Mid Day International News |
- Underage girl forces classmates into prostitution in China
- Apple loses lawsuit in China, has to pay $1.6bn or rename iPad
- Reward to catch sadist who fed kitten to python
- Arabic pamphlet in Britain-Goa flight triggers alarm
- Fast-food giant fined in Brazil for including toys in kids' meals
- Ex Miss Russia jailed after getting thrown out of rehab
- Zardari suffers heart attack, may quit: report
- Scuba diver creates world record by staying under water for 2 days
- Dad of 16 kids with 14 women says God told him to 'go forth and multiply'
- Baby, 3 others killed in murder-suicide
- Santa traffic warden gets into the holiday spirit
- World's oldest dog dies at 26
- Nasa discovers 'new Earth' Kepler 22b
| Underage girl forces classmates into prostitution in China Posted: A 13-year-old-girl in China pushed her three underage friends into prostitution after suspecting them of disclosing her secret that she was working as a prostitute at a massage parlour. The incident occurred in Henan province. Honghong (name changed) was herself lured into the sex trade to earn pocket money after she quit the school two years ago, the Shanghai Daily quoted a media report as saying. But when her boyfriend broke up with her after learning about her job, Honghong was convinced that her classmates had disclosed her secret and vowed to take revenge, the report added. The underage Honghong and a fellow 17-year-old prostitute threatened to beat the three classmates, aged between 13 to 14, to death if they didn't join prostitution. Fourteen-year-old Xiaoshan (name changed) was coerced into having sex with two men at the massage parlour. The other two 13-year-old girls looked so young that the parlour owner refused to keep them. Honghong was immune from the legal punishment while her helper, Dandan, has been charged with forcing others into prostitution, according to Zhongyuan District People's Procuratorate, a law supervision organ, in the provincial capital Zhengzhou. All the four girls lived in low-rent communities with their migrant worker parents who struggled to make ends meet in Zhengzhou, the report said.
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| Apple loses lawsuit in China, has to pay $1.6bn or rename iPad Posted: Apple Inc suffered a setback in the Chinese market today as a court rejected its lawsuit against a local company for alleged infringement of its 'iPad' trademark, as a result of which it may have to sell the product under a new name in China or cough up USD 1.6 billion. Apple may have to sell its popular iPad tablet computers under a new name in the Chinese mainland in future if it does not first purchase the trademark from a Chinese tech firm as a result of the verdict, official media here reported today. The Municipal Intermediate People's Court in Shenzhen, a southern Chinese city neighbouring Hong Kong, earlier this week rejected a lawsuit by Apple accusing Proview Technology (Shenzhen) of infringing on its 'iPad' trademark. Proview Technology (Shenzhen) is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-headquartered Proview International Holdings Limited, which also has a branch in Taipei. Proview Taipei registered the 'iPad' trademark in a number of countries and regions as early as 2000 and Proview Shenzhen registered the trademark on the Chinese mainland in 2001, long before Apple launched its iPad tablet. Apple bought the rights to use the trademark from Proview Taipei in 2009 with a payment of 35,000 pounds (USD 54,616). However, Proview Shenzhen reserved the right to use the trademark on the Chinese mainland. The two sides have been entangled in a legal battle ever since. Proview Shenzhen, once a famous flat-panel display producer, is now on the brink of bankruptcy due to debts owed to banks in the wake of the global financial crisis. Li Su, the President of Beijing-based Hejun Vanguard Group, a leading management consultancy firm, has been entrusted by banks to assume the post of "debt restructuring consultant" for Proview Shenzhen. "Apple's actions are strange. They had not obtained the rights to use the 'iPad' trademark when they began to sell the iPad on the Chinese mainland in September last year," Huang Yiding of the Hejun Vanguard Group's public relations department was quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency as saying. "Their copyright infringement is very clear. The laws are still there and they sell their products in defiance of laws. The more products they sell, the more they need to compensate," he said. China, where a plethora of Apple products are assembled, is also a major market for iPhones and iPads.
