AUSTRALIA
Seal found in toilet
A woman using the toilets at a cemetery in Tasmania had the fright of her life after finding a large fur seal napping in the cubicle. The discovery of the 120kg animal was even more surprising as he was half a kilometer from the nearest water. “We thought it was a practical joke when we were told,” Karina Moore from Devonport Council said yesterday. The council called in Parks and Wildlife officials who sedated the seal, which they named Sammy, before moving him to a beach and releasing him.
MALAWI
Child sex provider arrested
Police on Tuesday arrested a man who said he was hired by families to have sex with more than 100 young women, including children, in what was described as ritual cleansing. President Peter Mutharika ordered the arrest of Eric Aniva, who told local and international media he had been paid to have sex with young girls. Aniva also told the media he was HIV-positive. Aniva was charged with multiple cases of defilement, Police Inspector General Lexten Kachama said. In interviews, Aniva claimed to be a paid sex worker, known as a “hyena,” hired by families and village elders in the south to have sex with young girls once they reach puberty as a form of ritual cleansing.
UNITED STATES
Beyonce leads MTV nods
Beyonce on Tuesday led nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards, as she basked in acclaim for her intertwined film-album Lemonade. The pop diva was in the running for 11 awards at MTV’s annual extravaganza, which is to take place on Aug. 28 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a shift from the more common venue in Los Angeles. Adele came in second with eight nominations. All but seven were for the chart-topping English balladeer’s Hello, which, with more than 1.6 billion views, is the fifth-most watched video on YouTube.
UNITED STATES
Three charged in NY heist
Three New Yorkers were arrested and charged on Tuesday after criminals blow-torched their way into bank vaults and stole more than US$5 million in a plot akin to Robert de Niro’s heist film Heat. The Brooklyn suspects were detained after a painstaking police and FBI investigation into the robberies at an HSBC branch in Brooklyn in April and a Maspeth Federal Savings Bank branch in Queens in May, officials said. They were part of a crew that cut through roofs and into the vaults using acetylene torches, hiding from view by building a plywood shed on the roof, officials said. Breaking open deposit boxes, they snatched millions in cash, diamonds, jewelry and other valuables, prosecutors said. That included US$330,000 in cash and valuables from HSBC, and US$296,000 in cash and US$4.3 million in valuables from the Maspeth bank.
UNITED STATES
Cop quits over on-duty sex
A Wisconsin police officer resigned after an internal investigation found he had sex nearly 100 times on duty. Hudson Police Chief Marty Jensen on Tuesday confirmed that Officer John Worden stepped down in May, after first being placed on administrative leave. The Star-Observer reported a woman filed a complaint with police in April, saying she had been in a relationship with Worden. The woman reported having sex with Worden in or outside of his police SUV or at her home. The newspaper quoted Worden as saying he “screwed up.”
Heavy rain and strong winds yesterday disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancelations were still widespread after airport authorities said most morning flights were disrupted. Air New Zealand said it hoped to resume services when conditions ease later yesterday, after it paused operations at Wellington, Napier and Palmerston North airports. Online images showed flooded semi-rural neighborhoods, inundated homes, trees fallen on vehicles and collapsed
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken — the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomizing what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness,” or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself.” At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.
Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
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