Wed, Dec 04, 2013 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  AUSTRALIA

  Gay marriage ruling set

  The nation’s first same-sex weddings can take place this weekend, after the High Court yesterday decided to rule on the law allowing gay marriage in the capital on Dec. 12. The Australian Capital Territory Government, which administers Canberra, passed legislation in October that allows same-sex couples to wed in ceremonies equivalent to those heterosexual couples are entitled to under federal law. The federal government immediately applied to the court to quash the law. The first weddings are scheduled to take place in Canberra on Saturday, the first opportunity under the legal conditions.

  CHINA

  Rover wreckage hits homes

  Debris from the rocket carrying the country’s first moon rover plummeted to Earth in a village more than 1,000km from the launch site, crashing into two homes, a newspaper said yesterday. The incident occurred about nine minutes after the launch of the Chang’e-3 mission on Monday in Suining County in Hunan Province, which has been hit by space wreckage nearly 20 times, the Xiaoxiang Morning Post said. “Three of the roof beams have crashed down on our house and a big hole has been punched into our barn,” a local resident told the paper. A photograph showed a baffled-looking villager peering at the curved shape of what appeared to be a rocket nose-cone frin below a gaping hole in his roof. Authorities gave the residents 10,800 yuan and 5,200 yuan (US$1,800 and US$853) in compensation, the paper said.

  HONG KONG

  US convict loses appeal

  US expatriate Nancy Kissel, who is serving a life sentence for the “milkshake” murder of her Merrill Lynch banker husband, lost a bid to appeal against her conviction yesterday. Kissel, 49, has been in jail since 2005, when she was found guilty of murdering her husband after giving him a drug-laced milkshake and clubbing him to death with a metal ornament in their luxury home. She was convicted for a second time in 2011, following a retrial. The conviction was “neither unsafe nor unsatisfactory” and a significant amount of time had been given to the case, Court of Appeal Judge Wally Yeung said in rejecting Kissel’s appeal. Her defense team had argued that the prosecution made errors in its case, including stating that the murder happened when her husband, Robert Kissel, was on a bed, which they said contradicted testimony from a prosecution expert that the death was more likely to have happened on the floor. They also said the prosecution improperly led the jury to ignore that she was suffering from depression at the time.

  HONG KONG

  Lee items up for auction

  Bruce Lee (李小龍) fans who covet the original yellow jumpsuit that the martial arts legend wore onscreen will get a chance to bid for it at a local auction this week. The jumpsuit is part of a collection of 14 items, including clothing and props, going on the block tomorrow. Lee wore the black-striped suit in Game of Death. He died in 1973 before the movie was finished. An incomplete version was released that year, followed by a feature-length version in 1978 cobbled together with footage filmed posthumously. Lee’s death at 32 from an allergic reaction to painkillers came at the height of his fame. Spink auction house estimates the suit will fetch HK$250,000 to HK$300,000 (US$32,250 to US$38,700). It added that Lee gave the items to friend and former student Taky Kimura, who sold them to the collector. Spink said the collector decided to sell the items this year, which marks the 40th anniversary of Lee’s death.

  ICELAND

  Cops shoot, kill for first time

  Police say they have shot dead a gunman — the first time armed police have shot and killed someone in the nation. They said officers were called to an apartment in the Reykjavik suburb of Arbaer early on Monday when a man fired a shotgun from inside the apartment. Two policemen, who were not armed, were shot when trying to enter the gunman’s apartment. A special armed unit then entered and fired at the man, who was rushed to the hospital, where he died. Iceland, which has a tiny population of about 320,000, has a low crime rate and gun violence is extremely rare. Its regular police force does not carry firearms. National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police Haraldur Johannessen said the incident was unprecedented.

  FRANCE

  Bob Dylan under probe

  US singer Bob Dylan is being investigated after a Croatian community organization alleged that comments he made to Rolling Stone magazine last year amounted to incitement to racial hatred, Paris prosecutors said on Monday. In the interview published on Sept. 27 last year, the singer said racism was holding the US back. “If you got a slave master or [Ku Klux] Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that,” he was quoted as saying. “That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood.” The formal investigation followed a legal complaint from the France-based organization CRICCF alleging that the comments as carried in the French version of the magazine violated French racial hatred laws. In France, racism complaints automatically trigger formal investigations, irrespective of the merits of the case. CRICCF did not return an e-mail seeking comment. Dylan’s manager did not immediately respond to a phone call. Rolling Stone said it had no comment.

  BRAZIL

  Building collapses

  A five-story building under construction collapsed on Monday night in the Sao Paulo suburb of Guarulhos, although there were no immediate reports of casualties. The collapse happened after most workers had left for the day, but it was not known if anyone was still on the site when the accident occurred. Firefighters and other emergency personnel with flashlights climbed over the pile of rubble to check for possible casualties. The collapse came just five days after two construction workers were killed when a crane fell at a Sao Paulo stadium that is scheduled to host the opening game of next year’s World Cup. The accident sparked questions about the nation’s readiness to host the soccer tournament.

  JAMAICA

  Singer Murvin dies at 67

  Reggae singer Junior Murvin, best known for the hit song Police and Thieves, died at Port Antonio Hospital on Monday, his son Keith Smither said. The 67-year-old performer had been hospitalized recently for diabetes and high blood pressure, but the cause of death will be determined at an inquest. Born Murvin Smith, he began his career as a lounge singer in Portland parish, east of Kingston. He released Police and Thieves in 1976 after he was picked up by famed reggae producer Lee “Scratch” Perry. Police and Thieves became a hit in Britain and is considered among the top reggae songs. Murvin never had another big international hit. He is survived by five children and eight grandchildren.
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