Three men who dug up a young woman's corpse to have sex with it after seeing her obituary photo cannot be charged with attempted sexual assault because Wisconsin has no law against necrophilia, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

The men used shovels to reach her grave. They abandoned their plan and were eventually arrested after a vehicle drove into the cemetery and reported suspicious behavior, authorities said.

A judge was correct to dismiss the charges against twin brothers Nicholas and Alexander Grunke and Dustin Radke, all 21, because lawmakers never intended to criminalize sex with a corpse, the District 4 Court of Appeals said in a 3-0 ruling.

At issue is a provision in the sexual assault law saying criminal penalties apply "whether a victim is dead or alive at the time of the sexual contact or sexual intercourse."

The appeals court said the law was ambiguous but the most reasonable interpretation was that it does not ban necrophilia. Instead, the court said, the law was meant to make sure prosecutors could bring sexual assault charges in rape-murder cases in which the victim ends up dead.

Full story @ wcco.com

A Russian environmentalist was beaten to death and seven others wounded on Saturday when a group armed with iron bars and baseball bats attacked their camp near a nuclear waste processing plant in Siberia.

Russian media reported up to 15 people shouting fascist slogans attacked the environmentalists, who were living in the camp to protest against nuclear processing in the city of Angarsk near Lake Baikal, 5,000 km east of Moscow.

...

"From that we can conclude they were Nazis or skinheads",(esident of the camp, Marina Popova),told the Vesti-24 television channel, blood seeping through a bandage wrapped around her head.

From theage.com.au - Full story

The Howard Government is planning to deport detained terror suspect Mohamed Haneef to contain the political fallout from a case that insiders fear is becoming farcical.

By withdrawing the Criminal Justice Certificate that he issued last week, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock can ensure Haneef is deported immediately.

...

Mr Ruddock issued the Certificate of Justice so that Haneef's deportation could be stayed pending judicial proceedings. But with the federal police case surrounding Haneef collapsing after revelations that the SIM card he left in Britain was not used in the failed suicide bomb attack in Glasgow, Government strategists believe there is little point holding him in Australia.

And from an unnamed source:

"There is growing sentiment that we should cut our losses and deport him (Haneef). No one is backing away from the fact that this guy is a security risk. We are standing by the decision to cancel his visa but there is simply not enough evidence to convict him of anything."

From theage.com.au - Full story

The Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a scary rumour - giant badgers are stalking the streets by night, eating humans.

"I was sleeping at night when this strange animal hit me on my head. I have not seen such an animal before. My husband hurried to shoot it but it was as swift as a deer," said Suad Hassan, a 30-year-old housewife.

Sattar Jabbar, a 50-year-old local farmer from Abu Sakhar north of Basra, believes the badger can tackle even large prey.

"I saw it three days ago at night attacking animals. It even ate a cow. It tore the cow up piece by piece. I tried to shoot it with my gun but it ran away into the orchards. I missed it," he said.

British army spokesman Major David Gell said the animals were thought to be a kind of honey badger -- mellivora capensis -- which can be fierce but are not usually dangerous to humans unless provoked.

Full story @ brisbanetimes.com.au.

Thanks Alli!

From chron.com.

Fearing complacency among the American people over possible terror threats, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in Chicago on Tuesday that the nation faces a heightened chance of an attack this summer.

(However), Chertoff said there are not enough indications of an imminent plot to raise the current threat levels nationwide. And he indicated his remarks were based on "a gut feeling" formed by past seasonal patterns of terrorist attacks, recent al-Qaida statements, and intelligence he did not disclose.

Full story

From washingtonpost.com

A 16-page document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict once headed, described Christian Orthodox churches as true churches, but suffering from a "wound" since they do not recognize the primacy of Pope.

But the document said the "wound is still more profound" in Protestant denominations.

"Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress ... it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them," it said.

Full story

Soon people will be appologising for even mentioning drugs. From theage.com.au

While being interviewed on Triple J's breakfast show after his band's new album, Young Modern, was nominated for a J award, (Silverchair's Daniel) Johns was asked by broadcaster Lindsay McDougall about his relationship with Bono, who is thanked in the album's liner notes.

"He (Bono) asked if I'd play the demos and it was really one of the most surreal moments in my life," said Johns, who admitted to being hung-over and to receiving a massage in his US hotel at the time of the interview. "It was me and Natalie and Peter Garrett and Bono laying (sic) on Bono's bed smoking joints listening to Young Modern demos."

Later that day:

"In an interview I did this morning on Triple J I made a stupid joke," he said. "It's just been brought to my attention that some people in the media have taken my dumb joke seriously, so I want to set the record straight. At no time have I ever smoked a joint with Bono or Peter Garrett. They are both well known to be very anti-drugs so that's why I assumed everybody would know I was joking when I made that comment …

Full story.

The mother of a condemned inmate whose execution took an hour longer than is typical sued the head of Ohio's prisons on Monday.

It took almost 90 minutes to carry out the execution of Joseph Clark in May 2006...Executions last about 20 minutes on average.

Prison staff had problems finding a useable vein on Clark...During the first injection attempt, Clark finally pushed himself up and said, "It don't work."

During the second attempt at finding a vein, he asked, "Can you just give me something by mouth to end this?"

Full story @ CNN

President Bush commuted Monday the prison term of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, facing 30 months in prison after a federal court convicted him of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators.

In a written statement commuting the jail sentence, issued hours after Monday's ruling, Bush called the sentence "excessive," and suggested that Libby will pay a big enough price for his conviction.

I assume that the "big enough price" that Bush is referring to is the $250,000 fine that Libby still has to pay.

Full story @ CNN.

Prince is having his new album given away with a Newspaper. From The Guardian:

The Mail on Sunday revealed yesterday that the 10-track Planet Earth CD will be available with an "imminent" edition, making it the first place in the world to get the album. Planet Earth will go on sale on July 24.

The capitalists are flipping out:

The Entertainment Retailers Association said the giveaway "beggars belief". "It would be an insult to all those record stores who have supported Prince throughout his career," ERA co-chairman Paul Quirk told a music conference. "It would be yet another example of the damaging covermount culture which is destroying any perception of value around recorded music.

"The Artist Formerly Known as Prince should know that with behaviour like this he will soon be the Artist Formerly Available in Record Stores. And I say that to all the other artists who may be tempted to dally with the Mail on Sunday."

Full story.