19 May 09 Man tried to hire prostitute for his 14 year old son
photo by bixentro as found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bixentro/320504200/
LONDON (Reuters) – A man who tried to hire a prostitute to take his 14-year-old son’s virginity as a present was spared jail by a court on Friday.
The Polish national took the boy out in his car and allowed him to pick out the prostitute, who was standing at the side of the road in the red-light district of Nottingham.
But the 42-year-old father was arrested because the teenager had chosen an undercover police officer, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, after he admitted a charge of trying to solicit a woman to have sex with a child, the Press Association reported.
The court heard that the father, who came to Britain eight years ago, was arrested last July during an undercover operation by the city’s vice squad.
Prosecutor Adrian Harris said the man and his son had approached the undercover officer whose code name was Sarah and beckoned her over .
He asked “Sarah” how much it would cost for her to have sex with his son and they agreed on a 20 pound fee. However, when the car pulled over, the man was arrested by plainclothes police officers.
“The boy said that they had driven past the girl and his dad pointed to her and said ‘will she do?’” Harris said.
“He said ‘yes’ and they had turned round. He said his dad did this because he was still a virgin and he was taking care of that for him.”
Judge Jonathan Teare said he would spare the father jail because of his excellent character and that he believed he did not mean any harm to his son.
“You have a duty of care to your son and that is to look after his moral welfare, not as you might think to break him in to the ways of sex through a prostitute,” he said.
The court was told the boy would continue to live with his father.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)
Tags: arrested, London, Nottingham, police, prostitute, Reuters, sex
19 May 09 Woman beaten up over asparagus prices
photo by goosegrease as shown at http://www.flickr.com/photos/goosegrease/2744261497/
BERLIN (Reuters) – German police are searching for a motorist who beat a 24-year-old woman selling white asparagus because he was upset about her asking price for the coveted springtime vegetable, police said on Monday.
The prices for white asparagus, sometimes called “edible ivory” in Germany, fluctuate wildly during the short springtime season, peaking early in the season at 10 euros per kilo.
The man screamed at the woman that her asparagus was overpriced. He then punched her in the face and threatened to unleash his attack dog at her. She fled and called police.
“The motorist said her prices were totally over the top,” said Dietmar Keck, police spokesman in the Havelland district west of Berlin, without saying how much she was asking.
Prices for asparagus now range from 1 to 5 euros per kilo, he said. Some 55,000 tons valued at 175 million euros are harvested annually.
(Writing by Jacob Comenetz; Editing by Louise Ireland)
19 May 09 House panel to begin debating climate change bill
photo by Jeff Belmonte as shown at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffbelmonte/10765458/
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers were set on Tuesday to begin wrangling over a climate change bill aimed at reducing carbon dioxide and other pollutants with Republicans objecting that the legislation would burden the economy with higher energy costs.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee was digging in for several days of arduous debate over the Democrats’ 932-page bill. Chairman Henry Waxman has predicted his panel will have enough Democratic support for approval this week.
But first, Republicans are expected to try to surgically remove the heart of the proposal — the establishment of a “cap and trade” system that would gradually reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that utilities, steelmakers, oil refineries and other companies could emit.
President Barack Obama has put climate control legislation at the top of his agenda and would like to see significant progress by December, when world leaders meet in Copenhagen to consider coordinated steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our economy is suffering, we are squandering billions of dollars to feed our addiction on foreign oil and our environment is overheating,” Waxman said during legislator’s opening statements on the bill on Monday.
With its mandate to reduce emissions 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, Waxman said the bill would shore up the U.S. economy by encouraging new high-tech jobs while avoiding the ecological disasters linked to global warming.
Republicans predicted energy costs would skyrocket under the bill and they have reportedly prepared hundreds of amendments to try to modify the Democratic bill.
Joe Barton, the senior Republican on the committee, warned Waxman: “You are about to embark on an episode of putting the entire American economy, which is the world’s largest, through an absolute economic wringer.”
Even so, with a 36-23 majority in the committee, Democrats are likely to defeat Republicans’ moves to kill cap and trade.
Under cap and trade, an ever-decreasing number of carbon pollution permits would be available and companies that still lack the technology to meet the lower pollution requirements could buy more permits from companies that no longer need their full quotas.
(Editing by Chris Wilson)
Tags: Barack Obama, emissions, Energy, environment, overhearting, Republicans, Reuters, Washinton
17 May 09 Exam cheaters jailed on state secret charges
photo by ccarlstead as found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristic/359572656/
BEIJING (Reuters) – Eight Chinese who used high-tech communications equipment, including mobile phones and wireless earpieces, to help their children cheat at university entrance exams have been jailed on state secret charges, local media said.
The eight, from the wealthy eastern province of Zhejiang, got together in 2007 to plot how to help their children as “they knew their achievements were not ideal,” the official Legal Daily said.
One of the parents hired university students to provide answers which were sent to the children via wireless earphones while they were in the exam room, the report said.
But their ruse was discovered after police detected “abnormal radio signals” near the school, the newspaper said.
The parents were given jail terms ranging from six months to three years after being found guilty of illegally obtaining state secrets, it added, without saying what happened to their children.
China’s college entrance exams, or “gaokao,” are fiercely competitive tests.
Stories of cheating surface every year, despite stiff penalties. Students reportedly pay for leaked exam papers, smuggle in mobile phones and electronic dictionaries, or pay others to take the exam for them.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
Tags: Beijing, cheating, China, college, communications, Reuters, university, Zhejiang
17 May 09 Saudi man divorces wife by text message
photo by ydhsu as found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ydhsu/3183824689/
RIYADH (Reuters) – A Saudi man has divorced his wife by text message, a newspaper said on Thursday. The man was in Iraq when he sent the SMS informing her she was no longer his spouse. He followed up with a telephone call to two of his relatives, the daily Arab News reported.
A court in the Red Sea city of Jeddah finalised the split — the first known divorce in Saudi Arabia by text message — after summoning the two relatives to check they had received word of the husband’s intention, the paper said. Saudi Arabia practises a strict form of Islamic Sharia law, and clerics preside over Sharia courts as judges. Under the law a man can divorce his wife by saying “I divorce you” three times. The Saudi man was in Iraq to participate in “what he described as ‘jihad’,” according to the Arab News. Many Saudis have gone to fight with al Qaeda militants against the Iraqi government and U.S. forces.
(Reporting by Asma Alsharif)
Tags: Arab news, husband, law, Reuters, Saudi Arabia, text message
14 May 09 Man jailed for urinating on woman during flight
photo by DavidDennisPhotos.com as found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidden/70147633/
HONOLULU – A 28-year-old man has been sentenced to three weeks jail time for urinating on a 66-year-old woman during a flight last month from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Jerome Kenneth Kingizo was sentenced after pleading guilty to assault charges.
The victim was heading to Hawaii in late March for a scuba diving expedition. During the plane ride the victim was watching an in-flight movie when Kingzio stood up and began urinating on her. Kingzio had been drinking through-out the flight.
The woman is understood to have had to entire vacation ruined and also continues to be traumatized emotionally from the incident.
Tags: Honolulu, jail, Los Angeles, plane flight, Reuters, tramuatized, urinating
