In the news

Herta Mueller, the Romanian-born author and 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, said in an interview published in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter that the choice to give this year’s award to Mo Yan is a “catastrophe” that never should have happened and accused the Chinese writer of praising the Asian country’s tough censorship laws.

Richard Baumgartner, a former criminal-court judge in Knoxville, Tenn., has appealed a federal conviction on charges that he lied to cover up a scheme that provided him with painkillers and sex.

Cheryl Grampa, 46, a former elementary school teacher in Florida’s Broward County who is accused of soliciting massages from students, has lost her license to teach in Florida.

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the 55-year-old Mauritanian president who was accidentally shot by friendly fire in October, returned home after five weeks of medical treatment in France.

Valentin Danilov, a Russian physicist arrested in 2001 on charges of passing classified information on space technology to China, was released on parole and said at a news conference in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk that he would pursue his case with the European Court of Human Rights.

Colten Levi Swanigan, born Nov. 18 in Columbia, Mo., to Donny Swanigan and Roxanne Giordano, topped the scales at 14 pounds, 6.4 ounces, possibly setting a record at Boone Hospital Center, with Giordano saying the joke at the hospital was that her son had a twin he ate.

Madison Taliaferro, a 12-year-old Topeka, Kan., girl who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at age 2, has started recovering from a double-lung transplant that she received at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Rue Ferguson, a South Texas man who inherited a painting by Mexican artist Diego Rivera from his mother, took it to appraisers with PBS’ Antiques Roadshow and has learned that it’s worth up to $1 million.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/25/2012

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