Fire Allegedly Set to Get Guests to Leave

GENEVA, Ill. May 30, 2005 — A 46-year-old man allegedly set his own home on fire in order to get two visitors to leave, police said.

Dean Craig was charged with felony arson after allegedly splashing rubbing alcohol on the floor of the two-story home in Aurora Township and using a lighter to ignite the fire around 1 a.m. Sunday, the Kane County Sheriff's office said.

When authorities arrived at Craig's home, which is owned by his mother, it was engulfed in flames, police said. Craig and his two guests were not injured.

Craig allegedly had asked two visitors to leave, but when they refused, he threatened to light his house on fire, police said.

Read the complete article at ABC News

Mom Indicted for Hiring Stripper for Teen

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A mother faces criminal charges after she hired a stripper to dance at her 16-year-old son's birthday party. Anette Pharris, 34, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and involving a minor in obscene acts. The boy's father, the stripper and two others also face charges.

"I tried to do something special for my son," Pharris said. "It didn't harm him."

About 10 people under the age of 18 were at the birthday party in September, including minors who were not related to the family, authorities said.

Police spokesman Don Aaron said minors are not permitted in adult establishments.

"A person shouldn't be allowed to circumvent that law by hiring a stripper, a lady who took all her clothes off and spent a good amount of time dancing around minors," he said.

Anette Pharris took photos at the party and tried to have them developed at a nearby drug store. Drug store employees notified authorities, police said.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

San Francisco hosts self-pleasure marathon

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco's Center for Sex and Culture played host on Saturday to the city's annual "Masturbate-a-thon," an event its organizers said could draw up to 120 people from across the United States aiming to have a good time with themselves.

The event was organized to help raise funds for the center, and, according to its organizer, provide an outlet for safe sex for those who enjoy pleasuring themselves in a semi-public setting.

Carol Queen, director of the center, acknowledged that the event is unusual -- even by San Francisco's standards. The permissive city, which helped ignite a debate on gay marriage last year, tolerates many sorts of sexual behavior but masturbation seems a topic that is off-limits, she said.

Read the complete article at Reuters UK

Stash Of Cash Found At Garage Sale

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) Linda Stafford has been going to garage sales for 30 years, and taking good-natured ribbing from her family all the while.

Now, the tables have turned.

Stafford has found more than $3,000 in bills dating from 1928 to 1953 in the bottom of a high-backed chair she bought at a garage sale—for two bucks.

“When we found the money, they could probably hear us screaming all over the neighborhood,” said Stafford, 57.

She made the discovery while trying to make room in her garage for more furniture. When one of her daughters, Mandy Rath, heard something rattle in the chair, they removed the bottom. Placed inside a compartment were two paper packets, one with $10 in coins, the other with $3,060 in bills.

Read the complete article at WCCO

Mom Peddles Baby As Billboard

LANGHORNE, Pa. (AP) When Michele Hutchison’s baby is born, she envisions more than a pure bundle of bouncing joy. She also sees a
potential billboard.

The suburban Philadelphia mom-to-be is inviting advertisers to put their names on her child’s clothing and baby goods, saying the ads are sure to get noticed.

“Everyone looks at babies. We’re going to be out and about all the time,” said Michele Hutchison, 26, whose second child is due in June.

Hutchison, a stay-at-home mother, has placed notices on the Web sites Craigslist and eBay seeking bids of at least $1,000 for the rights for one month.

Read the complete article at WCCO

Bogus bananas used to ship cocaine

MIAMI (Reuters) - Customs agents inspecting a shipment of plantains thought some of the green bananas seemed unusually hard and cut them open, finding more than 750 pounds of cocaine stuffed inside what turned out to be phony fruit.

Smugglers molded the plantains out of glass fiber, filled them with cocaine and painted them to look like the real fruit, a large, green member of the banana family popular in the Caribbean and Latin America, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said on Thursday.

The culprits painstakingly scattered the fakes throughout 1,080 boxes of genuine plantains shipped from Ecuador to the Port of Miami, agency spokesman Zach Mann said. Federal agents were still sorting through the shipment, laboriously cutting each plantain open to separate the contraband from the edible ones

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

Jesus Spotted in Ultrasound

(From WTVG-ABC TOLEDO, OHIO), May 3, 2005 — Mother's Day is less than a week away and one Toledo mother has a special and spiritual story to share.

She gave birth to her first child Friday, but this story begins with an ultrasound with a heavenly twist.

At 5lbs. 1oz., 3-day-old Aaliyah is a big blessing to her mom and dad. The proud parents say they received a sign she is special in an ultrasound photo taken about a month ago. After taking a closer look at the ultrasound they say there's an image of Jesus Christ in it. It's an image mom and dad say they can see in two of the ultrasound images taken that day. It's also a sign that came when they both needed it most.

