Tag: world in brief

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City in brief
by Kalina Laframboise and Catlin Spencer

It’s not a girl, it’s a chief executive officer

After nine months of steering the Montreal University Health Centre, Normand Rinfret was named permanent chief executive officer of the operation after a unanimous decision by the board of directors. Rinfret stepped up following the former CEO Arthur Porter’s resignation. Porter left amid accusations of shady business dealings and criticisms from other board members. Rinfret’s worked for MUHC since 1979 and is now leading the superhospital project slated to finish in 2014.

The next Ryan Gosling?
“Hey girl,” croons Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois as he stares into the eyes of a blonde who sits across from him on a park bench. He may no longer be a leader of the student strike movement but he has been keeping busy by avoiding kidnappers known as Le Rabbit Crew. The aforementioned crew posted a video on YouTube on Sept. 5 which already has more than 48,000 views. Similar to Anonymous, Le Rabbit Crew don bunny masks while fighting the tuition hike and claim to be “you, him, her, in the hearts of strikers, an idea; we do not forgive, we do not forget, prepare yourselves!”

Introducing Bell-flix
As part of it’s plan for the acquisition of Astral media, Bell will be launching it’s own version of Netflix to compete with, asides from Netflix itself, other big online television and entertainment U.S. providers like Apple, Google and Amazon. Bell’s “made-in-Canada” version will play media in French and English and will contribute back to Canadian programming unlike Netflix which does not pay taxes in Canada. While it hasn’t been said when or how much the service will cost, Bell CEO George Cope did say that the service will be available to all Canadians through any cable, satellite or online television service provider.

Give us the data already!
The federal government has been ordered by the courts to hand over records gathered about Quebec’s gun registry to the provincial government. Judge Marc-Andre Blanchard ruled that the data could not be viewed as strictly ‘federal’, and that Quebec has the right to have it. Quebec courts accused the federal government of violating conventions of Canadian federalism and gave them 30 days to turn over the registry data. However, the issue is expected to be brought before the Supreme court of Canada and the legal battle to continue.

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Nation in brief
by Elizabeth Tomaras

Canada and Iran break it off
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced the Harper administration’s decision to sever ties with Iran on Sept. 7, explaining that there were significant concerns of terrorism and the safety of Canadian diplomats in the region. Canadian diplomats will return home, while Iranian diplomats have until Sept. 12 to leave Canada. Baird also cited the state’s refusal to adhere to United Nations guidelines concerning their nuclear development program, along with its anti-Israel stance. Iranian-Canadians are being redirected to Turkish consulates and embassies for any concerns they may have.

Victoria Police investigate free baby offer
Police are investigating an unusual online advertisement offering an infant for sale in Victoria, British Columbia. The posting provided a photo of the baby, offering it for free because of “times are hard” and was quickly reported to Victoria authorities by individuals pursuing the website Monday. The advertisement was removed from the Used Victoria website, that boosts used goods, and is now under investigation. Victoria Police are trying to track down the parents and confirm that the child is safe.

Man charged in Toronto dismemberment case
Chun Qi Jiang of Toronto sat in a Brampton, Ont. courtroom on Monday, Sept. 10. He has been charged with the murder and dismemberment of his estranged ex-girlfriend Guang Hua Liu whose body parts were discovered Aug. 15. Not all of Liu’s parts have been found. Jiang was not previously known to police however became a prime suspect once Liu’s remnants were uncovered. Jiang was arrested on Sunday, Sept. 9 in his hometown.

Making the best of a stormy situation
With Hurricane Leslie’s impending havoc on the maritimes, one group of enthusiasts are grabbing their gear and heading out – and it isn’t the storm chasers. “This is a pretty big event,” said David Hamp-Gonsalves, a surfer who hangs ten in Cow Bay on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia. The approaching severe weather is causing waves more than three metres high. Hurricane Michael is also set to make landfall however meteorologists suspect Leslie will push him out.

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World in brief
by A.J. Cordeiro

Talk about a hole-in-one
Golf is supposed to be a relaxing activity which allows players to blow off steam. In this case however, someone ended up blowing a gasket. Jeff Fleming, 53, is accused of opening fire on two men on a golf course in Reno, Nevada. He was reportedly upset after a stray golf ball broke a window of his home overlooking a golf course. One man was shot during the incident, brought to hospital and then released Friday.

