UNITED STATES
Tirade conviction overturned
A Connecticut woman who hurled a variety of insults at a grocery store manager was protected by constitutional free speech rights and is to be acquitted of a misdemeanor charge, the state Supreme Court ruled on Friday. Nina Baccala was arrested in her hometown of Vernon in 2013 after subjecting a Stop & Shop assistant manager to a profanity-laced tirade. Prosecutors said she became enraged when the manager told her it was too late to process a Western Union money transfer. Baccala called the manager “fat” and “ugly,” in addition to profane names, prosecutors said. Baccala, 44, was convicted of breach of peace and sentenced to 25 days in jail. She appealed to the state Supreme Court, arguing that the name calling and insults did not fall within the “fighting words” exemption to constitutional free speech rights. All seven justices on the state Supreme Court agreed the conviction should be overturned. Four voted in favor of acquittal, while three said there should be a new trial.
UNITED STATES
Frida Kahlo fans gather
With unibrows and flowers in their hair, more than 1,000 people came to a Dallas museum dressed as Frida Kahlo as part of an attempt to set a record. The Dallas Museum of Art said more than 5,000 people attended the celebration on Thursday night marking the 110th birthday of the artist. The museum, which partnered with the Latino Center for Leadership Development for the attempt, said evidence would be submitted to Guinness World Records next week and the review process will take up to 12 weeks. Participants were asked to create a unibrow, put flowers in their hair, wear a red or pink shawl and a flower-printed dress. The museum is currently featuring an exhibition called Mexico 1900-1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jose Clemente Orozco, and the Avant-Garde.
UNITED STATES
Greenpeace ‘RESIST’ Trump
Greenpeace advocates unfurled a huge banner across the facade of a Trump hotel in Chicago on Friday, calling it an act of defiance against the US president’s environmental policies. The banner fluttering across the front of the Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago had the word “RESIST” across the top, along with the Greenpeace logo. The word “defend” was superimposed over a picture of the Earth on the enormous flag. News reports said seven people were arrested and the banner taken down. A statement sent by Greenpeace to supporters by e-mail, said the group took the action “to show this administration that the people of Chicago — and people all over the country — will continue to RESIST Trump’s attacks on our clean air and water, and defend our communities and the planet.”
UNITED STATES
Inattentive smoker charged
A Maine man accused of playing video games and smoking pot while his naked toddlers wandered outside has been charged with child endangerment. Investigators say 35-year-old Christopher Peare, of Lyman, told them he had no idea his two and three-year-old daughters had crawled out a window and gone missing for 90 minutes on Thursday night. The mother of the children was not at home. Officials said the children were checked out at a hospital and sent to relatives’ homes while Peare was booked at the York County Jail. Peare was charged with the same crime in 2012 involving a different child in Sanford, state troopers said. It was unclear if he had a lawyer.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
DEMONSTRATIONS: A protester said although she would normally sit back and wait for the next election, she cannot do it this time, adding that ‘we’ve lost too much already’ Thousands of protesters rallied on Saturday in New York, Washington and other cities across the US for a second major round of demonstrations against US President Donald Trump and his hard-line policies. In New York, people gathered outside the city’s main library carrying signs targeting the US president with slogans such as: “No Kings in America” and “Resist Tyranny.” Many took aim at Trump’s deportations of undocumented migrants, chanting: “No ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], no fear, immigrants are welcome here.” In Washington, protesters voiced concern that Trump was threatening long-respected constitutional norms, including the right to due process. The
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