Read the complete article at WPVI.com

Monkey works for the government

A langur monkey has been employed by an Indian government minister - to scare away other monkeys.

The Indian Minister for Human Resources, M A A Fatmi, has taken on the langur, as well as a professional monkey catcher.

He hopes their combined efforts will scare off the monkeys that invade his office, trashing light fittings and ripping up documents.

Read the complete article at Ananova

How late is late

Researchers have finally decided how late is late - 10 minutes, 17 seconds.

That is the lateness threshold at which people feel it necessary to telephone and admit they are going to be late.

During that time, 12 babies will be born in England and Wales, there will be eight road accidents, 3,804 people will board an aeroplane and 590 million e-mails will be sent worldwide.

However, about 10% of us would not consider calling until at least 30 minutes beyond the "agreed appointment time", says the study, by motorists' website GetMeThere.co.uk.

More than 80% of people in their 50s claim they are never late for anything because they are gripped by "bus fuss" - the anxiety about being late for crucial events.

But almost 70% of young women believe it is "acceptable, if not fashionable" to be late on a first date because it makes them feel "less desperate".

Read the complete article at Ananova

Burglars caught having sex

Police in Holland caught two burglars having sex in the house they had broken into.

Neighbours of the empty house in Beuningen alerted police after they heard suspicious noises.

Officers went to investigate and found a 39-year-old man and a woman, 35, having sex.

They told police they broke into the house only because they were desperate to make love.

Read the complete article at Ananova

High rent for closet turned unit

LONDON'S smallest apartment, a converted storage closet measuring just 5sq m, has found a tenant for £585 ($1409) a month.

Gordon Blausten of the Bruten and Co real estate agency said the "tiny but trendy" apartment packed in kitchenette, shower and wardrobe under a loft bed.

Located in a turn of the century Edwardian building in the heart of the fashionable Notting Hill area of west London, the apartment found a tenant after only three days on the market.

Read the complete article at News.com.au

Air miles for jet-set pets

Four dogs and a cat have been signed up to the Virgin Atlantic Flying Paws reward scheme since it was launched earlier this month, a spokeswoman for the airline said today.
Despite the cost – flying a pet from London to New York in the hold of a plane can cost around £400 ($962) – Virgin carried 1250 animals last year, twice the number of the year before.

In a bid to tempt fussy pets onto their flights, dogs taking their first Virgin trip will be given a T-shirt and dog tag, while cats receive a toy mouse, and ferrets – a surprisingly popular animal companion for Britons – get a flying jacket and collar tag.

Once pets have notched up five 'paw prints' in their frequent flyer book, they can acquire other goodies such as hand-made food bowls, while yet more trips win pedicures or Burberry, Prada and Gucci pet clothing.

Read the complete article at News.com.au

ToyYoda

Darth Vader shows his dark side

Police in Malaysia are hunting a man who flashes women while wearing a Darth Vader costume.

The Star Wars flasher exposed himself to women factory workers in two industrial areas of Bandar Baru Nilai.

Priscilla, 33, a factory supervisor, said the man got out of his car, strutted about menacingly in his Darth Vader suit before flashing to 15 women workers standing at a bus stop at 7am.

"At first, I thought he was a die-hard Star Wars fan trying to impress us with his costume. But we were shocked when he showed us his private parts," she told Malaysia's Star newspaper.

Read the complete article at Ananova

Harry Potter 'secret leaked'

Bookmakers fear part of the plot of the next Harry Potter novel has been leaked.

A betting website has been inundated with bets on the death of Hogwarts' head teacher Dumbledore - all from the town where the book is being printed. The bets were refused by one chain of bookmakers which claimed it was "obvious" the manuscript had been read.

Claims that Dumbledore would die were sparked when author JK Rowling hinted about a death in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. Now a mysterious series of events in Suffolk suggests the secret may be out.

A cluster of £50 bets have been placed on Dumbledore being the victim - and it would not take the powers of the boy wizard to deduce what has happened. Most of the bets have been placed in the town of Bungay - which just happens to be where the new Harry Potter adventure is being printed.

Read the complete article at ThisIsLondon

Victim's Blog led to slay suspect

A doomed Queens man's chilling computer entry led cops to a suspect who allegedly robbed and killed the victim and his sister to finance a return to China, police said yesterday.
Jin Lin, 23, was charged with first-degree murder yesterday in the bloody slayings of Sharon and Simon Ng in their Kew Gardens Hills apartment Thursday, officials said.

Cops zeroed in on Lin, who once dated the woman, because Ng typed a journal entry into his computer fingering his sister's ex-boyfriend as the suspect, police said.