Good luck, Mittens
It’s that time of year again. With the Democratic National Convention closing last week, the campaigns are now in full swing, as voters and politicians alike are campaigning for votes. The much-anticipated American elections will take place on Nov. 6. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney suffered a recent drop in the polls following the DNC. Major issues will revolve around the economy (taxes, debt, and jobs), health care, same-sex marriage, the environment, abortion, and immigration.

So many bills, so little time
SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, and now TPP. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement between a number of nations including Canada, Australia, Chile, and Singapore, has internet activists smashing their keyboards. Net-rights lobby groups are raising concerns over the TPP’s wording, which uses language heavily favouring intellectual property owners. Under the agreement, those charged with internet piracy could face punishments ranging from simple take-down notices all the way to requiring Internet service providers to cut off access. Activists and lobbyists alike have been working with a 2011 leaked edition of the agreement, as the actual agreement remains sealed.

What will they think of next?
The iPhone 5 was officially announced this week. This is the first smartphone release since Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ passing. The phone boasts the ability to run on LTE carriers (faster than 3G), and will include several other upgrades including a taller screen, a RAM boost for better app functionality, and a thinner design. The recently released iOS 6 will take full advantage of the new capabilities. Other releases by the technology giant will include new iPod Touches, Nanos and Shuffles.

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City in brief
by Kalina Laframboise

Laval woman will face charge of attempted murder
A 36-year-old woman who jumped off an overpass into oncoming traffic with her child in her arms will be charged with attempted murder. During the evening on Thursday, Aug. 30, the woman jumped from the Highway 20 overpass on Fenelon Boul. in Dorval with her three-year-old daughter. She did not land in oncoming traffic but suffered fractures to her legs and lower body. The child was unharmed. The woman was supposed to appear at the Montreal Courthouse on Friday but was still in hospital.

Labour day luck
Three suspects fled the scene of a taxi shooting Monday morning in Pointe-Aux-Trembles. Several shots were fired at the taxi when it was sitting at an intersection on Notre-Dame St. According to Montreal Police, the window of the taxi was shattered but no one was hurt and the three suspects were in a black car which took off eastbound after shots were fired. Police believe the passenger of the taxi had an argument with one of the three suspects.

You can make friends with salad
McGill University students won yet another award, and this time for a giant fruit salad. On Tuesday, Aug. 28, McGill broke the Guinness World Record for the largest fruit salad of all time. It was done as part of orientation week to promote a healthy lifestyle. The fruit salad weighed in at 5,038 kilograms and most of the fruit was produced at Macdonald Campus Farm. The salad was the size of a small swimming pool and officially beat Fresno State University by at least 700 pounds. Following the weigh-in, the students sent the food to different shelters in Montreal.

A kiss with a fist is better than none
On Labour Day, Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois and Premier Jean Charest were pranked on air in an impromptu interview. Radio station WKND 91,9 FM had Charest join Marois on air before being forced to answer questions about what they like about one another. Compliments were flying the day before the provincial election Sept. 4.

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Nation in brief
by Cynthia Dupuis

Calling all animal lovers
An SPCA in Saint John, New Brunswick, has received over $10,000 in donations after announcing that they may have to close their doors due to financing. “Animals don’t have a voice of their own, they need somebody to speak for them. That’s what’s really got everybody’s attention,” said Margaret Cornfield, the president of another non-profit group which helped to raise funds. The community really seems to have rallied around the organization with most of the money coming in within the first few days of the news. A member of the Board of Directors for the shelter said recently that they hope to raise $200,000 by Saturday in order to keep the place open.

Call me, call me anytime mais seulement en français
The Quebec Liberal Party filed a complaint with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) on Monday, on the eve of the elections, regarding unethical robocalls. The party claims the calls were made in the party’s name to voters in the Quebec City region. The robocalls were allegedly made in English only in the largely francophone region. Allegations of unethical robocalls were also made following the last federal elections. On Monday, a spokeswoman for the SQ could not confirm an official complaint had been filed.

