Wild weather leaves trail of destruction
A LEGAL battle between New Zealand’s National Party and musician Eminem’s publishers has kicked off in Wellington, with a courtroom full of lawyers being treated to some rap music.
Detroit- based record companies Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated are suing the party over music it used in a 2014 election ad.
The song in question has been compared to the American rapper’s 2002 hit Lose Yourself and Eminem’s representatives say permission was not sought nor given for the song to be used in connection with any political campaign.
As the case kicked off in the High Court yesterday, the Nationals’ lawyers said the song was part of a library bought from production music supplier Beatbox. The trial is set down for six days. VAL Kilmer has finally confirmed numerous reports that he was battling cancer.
The actor had never acknowledged the rumours as legitimate, but has revealed on a question- and- answer session on the discussion website Reddit that he has had a “healing of cancer”.
Michael Douglas first revealed Kilmer’s oral cancer diagnosis last year when speaking about the pair’s film The Ghost and the Darkness.
Despite originally denying Douglas’ claims, Kilmer was forthright with a fan on Reddit.
“A while ago, Michael Douglas claimed you had terminal cancer. What was the story behind that?” the fan asked.
“He was probably trying to help me cause press probably asked where I was these days, and I did have a healing of cancer,” Kilmer replied. A SWISS climber acclaimed for his rapid ascents – including scaling dozens of peaks in the Alps in a little more than two months – died on Sunday in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest in Nepal, expedition organisers said.
Ueli Steck died at Camp 1 of Mount Nuptse, Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks said.
Mr Steck’s body was taken to Lukla, where the only airport in the Mount Everest area is located.
His family said the exact circumstances of his death were still unclear.
“The family is infinitely sad and asks that the media refrain from speculating about his death out of respect and consideration for Ueli,” it said in a statement on his website.
Mr Steck was planning to climb 8850m Mount Everest and nearby Mount Lhotse next month. AT LEAST 14 people have been killed by tornadoes or flooding in the US South and Midwest, with a rare late- season blizzard hitting western Kansas.
Tornadoes hit several small towns in East Texas, killing four people.
Five people were killed by flooding and winds in Arkansas, including a fire chief who was struck by a vehicle while working during the storm.
Two deaths were reported in Missouri, including a woman who drowned after rushing water swept away a car. One of two deaths in Mis- sissippi included a seven- yearold who died by electric shock and a two- year- old girl died in Tennessee after being struck by a soccer goalpost thrown by heavy winds.
An Arkansas volunteer fire department chief was killed while working during storms, state police said.
In Texas, search teams were going door to door on Sunday after the tornadoes the day before flattened homes, uprooted trees and flipped vehicles.
“It is heartbreaking and upsetting to say the least,” Canton Mayor Lou Ann Everett said. Donald Trump has called North Korean tyrant Kim Jong- un a “smart cookie” as he refused to confirm if the US sabotaged the rogue state’s missile tests. The despotic regime suffered its second failure in a month on Saturday — adding to speculation America has used cyber- warfare against Kim. Asked why the North Korean missiles keep blowing up, Mr Trump told the CBS program Face The Nation: “Well, I’d rather not discuss it. But perhaps they’re just not very good missiles. But eventually, he’ll have good missiles.” Pressed again on the issue, he would not deny whether his country had anything to do with it. “I just don’t want to discuss it,” he said. “I think you know me very well, where you’ve asked me many times over the last couple of years about military ( activity) … it is a chess game. “I just don’t want people to know what my thinking is. So eventually, he will have a better delivery system. And if that happens, we can’t allow it to happen.” Mr Trump also delivered a backhanded compliment to tubby tyrant Kim, saying he had no idea if he was sane or not but calling him a “smart cookie”.
He said Kim had faced a formidable challenge in taking over the country at the age of 27 after his father’s death in 2011.
“He’s dealing with obviously very tough people, in particular the generals and others. And at a very young age, he was able to assume power,” Mr Trump said.
“A lot of people, I’m sure, tried to take that power away, whether it was his uncle or anybody else. And he was able to do it. So obviously, he’s a pretty smart cookie.”
Kim has presided over several purges since seizing power, notoriously executing his uncle and killing his defence chief with an antiaircraft gun.
North Korea’s latest failed launch coincided with Mr Trump’s 100th day in office and prompted warnings from his administration of “catastrophic” consequences if North Korea refused to halt the tests. Of the missile, Mr Trump said: “This was not a nuclear test, which he was expected to do three days ago … If he does a nuclear test, I will not be happy.”
Asked if that would mean military action, he said: “I don’t know. I mean, we’ll see.”
Mr Trump has sent the USS Michigan nuclear- powered submarine and the USS Carl Vinson aircraft super- carrier to the Korean Peninsula. Kim has threatened to destroy both vessels if they get any closer to North Korean waters.