Friday, February 11, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Chinese woman 'drugs ex-partner, chops off his penis'

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A Chinese woman apparently added sleeping tablets into her former partner's dinner and waited for him to fall asleep before tying his hands and feet and cutting off his penis.

The man died in Royal North Shore Hospital from his injuries, including stab wounds to his jaw and leg, reports the Courier Mail.

Police said Xian Peng had returned from China for a visit and was at the home of his former partner Jian Chen in North Ryde.

Police allege Chen served her de facto soup laced with sleeping tablets.

Peng then fell asleep on the couch where he was tied up before allegedly being stabbed a number of times and his penis severed.

The 48-year-old woman has been charged with grievous bodily harm with intent to murder.

Chen, who owns a one-million-dollar home without any mortgage, appeared before Ryde Local Court on Wednesday and was refused bail.

She moved into the double-storey brick house about 12 years ago and opened a seafood import business, Ocean Meats Australia, in July 2009.

Thai airline hires transsexuals as fight attendants

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A newly formed Thai airline is employing transsexuals as flight attendants, in a bid to provide them equal opportunity.

'Ketoeys' or ladyboys, who are highly visible in mainstream jobs in Thailand, will work as flight attendants on the Asian routes of a charter airline 'PC Air', starting April this year.

PC Air earlier decided to hire males and females for the job but later changed its plan after it received more than 100 applications of transgenders, media reports said.

Airline boss Peter Chan said recruitment, driven by a belief in equal rights, would continue. "I think these people can have many careers, not just in the entertainment business, and many of them have a dream to be an air hostess. I just made their dream come true," he said.

Four ladyboys are initially chosen along with 19 female and 7 male flight attendants, but they will behave like woman in their walk and talk. "Our initial quota was set at three transsexuals, but we will consider taking more in the future depending on their qualifications," a PC Air spokeswoman said.

The transgender attendants will wear a special gold-coloured 'third-sex' name tag to help passengers and immigration authorities know what gender they are dealing with. Thanyarat Jiraphatpakorn, winner of the 2007 Miss Tiffany transsexual beauty pageant, is among the successful candidates.

"At first I thought they would just take applications but not actually recruit us, as has happened at other places before," Thanyarat, 23, was reported as saying by The Nation newspaper.

Transsexuals have higher visibility in Thailand than in many other nations, holding mainstream jobs in a variety of fields. They are especially common in cosmetics shops or health stores, which almost always have a ladyboy shop assistant.

German had '8 children with stepdaughter'

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A German man accused of forcing his stepdaughter to father eight of his children as well as sexually abusing his stepson and daughter goes on trial next week, a court spokesman said on Friday.

The 48-year-old man, named in media reports as lorry driver Detlef S, stands accused of 350 counts of sexual abuse and grievous sexual assault of minors. Between 1987 and 2010, the man is suspected of abusing the trio and even farming the two females out to other men for sexual abuse in exchange for money.

One of the man's neighbours told the Rhein-Zeitung local daily: "We often wondered about the several children in his house. Especially because they looked so much like him." The stepdaughter, now 27, has seven children from her stepfather aged from 11 years to 15 months, her lawyer Katharina Hellwig said. An eighth child died.

Authorities were alerted after the man's real daughter, 18, wrote a goodbye letter to the mother, which was however intercepted by her half-sister, who gave it to social services, Hellwig said. The man was arrested on August 10, 2010 and has been in custody ever since.

The mother, who is in her 50s, is expected to appear as a witness in the trial and prosecutors are not charging her with any offence, Hellwig added.

"It looks as if she repressed what went on," the lawyer said. The trial is set to begin at the regional court in Koblenz, western Germany, on Tuesday. "The crimes are so horrific that even experienced lawyers are shocked," the Rhein Zeitung said.

The case bears some similarities to that of Josef Fritzl in neighbouring Austria, who held his daughter Elisabeth as a sex slave in a cramped windowless dungeon for 24 years. Fritzl raped her thousands of times, fathering seven children with her and letting one of the newborn babies die. He was sentenced to life in prison in March 2009.

Don't just eat dinner, wear it

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If you really loved your meal at one New York restaurant, you can now walk out with the skin of the animal you ate.

Marlow & Sons, an eatery in the city's trendy Williamsburg neighbourhood, wants clients to be able to remember their meals forever by purchasing items such as bags made from the hide of cows and other animals served up from the kitchen.

"We want something people could enjoy beyond their dinner," said Kate Huling, wife of the owner.

"They come in, they eat, they leave and usually think of something else. So the bags really preserve and honour that animal."

Belts, wallet and hats and sweaters using wool and rabbit fur will also be on offer once the animal in question has been eaten.

The idea will be a boon for struggling local tanneries, Huling said.


First kiss proves deadly for teen

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A teenager collapsed and died minutes after her boyfriend kissed her for the first time, an inquest heard yesterday.

Shy Jemma Benjamin (18), was kissed by fellow university student Daniel Ross (21), at his home after a night out together.


Daniel noticed her frothing at the mouth

But superfit hockey player Jemma then suddenly slumped onto the sofa and died in front of Daniel's eyes.

The inquest heard Jemma died from the rare cardiac condition SADS Sudden Arrhythmac Death syndrome - which kills 500 people in Britain each year.

Daniel, who had known Jemma for three months, tried desperately to save her before paramedics arrived on the scene.

But the inquest heard nothing could have been done for Jemma who was killed by the adult version of cot death syndrome.

Daniel told police that he and Jemma had been friends for three months but, that was the first time they had kissed.