Phaneuf gets the girl now if only he could get the cup…
Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert, of Girl Next Door and Happy Endings fame, and Toronto Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf are officially engaged. Over dinner in at New Glasgow Lobster restaurant in Prince Edward Island, the two announced the news to close family and friends. Once source reported that the glowing bride-to-be was sporting a massive diamond ring at the event. The engagement was kept a secret until that night, where screams and applause could be heard from the private dining room. Only 35 guests were in attendance at the New Glasgow Lobster restaurant. The Canadian couple have been dating since 2008.

Torso found in Niagara River
The search for more body parts after the discovery of a woman’s torso in the Niagara River ended this Saturday. The Niagara Regional Police claim they have completed their search of the whirlpool to the Niagara Falls. Experts believe the torso had been in the water for four to 10 days before passersby alerted the authorities on Wednesday. Preliminary post-mortem results show the torso belongs to a Caucasian woman between 20 and 40-years-old.

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World in brief
by Cynthia Dupuis

What do you mean I can’t have my money back?
The Wall Street Journal reports that eBay will no longer be selling things like potions or magical spells to online customers. Yes, there’s a market for that. Metaphysical items are now banned from the online shopping and auctioning giant. Although it has made up a large portion of their market since 1995, eBay said it’s just too much trouble since shoppers will often purchase spells that fail to work and then complain about it.

That’s no spring chicken
A Nigerian man was arrested at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria, when the Nigerian police discovered he was smuggling $150,000 worth of cocaine stuffed in roasted chickens. The Nigerian authorities explained that the suspect, Vincent Chegini Chinweuwa, saw the 5.7 pounds of cocaine as an opportunity for retirement and a life of luxury in Nigeria, after struggling to make a living in Brazil. Nigeria is a major transit point for drugs coming from Latin America. The ways to smuggle drugs onto airplanes are endless. Authorities have found drugs hidden inside the fabric of suitcases, sewn into wigs, hidden phone chargers, and even in a stethoscope.

Facebook murder solved
A 15-year-old Dutch boy was sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment in juvenile detention for the “Facebook murder” case in the Netherlands. The teenage boy was found guilty for the stabbing of a 15-year-old girl. The Arnhem District Court said the convicted teenager did not know the victim and that he had murdered her “at the request or instructions of others” on the social networking site Facebook. The Dutch media reported that the victim and two friends argued for weeks on the social networking site. They then allegedly asked the teenage boy to kill the girl. Reports also say he was offered a 1,000 euro ($1,250) payment.

Hurricane leaves 250,000 people without electricity
One week after Hurricane Isaac hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, the residents of the affected areas are still struggling with severe flooding and hundreds of thousands of people have no electricity. The hurricane caused the death of seven people in the United States – five in New Orleans and two in Mississippi. Thousands fled their homes and are currently staying in shelters or with friends and family. President Barack Obama visited Louisiana and the devastated parishes on Monday, while Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney toured the state last Friday. Hurricane Isaac hit the coastal city of New Orleans seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the southern state.

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City/Nation/World in brief

City in Brief:
A warm welcome
As UQAM students tried to resume what was left of the previous winter semester, they were greeted by protesters rather than teachers. On Monday, Aug. 27, about 100 classes were cancelled after an estimated 20 loud protesters showed their disdain for the resuming of the semester that was cut short back in February. Courses at Universite de Montreal were also disrupted by protesters. An eviction notice was given by the SPVM to the group rallying at U of M who dispersed soon after.

Nation in Brief:
Woman’s mutilated body found in Mississauga
Several body parts of dismemberment victim Guang Hua Liu have been found last week in locations surrounding the Greater Toronto Area. Her torso and other body parts are still missing but police are trying to focus on the details surrounding her death. The 41-year-old mother of three fled China 10 years ago after violating the country’s birth control policies and filed for refugee status upon her arrival to Canada. Little is known about her life in Canada but Liu’s estranged ex-boyfriend Chun Qi Jiang was arrested on Monday, Aug. 27.

World in Brief:
Tropical Storm Isaac heads for familiar ground
Though not a hurricane yet, Tropical Storm Isaac is about to hit Americans where it hurts; New Orleans. The weak system is set to make landfall on Wednesday when forecasters predict it will have gained hurricane strength. As the approaching anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation nears, it is unsure what Isaac will unleash. “That brings a high level of anxiety to the people of New Orleans,” Mayor Mitch Landrieu was quoted as saying by CNN. However, the storm will not become strong enough – only reaching Category 1 compared to Katrina’s Category 3 – to cause the same damage that occurred seven years ago.