"He wrote that he was wondering why Lin was there and wished he would leave," said Police Officer Jennara Everleth, an NYPD spokeswoman.

Read the complete article at New York Daily News

Suntain Oil Helps Woman Escape Attacker

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. - A woman who had slathered herself with suntan oil escaped an attacker in a park restroom in part because she was too slippery for him to grab, authorities said.

The woman, whose identity was not released, told authorities she had been jogging in Mile Square Regional Park on Sunday morning when another jogger began following her.

She ducked into a park restroom but when she emerged from a stall, he lunged from another stall and grabbed her arm, Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said Tuesday.

"She had a large amount of suntan oil on, which made her very slippery and hard to grasp," Amormino said.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

Tax may drain world's top sperm bank

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - The source of the world's biggest sperm bank may soon run dry if Danish authorities decide to tax donors, Cryos International Sperm Bank said Wednesday.

Denmark, with the world's highest income tax levels, wants sperm donors to pay tax on the 500 crown ($84.59) reimbursement men receive for their services.

"It is a special kind of work and therefore the fee cannot be compared to normal working income," Cryos said in a letter to the tax authorities, adding it risked losing donors, most of whom are students.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

Church sign sparks debate

FOREST CITY -- A sign in front of a Baptist church on one of the most traveled highways in the county stirred controversy over religious tolerance and first-amendment rights this weekend.

A sign in front of Danieltown Baptist Church, located at 2361 U.S. 221 south reads "The Koran needs to be flushed," and the Rev. Creighton Lovelace, pastor of the church, is not apologizing for the display.

"I believe that it is a statement supporting the word of God and that it (the Bible) is above all and that any other religious book that does not teach Christ as savior and lord as the 66 books of the Bible teaches it, is wrong," said Lovelace. "I knew that whenever we decided to put that sign up that there would be people who wouldn't agree with it, and there would be some that would, and so we just have to stand up for what's right."

Seema Riley, a Muslim, who was born in Pakistan and reared in New York, was one of those upset by the sign.

She moved to Rutherford County for the "small town friendly" atmosphere, she said. When she saw the sign on the side of the highway Saturday she felt angered and threatened.

Read the complete article at The Digital Courier

'Sarcasm' brain areas discovered

Scientists say they have located the parts of the brain that comprehend sarcasm - honestly.
By comparing healthy people and those with damage to different parts of the brain, they found the front of the brain was key to understanding sarcasm.

Damage to any of three different areas could render individuals unable to understand sarcastic comments.

The Israeli team from Haifa University told Neuropsychology how their findings might help to explain autism features.

Read the complete article at BBC News

Obese woman referred to zoo

A 29-stone New York woman says she was humiliated when she was told to go to a zoo for an x-ray.

Jennifer Walters is bed-ridden and cannot fit into a magnetic resonance imaging machine.

She told the New York Post that a doctor said she should go instead to the Bronx Zoo for an x-ray.

"It's humiliating. I was told if elephants and hippos need MRIs, they have the equipment at the Bronx Zoo. It was like I was an animal," she said.

Read the complete article at Ananova

Unemployed offered brothel discount

Germans on the dole are being offered a 20 per cent discount at brothels.

People looking for the discount sex just need to show their unemployment benefit card to qualify for the reductions.

Brothel manager Silvia Rau who runs the Villa Bijou bar in Dresden said that the previous average number of 150 guests per week has sunk to 80 in recent months.

Read the complete article at Ananova

Man Accused Of Buying Porn With Church Money

DALTON, Ga. (AP) A Chatsworth man has been charged with using a church's banking information to buy Internet porn.
Robbie Lee Ritchie was indicted Thursday by a Murray County grand jury on 12 counts of financial identity fraud.

Authorities say Ritchie used a bank account number belonging to Central Church of Christ in Dalton to access pornography Web sites numerous times last summer.

Read the complete article at wsbradio.com

F-word costs TV guy a job

TV reporter Arthur Chi'en was canned by WCBS/Ch. 2 yesterday after he shouted the F-word at two meddlers who horned in on his live shot.
Chi'en was in the middle of a 6a.m. broadcast about MetroCard scammers when two men sneaked up behind him with a sign promoting radio shock jocks Opie & Anthony.

For a few moments, as the knuckleheads heckled him and gave the finger to the camera, Chi'en kept his cool and continued talking.

But as soon as he finished his report, he spun around and shouted at the intruders: "What the f--- is your problem, man?"

If he thought the WCBS control room had already cut to tape, he was wrong. The expletive went out over the air.

"Sorry about that distraction before," Chi'en said when he returned.

The apology apparently wasn't enough for WCBS, especially when the Federal Communications Commission is cracking down on obscenity.

