‘A female Muslim juror has been arrested in Britain after allegedly listening to an MP3 player under her hijab headscarf during a murder trial, police said Monday.
The woman in her early 20s was spotted by a fellow juror listening to music as she was meant to be helping try the case of a pensioner accused of bludgeoning his wife to death after 50 years of marriage.
She could now be charged with contempt of court and, if convicted, may be punished with an indefinite jail sentence and an unlimited fine.’
‘They had just been wed in the castle which features in the TV series Monarch of the Glen, and their guests were waiting for them at the reception.
Not the ideal time for Mark Allerton and the former Teresa Brown to have the first blazing row of married life.
After some well-chosen insults, the newly-weds ended up grappling together in their hotel bridal suite and 33-year-old Mrs Allerton spiked her husband in the head with one of her stiletto heels.
The 40-year-old oilman staggered down to the hotel desk with blood pouring from a puncture wound, causing staff to call an ambulance.’
‘Divers recovered the body of a 18-year-old boy this morning from a pond north of Greeley after he and a friend had driven an old car into the water during a stunt Friday night.
The 18-year-old, David Griego, and 19-year-old Darren Bucklen, both of Greeley, sped over a dirt ramp they built at the lake’s edge and flew 40 feet from the shore in an older car that they had cut the roof off of, said Dale Lyman, spokesman for the Union Colony First Rescue Authority in Weld County.
The car quickly sank, and the victim and his companion came to the surface, Lyman said.
Friends watched as the boys struggled in the water at 9 p.m. and one sank in 25 feet of water, Lyman said. Apparently Griego was having trouble swimming, possibly because he was injured, Lyman said.’
‘The first U.S. surgeon general appointed by President George W. Bush accused the administration on Tuesday of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like embryonic stem cell research.
“Anything that doesn’t fit into the political appointees’ ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried,” Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation’s top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee. [..]
Carmona said Bush administration political appointees censored his speeches and kept him from talking out publicly about certain issues, including the science on embryonic stem cell research, contraceptives and his misgivings about the administration’s embrace of “abstinence-only” sex education.’
Hovercraft don’t seem to like grates.
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‘The Iraqi port city of Basra, already prey to a nasty turf war between rival militia factions, has now been gripped by a scary rumour – giant badgers are stalking the streets by night, eating humans.
The animals were allegedly released into the area by British forces.
Local farmers have caught and killed several of the beasts, but this has done nothing to dispel the rumour.
Iraqi scientists have attempted to calm things down. However, the story has spread like wildfire in the streets of the city and the villages round about.
Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, director of Basra’s veterinary hospital, has inspected the corpses of several badgers and tries to reassure Iraqis that the animals are not a new post-war arrival in the region. [..]
Not everybody is convinced.’
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‘A diligent Harvard Square restaurant worker tied a tourniquet around his bloody penis and continued working for several hours after armed robbers stabbed him last week, police said.
The 45-year-old East Boston man told police he was stabbed by two black men in their 20’s outside Z Square restaurant at 14 JFK St. on July 2.
After the 3 a.m. attack, the victim — who noticed he was bleeding from the groin — ran back into the restaurant bathroom and tied a knot around his penis to stop the bleeding, police said. The victim then continued working until 5 a.m. that morning, police said. The victim finally called an ambulance after he rode the T back to his home in East Boston. A doctor at Boston Medical Center told police the victim suffered a three-inch cut to his penis.’
‘Metallica singer James Hetfield was investigated by UK airport officials who believed he was a terrorist this week, it has been claimed. The star was barred entry to Luton airport on Thursday and questioned by staff who were concerned about his appearance. Fears that Hetfield might be involved in terrorism were apparently founded on his “Taliban-like beard”, according to The Times. He was allowed to leave the airport after a brief interrogation, when he persuaded officials that he was a rock star. [..]’
‘Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks — and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large helium balloons.
Destination: Idaho.
With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each to act as ballast — he could turn a spigot, release water and rise — Couch headed into the Oregon sky.
Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to earth in a farmer’s field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles from home.’
‘Whats more disgusting and shocking than a dead decaying bird in your favorite morning cereal??’
