SCREEN legend Gerard Depardieu was thrown off an international flight after urinating in the plane’s aisle before take-off, a passenger said yesterday.

Disgusted travellers said the actor was drunk and called out: “I need to p***, I need to p***” then stood and relieved himself in front of the packed flight.

The jet was taxiing to the runway and cabin crew had told him to hang on until they were airborne and the seat belt sign had been turned off. The 62-year-old French star and his two companions were taken off Tuesday evening’s Air France Paris to Dublin flight, which was delayed two hours for cleaning.
A passenger told French radio: “Mr Depardieu was clearly drunk and repeatedly called to cabin crew he ‘needed to p***’ as the jet headed to the runway.

“An air hostess told him he would have to wait 15 minutes until we were in the air and he could leave his seat. He replied that he couldn’t wait then he just stood up and urinated on the floor.”

Flight operator City Jet confirmed an incident took place and wrote on Twitter: “We were busy mopping the floor of one of our planes this morning.” They refused to name the passenger.

Depardieu’s agent declined to comment. The star has been in over 150 films including Cyrano de Bergerac and Green Card.

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Phone hacking was "widely discussed" at News of the World

Phone hacking was "widely discussed" at News of the World, the royal correspondent jailed and sacked for the practice wrote in 2007, according to documents released Tuesday by a Parliament committee investigating the scandal.
The letter was among a string of documents released by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee relating to the scandal.
The committee is likely to call News Corp. executive James Murdoch to testify before them again as members try to determine whether he misled them last month about the scale of phone hacking at News of the World and who knew about it, member of Parliament Tom Watson said Tuesday.
Executives at News International have argued that illegal activities were not widespread.
Both James and his father Rupert Murdoch, as well as former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, who previously edited News of the World, gave evidence to the committee last month.
James Murdoch ordered the closure of the News of the World, Britain's best-selling Sunday paper, in July in the face of allegations of illegal eavesdropping and police bribery by its employees. The scandal has led to the resignation of a number of senior police officers and executives at News International, the British arm of News Corp. which ran the newspaper.
The letter published Tuesday reveals that while fighting his dismissal from the paper, former royal correspondent Clive Goodman alleged that "other members of staff were carrying out the same illegal procedures."
He also wrote that "explicit reference" to phone hacking was "banned."
The copy of the letter, published by lawmakers investigating the scandal, blacks out the name of the person who banned it.
Andy Coulson, who resigned as Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman at the start of this year amid renewed questions over phone hacking, has denied knowing it was going on while he was editor of News of the World. He resigned from that position on the day Goodman was jailed. Coulson was arrested and released on bail last month.
John Whittingdale, who chairs the parliamentary committee, said after its members met Tuesday that he anticipated James Murdoch, as chairman of News International, would have more questions to answer on the phone-hacking issue.
"James Murdoch clearly is the man who is ultimately responsible for News International in this country," he said, adding that Rupert Murdoch seemed to have less insight into the detail of the case.
Commenting on the evidence from the committee, a News International statement said: "News Corporation's board has set up a Management and Standards Committee, chaired by independent Chairman Lord Grabiner, which is co-operating fully with the Metropolitan Police and is facilitating their investigation into illegal voice mail interception at the News of the World and related issues.
"We recognize the seriousness of materials disclosed to the police and Parliament and are committed to working in a constructive and open way with all the relevant authorities," the statement said.
Claims that the voice mail of murdered British teenager Milly Dowler was among those hacked by the paper's staff, potentially hindering a police investigation, sparked particular outrage.
The correspondence released Tuesday reveals that Whittingdale sent James Murdoch a list of 19 questions after his testimony before the committee, ranging from who was on duty at News of the World when Milly Dowler's phone was hacked to what legal fees News International paid for private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
News International has no record of who edited the 2002 issue of News of the World that included reference to a Milly Dowler voice mail, James Murdoch told British lawmakers in the newly-released written evidence.
Brooks, the editor of the paper at the time, was on vacation that week, he said, and the company records do not show who deputized for her, he said. Peter Smith was night editor, and Neville Thurlbeck, who was arrested earlier this year in connection with the phone hacking investigation, was news editor.
James Murdoch was asked to provide the written response after additional questions were raised by a former editor of the News of the World and the paper's former head of legal affairs, Colin Myler and Tom Crone. They said Murdoch had been "mistaken" in his testimony regarding an important piece of evidence.
Crone and Myler said they had told Murdoch of an e-mail regarded as central to the question of whether more than one reporter at the paper was involved in illegal activity. Murdoch gave contradictory evidence to the committee.
The e-mail referred to by Crone and Myler is known as the "for Neville" e-mail, so named for its apparent connection to Thurlbeck. It is thought to have played a key role in the decision by executives at News International to agree to an out-of-court settlement with Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association. James Murdoch admitted in testimony to the parliamentary committee that the payout was for "illegal voice mail interception."
In a letter to Whittingdale released Tuesday, Crone said he believed he had informed James Murdoch of the "for Neville" e-mail in a June 2008 meeting.
He wrote: "Since the 'for Neville' document was the sole reason for settling and, therefore, for the meeting, I have no doubt that I informed Mr. Murdoch of its existence, of what it was and where it came from. I do not recall if I produced it and showed him a copy of it."
"There seems to be a question as to whether James Murdoch misled the committee. We have not drawn a conclusion on that," Watson told Sky News before the documents were released.
He told Sky the letter apparently written by Goodman would be "devastating" evidence of a cover-up if it proved to be accurate.
Whittingdale said the committee wanted to know more about decisions made by James Murdoch as he authorized certain payments.
But it does not intend to duplicate the work of the judicial inquiry led by Lord Justice Leveson into the conduct of other news organizations, he said, and would focus specifically on whether Parliament was misled by in the evidence already given to it.
The committee also has no plans to call Rupert Murdoch for more testimony, Watson and Whittingdale told Sky News.
Two police investigations are also under way into the allegations that journalists from the News of the World hacked into voice mails of people ranging from celebrities to crime victims and illegally paid police for information. A dozen people have been arrested in connection with the inquiries.