Read the complete article at New York Daily News

One-year-old arrested

A one-year-old baby was arrested and spent the night in prison in Mexico.

The baby was arrested in Puerto Progresso when his father, Roger Sagundo was caught trying to rob 6 vodka bottles from a supermarket La Cuarta reports.

Mr Sagundo put the bottles on the baby trolley and tried to leave the supermarket, but was caught by security.

Police spokesperson said: "The policeman who got there first thought it was the right thing to do to list the baby as an accomplice, because the bottles were in his trolley."

Read the complete article at Ananova

N.J. College Student Auctions Body on EBay

WAYNE, N.J. - A 21-year-old college business major living in this northern New Jersey community has proven a basic lesson of marketing: Sex sells. Courtney Van Dunk posted a bikini-clad picture of herself on eBay about two weeks ago, auctioning off space on her body for advertisers.

The auction ended Thursday with a winning bid from a New Jersey wine retailer offering $11,300 for a month's worth of advertising. Van Dunk, though, says the offer has been retracted, but she's confident that she's made contacts with enough companies to still earn some cash.

When she finds a buyer, Van Dunk plans to place temporary tattoos on her abdomen while she's at the beach, or on other body parts when she's at the mall, sporting events, amusement parks and other public places. Her butt and chest are off limits.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

US Senate staffer sues sex blogger

CLAIMING invasion of privacy and humiliation, a staff attorney for a US senator has filed suit against a woman who published details of their sexual relationship on her blog, or web log.

Robert Steinbuch, a counsel for Republican Senator Michael DeWine, filed the civil suit against Jessica Cutler, whose brief employment on DeWine's staff was terminated by revelations about her graphic journal of her sexual escapades.

Writing under the nom de plume "Washingtonienne," Cutler last year briefly kept an X-rated on-line diary of her simultaneous relationships with up to six men around town, including an unidentified Bush administration appointee.

Read the complete article at News.com.au

Elvis Presley: Nazi

Almost 28 years after his death, fans of the King of Rock, Elvis Presley, can now see their icon in a radically different light; that as a Nazi.

The legend is seen wearing a Nazi cap and giving a Nazi salute in some pictures taken from a grainy half-hour home cine film.

The pictures, believed to be from the sixties, were taken during a boat trip with friends and have surfaced at the same time as Presley's ex-wife Priscilla released his home movies.

Read the complete article at News.com.au

Lawyer leads double life as porn star

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When his mother found out what porn star Ron Miller does for a living, she was heartbroken. She never wanted him to be a criminal defense lawyer.

"My mother cried a lot about that," Miller said recently between appearances defending accused felons at a Los Angeles courthouse. She had hoped he would be a high-rolling civil litigator,

Miller, who appears in adult videos as "Don Hollywood," has carved out a special niche of notoriety on the fringe of Hollywood's dream factory. In a town where many long to quit their day jobs for the glamour of a career in entertainment, he has managed a unique dual track: litigator and porn star.

Miller makes his rounds at the Van Nuys courthouse three days a week with a certain extravagance of manner and a diamond ear stud that set him apart from the rumpled lawyers with whom he has shared a counsel table for the past 30 years.

At a recent court appearance, he sported a black pinstriped suit and crocodile-skin cowboy boots, with case files under his arm and a defender's zeal in his heavy-lidded blue eyes.

Most of Miller's legal colleagues know about his other job. The one that sometimes sees the 56-year-old sharing a massage table with a porn starlet and cooing: "You're working on a 'get out of jail free' card," as the cameras roll.

Read the complete article at Reuters

Woman Uses Ex's Credit Card for Hit

OSWEGO, N.Y. (AP) - A 25-year-old woman was charged with trying to hire a man to kill her ex-husband, and police say she used one of his credit cards to pay for the would-be hit man's flight from Australia.

Police Capt. Michael Dehm said it was a report of an unauthorized $2,824 credit card charge from the ex-husband that led authorities to Terra L. Endres, 25.

Read the complete article at My Way News

Nevada Governor Signs 'Anti-Pimp' Bill

CARSON CITY, Nev. - A bill to make it easier to prosecute pimps and panderers was signed into law Wednesday by Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn.

AB470, dubbed the "anti-pimp bill," removes a requirement that an act of prostitution or pimping be corroborated by a third party to prove guilt. With the new law, a pimp can be prosecuted based solely on the word of the prostitute.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

Tyrant's in His Pants

British newspaper The Sun printed intimate pictures of Saddam Hussein that might have been taken at an undisclosed location, by American sources. Former Iraqi leader, 68, is featured in his white underwear apparently folding a pair of trousers.
Another colour photo printed inside showed Saddam wearing a white-coloured traditional Arab robe, known as a dishdasha, and washing his socks. (AP)

The dictator once accustomed to gold taps and special-made toilet seats, is now held in a single 12ft by 9ft cell, with a small desk and a pink plastic chair, and is said to be monitored via three CCTV cameras.