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World in brief

Annals of the Internet
How to briefly sum up the Internet over the last few days? Let’s see: much of the Internet went dark on Wednesday to protest SOPA and PIPA, proposed American bills to combat online piracy and infringement, to the detriment of people doing homework. Millions participated to highlight the risk of censorship, leading legislators to suspend action on the bills on Friday. That same day, four men were arrested in connection to charges that online file storage giant Megaupload.com is a huge money launderer responsible for criminal copyright infringement. Hactivists responded by hacking the U.S. justice department’s website. Meanwhile, Kim Dotcom, the quirky, porky German multimillionaire and co-founder of Megaupload, was arrested in a raid at his Auckland mansion on Friday, brandishing a sawed-off shotgun in a safe room.

You’ll need to Google your desserts to find them
Fortune has named Google as the Best Place to Work for a record third time in a row. Co-founder and CEO Larry Page sat down with the magazine to share his management ethos: “It’s important that the company be a family, that people feel that they’re part of the company.” Google has long been famous for offering employees perks like free food and massages, but Page showed he wasn’t afraid to be the disciplinarian of his high-tech family by keeping sweet things out of reach. “We started putting the desserts around a wall, just around the corner, to keep minions healthy,” he told reporter Adam Lashinsky in a Q&A. Just guessing, Larry – if your pampered, genius employees crave something sweet, they will likely track it down, regardless of where you stash the cheesecake.

Saddam once again the Butt of jokes
Because apparently there’s a market for this sort of thing, Trebletap is a company that transforms war memorabilia into works of art. But director Jim Thorpe may be in a spot of trouble over a particular piece of ass. He was arrested on suspicion of illegally holding onto a prime piece of a statue of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It was taken down in central Baghdad at the end of his reign in 2003, and company founder Nigel Ely used a sledgehammer and chisel to snag a two-foot piece of Hussein’s bronze buttock. Ely brought it to the U.K., intending to sell it at auction for charity. The Iraqi government complained to British officials last week, and Thorpe was questioned under a UN order that forces anyone holding on to Iraqi cultural property to hand it over to the police.

A nail to the head ain’t nothing to fuck with
Dante Autullo didn’t notice he had shot a 8.25 cm nail in his skull in his suburban Chicago workshop on Tuesday, but he did feel nauseous the next day. It was only when his fiancee Gail Glaenzer persuaded him to go to the hospital that doctors discovered that a nail gun had indeed fired into his head, missing the area of the brain that controls motor function by millimetres. The 34-year-old’s sense of humour remains totally intact: Glaenzer told the Associated Press that Dante was in good spirits after a two-hour surgery to remove the nail, asking her to “get the TV cameras” because “I’m one of those medical miracles.”

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World in brief

Gold star for good behaviour
The U.S. Marines have begun a criminal investigation and an internal inquiry into a video that shows four Marines urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban troops.The video, released Thursday, surfaced amidst talks between the Obama administration, the Afghan president and the Taliban. A U.S. Forces general issued an order Friday in response to the video, reminding troops to treat bodies with “appropriate dignity and respect.” Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee decided to throw in his two cents, defending the Marines’ actions via Twitter using the hastags “#WhoCares” and “#ThoseDudesTriedToKillOurDudes.”

Apple and omelettes
Chinese customers and phone scalpers egged an Apple store in Beijing on Friday when the company cancelled the sale of the iPhone 4S due to the size of the crowd.The AP reported that at one point, the crowd numbered about 2,000 people. Many left after they heard the store would not open at 7 a.m. as scheduled. An Apple spokesperson later issued a statement saying the iPhone 4S won’t be sold in Chinese mainland retail stores for the foreseeable future.

There isn’t enough Midol in the world…
Like many women, Hazel Jones, 27, suffered from heavy periods and bad cramps when she was going though puberty. Unlike most however, she was never sure “which hole” to put her tampon in. She decided to see a doctor after her long-term boyfriend told her she was “different” down there and different, she is – Jones has two vaginas.The condition, uterus didelphys, occurs to one in 3,000 female babies in the womb. Jones, who lives in High Wycombe, England, revealed on a British morning show that she lost her virginity twice and has “a great sex life.”

