CANBERRA, Australia: Actor Johnny Depp’s wife Amber Heard announced on Monday that she will fight charges that she smuggled the couple’s Yorkshire terriers Pistol and Boo into Australia.
Heard was charged in July with two counts of illegally importing the dogs into the country and one count of producing a false document to quarantine officials. She could face up to 10 years in prison and heavy fines if convicted.
In a statement, Heard said she instructed her lawyer to plead not guilty, and that she would come to Australia to fight the charges in a trial next year on a date yet to be set.
“My decision to defend these charges, as will become apparent in the appropriate forum of the Court, is not intended to in any way diminish the importance of Australia’s laws,” she said in the statement.
The Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper said her lawyer had asked the trial date be moved up from an available date in March. The pair’s legal team would not say whether Depp would also attend the court for the trial, the newspaper reported.
Heard did not appear at the Southport Magistrates Court in Queensland state on Monday for the latest hearing. A court official, who would not be quoted by name because of government policy, said the case was adjourned until Dec. 15. The official could not comment on what else had taken place during Monday’s court hearing.
Amber Heard to fight dog smuggling charges
Amber Heard to fight dog smuggling charges
Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway
OMAHA, Nebraska: The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings.
Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here’s a collection of some of Buffett’s most famous quotes from over the years:
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“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That’s how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
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“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That’s the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
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“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
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“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that’s especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
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“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
