■ Australia
woman humps horse
police have charged a woman with bestiality after she was allegedly caught naked in a paddock having sex with a horse, police said. officers found the 35-year-old woman committing an indecent act with the horse when they were called to a field in the small town of lismore, north of sydney. "the woman was arrested and charged with bestiality and behaving in an offensive manner," a new south wales police spokesman said. the woman was granted conditional bail and is due to face lismore local court on dec. 18.
■ Australia
stingray stabs fisherman
a fisherman has survived being stabbed in the chest by a stingray, the marine creature that killed crocodile hunter steve irwin two months ago, police said. the fisherman was on board a prawn trawler off the south coast of the country on wednesday when one of the usually-placid creatures plunged a razor-sharp tail barb into his chest. police said the barb did not lodge in the fisherman's chest or cause any respiratory problems and he was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital with minor injuries. stingrays are frequently caught up in fishermen's nets and have been known to lash out when they land on the deck of a ship.
■ Philippines
doctor goes on rampage
a police doctor upset with being demoted shot his commanding officer and hurled a hand grenade at colleagues killing one, a spokesman for the police said yesterday. five colleagues and the doctor were injured in the blast late on wednesday night at the national police headquarters in camp crame in manila. chief inspector renato costabio flew into a rage when he was told of his demotion, reports said. he pulled out his service revolver and shot his commanding officer senior superintendent federico damata. damata was not seriously injured and was recovering from his wounds yesterday. he then hurled a hand grenade at colleagues killing one officer who tried to smother the blast with his body, police said.
■ Indonesia
us wrestling axed from tv
several popular us wrestling programs have been pulled from television, a spokeswoman said yesterday, following the death of a nine-year-old boy whose friends practiced fighting moves on him. smackdown and other shows produced by the stamford, connecticut-based world wrestling entertainment inc were last screened on tuesday evening, said a spokeswoman for indonesia's lativi broadcaster, the only company to have aired the programs. linda rifai said the screenings were stopped "to avoid stoking controversy" and not because the company was admitting a "correlation" between the death and its shows. the decision was taken following weeks of pressure from parents and educators who blamed the programs for violent child behavior and the boy's death on nov. 16 in bandung, west java.
■ Australia
troops home from tonga
about 50 australian troops returned home yesterday from tonga in a show of confidence that security had been restored in the south pacific island kingdom that was crippled by riots two weeks ago. "the situation in tonga has now stabilized and the tongan security forces can control security without australian military support," defense minister brendan nelson said in a statement.
■ United Kingdom
Amputee daredevil jailed
A double amputee was jailed for a year on Tuesday for having led police on a high-speed car chase in northeast England using wooden poles and broom handles to control the accelerator and brake. Robert Bate, 27, was sentenced in Newcastle Crown Court after admitting dangerous driving, driving while unfit through drugs, driving without a license, driving without insurance and failing to stop. "It's a miracle nobody else was injured," Judge David Hodson told Bate sentencing him to prison for 12 months and banning him from driving for two years. Bate lost both his legs in a rail accident when he was nine. The court heard that the pursuit hit speeds of 129kph.
■ United States
Snoop Dogg arrested
Rapper Snoop Dogg was arrested for investigation of illegally possessing a handgun and drugs as he left NBC Studios in Burbank, California, after performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, police said. The 35-year-old rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and two people in his entourage were arrested at around 6pm on Tuesday after a search of his home and car, Sergeant Kevin Grandalski said. Police seized a handgun and some illegal drugs, Grandalski said.
■ United States
Offenders face deportation
Immigration agents on Wednesday arrested 45 foreign-born New Yorkers from 19 countries who face deportation because they committed sex offenses against children. Those arrested included a man from Trinidad who got six months in jail for raping his 15-year-old stepdaughter and a woman from Romania convicted of endangering the welfare of a child after having sexual contact with a 13-year-old boy. The men and women were arrested after they showed up for scheduled visits with probation officers.
■ United Kingdom
Marines disappointed
More than 4,000 Marines serving in Afghanistan were left disappointed after the Ministry of Defense led them to believe that they would be getting a large increase in their wages, the Daily Telegraph reported yesterday. Marines who serve outside of Britain are paid an extra separation allowance and the way this was paid to troops was changed this month as part of reforms to the system. A ministry spokeswoman said that because of a blunder, marines thought they were getting a bonus of around ?3,000 (US$5,800).
■ Canada
Nude pothole protest
People in the small town of Leader, Saskatchewan, are so fed up with the rotten state of their main road that they came up with an unusual form of protest -- a calendar that shows them posing nude in the potholes. One man is shown sitting in a canoe that is perched in a pothole. Another has his dignity preserved by a well-placed hubcap. "The potholes are not small, one-foot [30cm] diameter potholes ... sometimes they're as deep as a foot deep and sometimes they will stretch for yards," Wayne Elhard, the local member of the provincial legislature, told CBC television on Wednesday.
■ Qatar
Chess players face tests
Chess' world governing body will introduce dope testing at the Asian Games this week, although the sport's top official in Doha said he had no idea how drugs could enhance chess performance. "I would not know which drug could possibly help a chess player to improve his game," competition manager Yousuf Ahmad Ali said.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Two people died and 19 others were injured after a Mexican Navy training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said yesterday. The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark late on Saturday, while onlookers enjoying the balmy spring evening watched in horror. “At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” Adams posted on X. Footage shared online showed the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled
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