Japanese prince says family woes drive him to bottle
The first Japanese royal to publicly admit to alcoholism said he began drinking as a teenager and his habit has drastically worsened lately due to problems in the imperial family, AFP reports from Tokyo.
Prince Tomohito, 61, a cousin of Emperor Akihito and known for his staunch opposition to allowing a woman on the Chrysanthemum throne, told a magazine he started drinking at 15, five years below the legal minimum.
“I was first diagnosed as an alcoholic in my 30s. My hands were shaking and I couldn’t hold a cup of tea in the VIP room” of Tokyo’s Haneda airport, he told the latest edition of the Aera weekly.
The prince took a blood test shortly afterwards and found his level of an enzyme used as a yardstick of liver complications was 10 times worse than normal.
“I was immediately admitted to the Japan Red Cross Medical Centre. I was in an awful condition, hallucinating auditorily and visually for a week,” he said.
“The volume I drank swelled rapidly over the past three years,” he said, “as there were various problems that drove me into a towering rage.”
The prince said they included the controversy over the male-only imperial succession and a 2004 remark by Crown Prince Naruhito that his wife Masako, a former career woman, was being stifled by the palace.
Tomohito also mentioned “troubles in my family” but did not go into details. He is married to Nobuko, the sister of Foreign Minister Taro Aso.
Pete Doherty released on technicality
Pete Doherty was released on Tuesday without being charged with breaching his bail conditions after authorities failed to get him to court on time, AP reports from London.
Doherty, who has been undergoing court-ordered rehabilitation treatment, was arrested on Monday in east London on suspicion of possessing drugs, police said.
The charge of breaching his bail conditions was dismissed because the 28-year-old rocker had not been brought to court within 24 hours, said prosecutor Anjulika Vatish.
“The court has no jurisdiction to deal with this matter anymore,” she said at West London Magistrates’ Court.
Earlier this month, a judge warned Doherty that he must prove his desire to quit drugs within a month or face a jail sentence for previous offenses.
Doherty, best known as the off-on boyfriend of Kate Moss, has admitted possessing crack cocaine, heroin, cannabis and ketamine, as well as to two driving offences.
Recalled toys resold online: Study
Toys and other children’s products recalled because of safety concerns are often resold through online auction sites, putting children at risk, AP reports from Cincinnati.
EBay Inc.’s website prohibits the sale of recalled products, but enforcement efforts do not seem to be succeeding, said Keri Brown Kirschman, the lead author of a study and an assistant psychology professor at the University of Dayton.
Kirschman, who specialises in child psychology and pediatric injury prevention, said she searched for 141 recalled items on eBay for 30 consecutive days and found them offered in at least 144 online auctions. The products included play yards, baby walkers, bassinets and safety devices.
About 70 per cent of recalled items tracked were sold, she said.
Even sophisticated eBay users appear to be unaware or uncooperative of policies intended to keep recalled products from being exchanged, the study said.
The study was conducted in 2004 at the Centre for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus Children’s Hospital and reported this month in the peer-reviewed journal Injury Prevention.
Last week, Mattel Inc. announced a worldwide recall of almost 19 million items, including dolls, cars and action figures. Some of the items were contaminated with lead paint. Others had small magnets that children might swallow.