Privacy please?
Last week, a high school in North Texas removed all the doors leading from the hallways into the bathrooms. A school district spokesperson explained to a CNN affiliate they did it in order to better supervise the students. But some students are saying they did it to prevent other students from having sex in the bathroom. Though the school denies any reports of sex on campus, the school’s principal recently held an assembly to discourage public displays of affection, which were deemed to be getting out of hand.

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World in brief, Dec. 6

Last dictator standing at Christmas
Nando’s, a restaurant chain based in South Africa, has withdrawn a controversial ad after it received threats from Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s youth militia. The ad, for the chain’s six-piece chicken combo, shows Mugabe setting out dinner name tags for his fellow dictators, now deposed. He then pauses to reminisce about his time with them, in a flashback set to Mary Hopkin’s “Those Were the Days.” The president has a water-gun fight with Moammar Gadhafi, makes sand angels with Saddam Hussein and sings karaoke with Mao Tse-tung before coming back to reality to find himself alone at his dinner table at Christmas. According to the BBC, the youth militia branch Chipangano had called for Nando’s to withdraw and apologize for the ad or face boycotts. It is considered an offence under Zimbabwean law to insult Mugabe or undermine his authority. You can still catch the ad on YouTube.Rubber on, L.A. porn
Actors in the Los Angeles adult film industry may soon be required to use condoms in their movies, if an initiative of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation is passed. The group gathered 64,000 signatures to ensure the initiative is put on a ballot. However, not all are pleased with the effort, which is meant to reduce the threat of transmitting sexually transmitted infections on set, the Los Angeles Times reported. Free Speech Coalition, a porn lobbying group, says the testing currently offered by the industry is sufficient. The initiative would also allow the city to charge a fee to inspect film sets. Cases of HIV-positive porn actors have led to several temporary shutdowns of the L.A. porn industry, most recently in August of this year.

World won’t end in 2012
The Mayan calendar is often said to predict that the apocalypse is in December 2012. But a new interpretation says that the calendar actually predicts the end of an era, and not the world itself. Mayan codes researcher Sven Gronemeyer told the Associated Press that the date marked the return of the Mayan god of creation and war. It would also mark the end of one of the 400-year periods into which the Mayan calendar is divided. According to Mexico’s National Institute for Anthropological History, only two out of 15,000 Mayan texts mention the date, and no Mayan text predicts the end of the world.

Christmas cheer overload
Too much Christmas cheer in stores has a negative impact on the purchasing habits of shoppers, researchers from the University of Oxford have found. According to The Telegraph, as stress levels run high due to the pressures of the holiday season, people are less willing to spend money in stores which have gone overboard with the holiday spirit. Nancy Puccinelli, the researcher who led the study, explained the holiday atmosphere can actually make stressed shoppers feel worse. The result can be less traffic and fewer sales for retailers in the short-term and losing customers in the long run, Puccinelli said.

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World in brief

Alcohol-free venue opens in UK
Liverpool, the “recovery capital” of Britain, is now home to the country’s first “dry” bar. Brink, a self-funded, alcohol-free bar, caters to those recovering from drug and alcohol addictions. The establishment, which has been open since September, stems from an initiative by a charity called Action on Addiction. The city has the highest level of alcohol-related hospital admissions in the country, and plays host to 33 AA meetings every week. According to The Guardian, the bar is popular among single women and members of the Muslim community. The bar also works to reintegrate recovering alcoholics into its staff.

Hands-free video game
Video games installed at the urinal stands in a UK bar have proven to be both popular and profitable. Captive Media installed digital screens above urinals in a Cambridge bar, where men can play one of three games which are controlled by the flow of pee. On average, a man spends 55 seconds staring at the wall while using the urinal, according to Business Weekly. The screens (which are fully splash-proof) play ads before and after the video game which feature a drink that can be bought at the bar. Once they are done, men can post scores to Twitter and to a leader board to compete with their friends. Captive Media intends to place the screens in other venues early next year. http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/hi-tech/13154-wee-meets-wii-in-pee-tv

Worse than a cream pie
India Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was slapped by an angry citizen last week as he walked up the steps to a government building in Delhi, the BBC reported. Harvinder Singh said he slapped the minister because he is upset about corruption and high inflation. Singh was taken away by police after the hit. He said he also tried to attack former telecoms minister Sukh Ram, who received a five-year prison sentence for accepting a bribe. This is not the first time a high-profile government employee has been assaulted in India. On separate occasions, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Leader of the Opposition LK Advani have all been on the receiving end of shoes thrown at them.

