World Briefs

Two convicted sex offenders living in a shabby tent camp under a Miami bridge filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the law they say forces them to remain there.

The controversial measure enacted by Miami-Dade County in 2005 in order to help keep children safe bars registered sex offenders from living within 760 metres of a school, day care centre, park or playground.

The restriction has effectively forced an estimated 70 sex offenders to live in a shantytown under a bridge on the Julia Tuttle Causeway, a road that connects Miami to Miami Beach.

The bridge is one of the few places in the county outside the 760-metre limit, aside from wealthy areas where the offenders could not afford to live, and has been approved by state officials, attorneys for the men said.

A similar state law requires sex offenders to live at least 305 metres from schools and playgrounds.

Advocates say that law should take precedence and would allow most of the tent camp residents to find homes. But the more restrictive county ordinance makes them more likely to either flee or return to crime, their lawyers argue.

The lawsuit, filed by camp residents Bryan Exile and Elliott Bloom, seeks to overturn the Miami-Dade County ordinance, saying it has created a "public safety crisis." (Reuters)

Juror threatens to cut off finger of another

Jury deliberations can sometimes be contentious, but in a case in New York one juror accused another of threatening to cut off his finger.

The allegation was made on the sixth day of deliberations in the Manhattan federal court trial of a lawyer accused of involvement in the fraud of collapsed commodities broker Refco Finance.

"In a loud and belligerent manner" the juror "threatened to 'cut off your (my) finger,'" the juror wrote in a note to the jury foreman that was included in a court transcript.

"She made that statement twice. In the same tirade she stated, 'I will have my husband take care of you,'" said the note, which was given to US District Court Judge Robert Patterson. (Reuters)

Grenade goes off in Czech restaurant

A hand grenade exploded late on Thursday in a suitcase belonging to the Prague restaurant diner, injuring four people, the CTK news agency reported, citing police sources.

"Technicians are now investigating the reasons for the blast," said police spokesman Jolana Cihova.

The 63-year-old owner of the suitcase suffered a serious leg injury, and three others were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Some 30 people were in the restaurant near Prague's historic centre when the grenade went off.

A bartender said the injured man had told him someone "had put something in his suitcase". (AFP)

Man set himself on fire

A worker from the fire department was taking photographs of a semi-burnt vehicle in front of the Justice Department in Taipei, yesterday. An unidentified man drove to the entrance of the Justice Department yesterday and lit himself on fire inside his taxi vehicle. The man was sent to the hospital in serious condition. (Reuters)

Drug lord's escaped hippo sighted

A hippopotamus that escaped three years ago from a zoo built by the late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar has been spotted living in the wild near the Magdalena river, according to a local magazine.

Preferring the wetlands of northern Colombia to luxurious captivity after being imported from Africa, two of Escobar's hippos ran from the zoo in 2006.

Not seen since, they became something of a local legend until photographer Julian Lineros and reporter Diana Pachon recently went searching for them.

Photographs of the hippo grazing in the lush grass more than 100 metres from the site of the old zoo and the story of the days-long search will be published in the upcoming edition of the monthly men's magazine DonJuan.

Escobar, a cocaine king gunned down by police on a Medellin rooftop in 1993, populated his zoo with hundreds of species during the height of his power in the 1980s. Most of the animals were turned over to authorities after his death. (Reuters)

Kills sister over 'immoral behaviour'

A 20-year-old Jordanian stabbed his married sister and smashed her head with a rock after accusing her of "immoral behaviour," a security official said yesterday, a day after a similar crime took place.

"The suspect stabbed his younger sister 20 times with a kitchen knife before smashing her head with a rock inside the family's home on Thursday night, in Nozha" in east Amman, the official said.

"He handed himself over to police and confessed to the crime, claiming that he wanted to cleanse his honour after he found her with a man and because her behaviour was immoral."

According to the official, the mother of one "disappeared" from her house a month ago. "Police found her with a man in an apartment and kept her in custody before handing her over to her brother on the day of the murder," he said.

"She told him she was hungry, so he went out to get food and when he returned, he found her with a man, he alleged," the official added. (AFP)

Man killed by bull

A runner died and six people were injured in the run that lasted over four minutes, during yesterday's Pamplona bull fights, according to the government of Navarra press office.

The death was the first for several years in the event made famous by Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises. (Reuters)