Boy dies after father got drunk, left him in hot car
Phoenix: A father wept at a court hearing after police say he left his toddler son in a hot car during a day of heavy drinking and the boy later died. James Koryor, 41, was taken into custody on suspicion of manslaughter and child abuse yesterday after detectives determined he went to a liquor store with his 2-year-old, bought a bottle of gin, drank it on the way home and fell asleep inside his house.
The toddler was left behind in the car, and detectives found signs the child had struggled to get out of the vehicle before dying. Koryor made an initial court appearance yesterday, where a judge set a USD 50,000 bond and assigned the case to the public defender’s office.
He didn’t have a lawyer at the hearing. Prosecutors argued for higher bail, saying Koryor has extensive ties to Liberia, Ivory Coast and Ghana and could flee. A sobbing Koryor told the judge he didn’t have money to post bond. He struggled to keep his composure, and at one point the judge offered him a box of tissues as he sobbed. The judge also stressed that Koryor cannot consume any alcohol if he posts bond.
“That means you cannot have any alcohol inside any residence that you stay,” the judge said. “None. It has to be immediately removed. All of this is to ensure the safety of your family and of the community, and, frankly, I’d like to ensure that you are protected from yourself.”
The victim was identified as Alpha Koryor. His 5-year-old brother either got out of the vehicle by himself or was taken inside by his father, police Sgt.
Trent Crump said. Family members asked where his little brother was, and he said the child was asleep, Crump said.
The boy’s mother found Alpha unconscious in the backseat of the car a couple of hours later, Crump said. The boy was taken to a hospital and died. The death occurred as temperatures in the Phoenix area topped 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius). (AP)
Chinese man jailed for splashing ink on Mao Zedong portrait
Beijing: A Chinese man was sentenced to 14 months in jail for splashing ink on the giant portrait of Communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong in the heart of Beijing, state media reported today. The Legal Evening News said a Beijing court convicted Sun Bing, 42, for disrupting public order by throwing ink at the portrait overlooking sprawling Tiananmen Square on March 6 last year, when the country’s legislature was meeting in its annual session. It said Sun was caught at the scene and admitted the crime in court.
The newspaper did not say what motivated Sun. People with grievances sometimes attempt to attract attention on or near the square when the legislature meets in the Great Hall of People on the square’s east side. It said Sun was once convicted of credit card fraud and freed in 2013 after serving 17 months in prison.
Evidence of the ink attack was quickly cleaned up, and order was rapidly restored on the square, which is usually heavily guarded and has extra security personnel in March when the National People’s Congress convenes.
The portrait of Mao, the founder of Communist China, carries great political significance because it enshrines him as a pillar of the Communist Party’s rule. (AP)
Prince Philip gets disputed Australian knighthood
London: Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday presented her husband Prince Philip with an insignia of his Australian knighthood, the awarding of which plunged Prime Minister Tony Abbott into crisis earlier this year.
The citation recognises the 93-year-old Duke of Edinburgh’s long service to the British monarchy and the Commonwealth, adding: “He has served Australia with distinction and is patron of over 800 organisations.”
But the announcement of the award on Australia Day on January 26 prompted ridicule for Abbott and incensed members of his ruling coalition who were already struggling with falling poll numbers and an unpopular budget.
Many Australians want to cut ties with the monarchy and become a republic, and the media dubbed the decision to make Philip a knight of the Order of Australia a “knightmare”.
The queen presented her husband with the insignia during a ceremony at Windsor Castle attended by Australia’s High Commissioner, Alexander Downer. (AFP)
Man cited for ‘killing’ uncooperative
computer with handgun
DENVER: Police in Colorado have cited a 37-year-old man for carrying his computer into an alley then shooting it eight times with a handgun after what authorities said had been a long battle with the uncooperative machine.
Lucas Hinch was cited for discharging a firearm within city limits after officers responded to a “shots fired” call early on Monday evening, the Colorado Springs police department said in a statement.
“Investigation revealed a resident was fed up with fighting his computer for the last several months,” said the statement, entitled “Man Kills His Computer”.
“He took the computer into the back alley and fired eight shots into the computer with a handgun, effectively disabling it,” it added.
The newspaper Colorado Springs Gazette cited police as saying Hinch was good-natured about the citation, and that he told officers he had not realized he was breaking the law. A judge will decide what penalty the citation carries. (IANS)
Dozens of dinosaur eggs found at construction site in China
Beijing: The Chinese city that holds the world record for largest number of dinosaur eggs has added to its collection after dozens more were unearthed at a construction site, state media reported. A nest containing 43 dinosaur egg fossils was found in the city of Heyuan in southern China’s Guangdong province, Xinhua state news agency said.
Nineteen of the eggs are intact but what dinosaur they are from remains a mystery, Du Yanli, curator of the city’s dinosaur museum, told Xinhua in the report Monday. “These eggs are large in size, and one even has a diameter of 13 centimetres (5.1 inches),” Du said.
All the eggs, which were found Sunday, have been sent to the museum for further preservation and further research.
Nearly 17,000 dinosaur eggs have been found in Heyuan since 1996, when a group of children playing at a building site first came across some fossils, according to Xinhua.
The museum has been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records for its collection of 10,008 dinosaur egg fossils, the largest in the world.
All of the eggs come from the late Cretaceous period (89-65 million years ago), according to the Guinness website. They include eggs from oviraptorid and duck-billed dinosaurs. (AFP)
