Nick Drainey's world view: Noise pests sentenced to Bermuda Triangle

Published on Saturday 29 November 2008 23:11

UNITED STATES A US judge has come up with a new form of punishment for people who go to court for being too noisy – an hour of listening to Barry Manilow or the theme tune from the children's TV show Barney And Friends.

Judge Paul Sacco's usual practice of fining offenders appearing before his court for playing their stereos too loudly, or disturbing neighbours with band practices, was not proving to be a deterrent, so he decided to give them a dose of their own medicine and make them listen to his musical selection at high volume for one hour. "This is a way, when I look back, of teaching manners to people," said Sacco, a judge from Fort Lupton Municipal Court in Colorado.

NEW ZEALAND

A thief caught on camera stealing expensive equipment picked the wrong target if he wanted to keep a low profile: a billboard company that has plastered his image around New Zealand's largest city seeking his capture.

The unidentified thief was photographed by a suspicious onlooker as he uncoupled 15 electrical transformers used to boost the lighting on a billboard in Auckland.

When the photographer offered the company pictures of the thief in action, it cost Venter nothing to mount the images on four city billboards with the inscription: "Who is this Thief? Reward $500."

SPAIN

A new kind of silent hero has joined the fight against climate change.

Santa Coloma de Gramenet, a gritty, working-class town outside Barcelona, has placed a sea of solar panels atop mausoleums at its cemetery, transforming a place of perpetual rest into one buzzing with renewable energy.

Flat, open and sun-drenched land is so scarce in Santa Coloma that the graveyard was just about the only viable spot to move ahead with its solar energy programme.

The power the 462 panels produces is equivalent to that used yearly by 60 homes.

"The best tribute we can pay to our ancestors, whatever your religion may be, is to generate clean energy for new generations," said Esteve Serret, director of Conste-Live Energy, a Spanish company that runs the cemetery in Santa Coloma and also works in renewable energy. The panels rest on mausoleums holding five layers of coffins, many of them marked with bouquets of fake flowers.

BRAZIL

Three Norwegian tourists came under fire and one was shot after the satellite navigation system in their car guided them straight into one of Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous slums.

The three men cut short their holiday in Brazil and headed home after Trygve Killingtveit, 24, was shot in the shoulder by suspected drug traffickers from one of the gangs that control hundreds of shantytowns in Rio.

The tourists were returning from the beach resort of Buzios about three hours north of Rio when they got lost. They told police their GPS system recommended they turn off a main highway as the quickest route back to the airport to drop off the rental car. But the suggested route took them deep into the Mare slum complex, where their rented car quickly came under fire. No motive for the attack was given, and no arrests were made.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

QUEEN RANIA

Jordan's Queen Rania has received YouTube's first Visionary Award for a daily video web cast and blog in which she sought to challenge stereotypes of the Arab and Muslim world and encourage dialogue across cultures.

Accepting the award in a YouTube clip, Rania listed 10 reasons for her five-month YouTube series in a spoof of the top 10 list segment on American television's Late Show With David Letterman.

Among her reasons were: "Because anything Queen Elizabeth can do, I can do better" and "I was tired of people thinking Jordan was just a basketball player".

CONT MHLANGA

Zimbabwean playwright Cont Mhlanga, who has challenged President Robert Mugabe's rule throughout his career, has been awarded a new prize celebrating the role the arts can play in promoting human rights.

Mhlanga welcomed the award as a morale booster and security blanket in a country where he says he is not safe.

The play that won the inaugural ArtVenture Freedom to Create Prize, worth $50,000, was The Good President, which was staged in Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo last year before being banned for its perceived parallels with Mugabe.

He said: "What saved me is that I've always focused on hard-hitting issues without touching the political side. I hope this award gives me global exposure, as that gives me safety."

MEL GIBSON

A judge says Mel Gibson must answer questions about planning and filming The Passion Of The Christ in response to a screenwriter's lawsuit.

Screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald claims he was underpaid for his work on Passion, but Gibson's attorneys say the star spent tens of thousands of dollars on Fitzgerald's children's education while filming in Italy and paid a chiropractor $78,000.