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Dany Villanueva to appeal deportation after losing immigration appeal

There aren’t sufficient humanitarian or compassionate grounds to allow Dany Villanueva, whose brother Fredy was shot dead by Montreal police three years ago, to remain in Canada where he emigrated from his native Honduras in 1998, a Canadian immigration tribunal has ruled.

Lawyer Stéphane Handfield had argued during an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing this year that his client’s crimes and his membership in the Bloods street gang in Montreal North should not be reason to deport him because there are cases where immigrants with far worse track records have been allowed to stay, including terrorists.

The board acknowledged that the Central American country has a lot of violence and street gangs, and that Villanueva’s return will entail a period of adjustment. But it said in its 42-page ruling that the government is tackling the problem and has set up youth assistance programs, including one to have tattoos removed.

Handfield told The Gazette on Wednesday he plans to appeal the tribunal’s ruling to the Federal Court.

Villanueva, a permanent resident of Canada, told the seven-day hearing in Montreal in April that he feared for his life if he returned to Honduras because his name was known – yet he had his name tattooed on his body, the decision pointed out.

“If the appellant truly believes his tattoos will put him in danger in Honduras, he can still have them removed,” says the judgment, rendered on July 22 but released Wednesday.

The deportation order came in the midst of a coroner’s inquest into the shooting death of unarmed Fredy Villanueva, 18, by police Constable Jean-Loup Lapointe. He and his partner, Stéphanie Pilotte, had stopped to question a group of young men playing dice in a Montreal North parking lot when Lapointe fired his gun, killing Villanueva and injuring two others. The inquest wrapped up this year, but the report has been delayed because the city of Montreal and its police force have filed a motion in Quebec Superior Court to stop information about the safety latch on officers’ pistols from becoming public.

In his closing arguments of Villanueva’s appeal of his deportation order, Handfield said even terrorists are allowed to stay if there is evidence they would be tortured in their home countries.

His client was sentenced to 11 months in jail in 2006 for possession of a firearm and theft. He is currently facing two charges of impaired driving, possession of cannabis and failure to comply with a court order. The trial is scheduled for December.

Villanueva also has a history of violating probation conditions by continuing to hang out with gang members, as well as breaking curfew and taking illegal drugs and drinking alcohol.

Chantal Boucher, the lawyer for the public security minister, said during the hearing that Villanueva remained a gang member by choice, terrorized neighbourhoods in Montreal North by “taxing” and threatening young people and continues to “pose a danger to the citizens of Canada.”

Boucher noted that family members returned to Honduras at least five times between 2001 and 2010 and were not harmed. Villanueva’s parents were accepted in Canada as refugees in 1995. Dany, who was 12 at the time, followed with his three sisters and brother.

 

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Australian police are attempting to assist an 18-year-old girl who has allegedly had an explosive device strapped to her neck.

A ransom note was found with the device which was reportedly attached to the girl when a man wearing a balaclava entered a house in the upmarket Mosman area of Sydney.

The victim is reportedly a member of one of Australia' wealthiest families.

Police and an army bomb disposal team have surrounded the house on Burrawong Avenue and are treating the device as live.

A bomb disposal team has entered the house to offer support to the teenager and examine the device. “The process demands a high level of skill and must be meticulous,” a police spokesman said.

He would not confirm if the device had been strapped to the girl by someone she did not know but said the incident was “not being treated as self-harm”.

The incident began when the girl, who was home alone when the man entered the house, phoned police about 2.30pm (5.30am Irish time).

"The young lady at this particular point in time is fine and doing her best to assist police,” assistant police commissioner Mark Murdoch told Radio Australia. “I'm not confirming anything at this particular point in time, we just need to play our cards pretty close to our chest.”

Several nearby streets were closed to traffic, and medical and fire crews were on standby.

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