Imprisoned Vick loses another legal battle.

Suspended NFL quarterback Michael Vick will have to be flown back to Virginia so that he can plead guilty to state dogfighting charges at state expense. The hearing is scheduled two days before Thanksgiving. Surry County Circuit Judge Samuel E. Campbell denied a request by Vick’s lawyers that he be allowed to enter guilty pleas by videoconference from the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., where Vick is serving a 23-month sentence for a federal dogfighting-conspiracy crime. Although the judge says the law gave him full discretion in the matter, he said it was in the court’s and Vick’s best interests for him to appear in person Nov. 25. He also said the public would be better served if Vick actually showed up in person. Surry prosecutor Gerald G. Poindexter objected to the videoconference request, saying there was no specific language in Virginia law that addressed it. “It’s unprecedented; it’s never been done in Virginia anywhere,” Poindexter said after yesterday’s brief hearing in Sussex Circuit Court on the issue. “And I didn’t want Surry County to be groundbreaking in that sense. … There’s also the question of the public’s right to be present. The public would not be accommodated in a closed-circuit TV proceeding.” Vick’s case is being handled in Sussex because the Surry courthouse is undergoing renovation.

South African dog fights another dog to save boy. In South Africa, a Rottweiler fought off a pit bull who was mauling a little boy, reports the BBC. Two-year-old Tshepang Taeli and his grandmother were walking down the street when the pit bull attacked him, viciously dragging him down the road. Several residents kicked the dog to try to get him off of the child but he would not let go. “I have never felt so much pain in my life. The dog was attacking him and I was trying to release him and I could not,” said the boy’s grandmother. That’s when one neighbor went to get his Rottweiler, Blade, who helped save the boy’s life. “He fought the other dog to free the child. Blade is very protective,” Blade’s owner, Ricky Veludo told a local newspaper. The child was taken to the hospital, where he is now recovering from suffering bites on his face, legs and stomach. Police are investigating the attack.

Zimbabwe police arrest opposition lawmakers

Zimbabwe police arrested more opposition members Wednesday, saying they were connected to the violence before the country’s runoff election in June, reports CNN. Police insist the arrests of Movement for Democratic Change members, five in total, are not politically motivated. “These (parliament members) have been on the police wanted list which we made public. We have been looking for them for a long time since the offenses were committed,” a police spokesman said. But MDC officials are not buying it. They think the government along with longtime leader Robert Mugabe is just trying to cut down on the number of opposition members in parliament. “The arrests are harassment and an attempt to undermine our parliamentary majority,” MDC’s information director said. “We expected that retribution after having shown Mugabe that he is not welcome in parliament.” Mugabe was booed and heckled when he spoke in front of the body Tuesday. He still remains optimistic that a power sharing agreement, between himself and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai can be reached. The two are set to resume talks, mediated by South African president Thabo Mbeki, this week.

Nigerian who married 86 women could face death penalty. The Nigerian man, who gained international fame in recent weeks for having 86 wives, could face the death penalty, reports the BBC. The country’s Islamic authority, Jamatu Nasril Islam, told 84-year-old Mohammed Bello Abubakar that he had to choose only four wives and repent within three days to avoid being sentenced to die. Abubakar, a former teacher and Muslim preacher, lives with his wives and at least 170 children. According to many Muslims, up to four wives are allowed as long as they’re treated equally. But Abubakar (obviously) disagrees. “To my understanding the Koran does not place a limit and it is up to what your own power, your own endowment and ability allows,” he told the BBC. “God did not say what the punishment should be for a man who has more than four wives, but he was specific about the punishment for fornication and adultery.” He also says God gives him the power to handle that many. “A man with 10 wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 or them,” he said. The authority made the decision based on Sharia law, which has had its punishments reintroduced in the predominately Muslim state of Niger, in the last eight years. While there have been people sentenced to death for adultery under Sharia, none of them have actually been carried out.

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Dog protects baby abandoned by teen mom. A dog showed its motherly instincts by sheltering an abandoned newborn – along with its own six puppies – in 37-degree weather in Argentina, reports CNN. A man called the police to his house near La Plata (a rural part of the country) when he heard cries from a baby in a field near his house. When he went outside, he saw the baby lying alongside the dog and its six puppies, says a police official. “She took it like a puppy and rescued it. The doctors told us if she hadn’t done this, he would have died,” Daniel Salcedo, chief of police of the Province of Buenos Aires told CNN. “The dog is a hero to us.” It seems as if the dog carried the baby 50 meters from the place he was left by his 14-year-old mother to where her puppies were. The baby, a boy only a few hours old, was found to be in general good shape when examined by the hospital, says Dr. Egidio Melia, director of the Melchor Romero-Hospital in La Plata. The baby’s mother, who was driven to the hospital by a neighbor, claimed the baby as hers the next morning. She was then given psychological care and hospitalized, said Melia. The baby has since been transferred to a children’s hospital.

United Football League plans to recruit Michael Vick

Convicted dog-fighter and suspended NFL star Michael Vick could have a new home in a competing football organization. The former Atlanta Falcon, who’s serving a sentence for sponsoring illegal canine fights in Virginia, has apparently been courted behind bars. United Football League commissioner Michael Huyghue says his organization is “98 percent” sure Vick will play on one of its six teams during their debut season. Vick’s release from federal custody is expected in 2009.