FRIDAY FILES – November 15, 2019

And now it's time for FRIDAY FILES!

A dancing Nana, problems on the road in Thailand, and more.

In Ottawa, Canada, a Canadian teacher has successfully claimed a canoe trip as a moving expense, public broadcaster CBC reported. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) allows Canadians who move more than 40 kilometers (25 miles) for work or school to deduct eligible expenses from their taxable income. The teacher taught in his hometown of Whitby, Ontario, during the regular academic year and for decades made the annual trip to Ottawa by train, plane or automobile for the July job. But his moving expenses were suddenly rejected by CRA in 2011. The decision was upheld by a tax court that ruled his Ottawa stays did “not constitute a change in ordinary residence,” but rather working vacations. So, in June 2018, he loaded up a battered fiberglass canoe and set out for Ottawa, he told the CBC. The move took him through five provincial parks and up the Rideau Canal. He collected receipts for park admission fees, campfire wood and ice and submitted a claim for almost Can$1,000. Last week, he learned that the CRA had accepted his expenses.

In Singapore, an airport baggage handler has been jailed for 20 days for swapping tags on nearly 300 suitcases at the city-state’s airport, causing them to end up at wrong destinations around the world. The court was told he made the swaps between November 2016 and February 2017 out of “frustration and anger” after his request for additional staff at his work section was ignored. It was also told he was suffering from major depressive disorder when he committed the offences. But state prosecutors said evidence presented at a hearing showed his condition “did not contribute significantly to his commission of the offences” as he continued to have control over his actions.

In Iowa, an inmate serving life for murder offered a novel legal appeal, saying he should be released because he “died” four years ago. He became gravely ill in March 2015 when large kidney stones led to septic poisoning. After he was rushed unconscious to a hospital, doctors had to revive the “dead” man five times. They then operated to repair damage done by the kidney stones. He was eventually returned to prison. According to the AFP, in a court filing in April 2018, the man claimed that because he had momentarily died, his life sentence had technically been completed. His lawyer argued that the inmate had been sentenced to life without parole “but not to life plus one day.” The Iowa Court of Appeals found the argument “unpersuasive.”

Love this dancing Nana.

If you can’t see the below video, try https://youtu.be/sCq2KZULNI8.


A problem we thankfully don’t have while driving in the U.S.

If you can’t see the below video, try https://youtu.be/4ZSSMsy3ztE.
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