LIMA, Peru
Man says stress he endured as suspect reason for murder
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After Joran van der Sloot pleaded guilty Wednesday to the 2010 murder of a Peruvian woman he met at a Lima casino, his lawyer argued that the killing was tragically triggered by fallout from the very event that originally brought his client notoriety.
The “persecution” suffered by Van der Sloot after the unsolved disappearance of U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway five years earlier scarred him psychologically with a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder, defense attorney Jose Jimenez told the three female judges who are to sentence his client Friday.
The young Dutchman has been the prime suspect in the Holloway case since she disappeared on Aruba five years to the day before the killing of the 21-year-old Peruvian woman, business student Stephany Flores.
With the evidence against him in the Peru killing strong, Van der Sloot entered a guilty plea Wednesday at his lawyer’s urging, hoping for a reduced sentence.
WASHINGTON
Marine Corps probes video of four urinating on bodies
The Marine Corps said Wednesday it is investigating a video depicting what appears to be four Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters.
In a statement, the Marine Corps said it has not verified the origin or authenticity of the YouTube video. But it also said the actions portrayed are not consistent with Marine values.
If verified the video could create a strong backlash in the Muslim world and beyond for the disrespectful actions it portrays.
A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss a sensitive aspect of the matter, said the case will be referred to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Navy’s worldwide law enforcement organization.
NEW ORLEANS
Frog, not fish, takes title as tiniest animal with a spine
A frog that can perch on the tip of your pinkie with room to spare has been claimed as the world’s smallest vertebrate species, out-tinying a fish that got the title in 2006. But the discoverer of another weensy fish disputes the claim.
A tempest in a thimble, some might say.
An article Wednesday in the journal PLoS One named Paedophryne amauensis as the world’s smallest animal with a spine.
The adult frogs are about three-tenths of an inch long, and a millimeter or so smaller than a carp found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The frogs are so small that Louisiana State University herpetologist and environmental biologist Christopher Austin had to enlarge close-up photos to describe them.
But the males of a species of deep-sea anglerfish are about 2 mm smaller, said University of Washington ichthyologist Theodore Pietsch.
TULSA, Oklahoma
Woman and pet kangaroo to move over ordinance
An Oklahoma woman says she and her pet kangaroo are moving because she says city workers told her they would take the animal or fine her for violating a local ordinance.
Christie Carr says she and Irwin the kangaroo are moving from Broken Arrow to McAlester to stay with her parents because of the fuss.
But the city says no threats were made to seize the animal and that Carr failed to turn in the proper paperwork that would have allowed her to keep Irwin.
Last year, Broken Arrow’s city council voted to create an exotic animal ordinance exemption that allowed Carr to keep within city limits under certain conditions.
— From news service reports
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