Doctor Convicted Of Euthanasia Hits The Stage In Spain Theatre

Advancing on slowly onto the stage of a Madrid theatre, Marcos Hourmann introduces himself.

"I am the first doctor convicted in Spain for practising euthanasia," he informs the public at the tiny Teatro del Barrio in the Lavapies neighbourhood which is known for its leftist roots.

"I wish that tonight you judge me," he later adds during the play which premiered on Thursday and which recounts Hourmann´s real life experiences.

The play, called "Celebrare mi muerte" or "I Will Celebrate My Death", comes as Spain gears up for a snap general election on April 28.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has promised to make Spain the fourth country in Europe to legalise euthanasia after Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands if he wins a majority in parliament -- a move fiercely opposed by the main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP).

"This is a gift that I am being given, to be able to spew" words never before said Hourmann, a 59-year-old Argentine-born doctor who was convicted of killing a terminally ill patient without trial.

During the 75-minute play he recounts how in March 2005 he was the duty doctor at a hospital in Tarragona in northeastern Spain when an 82-year-old woman named Carmen who had colon cancer and multiple other ailments arrived.

Hourmann tells the audience that the woman told him twice that she wanted to die but he first did what was expected of him -- he tried to save her life. When there was no more hope legally sedated her to ease her pain.

But a nurse later woke him up "because Carmen continued to choke. Her daughter told me: 'I can't see her like that'," he adds during the play.

Hourmann then gave Carmen with a fatal dose of potassium chloride.

"If I could no longer help her live, isn't it my duty as a doctor to help her die?," Hourmann asks the audience.

"Hypocrisies"

Just two weeks before he was set to go on trial in 2009, public prosecutors proposed a plea deal which Hourmann accepted.

Instead of facing a possible ten year sentence for homicide, he was convicted of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and handed a one year suspended sentence, meaning he did not spend any time behind bars.

Hourmann moved to Britain where he worked as a doctor but in 2010 British tabloid The Sun launched a campaign against him, dubbing him a "killer doctor" and he became unemployed.

A voice off stage asks Hourmann during the play why he registered Carmen's cause of death as being by lethal injection, which is what led to him being charged.

"If I did not write it, it would be going against my ideas," he responds, adding he rejects "hypocrisies".

"End pain"

The play is careful to include the arguments of experts and lawmakers who are "totally opposed to euthanasia," its director, Alberto San Juan, said.

A doctor argues in one scene that medical ethics allow physicians to "end pain" but prohibit "ending a patient's life".

Euthanasia has long grabbed public attention in Spain, which has the world's second-highest life expectancy.

Spanish-Chilean director Alejandro Amenabar won the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2005 for "The Sea Inside", based on the real story of a paraplegic Spanish fisherman's 29-year campaign to win the right to end his own life with assisted suicide.

Fully 84 percent of Spaniards back euthanasia for terminally ill patients who conserve their mental faculties, according to a survey published last year in daily newspaper La Vanguardia.

Spain's ruling Socialists in June presented a draft law on legalising euthanasia which was backed by far-left party Podemos but the PP and centre-right Ciudadanos blocked it in a parliamentary committee in October.

"The Socialist party is expert in creating inexistant problems," PP leader Pablo Casado at the time, adding the state should not intervene in people's "conscience".

Over $7.4 Million Donated To Help Families In New Zealand Mosque Shooting

More than NZ$10.8 million ($7.4 million) in public donations has been received so far to help families of the 50 people killed in New Zealand's mosque shootings, according to a pair of fund-raising websites.

A support fund on New Zealand site GiveaLittle.co.nz had received NZ$8,271,847 from more than 91,000 donors as of Sunday, while LaunchGood.com, a global crowdfunding platform focused on Muslims, had netted NZ$2,546,126 from over 40,000 donors.

The slaughter of 50 people at Friday prayers in two Christchurch mosques on March 15 shocked the normally laid-back country and prompted global horror, heightened by the gunman's cold-blooded livestreaming of the massacre.

Since then, New Zealanders have responded with an outpouring of support for the country's small Muslim community.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last week that the country would cover the costs of burying the 50 victims as well as "repatriation costs for any family members who would like to move their loved ones away from New Zealand."

The attack also left dozens of people injured, some critically.

Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian white supremacist, was arrested within minutes of the massacre and has been charged with murder.

US Man Posed As Instagram Star, Spent $800 On Uber To Assault Teen: Cops

A Florida man has been arrested and accused of using Instagram to lure a 17-year-old girl across two states to his home, then sexually assaulting her.

