■ITALY
Seven nabbed in crackdown
Police arrested seven people on Tuesday in a crackdown on an organized crime group that allegedly tried to buy Lazio soccer club with laundered money. Three people were still at large in a probe that targeted nine Italians and a Hungarian, who tried to acquire the club through money coming from the illicit activities of a part of the Naples-based Camorra crime syndicate, Rome police said in a statement. Among those still being sought was former Italy and New York Cosmos striker Giorgio Chinaglia, who is believed to have fled to the US two years ago.
■ITALY
Jeans are not a chastity belt
The nation’s top criminal court has upheld the sexual assault conviction of a man who argued that the victim’s jeans prevented the attack. The Court of Cassation had provoked outrage in 1999 by ruling that it was impossible to rape a woman wearing jeans because it would be impossible to take them off if she were resisting. On Monday, the same court rejected an appeal by a 37-year-old man convicted by a lower court for sexually assaulting a teenager. The man claimed that it would have been impossible for him to carry out the attack because the girl had been seated and wearing jeans at the time. The court said jeans were “no chastity belt.”
■GERMANY
One million evaporate
Government statisticians said Tuesday they think 1 million Germans simply don’t exist. Everyone living in the country is supposed to register their name and address at a local government office, and de-register themselves when they move away. The Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden uses the registrations to alter a 1987 West German census and numbers compiled in 1981 in East Germany. The office said on Tuesday it believed the current population tally of 82.2 million was 1.3 million too high because many people failed to de-register themselves when moving.
■GREECE
Lesbos residents lose case
A court ruled on Tuesday that people from the Aegean island of Lesbos did not have sole claim to the name Lesbian. A group of islanders filed a lawsuit against the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece in April, accusing it of insulting locals, who are called Lesbians. The islanders wanted to bar the group from using the word “Lesbian” in its name. “The word lesbian has been associated with gay women for the past few decades but we have been Lesbians for thousands of years,” islander Dimitris Lambrou said.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Cleese prefers lemurs
Monty Python star John Cleese said on Tuesday that having a lemur named after him was a greater honor than receiving a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. The 68-year-old paid tribute to lemurs as he visited a zoo in Bristol. “I’ve had a species named after me. A Swiss guy discovered it. He called and asked if I will give him permission to name it after me,” Cleese said. “I would rather have that than a knighthood or peerage.”
■UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Bale bailed
Actor Christian Bale, star of the new Batman movie The Dark Knight, on Tuesday denied allegations of assault made by his mother and sister. He spent several hours at a London police station before being released without charge, his Los Angeles-based spokeswoman said. His mother and sister filed charges after an incident at his London hotel on Sunday.
■UNITED STATES
L.A. bans plastic bags
The Los Angeles City Council voted to ban plastic shopping bags from stores beginning in 2010. Shoppers can either bring their own bags or pay US$0.25 for a paper or biodegradable bag. The council’s unanimous vote on Tuesday also puts pressure on the state legislature, which is considering a bill that would impose bag recycling requirements on stores. City officials said their ban would not be implemented if the state passes the bill and requires at least a US$0.25 charge per bag. The ban will minimize cleanup costs for the city and reduce trash that collects in storm drains and the Los Angeles River.
■UNITED STATES
Actress Getty passes on
Emmy-winning actress Estelle Getty, best known as a wise-cracking octogenarian on the popular 1980s sitcom Golden Girls, died on Tuesday. She was 84. Getty, spent four decades toiling in show business before winning critical recognition as Bea Arthur’s sassy, 80-year-old mother on the hit show. Born Estelle Scher in New York City in 1923, Getty got her start as a comic at resorts in New York state’s Catskill mountains. She was ultimately cast as the oldest of four female retirees living together on Golden Girls even though she was slightly younger than her screen daughter. Getty won two Emmys for the role.
■UNITED STATES
Viagra works on women
The drug Viagra has proven effective at combating sexual dysfunction in depressed women, a study published on Tuesday said. Sexual dysfunction is a common side effect of antidepressants. This is particularly problematic given that twice as many women as men are prescribed antidepressants, but the most effective drugs used to combat sexual dysfunction in men are not approved for use in women, the authors wrote. Researchers tested Viagra on 98 women whose depression was in remission but were still experiencing sexual dysfunction such as lack of arousal or pain during sex. Only 28 percent of the women taking Viagra said they did not notice an improvement, the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found.
■UNITED STATES
Texas to execute man
Condemned prisoner Derrick Sonnier was being returned to the Texas death house yesterday, seven weeks after a court order spared him from lethal injection and returned him to a cell on death row. Sonnier, 40, was set to die for the slayings of a suburban Houston woman and her two-year-old son almost 17 years ago. Lawyers said there were no appeals pending in the courts. Sonnier was to be executed yesterday.
■UNITED STATES
Former enslaved maids sue
Two Indonesian housekeepers have filed a civil lawsuit against a wealthy Long Island couple who kept them virtually enslaved in their home. The suit filed on Tuesday seeks millions of dollars in damages under the federal racketeering statute. Attorneys for the women say the couple, Varsha Sabhnani and her husband, Mahender Sabhnani, meet the criterion of a racketeering organization under federal law because they conspired to illegally exploit them. Attorneys for the couple did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Sabhnanis were convicted of charges including forced labor. Varsha Sabhnani has been sentenced to 11 years in prison, her husband to three years and four months.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
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