Utah beauty queen accused of throwing bombs resigns title

(Reuters) - A Utah beauty queen accused along with three friends of throwing homemade bombs in a Salt Lake City suburb resigned her Miss Riverton title on Tuesday, according to a statement posted on the city's website.

In the statement, city officials said they had been informed by the director of the Miss Riverton Pageant that Kendra Gill, 18, had resigned her position effective that day.

"Prior to the alleged incidents of August 2, 2013, Kendra had done a good job during the short time she served as Miss Riverton," the statement said.

Gill, crowned Miss Riverton in June, and three other 18-year-olds were arrested earlier this month following a bomb-throwing spree that began the evening of August 2 and was aimed at people and property in Riverton neighborhoods.

The bombs were constructed from household chemicals, aluminum foil and plastic water bottles, arrest records show.

When questioned by police, one of the teens said he had spent the evening "‘pranking' with fireworks with friends," according to booking documents.

They were charged on Friday with four counts each of felony bomb possession, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Gill's attorney, Walter Bugden, could not be reached for comment late Tuesday evening and officials with the Miss Utah Scholarship Pageant did not respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Catherine Evans)

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Russian "sleeping judge" resigns after video exposé

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian judge has resigned after a video apparently showed him asleep during a trial that ended with him sentencing the defendant to five years in a penal colony, Russian media reported on Friday.

Critics of the Russian justice system, which has a notoriously high conviction rate, were outraged when the video purporting to show judge Yevgeny Makhno sleeping through a defence lawyer's speech in court was posted online in January.

"The Judges Qualification Panel accepted Makhno's resignation from his judge's post," regional judge and panel member Valentina Pozharskaya told state news agency RIA Novosti.

The film, allegedly shot during a fraud trial last July in the far-eastern town of Blagoveshchensk, seems to show Makhno slumped in his chair fast asleep with his head cocked to one side.

The businessman sentenced to five years hard labour will have a new trial on February 14 after an appeal was lodged over the "unjust" sentence, Russian media said.

Russia's justice system has been in the spotlight recently over several high-profile court cases including the trial of punk protest collective Pussy Riot.

The band's three members were sentenced to two years in prison on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred after they performed an anti-Putin prayer in Moscow's main cathedral in 2012, which Russian and foreign commentators called excessive.

Makhno will eventually be able to return to his post provided he retakes his exams, Russian media said.

(Editing by Douglas Busvine and Sonya Hepinstall)

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