INDIA
Police arrest 12 at film fest
Twelve people have been arrested for not standing while the national anthem was being played at an international film festival, police said yesterday. The arrests on Monday follow a ruling by the Supreme Court last month that said the anthem must be played before every film screening in the country, accompanied by a visual of the national flag, and that audiences must stand. The court said the rule was aimed at instilling a sense of patriotism. The 12 people were arrested in two separate incidents at the film festival, said Anil Kumar, inspector of police in Thiruvananthapuram, state capital of Kerala, where the festival is being held. They were released on bail. Volunteers at the International Film Festival of Kerala complained to police that the 12 refused to stand, despite repeated requests, Kumar said.
AUSTRALIA
Davis gets 40-year sentence
A staff member at a nursing home was yesterday sentenced to 40 years in prison for murdering two residents and attempting to murder a third with insulin injections. Garry Steven Davis, 29, was in September convicted by the New South Wales Supreme Court of injecting Gwen Fowler, 83; Ryan Kelly, 80; and Audrey Manuel, 91, at the SummitCare nursing home in Wallsend in October 2013. Manuel survived the injection, but died later of unrelated causes. Justice Robert Allan Hulme yesterday ordered Davis to serve at least 30 years of the 40-year sentence before he can be considered for parole. Hulme said there was no reasonable doubt that Davis injected each victim with an intention to kill, but that his motive remained a mystery. Davis had told police his victims were “not problem residents” and that they were “easy to look after.” Davis’ lawyer, Mark Ramsland, said his client would appeal the convictions.
VENEZUELA
Colombian border sealed
President Nicolas Maduro on Monday ordered the border with Colombia sealed for 72 hours, accusing US-backed “mafias” of conspiring to destabilize his nation’s economy by hoarding bank notes. “I have taken the decision to close the border with Colombia for 72 hours,” he said in a nationally televised address, calling it a “hard,” but “inevitable” choice. The closure came a day after Maduro signed an emergency decree removing Venezuela’s largest bank note, the 100 bolivar bill, from circulation because of what he called a Washington-sponsored plot against his nation’s troubled economy. Maduro said an investigation had found that billions of bolivars, in bills of 100, were stashed away by international mafias, mainly in Colombian cities, but also in Brazil. He said the nation was the victim of a plot to “destabilize” the economy led by a group “contracted by the US Department of the Treasury.” Maduro said authorities had seized 64 million bolivars (US$96,000) from people trying to sneak them back into the nation.
UNITED STATES
Shot UAE man unarmed
Authorities say a United Arab Emirates citizen who fled after causing a crash on the Ohio Turnpike and was fatally shot by police was unarmed. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation confirmed on Monday that the only weapon found at the scene was the Hudson police officer’s gun. Authorities say Officer Ryan Doran shot 26-year-old Saif Nasser Mubarak Alameri in the head during a struggle in a wooded area near the turnpike on Dec. 4. Alameri was a law student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. His death has been ruled a homicide and Doran has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
BRAZIL
Da Silva faces more charges
Federal police have asked prosecutors to charge former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for more crimes in the nation’s widest-ever corruption probe, Globo’s G1 news site reported on Monday. Lula, president from 2003 to 2010 and a possible candidate in the 2018 election, is already a defendant in three criminal probes linked to the so-called Car Wash investigation into large-scale corruption at state-controlled oil company Petrobras. Federal police said he should also be charged for corruption in the acquisition of land for his foundation and the rental of an apartment in the same building where he lives. They allege the expenses were paid by Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht, G1 said.
GERMANY
Pair really love Christmas
For one couple, putting up the Christmas decorations takes eight long weeks. With about 16,000 baubles needed to be placed on more than 100 Christmas trees, Thomas and Susanne Jeromin’s annual winter wonderland at their house in the small town of Rinteln has become a seasonal labor of love. “We started off with a normal Christmas tree in the living room as you’d expect and then we thought we could put one in the hallway, one in the kitchen, and over the last five years it’s exploded,” Thomas Jeromin said. The Christmas-obsessed couple began decorating the 105m2 of space in their home, 60km southwest of Hannover, in early October, with lights, ornaments and Father Christmas decorations dotted throughout. The Jeromins’ bedroom is the only festive-free zone. “It’s our retreat for when we’ve had enough of Christmas,” Susanne Jeromin said.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
MILITARY’S MAN: Myint Swe was diagnosed with neurological disorders and peripheral neuropathy disease, and had authorized another to perform his duties Myint Swe, who became Myanmar’s acting president under controversial circumstances after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi more than four years ago, died yesterday, the military said. He was 74. He died at a military hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, in the morning, Myanmar’s military information office said in a statement. Myint Swe’s death came more than a year after he stopped carrying out his presidential duties after he was publicly reported to be ailing. His funeral is to be held at the state level, but the date had not been disclosed, a separate statement from the
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