mausoleum too.” The performance was called Exorcising the Devil, Desecrating the Mausoleum,” she said. The two men, Oleg Basov, a dance teacher, and Yevgeny Avilov, a computer programmer, are members of an anti-establishment art group called Blue Rider, Dumitskaya said. In a video of the performance posted on YouTube, the two young men are shown carrying 5-liter bottles of holy water marked with a cross from St Basil’s Cathedral across the square. They move barriers in front of the mausoleum and throw the water at the doors and steps before being detained. Dumitskaya said that the aim of the performance was “to confront two myths,” the Communist idea that Lenin “lives” and the Christian idea of resurrection.
KENYA
Potion kills bus driver
A school bus driver died after drinking a potion brewed by a “witch doctor” to prove he had not stolen books, sparking angry protests from villagers, a report said on Tuesday. The school directors in a village in southwestern Kisii district hired a witch doctor to seek out the thief of school books, with the driver volunteering to drink a potion to prove he was innocent. “The driver was dared ... to prove his innocence by drinking the mixture,” local police chief Simon Kiragu told the Daily Nation newspaper. “The 33-year old collapsed and died immediately after the drink.” Furious villagers then took revenge on school leaders by torching the school bus and the deputy director’s house.
UNITED STATES
‘Rocky’ surprises tourists
A group of tourists who ran up the steps made famous in the movie Rocky in Philadelphia got a knockout photograph at the top — a selfie with Rocky himself. Peter Rowe said he and two friends had just finished racing up the staircase at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Saturday last week when they saw Sylvester Stallone. Stallone then posed for a selfie with the trio, putting up one fist. Stallone made the museum’s steps famous in his first turn as fictional boxer Rocky Balboa, who used them as part of his training regimen. Thousands of people now visit the steps each year to recreate the run and to take pictures with a Rocky statue, which originally was a prop in Rocky III. Stallone is in Philadelphia for the shooting of Creed, the latest installment in the series.
UNITED STATES
Driver ticketed for eating
A man said he was cited by police outside Atlanta for eating a cheeseburger while driving. Madison Turner told Atlanta station WSB-TV that he ordered a double quarter-pounder with cheese from a McDonald’s shortly before he was pulled over last week. Turner said the officer told him he saw him eating the cheeseburger for 3.2km, telling the man: “You can’t just go down the road eating a hamburger.” The ticket, issued under Georgia’s distracted driving law, said in the comments section that the offense was “eating while driving.” Turner is due to appear in court on Feb. 3. Cobb County police spokesman Mike Bowman declined to comment.
‘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