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28 March 2024

Indian ministers resign over viewing porn in state parliament

Published
By Agencies

Three state ministers from southern India, including one holding a portfolio for women and child development, quit on Wednesday after being accused of watching porn in the local assembly.

The ministers from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were filmed by television cameras watching graphic footage on their mobile phones on Tuesday while other lawmakers in the house were debating legislation.

In the footage, the ministers were seen watching a woman dancing, undressing and then engaging in a sexual act. They passed their mobile phones amongst themselves.

"We have resigned to avoid embarrassment to our party and not give the opposition an opportunity to disrupt the assembly proceedings today," state minister for cooperation Laxman Savadi told reporters.

"We were watching a clipping of an incident for a discussion on the rave parties held at St. Mary's Island (on the western coast of Karnataka). It was not a porn clip."

Karnataka's minister for women and child development, C C  Patil, and the minister for ports and fishery Krishna Palemar also stepped down.

"It's a shameless act. The three ministers have submitted their resignation. We will set up an inquiry committee to probe the incident," said BJP spokeswoman Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi.

Reacting to the sex video incident, a leader of the national ruling Congress party, Kapil Sibal, who is also telecom minister, said the BJP should "introspect" before they preach morality in public life.
 

Teacher charged for fondling students

Martin Bernard Springer, 49, of Alhambra, California, was fired after he was formally charged with three felony counts of lewd acts upon a girl under age 14.

The Los Angeles Unified School District board on Tuesday fired Miramonte Elementary School teacher Springer.

Springer was arrested on Friday and accused of fondling two girls in the classroom, but Tuesday's charges involve only one alleged victim.

The three counts against Springer involve one girl who was identified only as "Jane Doe" and "under the age of 14 years."

The complaint alleged the crimes occurred in April, May and June of 2009.

Springer pleaded not guilty late Tuesday afternoon to three felony counts of lewd acts.

The judge set his bail at $300,000 on the condition that Springer stay more than 250 feet away from witnesses and alleged victims, stay more than 100 feet away from any school or facility with children and be with an adult supervisor when he's around children.

Springer's preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 16. CNN reported, if convicted, Springer would face a maximum state prison term of 12 years, prosecutors said.

Springer was the second teacher at Miramonte charged with lewd conduct with pupils.

Last week, former Miramonte teacher Mark Berndt, 61, was arrested and accused of taking bondage photos of more than two dozen students in his classroom, including some with suspected semen-filled spoons at their mouths.

 

Designer coffins for the dead

As if dying was not enough now the dead can have fancy treatment after death.

An exhibition in London is approaching death with a lighter heart by displaying some very unusual coffin designs.

Now you can get designer custom made coffins to be used after death.

Fabulous coffins from the UK and Ghana features caskets shaped like vintage Mercedes, a lion, a corkscrew and even a ballet pump.

The show was inspired, according to the UK Design Week blog, by Ghanian designer Paa Joe, who first begin making unusual coffins in 1951 when he laid his own mother to rest in one shaped like an aeroplane because she had never managed to take a flight on one during her lifetime.

Some coffins on display at the Royal Festival Hall show a sled-shaped coffin commissioned by Richard Mullard who wants to get buried with his skis on, reports The Journal.

A plane-shaped coffin commissioned by Malcolm Brocklehurst. A cocoa pod-shaped coffin. A ballet shoe-shaped coffin commissioned by ballet fan Pat Cox.

The skateboard-shaped coffin to the foreground was commissioned for an 11-year-old boy who died but went everywhere with his skateboard.

A guitar-shaped coffin, commissioned by the family of a teenage boy, and a skip-shaped coffin, commissioned by contractor John Gratton-Fisher.

 

Grieving woman found hanged in room

A mother of two hanged herself after suffering from depression over the murder of her husband on Wednesday.

She is survived by two young children. The woman commited suicide in a room at her mother-in-law's house on Saturday.
 
Housewife K Rajamma, 33, was found hanging by a shawl from the ceiling fan in the room.
 
According to AsiaOne, she was distraught after her husband, E Krishnamurthy, 31, was hacked to death by a group of men at a Tenaga Nasional Bhd substation where he was the guard.
 
The relative, who refused to be identified, said just before the incident, Rajamma had said that she had wanted to take a shower.
 
When she failed to return after a long time, relatives broke down the room door and discovered her hanging.
 
She leaves behind two children K Selvakumar, 5, and K Hematharishini, 6.
 
 

Woman wearing pansuit denied of chruch entry

A Woman wearing Chinese-style pantsuit told that she may be denied entry if future as her outfit did not conform to dress code.

Two weeks ago she was shocked when a church warden approached her after the service and told her about her outfit.
 
Ms Lisa Chew, a housewife in her 50s, was wearing a pink samfoo, a Chinese-style pantsuit that ended about 5cm above her ankles.
 
She was at the Church and have attended services at the church for more than a decade.
 
The warden told Ms Chew politely that she would not be allowed into the church if she turned up in the attire again, said Mr Alagan.
 
Ms Chew was taken aback as she had worn a similar outfit to the church last month but was not approached.
 
First mooted by the church in February last year, the dress code was implemented in December.
 
The guidelines were published in the church's weekly bulletin on Jan 1. The bulletin was given out to all churchgoers, reports AsiaOne.