A flamboyant British book dealer accused of stealing a rare first edition of Shakespeare’s plays has appeared in court to face trial.
Raymond Scott is accused of stealing the 1623 folio from England’s Durham University in 1998. The 53-year-old was arrested after a man took the volume to the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. claiming he found it in Cuba. Scholars consider the folio one of the most important printed works in the English language. Scott is also charged with theft and handling stolen goods in cases unrelated to the folio. He has denied all the charges. He arrived on Wednesday at north-eastern England’s Newcastle crown court.
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Caravaggio’s bones found in Italy?
Rome : Italian researchers say they believe they have found the remains of the artist Caravaggio 400 years after his death and that he died from sunstroke while weakened by syphilis.
The researchers announced results on Wednesday of their year-long project, saying bones dug up in the place where Caravaggio died are likely his. However, they acknowledge there is only an 85 per cent probability they are right and they can never be fully certain. Caravaggio died in 1610 aged 39. His bones were never located and the cause of his death never ascertained. Suggested causes have ranged from sudden fever to syphilis. —AP
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Brunei sultan divorces Malay wife
Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei) : Brunei’s sultan announced on Wednesday he is divorcing his Malaysian wife after five years of marriage.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the 63-year-old absolute monarch of this tiny, oil-rich country on Borneo island, married Azrinaz Mazhar Hakim, a former Malaysian TV news journalist, in 2005.
Azrinaz, 30, gave birth to the sultan’s 11th child, a baby boy, less than a year after their wedding and a daughter in 2008. Brunei’s palace announced on state television and radio late Wednesday that the sultan has divorced Azrinaz and revoked all her royal titles. No other details were made available, but rumours of a royal breakup had been circulating in Brunei. —AP
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Couple fined as pets bark 800 times/hr
London : A couple living in Southampton has been fined £2,000 for their dogs barking 800 times an hour and creating noise nuisance for the residents of the area.
Their neighbours have complained about the noise disturbance claiming it has made their lives a “living hell”. Investigators have found the Boxers and bulldogs kept by Mark McGowan and Sam Watkins howled on average every 4.4 seconds, recording 805 barks during one-hour. Council environmental health officers made notes of the incessant barking and whining during various visits to neighbours’ houses. —ANI