Read the complete article at Softpedia news

Russian Lake disappears, America suspected

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian village was left baffled Thursday after its lake disappeared overnight.

NTV television showed pictures of a giant muddy hole bathed in summer sun, while fishermen from the village of Bolotnikovo looked on disconsolately.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

Women In Tight Shirts To Take Lunch To Construction Sites

ASPEN, Colo. -- Colorado construction workers will soon have something new to whistle at -- the Toasty Chicks.

Rodney Millspaugh has started a new business he calls Toasty Chicks Delivery. He said he'll have young women in tight T-shirts deliver lunches to construction workers starting this summer.

There will be plenty of hungry mouths to feed. Millspaugh said about 600 workers are expected for the first phase of a massive development project at the Snowmass ski resort.

Read the complete article at NBC 4

Dog saves man's leg

A man had his leg saved from amputation after his dog licked it better.

Mitch Bonham, 45, was told he would lose the limb after it began turning black following an accident while in the Royal Navy.

But then his Jack Russell Milo began to lick Mitch's leg for up to four hours a day.

When he returned to the doctor he told him it was healed reports The Sun.

Mitch, 45, from Barry, South Wales, believes the condition Sudeks Atrophy which affected his right leg up to the knee was caused by a broken toe he suffered when a heavy anchor chain fell on his foot.

Mitch said: "The consultant told me that in licking my leg for such long periods Milo had stimulated the nerves and helped the oxygen get into my leg.

Read the complete article at Ananova

College To Offer Porno Course

DES MOINES, Iowa
Jay Clarkson has had no trouble getting students at the University of Iowa to sign up for his fall class examining pornography in popular culture.

One person who isn't a fan, however, is Iowa House Speaker Chris Rants, who is questioning whether tax dollars should be spent on the elective class.

"Do they know that we're not done with their budget yet?" Rants, R-Sioux City, said. "I'm pretty sure we don't need to increase state funding by $40 million to teach critical pornography studies."

Read the complete article at Xposed.com

'Most Whipped' Yearbook Title Irks Mom

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) The mother of a high school senior elected “Most Whipped” by his classmates has asked for a recall of Boynton Beach High’s 2005 yearbooks over a photograph of her son wearing a collar and leash.

Robert Richards, 19, was photographed with then-girlfriend Melissa Finley, who is holding the leash. Richards is black and Finley is white.

Richards’ mother, Jacqueline Nobles, said the picture reminded her of the poster for the 1970s miniseries Roots, which featured a manacled slave.

Read the complete article at WCCO

Man Fired For Drinking Wrong Beer?

MILLIKEN, Colo. (AP) He worked for a Budweiser distributorship in Colorado—but says that didn’t mean he couldn’t pop open a Coors while off-duty.

But Ross Hopkins says he was fired from the distributorship two years ago, after being seen drinking Coors in a bar.

Hopkins has sued American Eagle Distributing, saying it has no right to tell him what to drink when he’s off-duty.

The distributorship’s lawyer won’t go into specifics, but says there are “two sides to every story.”

Read the complete article at WCCO

Town Makes Gossip A Crime

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Malicious gossip often results in tears and anger, but in Colombia it had lead to murder -- and officials say they've heard enough.

Fed up with people targeted by false rumors turning up dead or wrongfully arrested, the mayor of a small Colombian town has made gossip a crime punishable by up to four years in prison.

"Human beings must be aware and recognize that having a tongue and using it to do bad is the same as having dynamite in their mouths," says an official municipal decree issued last year in Icononzo, 40 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota.


Read the complete article at local6.com

iPod blamed for spike in subway crime

NEW YORK (AP) -- The iPod craze has spawned a crime wave in city subways.

Police told the city transportation board on Wednesday that 50 iPods have been reported stolen on the subways so far this year, compared to none during the same period last year.

Cell phone thefts have more than doubled to 165 from 82 last year.

The thefts fueled a 20 percent spike in robberies last month on the subway, officials said. Most thieves are believed to keep the devices, which can retail for $100 to $500.

Read the complete article at CNN.com

School Officials Defend Hugging Ban

BEND, Ore. (AP) A 14-year-old girl received detention over a lingering hug she gave her boyfriend at school, infuriating her mother and putting school officials on the defensive.

School officials said they had warned Cazz Altomare that lingering hugging was unacceptable, but she continued to disobey the rule when she received the detention earlier this year.