Like Steve McQueen
Six inmates living in the Mexican penal colony Islas Marias were recaptured on Thursday after they escaped and tried to swim to shore using empty plastic gas or water tanks to stay afloat. According to the Associated Press, the inmates were 90 kilometres south of the colony and approximately the same distance from coastal resort Puerto Vallarta when a boat saw them and tipped off the navy. The stunt seems to be straight out of the 1973 movie Papillon, where Steve McQueen’s character escapes from a penal colony in French Guiana using largely the same technique. Islas Marias, which lies about 110 kilometres from the mainland, has been the last island penal colony in the region after Panama closed Coiba Island in 2004. There are between 1,000 and 1,200 inmates living in the colony. They live in small houses and are not usually locked up.

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World in brief

Congress deems pizza a vegetable

On Thursday, the U.S. Congress passed a bill which allows pizza to continue being counted as a vegetable in school lunches. The move comes after the legislative body blocked proposed changes on Monday to the U.S. school lunch program intended to combat childhood obesity. As they stand, the current rules count a quarter-cup of tomato paste as a vegetable serving. The frozen food industry thought that the new rules, which would have required that more tomato paste be included on a pizza to earn vegetable status, would have made the food unappetizing, according to The New York Times.

Two arrested in connection to Craigslist murder scheme

A man and a teenager from Akron, Ohio have been arrested in connection with a plan to murder respondents to job search advertisements on Craigslist, the BBC reported. The teenager has been charged with attempted murder, while the man has yet to face charges. A first victim escaped from a remote, wooded Ohio property with a wound in the arm after having a gun pointed at the back of his head. The South Carolina man had responded to an ad on the website for a job as a farm-hand. After the incident was reported, a woman called police to say that she hadn’t heard from her brother, who had also responded to an ad for help on a farm, in weeks. A body of a Florida man was subsequently found in a grave nearby; the cause of death is currently unknown.

Brazil oil spill might be bigger than expected

An oil spill that has been leaking off the coast of Brazil since Nov. 8 could be bigger than estimated, Rio de Janeiro state environment minister Carlos Minc said on Friday. Federal police said Chevron, the oil company which owns the well, drilled 500 metres deeper than allowed. The spill has not yet been contained, and its exact cause is not yet known, the Canadian Press reported. While Minc did not disclose how much oil had been spilled, Chevron has said the damage hovers between 400 and 650 barrels of oil, a figure contested by the National Petroleum Agency and nonprofit group SkyTruth. Chevron has 18 ships working to collect oil off the surface and is currently working on plugging the well.

PM turned pop star

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has announced the impending release of his album of love songs, according to ANSA, an Italian news agency. Nov. 22 will mark the release of “Il Vero Amore,” or “The True Love,” his fourth studio album with singer Mariano Apicella. Berlusconi wrote the Neapolitan love songs sung by Apicella. The billionaire, who once held a job as a singer on a cruise ship, had originally planned to release the album in September, but it was pushed back, reportedly due to his efforts to stave off an impending debt crisis in the country. However, Apicella denied those rumours. Berlusconi stepped down from his role on Nov. 13.

