NEW ZEALAND
Xena protests drilling
Television actress Lucy Lawless climbed aboard an oil-drilling ship yesterday, joining six Greenpeace activists to try to stop the vessel from setting off for the Arctic. Speaking from atop a 53m drilling tower aboard the Noble Discoverer in Port Taranaki, Lawless said yesterday that the wind was making it difficult to stay put, but that she and the other protesters planned to stay there for “as long as we possibly can.” Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie said early yesterday afternoon that five police officers boarded the ship. They had made contact with the protesters and were trying to determine their intentions. Lawless, 43, a native New Zealander, is best known for her title role in Xena: Warrior Princess. More recently she has starred in Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Lawless said she was taking direct protest action for the first time in her life to protest oil drilling and to draw attention to climate change.
AUSTRALIA
Man acquitted of murder
A man who has spent three years behind bars for allegedly murdering his model girlfriend by “spear throwing” her from a popular tourist cliff was yesterday acquitted on appeal. Gordon Wood was convicted by a jury in 2008 of killing Caroline Byrne by tossing her off Sydney’s famous The Gap, a rocky coastal outcrop long popular with suicidal jumpers, as well as tourists. Wood’s lawyer appealed on several grounds, including that the scientific evidence presented to the court, and a three-judge appeals panel found that suicide could not be excluded as the cause of death. “I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Gordon Wood murdered Caroline Byrne as charged, accordingly he must be acquitted,” Justice Peter McClellan said.
SOUTH KOREA
Rain to entertain soldiers
South Korean pop icon Rain will serve as an “entertainment soldier” for the remainder of his two years of compulsory military service, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. Rain will appear in television and radio program of the Korean Forces Network, a broadcaster run by the ministry to boost morale, and take part in weekly concert tours to military units across the country. Fans from across Asia wept in October last year when the 29-year-old entertainer entered boot camp to start his mandatory military service. He was said to be adjusting well to military life, being judged a top marksman and groomed to become an assistant instructor. All eligible South Korean men must spend about two years in the military. The country has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950 to 1953 Korean war conflict ended without a peace treaty.
VIETNAM
Officials fired for land grab
An official said that two local leaders have been fired and another three reprimanded after illegally evicting a fish farmer from his land. The case has captivated the nation. The official from Tien Lang district in northern Hai Phong City said former people’s committee chairman Le Van Hien and deputy Nguyen Van Khanh were fired on Thursday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. Hien approved the decision to evict farmer Doan Van Vuon last month. Six police and soldiers were wounded when they stormed the property. Vuon’s family resisted with homemade land mines and improvised shotguns. Another local official, along with the police and army chiefs, were also reprimanded for their role.
UNITED KINGDOM
Punch-up in parliament bar
A lawmaker arrested on allegations he assaulted another legislator during a dust-up in a House of Commons bar has been suspended from the Labour Party, the party said on Thursday. Labour said Eric Joyce has been booted from the opposition party’s parliamentary caucus until police finish investigating the fracas at Strangers Bar. Police said they were called just before 11pm on Wednesday “to reports of a disturbance at a bar within the House of Commons” and that they arrested a man in his 50s on suspicion of assault. Police said on Thursday that the man remains in custody. Police did not name the suspect, but House of Commons Speaker John Bercow told lawmakers that “the honorable member for Falkirk has been detained in police custody.” Media reports said Joyce was heard objecting to the number of Conservative Party members in the room, before striking Conservative Legislator Stuart Andrew.
SLOVAKIA
Chuck Norris leads poll
Internet users have been voting overwhelmingly in favor of naming a new pedestrian and cycling bridge near the capital after 1980s US action film and TV star Chuck Norris. The two other top names in the running for the bridge, which will span the Morava River and cross the border to Austria, were Maria Theresa after an Austro-Hungarian empress and the Devinska cycling bridge, in honour of the closest village. Norris, a martial arts expert turned film star, is known for playing tough guy characters in such movies as Lone Wolf McQuade, Missing in Action and The Delta Force. The final decision will be up to a regional assembly, but Governor Pavol Freso has said it would follow the wishes of the people in the Internet ballot, where Norris leads as the top choice.
