SOUTH KOREA
Court rules on ‘Baby Shark’
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected a 30 million won (US$21,648) damage claim by an American composer who accused a South Korean kids content company of plagiarizing his version of Baby Shark, ending a six-year legal battle over the globally popular tune. The top court upheld lower court rulings dating back to 2021 and 2023 that found no sufficient grounds to conclude the company, Pinkfong, infringed on Jonathan Wright’s copyright. Wright, also known as Johnny Only, released his version in 2011, four years before Pinkfong’s, but both were based on a traditional melody popular for years at children’s summer camps in the US.
Photo: AP
MALAYSIA
PM orders probe of attack
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim yesterday said that he has ordered authorities to conduct a swift and thorough investigation into an attack on a former minister’s son. Former minister of economy Rafizi Ramli, who resigned in May, wrote on social media that his 12-year-old son was dragged away and stabbed with a syringe by an unknown assailant while leaving a shopping mall on Wednesday. Last month, Rafizi called for a royal commission of inquiry to probe alleged political interference in the judiciary, among other concerns. Rafizi told a news conference that the attack was “an act of intimidation” to silence him, adding that his wife had received threatening text messages, including on that read: “Shut up! If you continue, AIDS!” followed by three syringe emojis, Rafizi said.
UNITED STATES
Death-faker sentenced
A Rhode Island man accused of faking his death and fleeing the country to evade rape charges was found guilty on Wednesday of sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in his first of two Utah trials. A jury in Salt Lake County found Nicholas Rossi guilty of a 2008 rape after a three-day trial in which his accuser and her parents took the stand. He is to be sentenced on Oct. 20 and is to stand trial next month for another rape charge in Utah County. Utah authorities began searching for Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, when he was identified through a decade-old DNA rape kit in 2018.
UNITED KINGDOM
Lammy fined for fishing
Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy has referred himself to the environment watchdog after going fishing in a carp pond with US Vice President J.D. Vance without a license, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said on Wednesday. Lammy, who failed to catch any fish at his country retreat in Chevening, did not have the rod license needed to angle for freshwater fish.
UNITED STATES
‘Demon rabbits’ normal
A group of rabbits in Colorado with grotesque, hornlike growths might seem straight out of a low-budget horror film, but scientists said there is no reason to be spooked — the furry creatures merely have a relatively common virus. The cottontails recently spotted in Fort Collins are infected with the mostly harmless Shope papillomavirus, which causes wart-like growths that protrude from their faces like metastasizing horns. Viral photos have inspired a fluffle of unflattering nicknames, including “Frankenstein bunnies,” “demon rabbits” and “zombie rabbits,” but their affliction is nothing new, with the virus inspiring ancient folklore and fueling scientific research nearly 100 years ago.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
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