TORONTO: Canadian police charged pop star Justin Bieber with the December assault of a limousine driver, shortly after the 19-year-old had turned himself in. The young heartthrob will go before court on March 10, Toronto police said in a statement that came out just over two hours after he had handed himself in, amid chaotic scenes. The charges are the latest run-in with the law for the teen star after his Los Angeles home was searched because he allegedly hurled eggs at a neighbour’s house, and his arrest in Miami Beach on January 23 for drag racing and impaired driving. “On Wednesday, January 29, 2014, Justin Bieber, 19, of Calabasas, California, surrendered to police at 52 Division,” the Toronto police statement said, adding the troubled star will go before court at Toronto’s Old City Hall. Bieber is accused of hitting a limousine driver “several times” over the back of the head.
Mother, 8 kids killed in house fire
CHICAGO: A mother and eight children were killed when fire swept through their rural home in the US state of Kentucky early yesterday, officials said. Only two members of the family — the father and an 11-year-old child — managed to escape and they were being treated for serious burns. The fire broke out in the early hours in a wooden frame house outside the town of Greenville, Kentucky. “When first responders arrived the residence was totally engulfed in flame,” Kentucky State Trooper Stu Recke told WDRB news. “At the present time, it does not look to be suspicious so foul play is not suspected at all,” he said. “But so far as what actually caused the fire it’s too early to tell right now.” Fire crews had recovered the bodies of five of the victims and were searching the charred rubble for the remaining four, he added. The children ranged in age from four to 15, Muhlenberg County Coroner Tony Armour told CNN.
Convicted murderer executed in US
WASHINGTON: A convicted murder was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday night in the US state of Missouri, his lawyers said. Herbert Smulls, 56, was put to death after a reprieve granted by US Supreme Court Judge Samuel Alito late Tuesday was lifted by the court. Smulls had challenging the use of the drugs that were to be used to execute him. After the reprieve was lifted, and before the man was executed, three other appeals were filed. The last was still pending when he was put to death, his legal team said. Smulls was on death row for the 1991 killing of a jeweller during an armed robbery. The governor of Missouri rejected his petition for a stay of execution. The challenge he lodged was over the use of the chemical pentobarbital, manufactured by a compounding pharmacy whose identity has not been revealed. Alito is the justice assigned to cases from the region of the United States that includes Missouri. He is expected to rule soon on a similar petition from Louisiana inmate Christopher Sepulvado, due to be put to death next week. Sepulvado is scheduled to die for fatally beating and scalding his six-year-old stepson in 1992.
Agencies