He said, "It was not a sexual relationship but we saw each other a couple of times a week. We were going to go to a bar for some food and went back to my house for a credit card which I had forgotten."

He added, "We were talking and ended up kissing in the hallway by the front door. We went into the kitchen and then the living room and Jemma sat down on the sofa."

Daniel said that Jemma's eyelids "suddenly began to droop" and her mouth started to froth before she collapsed.

He said, "I rang her mother to see if she had epilepsy. She fell in and out of consciousness."

He later rang the paramedics and was given CPR instructions on the phone by a Welsh Ambulance Service control operator but he was unable to revive Jemma.

Jemma's father Dale told the hearing that he thought Jemma and Daniel were "just friends". He said, "Jemma was very shy and timid."

Her mother Charlotte Garwood said Jemma was "a picture of health one minute and taken away from me the next".

A post-mortem examination by pathologist Dr Jason Shannon could find no medical reason for her death in April 2009.


Teen bomber kills 30 Pakistan troops

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A teenage suicide bomber has killed up to 31 Pakistani army recruits at a parade ground, an attack the Taliban said was revenge for US drone strikes and local military offensives.

Wearing a school uniform, the young teenager blew himself up yesterday at the parade inside a heavily guarded military compound just outside the town of Mardan, killing the soldiers with shrapnel and explosives, officials said.


Pakistani police examine the site of a bomb blast about 65 kilometres north of Lahore yesterday

It is the deadliest suicide bombing in Pakistan since a woman with a bomb strapped under her burqa killed
43 people at a UN food distribution point on Christmas Day in the tribal district of Bajaur.

The Taliban claimed responsibility and threatened "bigger attacks" in coming days to avenge American drone strikes and Pakistani military operations targeting Islamist militants in the north-western tribal belt.

"It was a suicide attack. The teenager bomber was on foot and was wearing a school uniform," said Abdullah Khan, a senior police officer in Mardan, about 30km from the regional capital, Peshawar.

"The death toll has now reached 31 recruits. Thirty-six have been injured, 16 of them are critical," added Khan.
"The bomber was about 14 or 15-years-old.

He was not a student at the school inside the regiment. He came from outside but was dressed like the other schoolboys."

After the attack, soldiers in bulletproof jackets and helmets cordoned off the entire area around the Punjab Regiment Centre, deploying jeeps mounted with machine guns and preventing access to the site.

"We proudly claim this suicide attack," said Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"We will continue such attacks on those people who are providing security to the Americans. These attacks are to avenge the drone attacks and military operations in the tribal areas."

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack at the Punjab Regiment Center.


Beckham rescues stranded family

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He is one of the world's biggest stars, used to having his every whim catered for by aides.

However, former England football captain David Beckham yesterday showed he too could do something for others when he helped a stricken driver.

Beckham has been training with Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur and living at the luxurious Beckingham Palace home, Hertfordshire.


Beckham helped a man whose car had broken down after a session at the club

En route to Tottenham's training ground in Essex yesterday, he saw a Nissan Primera had broken down on a busy roundabout.

The 35-year-old pulled over in his car and went to help the stricken driver, Paul Long, a photographer.

The star's Good Samaritan moment came to light when Long rang presenter Richard Bacon during his Radio Five Live afternoon show yesterday.

Long explained, "I work from home as a photographer so I take the kids to school."

He added, "I had two kids in the back. Some people were getting a bit angry. But no one stopped [to help] for 10 minutes.

Then this car pulled over in lay-by and I saw this figure wearing a hoodie step out. As he came nearer, it became clear it was David Beckham."

"I was so shocked I just said, 'You're David Beckham." He nodded and when I asked for help, he did."
Afterwards, an indebted Long said, "Thanks David - I love you."

Last night, a spokesman for Beckham confirmed the incident had taken place but declined to comment further.

No Facebook
A day after Michelle Obama said that she did not want her daughters on Facebook, Beckham said that his sons were also not a part of the social networking site.


Defiant Mubarak refuses to quit

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Egypt Prez shocks hopeful nation, says he will transfer power only after September's election; adds he will not give in to 'foreign diktats'

President Hosni Mubarak addressed an expectant Egypt late last night, saying that he had delegated some powers to his vice president, Omar Suleiman, but would not leave the country.


Tens of thousands of Egyptians at Tahrir Square waved shoes and yelled 'Get Out' during his speech

In a televised speech, he said he was addressing Egypt's youth, people in Tahrir Square and the nation, acknowledging the honesty of the demands of the protesters and their intentions.

"By confirming the needs of the people, and by putting Egypt first, I will dissolve the upper levels of government effective immediately and hand my power over to my vice president," Mubarak said.

"This is a major moment of change."

But Mubarak said he was not leaving Egypt, and said he "cannot and will not accept to be dictated orders from outside" and would remain until elections in September.

"I will not separate from Egyptian soil until I am buried underneath," Mubarak said.

Mubarak said he had requested six constitutional amendments, answering one of the demands of the protesters. He said he would lift hated emergency laws when security permitted.


An anti-government protester holds up a sign as news of the possible resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak seeped into Tahrir Square late last night

Earlier, two sources had said that Mubarak was expected to step down, losing his 30-year grip on power after 17 days of dramatic mass uprisings across the nation.

Mubarak's speech added to the confusion over who would run the nation.

Mubarak also vowed to punish those behind the violence over the past two weeks and offered condolences to the families of those killed.


Posted by Harshad at 7:42 AM

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