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World in brief, Nov. 15

Teacher might lose job over Facebook comment
A judge has recommended that a teacher in Paterson, NJ should lose her job for posting on Facebook that “i’m not a teacher – i’m a warden for future criminals” in March of this year. In a decision made public Tuesday, Judge Ellen Bass wrote that first-grade teacher Jennifer O’Brien showed a “complete lack of sensitivity to the world in which her students live,” explaining that such behaviour would be “inexcusable” anywhere but was especially so in the city of Paterson, which struggles with poverty and violence, the Record reported. Bass did say that with sensitivity training, O’Brien could resume teaching, but not in Paterson. O’Brien’s lawyer said she would appeal to let the teacher keep her job, saying the words had been misinterpreted. The lawyer said O’Brien was concerned about the behaviour of a few students whom she thought needed help. The state education commissioner will decide whether to accept, reject, or modify the recommendations within the next 45 days.
Virginity on the market for $15,000
Escort agency MyOutCall is offering to sell the virginity of a 19-year-old Chinese student who says she is studying at Sydney University for $15,000, a sex industry consulting firm has found. The Telegraph contacted a manager at MyOutCall on Nov. 8 who confirmed that the offer was real, adding that it was a pretty common phenomenon. Australian Family Association spokesman and research head Tim Cannon spoke out against the discovery, saying it hearkened back to the days of slavery. Chris Seage, head of the Brothel Busters consulting firm, said Asian girls who come to Australia to study often get themselves into debt. Seage said there is no law to stop the escort agency from selling the teenager’s virginity.
Like catching flies with honey
Police in Derbyshire, U.K. told crime suspects to call a marketing company in exchange for a free case of beer in order to get them behind bars. According to the Telegraph, the officers from Chesterfield Police Station sent letters to dozens of suspects in a sting known as Operation Rocky. In the letters, they told the suspects to arrange for a specific time and place to pick up the beer. When the men arrived to pick up the “free booze” they instead found police waiting to arrest them.

20 kids and counting
The family at the heart of reality TV show ‘‘19 Kids And Counting’’ will soon count one more child among them. Michelle Duggar and husband Jim Bob of Little Rock, AR already have 10 boys and nine girls, according to Agence France-Presse. Duggar, 45, suffered complications from the birth of their youngest in 2009, but said she is not worried for her health. Meanwhile, although the pregnancy was a surprise, Jim Bob, 46, said they didn’t want to have an odd number of children. This couple must have single-handedly upped the average American birthrate by at least three children.

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World in brief, Oct. 25

WikiLeaks strapped for cash
WikiLeaks will stop leaking classified data in order to concentrate on securing enough funding to stay afloat, according to its founder. Julian Assange said the restrictions imposed by American financial companies in Dec. 2010 may cause the organization’s collapse, the Associated Press reported. The online organization leaked 250,000 U.S. State Department cables late last year, after which point MasterCard, Visa, PayPal and Western Union no longer accepted donations to the organization. WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said that in 2010, WikiLeaks would receive more than 100,000 euros (US $140,000) on average per month. That amount has since dropped to between 6,000 and 7,000 euros, Hrafnsson said.

Police pepper spray Haka dancers
A group of people performing the Haka dance after a high school football game in Roosevelt, Utah left police perplexed enough to use pepper spray to disperse the dancers last Thursday. The group began the traditional Maori dance to honour one of the teams as the players approached the field entrance, but were blocking the exit of team players and game officials, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported. The two police offers tried to create an exit but, as one spectator explained, the group was absorbed by the dance, which required the players to be loud and talk in unison. The officers then used pepper spray to disperse the dancers. The police had been unaware the group was going to perform the dance. Some people were affected by the pepper spray, while others also reported being hit with police batons.

A World Cup legacy, unfortunately
A 19-year-old in Kent, England was evicted from her apartment last week for refusing to stop holding all night vuvuzela parties, the Telegraph reported. Toni Nicholson’s landlords, Town and County Housing, took legal action after neighbours complained of the excessive noise. Nicholson had ignored their requests to stop the parties for over a year. The teenager would invite people on Facebook to bring their instruments to the parties, which first entered the public consciousness during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The instruments can reach 131 decibels, as loud as a jet plane passing 30 metres above your head. More than 40 people usually attended the parties. Neighbours also complained of fights, property damage, and things being thrown off the first-floor balcony. Nicholson did not comment on her eviction.

Customers abandon Netflix
Movie rental firm Netflix has been bleeding subscriptions since June after raising its price for renting DVDs and streaming films online.  It lost 800,000 customers in the third quarter of this year, down from 23.8 million subscribers three months ago, according to the Globe and Mail. It has, however, seen a 65 per cent rise in profits in the same period of time, earning US$62.5 million. Netflix has plans to sell its DVD service. The company is the largest video streaming service in the United States. It is set to launch in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2012.

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World in brief, Oct. 18

Accidental baby swap discovered 12 years too late
It’s a parent’s worst nightmare come true: finding out the child you’ve been raising is actually the result of an accidental swap at the hospital. Two families in Kopeisk, Russia are suing a hospital for five million roubles ($158,300) after they discovered that their daughters had in fact been given the wrong name tags in the maternity ward, the BBC reported. When ex-husband of mother Yuliya Belyaeva refused to pay alimony for their daughter on the grounds that she did not resemble him, they ordered DNA tests which revealed the girl was not related to either parent. Too much time has passed since the incident for the families to legally be able to press criminal charges against the hospital staff. Neither child wants to leave their home, but will visit their biological parents from time to time.