Rules at Sky View Middle School in Bend permit “quick hello and goodbye hugs,” but administrators said some students have been taking advantage of it.

Read the complete article at WCCO

Women close booze shop

Frustrated Romanian women forced a 24-hour shop to close because its cheap booze was making their men impotent.

Women at Nistoresti said shopkeeper Ion Barbu was causing chaos by staying open all hours and letting men buy drink on credit.

Read the complete article at Ananova

An 'oh, deer' moment at Wal-Mart

NORFOLK, Nebraska (AP) -- "Welcome to Wal-Mart" is not exactly the greeting a recent visitor got at a Nebraska store.

In fact, a deer initially escaped the Wal-Mart greeter's attention last week when it entered through the exit of the supermarket part of the store.

Then the greeter heard a noise, looked up and saw the fawn run past her.

The animal had hit the slick floor and fallen, only to recover quickly and scurry down the aisles.

Read the complete article at CNN.com

Stripped of pensions, flight attendants do likewise

Women in a calendar range in age from 55 to 64.





CHICAGO - While some United Airlines employees are using placards and pamphlets to protest the loss of their pensions, a group of flight attendants is taking a more risque tack - showing some skin to publicize their plight.

The five women, ranging in age from 55 to 64, posed for a 2006 calendar that depicts them in various states of undress in front of a vintage plane, on a park bench and on a plane's wing, among other locations. Reflecting a mix of humor and anger, it was released to coincide with a bankruptcy court's approval this week of United's plan to terminate $9.8 billion in employee pension obligations.

Read the complete article at azcentral.com

Compo for husband's damaged goods

A MAN who hid the fact that he was impotent from his wife before they were married has been ordered by the nation's top court to pay her damages.

Cristina S. and Stefano B. married without having first had sexual relations. On their wedding night the bride discovered her husband had a sexual deformity which he had never mentioned.

Read the complete article at News.com.au

Police arrest two suspected human skinners

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzanian police arrested two men accused of killing a 9-year-old boy and selling his skin for 20,000 shillings ($18) to make sorcerers' get-rich-quick charms, a senior officer said Friday.

Police said they arrested Martin Kalunga, 25, and his associate Nico Benson, 31, in Lilwa village in southern Tanzania Tuesday after neighbors overheard Benson accusing Kalunga of plotting with their buyer to skin him as well.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

He 'misinterpreted' the situation...

BERLIN (Reuters) - The deputy leader of the German state of Bremen resigned after pouring sparkling wine over the head of a homeless man in an apparent joke that went wrong.

Peter Gloystein of the center-right Christian Democrats was caught on camera pouring a magnum of the wine over the head of stunned Bremen local Udo Oelschlaeger at the launch of German wine week Wednesday evening.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

Lawmakers fired for smashing up hotel

QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Four Ecuadorean legislators were permanently expelled from Congress on Thursday for getting drunk and smashing up a hotel in Peru last month.

One of the lawmakers, Maria Augusta Rivas, had also accused another of the four of trying to rape her in the alcohol-fueled incidents at a hotel in Lima where they were attending trade talks in April.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

Undress For Success

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) Real estate agent Wendy Heath is undressed for success. Heath, 34, said a blazer and slacks just don’t cut it in the highly competitive Belmont Shore housing market.

Read the complete article at WCCO

Fortune cookies lucky for 110 lottery winners

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The cookie crumbled right for 110 people who chose Chinese food.

Betting on the numbers recommended in fortune cookies, they won from $100,000 to half a million dollars each in a multi-state U.S. Powerball lottery, organization director Charles Strutt said on Wednesday.

By the laws of statistical probability, there should have been only four or five winners among the 10.4 million ticket buyers in the lottery operated by the governments of 27 U.S. States, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

But there were nearly 20 times that many, meaning $19 million had to be paid to unexpected winners in the March 30 drawing.

Read the complete article at My Way News

Wisconsin School Suspends Boy For Wearing Dress To Prom

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. -- A high school senior who thought it would be funny to wear a dress to his prom was ticketed $249 for disorderly conduct, suspended for three days and banned from his last track meet.

School district administrator Jim Gottinger said the discipline was for more than just the dress, noting Kerry Lofy, 18, was dancing in a sexually provocative manner at the prom, according to a police report.

Lofy doubts that was the real reason he was disciplined Monday.

"The whole night was that kind of dancing. They can't single me out and say, 'Oh it was you, it was only you,"' he said. "I think it's over the dress."

Read the complete article at NBC 4

Stressed mum chooses jail for a break

A mother-of-three is to spend three months in jail instead of paying a parking fine to get a rest from her 'demanding' children and 'lazy' husband.