CAMEROON
Poachers slay 500 elephants
Nearly 500 elephants have been killed in a national park in less than two months by poachers from Sudan and Chad, a park official said on Thursday. “As of today, we estimate that 480 elephants have been slaughtered in our park,” said Mathieu Fometa of the Bouba Ndjida National Park, near the border with Chad, where the animals roam freely. “Formally, we did count 458 carcasses,” he said, but he cautioned that “these figures may be an underestimate because the park covers 220,000 hectares and it isn’t easy to travel to get accurate information.” On Thursday, a reporter saw 12 elephant carcasses at three sites in the park, some of them having been shot on Tuesday, according to sources. Between last Sunday and Tuesday “our teams counted at least 20 elephants killed,” said Fometa, who added that the killers were still in the park, having said last month that they would stay for three months.
SERBIA
Serbs snub Jolie movie
Only 12 people turned out on Thursday for the national premiere of Hollywood star Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut — a love story set in the Bosnian war — and some walked out before the end. Contrary to widespread rumors, In the Land of Blood and Honey has not been banned in the country, but the reception it got was a far cry from the 5,000 people who cheered Jolie at a gala in Sarajevo last week. Jolie’s film, shot in 2010 with actors from the former Yugoslavia, tells the story of a Muslim woman and a Serbian man who have a fling before the war and meet again when she has been taken prisoner by a Bosnian Serb army unit commanded by her former lover. Serbs however have reacted angrily, arguing that the film portrays them only as villains.
UNITED STATES
Father of driver, 9, sentenced
A man who allowed his nine-year-old daughter to drive him around because he had been drinking was sentenced on Thursday to two years of probation. Shawn Weimer pleaded guilty in December to second-degree child abuse and allowing an unlicensed minor to operate a motor vehicle. He pleaded guilty on condition he would receive no jail time. Weimer was arrested on Oct. 8 last year when police pulled over his van and found his daughter behind the wheel. Surveillance video from a gas station showed the 39-year-old bragging about the girl’s driving skills. “Take care of your child,” Judge Margie Braxton told him on Thursday. Weimer said his daughter had been driving the van along a private road for about 45 minutes before they went to the gas station. He said it was the first time she had driven the van.
UNITED STATES
Sex tape to be destroyed
The purported sex tape of former presidential candidate John Edwards and his mistress will be destroyed within 30 days after a lawsuit over who owned the tape was settled on Thursday. Rielle Hunter sued former Edwards aide Andrew Young and his wife in 2010 over the tape and other personal items the couple said she left in a box of trash while they were helping her hide out, as the former North Carolina senator ran for the White House. Hunter lived with the Youngs while she was pregnant with Edwards’ baby, and Young initially said he was the father. In the settlement, the Youngs agreed to give up their claim to the tape and other property, which has been held in the vault of a North Carolina courthouse. Hunter has long wanted the tapes destroyed. “We are very pleased that this settlement achieved all that she had ever hoped to achieve with this lawsuit,” said Allison Van Laningham, one of Hunter’s lawyers.
UNITED STATES
‘Slave’ awarded US$1.5m
A magistrate in New York City has recommended that a young Indian woman be awarded nearly US$1.5 million for being forced to work without pay for a diplomat from her country. The judge said on Wednesday that Neena Malhotra and her husband, Jogesh Malhotra, forced Shanti Gurung to work without pay by preventing her from leaving the apartment. The judge said the couple also threatened to beat and rape her if she tried to flee. Gurung said she was “essentially kidnapped” from India in 2006 at age 17 and was ordered to give daily massages and perform other chores. The New York Post says the recommendation is subject to approval by the judge overseeing the case. The Malhotras returned to India before the lawsuit was filed.
UNITED STATES
Fake manager steals meal
A man who claimed to be the new manager of a chain restaurant and cooked himself a cheeseburger and fries is facing charges. Police say 52-year-old James Summers, wearing a tie and carrying a briefcase, claimed he was sent by the Denny’s corporate office on Tuesday to be the new manager at a restaurant in Wisconsin. The current manager told him he must have the wrong restaurant. Summers told her she apparently had not received the memo about the change in leadership. Authorities say the manager called her supervisors while Summers helped himself to a meal. WISC-TV said police were summoned and took Summers into custody. Officers said they found a stun gun on his belt. Summers is charged with disorderly conduct, drug possession and possessing an electric weapon.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
People with missing teeth might be able to grow new ones, said Japanese dentists, who are testing a pioneering drug they hope will offer an alternative to dentures and implants. Unlike reptiles and fish, which usually replace their fangs on a regular basis, it is widely accepted that humans and most other mammals only grow two sets of teeth. However, hidden underneath our gums are the dormant buds of a third generation, said Katsu Takahashi, head of oral surgery at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan. His team launched clinical trials at Kyoto University Hospital in October, administering an experimental
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
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