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| Reward to catch sadist who fed kitten to python Posted: British newspaper The Sun has offered a 3,000-pound reward to catch the culprit who fed a kitten to a python, it said on its website Tuesday The cash - on top of 2,000 pounds put up by an animal charity - is for information leading to the conviction of the "sicko" behind the vile crime, it said. The Sun showed scenes from an internet video of the python pouncing on a kitten that had been lowered on to the owner's bed in a Santa hat - as the Christmas song Little Drummer Boy played. Tony Woodley, an inspector at RSPCA, a leading UK animal welfare charity, called it a "sad and deplorable" act and promised to investigate any evidence. The culprit faces six months in jail and a 20,000-pound fine. Elisa Allen, of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) - who are offering the 2,000-pound reward - urged Sun readers to help find the "vicious coward responsible" for the heinous act.
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| Arabic pamphlet in Britain-Goa flight triggers alarm Posted: A pamphlet published in Arabic found in a chartered plane which flew from Manchester airport in Britain to Goa has triggered a security alarm here The alert comes less than two weeks before Prime Minister Mamohan Singh's visit to Goa and a day after the state government formally announced that there was specific intelligence input about a possible terror strike in Goa. While officials are completely tight-lipped about the incident, sources in the Airports Authority of India, Goa, said the pamphlet was found by the crew of the Manchester-Goa chartered flight which was carrying 219 passengers, most of whom were tourists from Britain on a two-week holiday to Goa. "The pamphlet which is in Arabic was found in the aisle after the passengers exited and the crew were readying for a return journey," sources said. The contents of the pamphlet are not clear yet, with no official commenting on the nature of the writing on it. After a formal statement on terror threat was issued by the state government Monday, Home Minister Ravi Naik confirmed a specific terror input on Goa Tuesday. Naik also said that two platoons of central security personnel had reached Goa to guard the beaches, places of historic interest and other vital installations. The prime minister is like to visit the state Dec 18 in order to participate in the celebrations of Goa's 50th anniversary of liberation from the Portuguese rule.
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| Fast-food giant fined in Brazil for including toys in kids' meals Posted: The Consumer Defense Foundation in Sao Paulo fined fast-food giant McDonald's 3.19 million reais ($1.77 million) for including toys in children's meals.
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| Ex Miss Russia jailed after getting thrown out of rehab Posted: A former Miss Russia was kicked out of her rehab programme in US and sent back to jail after she slapped another woman inmate at the rehab facility and made unauthorized trips to the fridge Anna Malova could now face a no-jail, no-record, no-deportation deal on charges of prescription theft and shoplifting. Until the slap incident, Malova had been allowed to stay free on a 44-count indictment on charges of filching prescription sheets from two of her psychiatrists and using them to get the painkillers Vicodin and Klonipin. According to the New York Post, her lawyer, Robert Gottlieb had complained to the court that the drug program and narcotics prosecutors were being too hard on the former Miss Universe finalist. "Drug treatment has its ups and downs," he told Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Marc Whiten, and asked that the ex- beauty queen not be "put in a cage". However, the judge sent her back to jail so she could 'refocus on her infractions.' Malova had been crowned Miss Russia in 1998; she was once linked romantically to billionaire hedge fund biggie George Soros and comedian Garry Shandling.
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| Zardari suffers heart attack, may quit: report Posted: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who abruptly left the Pakistan capital for Dubai, has suffered a minor heart attack and some in the US government believe he may even resign on account of "ill-health", a media report said.
