Switzerland: ‘Foreign pig’ not racist: Switzerland’s top court
Calling someone a “foreign pig” or “dirty asylum-seeker” is insulting but is not against Switzerland’s anti-racism law, the country’s top court said in a ruling released on Friday.
The supreme court found in favour of a police officer who had used the slurs when he arrested an Algerian suspected thief. …
The Local
Belgium: Belgian teens write to paedophile killer Dutroux in jail
Several Belgian teenagers have written to convicted paedophile and child-killer Marc Dutroux, seeking to become pen pals with the country’s most notorious prisoner, a newspaper reported Thursday.
Dutroux was jailed for life in 2004 for the kidnap and rape of six young and teenage girls -- four of whom died -- between June 1995 and August 1996.
He routinely gets large volumes of mail, ranging from insults to marriage proposals to stuffed animals to money, but has recently begun receiving a new kind of letter from intrigued teens, reported Le Soir.
“Hello, I’m a 15-year-old girl. I live in La Roche-en-Ardenne. You have always fascinated me. You’re a famous person. When I see your handsome photos, I can’t help but believe you are honest,” wrote one whose letter was confiscated by prison officials. ...
Expatica
Germany: Berlin’s secret doors
By day, these doors are like any other in Berlin. But by night, they transform into the entrances to some of Berlin’s most famous clubs. People from around the globe flock to Berlin to line up in front of these doors.
By day, these are just doors covered in graffiti. But by night, they transform into entrances to some of Berlin’s most famous techno clubs, such as “About Blank” (above) with a huge outdoor garden. “What fascinates me most about doors like this is that only a couple centimeters of steel separate you from something mystical and otherworldly on the other side,” said photographer Juska Wendland.
Deutsche Welle
Kenya: How I rose from Sh25m [$290,000] wheat loss
... I returned to Narok last Wednesday, this time not to write about Hugo Wood’s flour milling factory, or his tens of tractors and combine harvesters, or his thousands of acres of wheat, maize and horticulture crops, or even his pedigree dairy and choice beef cattle.
I wanted to know how a man who in 1984 sold straw to a bank to repay a Sh25 million loan, following a devastating drought, had picked himself up and risen to the heights of agriculture, accumulating an estimated wealth of Sh700 million by 2010. ...
Daily Nation
Israel: Israel’s representative at the Oscars: Vodka
Israel may not have a film nominated in the Best foreign movie category at the Oscars this year but an Israeli vodka company will be represented at this year’s ceremony.
A bottle of the Israeli vodka Aviv 613 will be included in the gift bags - known as swag bags - of Oscar nominees at the awards which are set for March 2 in Los Angeles. ...
Jerusalem Post
Siberian Times: Gulags to Glitz in oil ‘boom town’
Futuristic Khanty-Mansiysk gives a new image to Siberia ahead of shale revolution.
It’s been called the Kuwait of Russia but the then regional governor Alexander Filipenko objected, saying: ‘They produce three times less oil. In Europe there is light in light bulbs and heat in apartments because here we extract 7.5 percent of the world’s oil’. ...
Siberian Times
Kuwait: Flamingos decorate Kuwait skies, beaches
With the onset of spring, Kuwaiti skies and beaches are embracing flocks of migrating flamingos, many seen flying overhead in groups or resting along the country beaches. ...
Kuwait Times
*Image of flamingos via Shutterstock
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