AUSTRALIA
Father of child bride jailed
A man who consented to an Islamic “marriage” ceremony between his 12-year-old daughter and a man more than twice her age was yesterday jailed for at least six years. The 63-year-old father, who cannot be named to protect the girl’s identity, was found guilty in April of procuring a child under the age of 14 for unlawful sexual activity and encouraging the pair to have intercourse despite denying the charges. “[The man] failed in his duty to his daughter,” Judge Deborah Sweeney said during sentencing at the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney. The court had earlier heard that he wanted to save the girl from what he considered the sin of having sex outside marriage, so when she reached puberty, he decided she should wed. When a 26-year-old Lebanese man, in Australia on a student visa, showed interest in her, the father consented to a marriage, which was carried out by a local sheikh last year at his home about 250km north of Sydney. On the night of the wedding, the pair went to a hotel with the father’s permission. They had sex there and twice more at the father’s home the following weekend.
SPAIN
‘Baby dumper’ arrested
Police on Thursday arrested a Colombian woman for allegedly dumping her newborn baby in a rubbish bin. The boy, who is about 10 days old, was found by police on Wednesday in a bin in the village of Mejorada del Campo, about 20km east of Madrid. The tiny infant, who escaped serious harm, was found in a backpack concealed in a plastic bag. Madrid Prefect Concepcion Dancausa told reporters that a baby’s bottle found next to the child led to the mother. The brand of bottle was one used by the local Alcala de Henares hospital. By examining the hospital’s recent birth records, they discovered the name of a 37-year-old Colombian woman who lived just next to where the child was dumped, Dancausa said. The woman initially denied disposing of her baby, but later confessed, the prefect added.
ITALY
Animals given showers, AC
Farmers are installing showers and air conditioning (AC) in cowsheds and pigsties to allow the animals to freshen up in the baking summer heat, an agriculture group said on Thursday. Farm animals in Italy — particularly in the muggy agricultural heartland around the Po river near Milan — are under stress as the mercury approaches 40oC in the hottest July for more than a decade. Cows produced 50 million liters less milk than usual in the first 15 days of the month and chickens laid between 5 and 10 percent fewer eggs, the group said in a statement.
UNITED KINGDOM
Nessie a ‘catfish’: watcher
A man who has spent 24 years scanning Scotland’s Loch Ness for its legendary mysterious monster reckons Nessie is most likely a giant catfish — although he is not prepared to give up looking just yet. Steve Feltham, who holds a Guinness World Record for the longest continuous Nessie vigil, says it is the most probable explanation for the enigmatic beast that has captivated people’s imaginations the world over. Feltham left his home and girlfriend in 1991 to go looking for Nessie and has spent the years since in a caravan on the lake shore, scanning the waters. Feltham said he would keep searching for the definitive conclusion. “We still have this world-class mystery and for the next several decades, I hope to carry on trying to find the answer,” he said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in 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
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