World Briefs

James F. Neal, the lawyer who regularly grabbed headlines – whether prosecuting Jimmy Hoffa or key Watergate figures, or defending Elvis Presley’s doctor or the Exxon Corp after the Alaska oil spill – has died. He was 81.

Law partner Aubrey Harwell said Mr Neal died at a Nashville hospital after a months-long battle against cancer.

In the words of Fred Thompson, already a lawyer in real life before he became one on TV: “Jim Neal was the greatest trial lawyer of his time.”

For former Vice-President Al Gore, Mr Neal was a “brilliant attorney” and close friend.

“As a prosecutor, he served our nation with brilliance and dedication at a time when his skill was greatly needed by the American people,” Mr Gore said in a statement.

And prosecute, by all accounts, was something Mr Neal did well. (PA)

Salmon spill causes stink

A truck carrying €176,126 worth of salmon crashed in Tasmania, spilling 15 tonnes of fish into the street.

The crash in the capital of Hobart sparked a major clean-up operation and brought down power lines, cutting electricity to nearby suburbs.

Tasmania police told Australian Broadcasting Corp that the driver crashed into a pylon and the truck tipped over. The driver and a passenger suffered minor injuries.

The spoiled fish had to be dumped. (PA)

Panda on board

Zoo Atlanta’s 13-year-old giant panda is pregnant with her third cub and expected to give birth early next month. An ultrasound examination confirmed that Lun Lun is pregnant.

If all goes as planned, the mother’s cub would become the only giant panda born at a US zoo so far this year, said Rebecca Snyder, curator of mammals for Zoo Atlanta. (PA)

Surgeon pleads guilty to fraud

A former US surgeon who was captured in Italy after more than five years on the run pleaded guilty to federal health care fraud charges.

Mark Weinberger is set to be sentenced on January 21. He pleaded guilty in federal court in Hammond to 22 counts alleging that he billed insurers and patients for procedures he did not perform.

If the judge accepts the plea deal, the 46-year-old doctor would be sentenced to up to four years in prison. As part of the deal, he also agreed to pay €262,309 in restitution to 22 patients. (PA)

Island casino plan

The tourism minister for St Lucia said the Caribbean island’s first casino will open for business in January. Allen Chastanet said it will be operated by Treasury Bay Corporation of Biloxi, Mississippi.

He said the casino will have 350 slot machines and 14 gaming tables. It will be inside a new shopping centre at Gros Islet on the northern end of the island. (PA)

Undersea cable project set for 2011

Cuba’s ambassador to Venezuela said work to lay an undersea fibre optic cable that will dramatically improve telecommunications should begin by February.

Ambassador Rogelio Polanco said the line should start working in mid-2011 – about two years after initial projections.

Venezuela’s government has an agreement with Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent SA to produce and install the fibre optic line, a project first announced in 2007. Cuba is the only nation in the Western Hemisphere that is not linked to the outside world by fibre optics. (PA)

California mummy baffles police

Authorities said it could take months to identify a homeless woman whose mummified body was driven around in the passenger seat of a Southern California woman’s car for months.

Costa Mesa police Sergeant Ed Everett said medical examiners are trying to hydrate the corpse’s fingers to get fingerprints that could identify her.

Sgt Everett told The Orange County Register a post mortem showed no foul play but the driver may have violated health codes by knowingly transporting a corpse. (PA)