UNITED STATES
FBI fakes AP story
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and The Associated Press (AP) sent separate letters to Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday expressing concerns that the FBI faked an AP story to catch a bomb threat suspect in 2007. The AP also asked the Department of Justice to account for other times it has posed as a media organization in an investigation. Documents obtained by the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation and publicized this week by American Civil Liberties Union principal technologist Christopher Soghoian revealed that the FBI’s Seattle office forged an AP story to help catch a 15-year-old suspect who had been making bomb threats at a high school.
COSTA RICA
Eruptions force alert
Authorities issued an emergency alert on Thursday after ash from the erupting Turrialba Volcano reached the capital San Jose and beyond. The alert came after a series of eruptions late on Wednesday and early on Thursday. The National Emergency Commission also ordered the closure of the national park around the volcano. In a statement, authorities said 11 people had been evacuated to temporary shelters around the town of Santa Cruz de Turrialba. Falling ash was seen as far away as Ciudad Colon, about 50km away. Authorities are also monitoring two other volcanoes — Rincon de la Vieja, in the northwest, and Poas, in the country’s center.
UNITED STATES
‘Satan’ seeks execution
A Texas death row inmate whose attorneys contend he is so delusional that he cannot understand why he was convicted and condemned has been scheduled for execution. Scott Panetti, 56, was set for lethal injection on Dec. 3, according to a judge’s order received this week by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Panetti has a history of mental problems and his case has been to the Supreme Court at least three times. State attorneys have argued he exaggerates some of his symptoms to avoid execution. Panetti was convicted of fatally shooting his in-laws, Joe and Amanda Alvarado, in their home 22 years ago in front of his estranged wife and young children. His trial judge assigned Panetti a standby attorney after he chose to be his own lawyer at his 1995 trial, where he wore a purple cowboy outfit, flipped a coin to select a juror and wanted to subpoena Jesus Christ and the assassinated former president John F. Kennedy as witnesses. He insisted that only an insane person could prove insanity. “He has a fixed delusion that Satan, working through the state of Texas, is seeking to execute him for preaching the Gospel,” his appeals attorney, Greg Wiercioch, said on Thursday.
UNITED STATES
‘Blurred Lines’ set for trial
The family of Marvin Gaye has won a round in a court battle over allegations that last year’s blockbuster hit song Blurred Lines plagiarized the late Motown legend’s work. A federal judge on Thursday denied a motion by singer Robin Thicke and songwriter Pharrell Williams, who wanted a court to reject the plagiarism accusations made by Gaye’s children. The ruling clears the way for the dispute to head to a celebrity trial that is scheduled to open in Los Angeles in February. The Gaye estate says that Blurred Lines copied elements of the singer’s 1976 track Got to Give It Up. The two sides brought in music experts who dissected the songs’ structures to debate the merits of the claim.
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
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
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
RSS