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| Scuba diver creates world record by staying under water for 2 days Posted: A scuba driver in Florida, US set a new world record for the longest saltwater dive when he stayed under water for two whole days, breaking the old record by five minutes. Allen Sherrod spent most of his 48 hours, eight minutes and seven seconds under the sea by kneeling on the seabed floor off at Lauderdale-by-the-sea, Florida, to stablise himself. Rough seas a day into the attempt meant he was buffered by currents and suffered bruised ribs, the Daily Mail reported. The water temperature was consistently about 77 degrees, but when Sherrod's temperature appeared to drop, his team of divers massaged him and helped him swim laps to bring it back up. Throughout the two nights, his team also hauled air tanks to replenish his supply every two hours, said lead safety diver Jose Mijares. During the 48 hours spent underwater, he tried to sleep and communicated with the safety divers by using a magnetic drawing board while drinking chocolate milk and sports drinks. This dive was in preparation for Sherrod's upcoming attempt at breaking the world record for longest distance dive for which he plans to swim from Lake Worth to Bimini in the Bahamas.
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| Dad of 16 kids with 14 women says God told him to 'go forth and multiply' Posted: The British man who has 16 children from 14 different women has denied philandering as the reason for having so many kids, and instead blames his lovers for not taking precautions. Jamie Cumming claimed that taxpayers should foot the bill for his brood's upkeep and boasted that he never uses condoms. Cumming, 35, also refused to rule out having more babies, claiming that he once wanted to be a priest and that he is simply following the Biblical instruction to "go forth and multiply". "I'm getting it in the neck but contraception is a two-way thing. If women don't want a baby, why don't they take the Pill?" the Daily Express quoted the jobless father as saying. He decided to speak out after his furious mother Lorraine, 55, decided last week to publicly criticise his feckless ways. Jamie claims he may have fathered only 10 or 11 of the 16 children attributed to him. But in breathtaking moments of chauvinism and hypocrisy, he condemned women who have children by multiple fathers. "Plenty of women have three or four kids all by different fathers. They don't get flak," he said. "In my mind, it's OK for me to do what I've done because I'm a man. "I've worked most of my days and paid tax. I'm not too worried about what my kids cost. "I liked the Church, the peace of it and the rituals. "One instruction from the Bible I'd remind people of before they judge me is, 'Go forth and multiply'." He was asked to comment about the subject of being promiscuous. "I've sat in loads of bars over the years and heard people moaning about the population falling in Dundee. "I've been doing my best to repopulate the town." Jamie first had sex when he was 17 with his first girlfriend Kelly but did not use contraception. She fell pregnant a year later with Samantha, who is now 16. "I was at the birth and it was really special, but at that age I was never going to settle down." Since then Cumming has fathered child after child, almost one a year, with 14 different mothers. In 2004 he had a particularly busy year when fathering three daughters by three women in March, June and November. Yet he does show some remorse for his rampant behaviour. "I do feel sorry now about the effect having me as a dad has had on the kids. I've never said I'm a great dad. His mother Lorraine had hit at her careless son's lifestyle last week. "It is time for my son to stop fathering babies and start being a father. He is a predator," she said. But Jamie hit back, defending his way od living. "People like asking me if I'm going to have any more kids and I can't rule it out. "I'm looking for the happy-ever-after we all want. "I'm starting to think that one woman could give me that. Everyone wants the fairytale ending," he added.
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| Baby, 3 others killed in murder-suicide Posted: New Jersey man turns the gun on himself after killing his family members; fifth person is currently being treated for non-life-threatening injuries A gunman went on the rampage killing three people, including a baby, and then himself in an apparent murder-suicide on Monday night.
