SWAZILAND
Judge in fight over dog
A high court judge has become entangled in battle over custody of a dachshund puppy, which he is accused of dognapping from a neighbor using a falsified court order. Judge Jacobus Annandale allegedly sent police officers with a fake court order to nab the long-bodied pup a few days after selling it. Annandale argues that his neighbor Bhekiwe Dlamini abused the dog and is seeking an interdict to keep it. According to court papers seen on Friday, Annandale alleges Dlamini left the canine to sleep in the cold, infested with flies. Dlamini refused to sell the dog back at double the US$240 asking price, and says the alleged abuse did not concern the judge. A judge last week granted an interim interdict against the neighbor so that a veterinarian can examine the puppy.
FRANCE
‘Psy’ crashes Cannes
A man pretending to be South Korean rapper Psy talked his way into glitzy parties at the Cannes film festival and posed with fans until he was spotted drinking champagne by the real Psy’s manager. Psy, in Singapore on Thursday night to perform at the inaugural Social Star awards, said that Scooter Braun spotted the impostor, took a photograph and sent it to the musician. “He sent it to me, and I tweeted that, like, five, six hours ago, so everybody in France, they know,” Psy told Reuters television at the Singapore ceremony. “Real Psy is here.” Psy became a global sensation last year when the video for his song Gangnam Style went viral. It became the first video to receive more than 1 billion hits on video sharing Web site YouTube.
ZANBIA
Man survives python attack
A truck driver who was forced to kick, bite and stab his way from the clutches of a giant python, said on Friday he was lucky to be alive. Kelvin Katoka, 25, unknowingly ran into the giant snake while driving his excavator in the bush at a copper mine in the northwest. “Within no time, the python was all over my body and it then threw me on the ground,” he said by telephone from his hospital bed, where he has been recovering for nearly a month. Rock pythons are Africa’s largest snake and can grow up to 7m long. Katoka managed to bite the python as it coiled around him and held on in a “long struggle.” “It then clicked to my mind that I had a small knife in my work suit pocket and quickly, I rushed for it,” he said. “I stabbed it in the sides of its body and slowly it started loosening itself, but by then, I had become weak.” The snake once again wrapped itself around his body and “started to apply saliva all over my face in readiness to swallow me,” he said. Two workmates came to where he had been working in Mwininlunga. They killed the python, carried Katoka away and took him to hospital.
SPAIN
Pilot survives plane crash
Officials say the pilot of a small plane carrying three passengers is the only person to survive a crash on the island of Mallorca. The Cessna 172 single-engine plane took off from the island’s Son Bonet de Marratxi airfield just after 5pm on Friday, failed to gain altitude and crashed into a nearby field, a regional Interior Ministry spokesman said. Two men and a woman, all Spanish nationals, died in the accident and the pilot was rescued from the flaming wreckage, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Television images on state broadcaster TVE showed firefighters battling flames and rescuing the badly injured pilot.
UNITED STATES
Teen takes model to prom
A Southern California teenager turned heads at his prom when he showed up with a Danish model as his date. Sports Illustrated model Nina Agdal agreed to step in as Jake Davidson’s date for the traditional high-school dance on Thursday night after he was turned down by supermodel Kate Upton. The teenager appeared in a YouTube video that was viewed more than 2.5 million times asking Upton to be his date. After Upton declined because of a scheduling conflict, Agdal volunteered to go, saying she never got to attend her own prom. The Danish model appears as the bikini-clad sunbather in a Carl’s Jr ad. Davidson told the Los Angeles Daily News he had an incredible night and said Agdal was down to earth.
UNITED STATES
Ohio hero refuses burgers
A man who put aside his McDonald’s hamburger to help rescue three women held captive in an Ohio house said he is not endorsing a group of restaurants offering him free burgers for life. The restaurant where Charles Ramsey worked as a dishwasher initially created a burger named in his honor, then more than a dozen area eateries decided a larger tribute was due. Ramsey said in a written statement released through his attorney on Friday that he does not endorse the northeast Ohio restaurants that are offering burgers bearing his name or promoting a lifetime of free burgers for him. The restaurant group told the Plain Dealer newspaper it will drop the Ramsey burger from the menu and said it is saddened he is not taking the offer in the spirit intended.
UNITED STATES
Actress in court over bong
Actress Amanda Bynes appeared in court on Friday and denied charges of possessing marijuana and tossing a bong out of the window of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment. The former Nickelodeon child star was released on her own recognizance after spending a night in jail after her arrest on Thursday. She was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, reckless endangerment and attempted tampering with physical evidence, according to court documents. All the alleged offenses are classified as misdemeanors rather than felonies. Her attorney at the hearing denied the charges and accused police of entering the actress’ apartment illegally. The actress, 27, who has had several brushes with the law in the past year and is on probation for driving on a suspended license in California, was ordered to return to court on July 9. New York police were called to Bynes’ 47th Street midtown high-rise building after an employee there reported that someone was smoking marijuana in the building’s lobby. Police said they were then directed to Bynes’ apartment, where the actress invited them in. Officers said they detected a strong smell of marijuana in the apartment and observed the bong — a tube-shaped water pipe commonly used for smoking marijuana — in the apartment. Bynes then grabbed the bong and threw it out the window and the actress was taken into custody, police said.
ITALY
Bullets sent to prosecutor
The prosecutor in former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s sex trial has received a series of anonymous threatening letters, including one with two bullets, Milan’s chief prosecutor said on Thursday. The letters sent to Ilda Boccassini have become more frequent since she requested a six-year jail sentence and a lifetime ban on holding public office for Berlusconi, Edmondo Bruti Liberati said.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
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