World Briefs

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon have celebrated their third anniversary with another milestone – becoming parents to a baby girl and boy. The singer’s representative, Cindi Berger, confirmed the births on Saturday at a hospital in Los Angeles. Ms Berger said the couple had not named the children yet. She said the 41-year-old, who had gone through false labour, was calm, thinking that it was another false alarm. The pair got married in 2007 after a whirlwind romance. They were the subject of endless baby rumours, and the couple actually were expecting shortly after their marriage, but Mariah had a miscarriage. They did not reveal the miscarriage until she announced her pregnancy last autumn.

The couple plan to live a bi-coastal life, and have luxurious nurseries in both New York and Los Angeles. (PA)

Fishy tale

A court in the US has ruled that an Arizona woman can challenge the constitutionality of state rules barring her from using fish in her beauty salon.

The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that Cindy Vong can sue over the Arizona Board of Cosmetology’s threat to pull her licence if she didn’t stop offering a pedicure where the fish eat dead skin off clients’ feet.

The board said the fish were unsafe because they couldn’t be sterilised. (PA)

Fast booze

A US woman insisted on picking up some fast food before she allowed a police officer to charge her with drunk driving.

Police in North Royalton, Ohio, received reports of a car weaving and going off the road at 1a.m. last month. A patrolman tracked the vehicle to a Taco Bell restaurant drive-thru and pulled up alongside.

The woman, whose blood alcohol was twice the legal limit, insisted on grabbing her food from the order window before obeying the officer to get out of the car. (PA)

Maldives protests

Maldives police used tear gas and batons to break up a protest demanding President Mohamad Nasheed step down. Dozens of people were arrested.

Thousands of protesters converged on the capital Male to rally against economic hardship, alleged government mismanagement and wasteful spending. Organisers said about 5,000 demonstrated.

President Nasheed was elected in the country’s first multi-party election in 2008 after 30 years of authoritarian rule. (PA)

Hidden arsenal

Mexican police have discovered a basement arsenal hidden behind the mirrors of a home gym that included three anti-aircraft guns, dozens of grenades, a grenade launcher, AK-47s and other high-powered weapons.

The neatly ordered stockpile found in a wealthy neighbourhood of drug-war torn Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, also contained several makes of machine guns, rifles, a shotgun and more than 26,000 ammunition cartridges. (PA)

Lynching victim

Hundreds gathered to honour a university caretaker lynched 78 years ago as a crowd that included women, children and college students cheered.James Scott, 35, was dragged from his prison cell and hanged near the University of Missouri campus in April 1923 before he could stand trial accused of raping a white professor’s 14-year-old daughter. Mr Scott protested his innocence until his final breath and said a cellmate confessed to the attack. Black and white residents gathered at a memorial service at Columbia’s Second Missionary Baptist Church, which included descendants of Herman Almstedt, a German professor who, convinced of Mr Scott’s innocence, unsuccessfully attempted to stop the lynching. (PA)

Teacher gun arrest

A North Las Vegas teacher is facing attempted murder and other charges after police say he fired at a television crew for the Spike TV reality show Repo Games.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal said 40-year-old Carlos Enrique Barron had been suspended from his job as a special education teacher at Smith Middle School while the investigation continued.

The paper said a crew from the show, which allows debtors a chance to win back their repossessed cars, was looking for a vehicle belonging to one of Mr Barron’s neighbours. Police said Mr Barron admitted brandishing the gun, but denied firing any shots. (PA)

China smoke ban

China’s latest push to ban smoking in indoor public venues has come into effect, but the vaguely defined new rules are not expected to dramatically reduce the country’s heavy tobacco addiction.

The health ministry’s amended guidelines on the management of public places that now ban smoking in more venues like hotels and restaurants have been implemented.

The guidelines are the latest effort to curb tobacco use in the country with the world’s largest number of smokers. Experts say huge revenues from the state-owned tobacco monopoly hinders anti-smoking measures. (AP)