Neighbours in New Jersey said the violence erupted from a domestic dispute in a small, white ranch house near the Bayonne Bridge. A fifth person was rushed to Bayonne Medical Centre and was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Bloodbath Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith, who was at the scene in Avenue A, said initial reports indicated that one person did all the shooting. The suspect is believed to have first fired at two adults, then the infant, and then turned the gun on himself. "It is a tragedy and a senseless loss of life for the family and the community as a whole," the mayor said. Mayor Smith said two other children were in the home at the time of the shooting, but were unharmed. The shootings occurred around 8 pm. When police turned up a woman was outside the house suffering from a gunshot wound. The woman spoke little English but was able to convey to the officers that there were more people shot inside the home, officials said. Police then entered the house and found a man and a woman shot dead. A boy, who was aged one-and-a-half-year-old, had also been shot and was rushed to the hospital, but did not survive, officials said. Police have not identified the victims. The man believed to have been the gunman died inside the home, apparently of a self-inflicted wound, officials said. It was not clear whether he was dead when police arrived or whether he shot himself after police had entered the home. Around 15 to 20 shots were fired, and police believe a gun recovered at the scene was the one used in the killings. Around the neighbourhood, stunned residents were trying to get a handle on what had happened. Has Jones said he heard the gunfire. "I heard four shots and then it stopped, and then I heard screaming and then three more shots," he said. Jones, who lives about 50 feet from the house where the shooting took place, said the person screaming was a woman. Nicole Poesl, who walked several blocks from her home to the scene, said she saw a police officer exit the house, cradling a young girl in his arms. She said she asked police: "What's going on? Murder-suicide?" and an officer shook his head, "yes". 1.5 year The age of the infant that was killed in the shootout on Monday night
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| Santa traffic warden gets into the holiday spirit Posted: Traffic warden Ramiro Hinojas dressed up as Father Christmas to put a little festive cheer into traffic control on a busy street in the city. His eager attitude towards spreading the holiday atmosphere is an attempt on his part to make the traffic jams more bearable for the drivers.
Each year in the Philippines, Christmas celebrations are in full effect as early as September as offices decorate their premises with multicoloured star-shaped lights called Parols, while employees wear costumes. Television channels also get into the mood, as news reporters make sure they remind the public how many days remain until Christmas day. The four-month celebration goes up a gear in the religious part of the holiday from December 16 up to Christmas Eve, when Filipinos begin their daily Simbang Gabi, which translates to evening mass. The saying 'maligayang pasko sa inyong lahat' is common around the workplace, in homes and in Christmas cards, translating as: 'Merry Christmas to Everyone.'
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| Posted: The world's oldest living dog has died in Japan at the age of 26 the equivalent to more than 125 human years. Pusuke, a male cross breed, died peacefully on Monday afternoon at Sakura in Tochigi prefecture. He was recognised by the Guinness Book of Records in December last year as being the oldest living dog on the planet. His owner, Yumiko Shinohara, said her beloved pet had been showing a good appetite and had kept up with his two strolls a day until Monday morning. But he suddenly refused to eat and had problems breathing. He died in the afternoon just five minutes after Shinohara had returned home from a walk. The 42-year-old housewife said, "I think (Pusuke) waited for me to come home." Pusuke was born in March 1985. The previous record was held by a 28-year-old beagle which died in the US in 2003.
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| Nasa discovers 'new Earth' Kepler 22b Posted: Astronomists discover planet that is about 2.4 times the size of our own and lies in the 'Goldilocks zone' of its solar system A new planet outside Earth's solar system has been identified with many similarities to our own making it the latest best potential target for life. Kepler 22b contains both land and water and has temperatures which average around 72 degrees (22 Celsius). It also contains the right atmosphere to potentially support life.
It is, however, 600 light years from Earth. The planet, where a year lasts 290 days, was first spotted two years ago. However, Nasa scientists using the agency's Kepler space telescope have now concluded that it offers the best hope yet for future human habitation outside the Solar System. One of the key criteria for a planet to be habitable is that it remains roughly the right distance from its main star to be neither too cold nor too hot. This range of ideal temperatures is known to scientists as the "Goldilocks" zone, as the temperature is "just right" for life. Bill Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Centre, said, "We have now got good planet confirmation with Kepler 22b. We are certain that it is in the habitable zone and if it has a surface it ought to have a nice temperature." There are now three planets outside the system, known as exoplanets, which experts believe could potentially be colonised by future generations. French astronomers identified Gliese 581d, pronounced gleezer, which is far closer at around 20 light years away. 600 The distance (in light years) that Kepler 22b is away from Earth
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