Putin the scuba-diver
A Vladimir Putin-led diving expedition which resulted in the discovery of two Greek urns earlier this week is being ridiculed by the Russian independent media as yet another photo op for the  Russian prime minister. According to the Guardian, Putin found two amphorae while scuba diving on the floor of the Black Sea and was praised for his findings by the state-controlled media. Conversely, a sarcastic editorial from the Novaya Gazeta newspaper pointed out that Putin was diving at a depth of two metres in a place archaeologists had been combing for two years. Critics hypothesized the urns were planted there for the prime minister to find in an attempt to boost his popularity before elections in December and March.

Impressive, this story is
The people at the root of modern language probably spoke like Yoda, according to a recent study published by two linguists. Merritt Ruhlen and Murray Gell-Mann, co-directors of the Santa Fe Institute Program on the Evolution of Human Languages, used a language family tree to trace the relationships between languages of the world. They found that a language spoken by an East African people is the common source of the more than 2,000 modern languages in existence, CBS reported. That original tongue used a subject-object-verb word order instead of the subject-verb-object word order common to English – instead of saying “I like you” they would say “I you like,” a pattern which is similar to that of the diminutive green Jedi master. The researchers also found a pattern in how words are re-ordered as languages branch off and evolve, but remain unsure as to why such changes occur.

She must be new around here
A New Mexico woman has been arrested and charged with criminal solicitation after asking to buy weed on Craigslist. According to the Toronto Sun, 29-year-old Anamicka Dave posted an ad on Craigslist’s “casual encounters” section which said that she was new to Albuquerque and “looking for Mary Jane.” Officers posing as sellers arranged to meet her through text messages and arrested her in a parking lot. The police sergeant in the area expressed his surprise that someone would actually advertise for weed online.

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World in brief, Oct. 11

Chilean students prepare to strike
Students in Chile are preparing for a two day strike after talks with the government about education reform broke down, according to the BBC. The general strike on Oct. 18 and 19 is the latest development in five months of boycotts and demonstrations demanding free education. A poll organized by a teachers’ union showed that the majority of the million Chileans who took part are in favour of the students’ demands. Student leader Camila Vallejo blamed the government for the breakdown in talks last week. President Sebastian Pinera has said he would allow some reform and about $4 billion in extra funding but student leaders want major changes to be made to the country’s education system which was set up during the rule of Augusto Pinochet from 1973 to 1990.

Lap dance to put yourself through college
An executive for a U.K. lap dancing company has suggested female students strapped for cash should strip to meet their financial needs, a comment that has the National Union of Students up in arms. According to the Scottish Daily Record, Spearmint Rhino U.K. vice-president John Specht said that students struggling to pay for rising tuition fees can work in the clubs and make the money they need. A Sheffield law student has also admitted that she dances at a Spearmint Rhino club to pay for her law degree. She intends to become a corporate lawyer. Estelle Hart, the NUS’ women’s officer, blamed government cuts to education for pushing female students to turn towards the job.

Listen to your mothers, kids
A Connecticut teenager was charged with disorderly conduct on Sunday after his mother called police to report him for his confrontational attitude and for refusing to clean the house. The Stamford Advocate reported that when 18-year-old Luis Perez started swearing and yelling, his mother called police, who found Perez in his room on his cellphone without pants and refusing to come out. His mother told police she wanted him out of the house. Perez, who continued to yell throughout the police intervention, was placed under arrest and threatened to call his lawyer. He later asked police to be given a second chance while being escorted out of the house.

Utah Undie Run breaks world record
Residents of Salt Lake City, Utah took to the streets in their underwear on Sept. 24 in protest of the state’s conservative politics. The event drew 2,270 people according to the Salt Lake Tribune, setting a new world record. Participants ran the five mile course to show support for causes like gay marriage and to express their frustration with the state’s conservative stance on issues like liquor laws. The previous Guinness World Record for “largest gathering of people wearing only underpants or knickers” was set last year in the U.K. by a gathering that attracted 550 pant-less people.

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