Maria Brunner waved to neighbours as police drove her away for not paying a £50 fine that had risen to £2,500 because it had been left unpaid.

Read the complete article at Ananova

Human poop banned from meeting

A man dressed up as a giant piece of faeces has been refused entry to a government meeting in Canada.

James Skwarok arrived as 'Mr Floatie' to represent POOP, People Opposed to Outfall Pollution, reports Canada.com.

But the cross-party meeting in Victoria-Beacon Hill refused him entry.

Read the complete article at Ananova

Luck Be This Lady, Twice

(CBS) The stars were aligned for Jo Ann Argyris, or more like the symbols that signify an incredible second $1 million jackpot.

Argyris hit her second million-dollar jackpot in less than a year Thursday night at the Railroad Pass casino in Henderson, Nev.

"I saw the symbols, but it just didn't seem possible," said Argyris, a self-employed single mother of two and a grandmother of three from Boulder City, Nev.

Read the complete article at WCCO

Bordellos Beg To Be Taxed

MOUND HOUSE, NV (AP) Nevada's legal brothels are feeling like the wife who slips into her sexiest negligee and still can't get her husband to put the newspaper down.

The bordellos are practically begging the state of Nevada to tax them, hoping the extra revenue for schools, parks and health care will endear them to the public and give them more political security and, ultimately, more business.

But the politicians are not interested.

Read the complete article at WCCO

Pizza delivery ends prison siege

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian prison siege ended Monday after a group of inmates agreed to release a guard they had held for two days in return for a delivery of pizzas, prison officials said.

A group of up to 20 inmates seized control of the reception area of the maximum security Risdon Prison in Hobart, capital of the southern island state of Tasmania, Saturday, demanding better treatment and improvements to the jail.

The siege was resolved in far less dramatic circumstances.

"Our staff member was negotiated out with the delivery of 15 pizzas," Graeme Barber, Tasmania's director of prisons, told reporters.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

Fake hand sparks murder hunt

An actress sparked a murder investigation in China when she left a fake hand in the back of her car.

Wang Qiang, of Liaoge community in Shenyang city, spotted the hand and called the police.

"I was looking through the dark glass at the rear of the jeep, and I was shocked to see a hand. It looked like an adult man's," he said.

Four patrol vans containing more than 20 policemen rushed to the scene, reports China Business Morning View.

Read the complete article at Ananova

Bar sued over puke tax

A Brazilian man is suing a bar in Brazil which charged him a £4 puke tax.

Luiz Fernandes Peres had the 'tax' added to his bill after a friend was sick in the toilet.

The Taverna Pub Medieval Bar in Natal imposes the fee whenever anyone is sick on the premises.

But an angry Mr Peres told Terra Noticias Populares: "I consider this extortion."

Read the complete article at Ananova

Thailand crowns 'Ms Jumbo Queen'

ONE month before Bangkok hosts the Miss Universe competition, Thailand has crowned a 110kg business student winner of a light-hearted, heavyweight pageant staged to promote elephant conservation.

Tarnrarin Chansawang, 18, was crowned the eighth Miss Jumbo Queen after a contest in which 24 large-size women sang and danced to pop tunes and traditional Thai music.

The annual event is an unlikely precursor to the international pageant May 30 in Bangkok, but the Jumbo Queen has become a strangely popular event in a country where most women strive to be skinny.




Read the complete article at News.com.au

Runaway Bride Toasted On eBay

NEWTON, N.J. -- A New Jersey man may make some bread off the runaway bride case.

Perry Lonzello has put a piece of toast with a crude rendition of Jennifer Wilbanks carved into it on eBay. So far, the Internet auction has drawn more than 100 bids and reached $600.

Nearly 100,000 people have checked out the merchandise.

Read the complete article at NBC4

£7,000 left on homeless woman's lap

A homeless woman woke up outside a train station in Poland to find almost £7,000 on her lap.

The money was in an envelope with a note saying it was "for the homeless".

The woman, nicknamed 'Grandma' by locals, was shocked to find 41,000 zlotys 'on her lap when she woke up after spending a night at Warsaw Central train station.

Read the complete article at Ananova

Driver fined for 'having a face like a moron'

A Romanian traffic cop has been demoted after he fined a driver for "having a face like a moron and being a big monkey".

Marius Vlasceanu pulled over Gheorghe Tosa as he drove through Craiova in Romania, local daily Jurnalul National reported.

But Tosa failed to see the funny side as Vlasceanu fined him £22 and handed him a ticket explaining the reason for the fine was "having a face like a moron and being a big monkey".

Read the complete article at Ananova

Oral sex caused car smash

Police in Romania were shocked to find a car crash was caused because a couple were having oral sex while driving.