An arrest affidavit alleges that Richard Brown, 25, struck up a friendship with the girl via Instagram, claiming to be 19 years old and a star on the social media platform, an Orlando CBS affiliate reported. The girl allegedly told police she had run away from home and had been speaking with Brown through the app for three months until he decided to bring her to Florida.

Police say Brown paid over $800 for Uber rides that brought the girl through Texas and Louisiana and finally to his home in Apopka, Florida. The teenager told police that when she found out she had been lied to, she wanted to go home, but that he told her "No, you owe me now for bringing you all the way here," an ABC affiliate reported.

The girl told police that she was sexually battered over a three-day period and was able to escape on Wednesday when Brown fell asleep. She contacted her mother and called 911.

Brown told police that he was "only friends" with the teen and that she had needed a place to stay. He denied having sexual contact with her and said he thought she was 18, according to the affidavit.

"We see several inconsistencies with this affidavit," Brown's attorney said, according to a local Fox affiliate. "The victim said to police she met Mr. Brown through Instagram but somehow her account was hacked" and she "couldn't download the messages to show police."

Brown and his attorney could not immediately be reached by The Washington Post for comment.

Brown was arrested Thursday and booked in an Orange County jail. He faces multiple felony charges, including sexual battery of a child age 12 to 17 by a person over 18; contributing to the delinquency of a minor; and sexual acts with a 16- or 17-year-old child, according to the county's website.

Norway Cruise Ship Towed To Port After As Many As 500 People Rescued

Rescue services had airlifted 479 people to safety from a luxury cruise liner with engine trouble off the coast of Norway by Sunday morning and began towing the vessel to a nearby port.

The Viking Sky, with 1,373 passengers and crew on board, sent out a mayday signal on Saturday as it drifted towards land in the Norwegian Sea.

The airlift of passengers, many of them elderly, from the Viking Cruises ship by helicopter was halted on Sunday morning as two tugboats started steering the vessel towards the nearest port.

Founder and chairman of Viking Cruises, Norwegian billionaire Torstein Hagen, said he hoped the vessel would arrive at the port of Molde on Norway's west coast by Sunday afternoon.

"They've had a bit of a shocking experience," Hagen told Norwegian TV2 and other media after meeting passengers who had been hoisted one by one from the ship's deck in stormy weather.

"Most of our passengers are senior citizens ... imagine what it's like to hang there on that wire. It must be a terrible experience but they seem to have handled it very well," Hagen said.

The helicopters are on standby in case the captain decides to restart the airlift, the rescue service said.

The 915 passengers were mainly from the United States and Britain, the rescue services said. There were also Canadians and Australians on board, among others, the cruise company said.

Some 20 injured passengers had been taken to hospital, Viking Cruises said, while others had only minor injuries.

One was taken to St. Olav's Hospital in Trondheim and others were taken to local hospitals.

"Many have also been traumatised by the experience and need care when they arrive on shore," the Norwegian Red Cross said.

The ship has been able to restart three of its four engines on Sunday morning but still needed assistance.

The tugboats, one in front and the other behind, were towing the ship at 7 knots (13 kilometres per hour). The vessel is about 80 kms from Molde, Norway's maritime rescue service said.

BROKEN WINDOWS

Stormy weather conditions had improved by early Sunday, with winds down to 14 metres per second from 24 metres per second, the Norwegian Meteorological Institute said. The wind is expected to drop further during Sunday.

Images and video posted by passengers on social media showed furniture sliding around and panels falling from the ceiling as the vessel drifted in waves of up to eight metres (26 feet), and passengers earlier described the ordeal.

"We were having lunch when it began to shake. Window panes were broken and water came in. It was just chaos. The trip on the helicopter, I would rather forget. It was not fun," American passenger John Curry told public broadcaster NRK on Saturday.

The stretch of water known as Hustadvika and surrounding areas are known for fierce weather and shallow waters dotted with reefs.

Built in 2017, the Viking Sky is 227 metres long (745 feet) and 29 metres wide, the Viking Ocean Cruises website said.

"We all want to know how this could have happened," company chairman Hagen said. "I'm sure there will be plenty of time to point fingers at what could and should have been done, but that's for later."

"Something like this shouldn't happen, but it has."

