HONG KONG
Phooey art sells for HK$2m
A popular piece of street art destroyed by the authorities and later recreated has fetched almost HK$2 million (US$258,000) at a Sotheby’s auction, a new record for its French creator. The ceramic mosaic of 1970s US cartoon character Hong Kong Phooey — a mask-wearing dog who is an expert in kung fu — was recreated by high-profile French street artist Invader after being removed from a wall in the territory last year. It was expected to sell for HK$1.5 million, but exceeded that at Tuesday night’s auction when it went for HK$1.96 million. Invader’s Hong Kong Phooey mosaic first went up on a wall in a quiet street in the upmarket Happy Valley neighborhood in January last year, but the artwork was taken down within weeks by the authorities, sparking outrage from residents. The artist recreated the piece after expressing his deep disappointment over its removal.
AUSTRALIA
‘Stupid’ Irish teen fined
A “remarkably stupid” Irish teenager was fined on Tuesday when firefighters had to rescue him after he became stuck in the roof of a nightclub he was trying to enter. Hugh McMahon, 18, was ordered to pay a A$900 (US$736) fine and A$1,700 compensation to the club at Surfers Paradise, on the east coast, a court official said. He had pleaded guilty to charges of trespassing, willful damage and failing to leave a licensed premises. The court heard McMahon had tried to enter the SinCity nightclub in Queensland after he was twice ejected, climbing through an air vent after breaking into the building early on Tuesday, but he became tangled in wires and trapped between pipes in the roof cavity, and the fire brigade had to cut him out. During his rescue, the teenager told police he had attempted similar feats in Ireland and was only caught once, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported. “Drunk or sober, it was an absolutely remarkably stupid thing to have done,” Magistrate Ron Kilner said.
FRANCE
Paris to sue Fox News
The city of Paris said on Tuesday it plans to sue Fox News of the US for reports that there were “no-go zones” in the capital that police and non-Muslims avoid. The reports in the wake of the attacks in Paris two weeks ago have been widely derided and prompted Fox to issue an on-air apology for suggesting parts of Paris and the English city of Birmingham were run under Shariah law. “A complaint will be filed in the coming days,” despite the apology, said a source at Paris City Hall. The news channel broadcast a map outlining the so-called no-go zones, which an expert, Nolan Peterson, said felt like Afghanistan or Iraq. Asked about the prospect of a lawsuit, Fox News executive vice president Michael Clemente said: “We empathize with the citizens of France as they go through a healing process and return to everyday life. However, we find the mayor’s comments regarding a lawsuit misplaced.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Terror attack widow jailed
The widow of a man killed in the 2005 terrorist attacks on the London transportation system has been jailed for stealing money from the compensation fund intended for her son. Louise Gray was sentenced to two years, eight months in prison after stealing ￡43,000 (US$65,000) from her son Adam, who was 11 when his father was killed. Gray had earlier pleaded guilty to the theft. Judge David Goodin said a prison sentence was necessary because she betrayed her son’s trust. He called it “an act of wickedness almost beyond belief.”
RUSSIA
Two performers jailed
Two performance artists were jailed for 10 days on Tuesday after throwing holy water at Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum on Red Square and shouting: “Rise up and leave.” The men were sentenced to 10 days in police cells for petty hooliganism after the protest they carried out on Monday, an Orthodox holiday, a member of their art group, Irina Dumitskaya said. “Ten days for basically just pouring water,’ she said. “When it rains, it pours on the mausoleum too.” The performance was called Exorcising the Devil, Desecrating the Mausoleum,” she said. The two men, Oleg Basov, a dance teacher, and Yevgeny Avilov, a computer programmer, are members of an anti-establishment art group called Blue Rider, Dumitskaya said. In a video of the performance posted on YouTube, the two young men are shown carrying 5-liter bottles of holy water marked with a cross from St Basil’s Cathedral across the square. They move barriers in front of the mausoleum and throw the water at the doors and steps before being detained. Dumitskaya said that the aim of the performance was “to confront two myths,” the Communist idea that Lenin “lives” and the Christian idea of resurrection.
KENYA
Potion kills bus driver
A school bus driver died after drinking a potion brewed by a “witch doctor” to prove he had not stolen books, sparking angry protests from villagers, a report said on Tuesday. The school directors in a village in southwestern Kisii district hired a witch doctor to seek out the thief of school books, with the driver volunteering to drink a potion to prove he was innocent. “The driver was dared ... to prove his innocence by drinking the mixture,” local police chief Simon Kiragu told the Daily Nation newspaper. “The 33-year old collapsed and died immediately after the drink.” Furious villagers then took revenge on school leaders by torching the school bus and the deputy director’s house.
UNITED STATES
‘Rocky’ surprises tourists
A group of tourists who ran up the steps made famous in the movie Rocky in Philadelphia got a knockout photograph at the top — a selfie with Rocky himself. Peter Rowe said he and two friends had just finished racing up the staircase at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Saturday last week when they saw Sylvester Stallone. Stallone then posed for a selfie with the trio, putting up one fist. Stallone made the museum’s steps famous in his first turn as fictional boxer Rocky Balboa, who used them as part of his training regimen. Thousands of people now visit the steps each year to recreate the run and to take pictures with a Rocky statue, which originally was a prop in Rocky III. Stallone is in Philadelphia for the shooting of Creed, the latest installment in the series.
UNITED STATES
Driver ticketed for eating
A man said he was cited by police outside Atlanta for eating a cheeseburger while driving. Madison Turner told Atlanta station WSB-TV that he ordered a double quarter-pounder with cheese from a McDonald’s shortly before he was pulled over last week. Turner said the officer told him he saw him eating the cheeseburger for 3.2km, telling the man: “You can’t just go down the road eating a hamburger.” The ticket, issued under Georgia’s distracted driving law, said in the comments section that the offense was “eating while driving.” Turner is due to appear in court on Feb. 3. Cobb County police spokesman Mike Bowman declined to comment.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
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