The driver lost control on a crowded road in Craiova, Dolj county, and collided with an oncoming car, reports Editie Speciala newspaper.

The young man, whose identity was not revealed, admitted to police that he was having a "hell of a time" at the time of the crash.

Read the complete article at Ananova

Chile court orders cat execution

A fugitive domestic cat suspected of carrying rabies must be killed, Chile's highest court has said.

The Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling saying Luz, an angora cat from Valparaiso, should be decapitated.

Read the complete article at BBC News

Woman arrested at job interview

AMHERST, Ohio -- It wasn't Laurie Ralston's resume that got the attention of police. It was her record.

Ralston applied Thursday for a job as a dispatcher with the Amherst police department. When they did a background check, police quickly found out she has 17 traffic convictions, including seven speeding tickets and two citations for driving without a license.

Read the complete article at Sun-Sentinel.com

A 15-pound burger goes on sale

A Pennsylvania eatery is challenging diners to eat a huge burger at one sitting.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Starting last weekend, a Pennsylvania restaurant put a 15-pound burger on its menu, claiming the largest burger available anywhere.

Dennis Liegey, the owner of Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, 120 northeast of Pittsburgh, said the "Beer Barrel Belly Buster" weighs in with 10 pounds of meat molded into a 20-inch patty on a specially baked, 17-inch bun

Read the complete article at CNN.com

Scouts can earn anti-piracy merit badge

HONG KONG (AP) -- Boy scouts typically prove their mettle with fishing and camping skills, but now they can win laurels by showing their awareness of copyright laws.

The Hong Kong government has launched the "IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) Scout Badge" to promote respect of intellectual property among youngsters.

Read the complete article at CNN.com

'Whore College' Offers Hands-On Training

SAN FRANCISCO - The 25 students in jeans and T-shirts could have been in any career that requires hustle. The classes, covering topics such as effective marketing, stress reduction and legal issues, could have been part of any professional development seminar.

But this was "Whore College," and any illusion it was just another corporate how-to for young go-getters abruptly ended at the sex toy display and was stripped away for good during a graphic demonstration that put a whole new twist on the concept of hands-on training.

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

Carjack Suspect Reports 'His' Car Stolen

BALTIMORE - A suspect takes a car at gunpoint and drives it around for two weeks before the owner spots the car and has it towed. The thief then calls police to report "his" car stolen.

Those events seemed so improbable that Baltimore police detective Gregory Jenkins felt compelled to end his report of the incident with the admonition, "Again, this really happened."

Read the complete article at Yahoo!News

'Holy war' declared on neighbour

A MAN who declared a holy war against his flatmate and attacked him because he believed he had contaminated his dairy products has been jailed in Queensland.

Patrick Gerard Burke, 50, from Goodna, west of Brisbane, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court today to one count of unlawful wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The court was told the incident happened on November 19, 2001, at the Ipswich house Burke was renting with Adam Henry Owen.

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While having a cup of tea with Owen, Burke attacked him with a brush hook, shouting: "Jihad, Jihad, Bin Laden, Bin Laden."

Read the complete article at NEWS.com.au

Washing machine fingers lazy male

A Spanish designer has come up with what could be the perfect solution for the woman who feels frustrated that she has to do all the house chores.

It is a washing machine called "Your Turn", which will not let the same person use it twice in a row.

It uses fingerprint recognition technology to ensure the job of loading is not dumped on just one individual.

Read the complete article at BBC news

'Booty Bill' Passed By Texas House

AUSTIN (AP) Sideline booty-shakin' at Texas high school football games would be restricted to more ladylike performances from the cheering squad, under legislation approved Tuesday by the Texas House.

The measure, dubbed "the booty bill," still must be approved by the Senate and sent to the governor's desk before it can become law.

The bill would prohibit "overtly sexually suggestive" routines at school-sponsored events, giving the state education commissioner authority to request that school districts review performances.

Read the complete article at WCCO

Like opera, striptease is art, Oslo court rules

OSLO (Reuters) - Striptease is art like opera or ballet, an Oslo court has ruled in a victory for nightclub owners over Norway's tax authorities.

"I'm very pleased. Ninety percent of the guests here tell me that what I'm doing is art," a female stripper at the Dream Go Go Bar in the city of Trondheim told NRK radio on Wednesday.

Read the complete article at My Way News

Hugging T-shirt invented

Italian designers have developed a hugging T-shirt for people in long distance relationships.

The T-shirt simulates the missing partner's breath, touch and heartbeat.

The 'F+R Hugs' T-shirt has fitted sensors that the designer claims realistically simulate a partner's caress.

It is based on information on body temperature, heart beat and touch transmitted by mobile phone.

Read the complete article at Ananova