Briefs | South China Morning Post

MEXICO CITY - A family of suspected drug traffickers in Mexico lost an arsenal after their nine-year-old boy took a gun to school, leading police to a house full of lethal weapons. Police raided the boy's home in the northern city of Hermosillo and found 13,000 rounds of ammunition, pistols and rifles, including AK-47s, as well as an Uzi sub-machine gun. One woman was arrested. Reuters

CLEVELAND - The parents of a US Olympic gold medallist, Tianna Madison, have sued her, saying she spread stories they had been selfish and bullying and cheated her financially. Robert and Jo Ann Madison, from Tampa, Florida, are seeking more than US$25,000 each in compensatory and punitive damages for libel, slander and defamation. They say they have been loving, supportive and generous parents. Tianna Madison was on the winning 4x100-metre relay track team at the Summer Olympics in London. She won the gold with Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter in world record time. The lawsuit also names her husband, John Bartoletta. AP

PHILADELPHIA - A man angry that his girlfriend's ex posted a compromising photo of her on Facebook took revenge, making a hoax call to police that set off a terrorism scare and pulled the former beau off an airplane at gunpoint, authorities say. In the end, both men were arrested. The new boyfriend, Kenneth Smith, 26, was arrested on charges of making a hoax threat to police in Philadelphia, who recalled a Dallas-bound flight and marched Christopher Shell off the plane on Thursday. The episode led to Shell's own arrest on drug warrants after he finally reached Texas to celebrate his 29th birthday. AP

LONDON - A con man who tweeted about serving as a senior police officer during the 2011 London riots and posed as a British army officer has been sentenced to five years in jail for fraud. Ellis Ward, 29, posted on Twitter about life as a Metropolitan Police inspector on the streets of London tackling rioters and looters, and duped one British newspaper into printing a column about his duties. He also pretended to be an army major wounded in Iraq, swindling three women out of more than £40,000 (HK$2 million). Ward admitted to 18 charges of fraud at his trial. AP

PARIS - Former Beatle Paul McCartney has been decorated with the legion d'honneur for services to music, France's Elysee Palace said. Yesterday the presidential office said that McCartney, 70, who sang and wrote hits like "Hey Jude" and "Yesterday", was decorated at the rank of officer by French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace, with members of McCartney's family attending. McCartney has already been honoured with a knighthood. AP

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