Woman used bone from corpse to train dog

A former Wisconsin medical examiner will appear in a US court next month over felony charges following revelations the woman took a bone that had been removed from a corpse to train her cadaver dog. It has been alleged Traci England, 46, took a piece of bone from a corpse's spinal column after another medical examiner removed it during an autopsy on Sept 5, 2011. She allegedly told fellow employees she planned to use the bone to train her cadaver dog, also known as a police search and rescue dog. During a search of her Town of Newbold home, investigators found what appeared to be brain and liver tissue along with a piece of bone in bags on a shelf in her garage. She will next appear in court on Feb 10.

Charles Saatchi to fight journo in cage match

Advertising-mogul-turned-art dealer Charles Saatchi has challenged a 77-year-old magazine columnist to a cage-fighting match after the writer called him a coward for bullying his estranged wife, celebrity Nigella Lawson. In a column written in the Spectator last week, Taki Theodoracopulos slammed Saatchi, branding him a bully of women. In a dismissive reply published in the magazine last week, Saatchi, 70, mocked Theodoracopulos for bragging about having a black belt in karate and claimed to have fought in "unofficial" bare-knuckle events with no rules, with the loser "being carried out, usually battered to bits". Theodoracopulos has taken up the challenge but said he will need three days' notice. "I am willing to face him any time under cage-fighting non-rules," said Theodoracopulos. There is so far no word on when the cage fight will take place.

Her children may still be young, but recent Golden Globe-winning Australian actress Cate Blanchett is already thinking of their financial future. The Blue Jasmine star last week spent nearly $2 million on an apartment overlooking Sydney Harbor. A source claimed the waterfront property was an investment for Blanchett's boys, Dashiell, 12, Roman, 9, and Ignatius, 5. Neither Blanchett nor her husband, Sydney Theatre Company artistic director Andrew Upton, attended the sale. After snapping up the two-bedroom apartment in Billyard Avenue in Elizabeth Bay for $1.9 million, Blanchett reportedly tried to spend another couple of million purchasing the adjoining two- and three-bedroom apartments, but she was unsuccessful in her bid. Oscar-winning Blanchett has been nominated for another best actress statuette at this year's Academy Awards for her starring role in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, for which she won a Golden Globe earlier this month.

'Racist' Japanese TV ad pulled

A TV advertisement for Japan's largest air carrier has been pulled following widespread criticism over racist overtones. The controversial All Nippon Airways ad, which was in English with Japanese subtitles, featured a Japanese actor in a large false nose and blonde wig and began airing on Jan 18. In the ad, designed to promote ANA's expanded international flight schedule from Tokyo's Haneda Airport, two men in ANA pilot uniforms are seen chatting about how they will now be heading off to new destinations such as Hanoi and Vancouver. "Let's change the image of Japanese!" one says, and turns to his companion, who now wears a large fake nose and a brassy blond wig, in line with Japanese stereotypes about Europeans. The ad unleashed a torrent of negative comments online, with some people saying they had cancelled their loyalty cards. ANA apologized for the ad on its Facebook page. Last Tuesday, a spokeswoman said the ad would be taken off air.

Pet parrot registered to vote

An activist in Belarus was able to use a doctored identity document to register his pet parrot Yasha with the Mazur electoral commission, allowing him to run in the upcoming municipal poll. After his pet's application to set up an associated campaign group was processed, Kanstantsin Zhukouski immediately withdrew the documents, possibly to avoid a penalty. Even though the parrot pulled out because "being a regional councilor isn't very prestigious", he still has campaign slogans. "Yasha is good," "Where is money?" and "I want to go to the council chamber", were phrases the parrot liked uttering, according to Zhukouski. "As long as there is a passport copy, you may draw even a pig, and as today's case shows, even get it registered," Zhukouski said.

Penn and Theron set to move in together

Oscar-winning Hollywood hotshots Sean Penn and Charlize Theron are a couple and planning to move in together. "They stay with each other all the time," an insider told Us Weekly magazine last week. "They may move in together." Penn is also close to Theron's 2-year-old son Jackson. Penn had confirmed the romance to Piers Morgan at his Help Haiti Home gala earlier this month, calling Theron "a keeper". Penn also paid tribute to South African-born Theron in a speech he made before auctioning off a Jeff Koons sculpture made out of 67 guns he previously owned. "I've had my mind changed about guns by a strong woman, a beautiful South African woman," he reportedly said. Morgan wrote in his column that Theron has been against guns since "her mother shot her drunken abusive father dead, after he came home firing his own gun and threatening to kill them" when she was just 15 years old. Penn and Theron won Best Lead Actor and Actress Oscars respectively in 2004.

-Agencies

(China Daily 01/26/2014 page4)