Winemaker insures his nose for millions

Winemaker insures his nose for millions	19.03.2008

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03/19/2008		Priests told to get a gun
POLICE in a central Russian region have advised priests to apply for firearms licences so they can defend their churches from marauding thieves who have been stealing religious icons at gunpoint

03/19/2008		Maddie`s parents win damages, apology
THE parents of Madeleine McCann won ?550,000 ($1.2 million) in libel damages today from newspapers that repeatedly alleged they killed their missing daughter and covered up her death

03/19/2008		Fire brigade puts hoax call on web
FIRE chiefs in Britain have released a recording of an emergency call by a hoaxer who said he could hear screaming from people trapped inside a blazing house

03/19/2008		No jail for internet nude pics
A BRITISH man who sent nude pictures of his online girlfriend to everyone in her email address book, including her husband, has escaped a prison term

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Mercedes Corby wins defamation case against Seven
Dropped by the Today Tonight studio after win
Power maintains she never lied about Corbys

IT was the sweetest victory - and the sweetest victory lap.

After beating Channel Seven in her defamation action, Mercedes Corby dropped by the Today Tonight studio and waved to the host Anna Coren mid-broadcast.

Coren, one of six defendants found guilty of defaming Ms Corby, looked up through the window of Seven`s studios in Sydney`s Martin Place and continued delivering her story.

"There she is!" Ms Corby said, jumping into the air.

Then she marched away, with her team of lawyers, led by Stuart Littlemore QC, to celebrate with French champagne.

Earlier, after a trial marked by sneaky entrances and swift departures, she stopped on the Supreme Court steps and said: "I`m really happy. I`ve still got more to do. But I`m really happy."

And so she should be. The woman once known only as the sister of convicted drug smuggler Schapelle stands to make up to $250,000 after the jury of three men and one woman found the current affairs show had broadcast claims she was a drug smuggler, cultivator and dealer who had asked her friend to secret marijuana into Bali.

Seven mounted a defence on proving the claims - made by Ms Corby`s estranged friend of 14 years Jodie Power - were true. It failed on all but one count: that Ms Corby had been guilty of marijuana possession.

Other claims for which Ms Corby successfully sued included: that she was involved in Schapelle`s importation of cannabis, that she had lied about her family`s involvement with drugs, and that her family was a threat to Ms Power.

It was a different story at the Seven camp. Ms Power showed little emotion as the jury read its verdict, delivering just "yes" or "no" to each question.

But outside, the woman who swore under oath that Ms Corby and her brother had sold her marijuana on the Gold Coast over more than a decade, wept in the arms of her co-defendant, TT reporter Bryan Seymour, as he walked her back to Seven headquarters.

"At least I can walk out of here with my head up," Ms Power said, tears streaming down her face.

"I know I didn`t tell any lies at all. Channel Seven stands by its story."

Seymour, who sat beside Ms Power in the court room throughout the five-week trial, offered: "It`s okay, Jodie."

Coren was not in court - she was busy being on television - but had been a regular presence in the hearings. At one point in the trial the judge, Carolyn Simpson, asked Seven`s lawyers to stop the TT anchor from making "responsive facial gestures" in the public gallery.

The legal challenge is believed to have cost Channel 7 at least $255,000 in legal fees alone, with the network represented by a Queens Counsel and two junior counsels. Two solicitors were also present throughout the trial.

Similarly, the court action is tipped to have cost Mercedes - who was represented by a Queens Counsel and junior counsel - more than $170,000.

These do not include fees for several weeks of pre-trial hearings.

Ms Corby would not say whether she planned to tell Schapelle about her victory - which raises new questions about Schapelle`s guilt. But outside court Mercedes almost immediately began making telephone calls.

Before leaving the building, she went into a private room with lawyers and Schapelle Corby biographer Catherine Bonella, from which squeals of laughter could be heard.

The jury and lawyers will return today to discuss the possession claim in preparation for a separate damages hearing at a later date.

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Mercedes enjoys a victory lap 05/30/2008


	12. 2008

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