Royal Advisor Fired Over Khashoggi Murder Absent From Saudi Trail

A Saudi royal adviser fired over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is not among the 11 suspects on trial at secretive hearings in Riyadh despite Saudi pledges to bring those responsible to justice, sources familiar with the matter said.

The Saudi public prosecutor indicted 11 unnamed suspects in November, including five who could face the death penalty on charges of "ordering and committing the crime."

The CIA and some Western countries believe Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing, which Saudi officials deny.

Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide to Prince Mohammed until he was sacked then sanctioned by the US Treasury over his suspected role, is not on trial and has not appeared at any of the four court sessions convened since January, said seven sources, who are familiar with the proceedings but have not attended the trial.

Two regional intelligence sources told Reuters weeks after the killing that Qahtani oversaw Khashoggi's murder and dismemberment by giving orders via Skype to a team of security and intelligence operatives.

The Saudi public prosecutor said in November that Qahtani had coordinated with deputy intelligence chief Ahmed al-Asiri, who ordered the repatriation of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who had become a vocal critic of the crown prince's policies following years as a royal insider.

The prosecutor said Qahtani had met the operatives charged with Khashoggi's repatriation ahead of their journey to Istanbul. When Khashoggi resisted, the lead negotiator decided to kill him, according to the prosecutor.

Asiri is on trial, the seven sources told Reuters.

Three of the sources said that Maher Mutreb, the lead negotiator, and Salah al-Tubaigy, a forensic expert specialised in autopsies, are
 also on trial and could face the death penalty.


The sources said the defendants have legal counsel and have defended themselves in court by claiming they did not intend to kill Khashoggi or were merely carrying out orders.

The public prosecutor, the government media office, Qahtani and Asiri did not respond to requests for comment on the status of the trial. Reuters could not reach Mutreb, Tobaigy or any of the defendants' lawyers.

Saudi Arabia wants to move on from the global outcry sparked by Khashoggi's killing in the kingdom's Istanbul consulate last October, which tarnished the crown prince's reputation, prompted some investors to pull out, and intensified criticism of the country's human rights record.

A credible investigation and trial are among Western demands to restore Saudi Arabia's standing after the killing. But Riyadh has refused to cooperate with a UN inquiry, rejecting it as interference in its internal affairs.

It is unclear what evidence, if any, has been presented in court. Khashoggi's remains have not been discovered, and Riyadh says it has not received evidence requested from Ankara, which says it has recordings related to the killing in which Qahtani features prominently.

A senior Turkish official said Ankara had shared all the necessary information with Saudi Arabia but that the cooperation had not been reciprocated. Turkey wants Riyadh to answer questions including where Khashoggi's body is and who the Saudis standing trial in Riyadh are.

Three of the sources said a representative for the Khashoggi family attended at least one session to ask for an update on the public prosecutor's investigation into Qahtani and for him to be brought before the court.

Qahtani has continued to wield influence in the crown prince's inner circle and remains active on behalf of the royal court, Western, Arab and Saudi sources with links to the royal court told Reuters in January.

A Saudi official denied that at the time and said Qahtani remains under investigation and banned from travel.

Access to the trial has been limited to diplomats from the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Turkey who are summoned on short notice and barred from bringing interpreters.

50-Year-Old French Mayor Quits Over Nude Photos Sent To Woman

A mayor in northwest France close to Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has resigned after several nude pictures of him were released by a woman who claims she was the victim of unwanted advances.

Philippe's office Friday welcomed the resignation, describing it as a "responsible decision".

Luc Lemonnier, a 50-year-old father of four who replaced Philippe as mayor of the Channel port city of Le Havre in 2017, announced his resignation on Thursday in order to "protect his family."

He denied improper behaviour, saying "the exchange of messages occurred without any coercive intent and between consenting adults."

Lemonnier had filed a libel suit last June over the publication of the text messages, though prosecutors later dropped the case.

"Municipal council members received a picture of the mayor along with a description of behaviours which he denies," Lemonnier's lawyer Christian Saint-Palais told news agency AFP.


But the woman who released the photos said she felt she had no other option.

"It was a very difficult situation," she told a local radio station this week, on condition of anonymity.

"I've been married for more than 20 years, I have children and our relationship is fulfilling -- I was not involved at all in any games of seduction," she said.

The mayor's resignation is an embarrassment for the centrist Republic on the Move government which is hoping to win over Philippe's former political stronghold in the 2020 municipal elections.

Before signing on as prime minister to President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, Philippe served, both as mayor and as a member of parliament for Le Havre, as a member of the conservative party the Republicans.