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‘A full-scale rescue operation was launched after seven college students on a night-time orienteering trek became worried by a herd of cows.
Emergency services were called out on Monday night after the teenagers became stuck on a hill near Swanage, Dorset. [..]
They were given mobile phones and emergency numbers in case they got into difficulty.
They contacted the centre when they came across the field of cows and coastguard, police and ambulance crews were sent to the scene, a Hertfordshire County Council spokeswoman said.
“They got to the field and realised they needed to be on the other side of it and did not want to go through it,” she explained.’
‘Three people were injured and 12 cars damaged this morning when a 1,500-pound wrecking ball snapped loose from a crane’s cable on the campus of Allegheny College and rolled through downtown Meadville, Crawford County.
The wrecking ball, about 3 feet in diameter, was suspended from a crane that was demolishing part of the college’s Pelletier Library.
Meadville Police Officer Brian Joseph said the crane operator tried unsuccessfully to stop the wrecking ball by placing bricks in front of it.
But the wrecking ball gained momentum as it rolled downhill from the college, traveling several blocks while bouncing like a pinball from curb to curb, causing damage each time. [..]’
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‘German police broke into a darkened flat fearing they would find a dead body after neighbours complained of a nasty smell seeping out onto the staircase.
The shutters of the apartment had been closed for more than a week and the post-box was filled with uncollected mail.
But instead of a corpse police found a tenant with badly smelling feet asleep in bed next to a pile of foul-smelling laundry, police in the south-western town of Kaiserslautern said on Sunday.’
‘A father took his life in a courtroom moments after being found guilty of assaulting his baby daughter.
Ratnasabapathy Anandakumar, 40, smuggled poison in a Coca-Cola bottle into the dock in his bag, drinking it after being convicted of brutally attacking his daughter when she was three months old.
As judge, lawyers and jurors looked on, he drank the liquid before a security guard could intervene.
He died later in hospital. It is thought to be the first time a suspect has apparently committed suicide in court.’
‘The Pope arrives in heaven, where St. Peter awaites him. St. Peter asks the Pope who he is.
The Pope : I am the Pope.
St. Peter: Who? There’s no such name in my book.
The Pope : I’m the representative of God on Earth.
St. Peter: Does God have a representative? He didn’t tell me…
The Pope : But I am the leader of the Catholic Church…
St. Peter: The Catholic church… Never heard of it… Wait, I’ll check with the boss. [..]’
‘Studies into clinical depression have yielded similar findings, leading to the development of an intriguing, but still controversial, concept known as depressive realism. This theory puts forward the notion that depressed individuals actually have more realistic perceptions of their own image, importance, and abilities than the average person. While it’s still generally accepted that depressed people can be negatively biased in their interpretation of events and information, depressive realism suggests that they are often merely responding rationally to realities that the average person cheerfully denies.’
‘Fat from the tummy or bottom could be used to grow new breasts in a treatment which could be carried out in an hour – or a lunch break.
Scientists say they can create a fat mixture with concentrated stem cells, which, when injected into the breast, apparently encourages tissue to grow. [..]
Using fat from the patient’s own body to rebuild other areas is not a novel idea, but such reconstructions often fail as the fat is simply reabsorbed.
However using fat-derived stem cells appears to overcome this problem, according to the company behind the procedure, Cytori Therapeutics.’
‘Three people who kept an epileptic man prisoner in a garden shed in Gloucestershire for six weeks have been jailed at Bristol Crown Court.
Kevin Davies, 29, was found dead by paramedics at a house in Badgers Way, Bream on 26 September 2006. [..]
In her diary Baggus wrote about the punishments they inflicted on Kevin Davies and noted his cries for help.
They also made a hostage-style video of him in which they forced him to say he was being “fed perfectly”.
In fact he was being fed only scraps.’
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‘Science can finally prove what Buddhists have sworn by for centuries – meditation really does sharpen and clear the brain.
Tests by Adelaide researchers have revealed that as people go further into a deep meditative state, their brain rhythms shift into a pattern of focus.
This supports long-standing beliefs that the practice can improve concentration levels and alertness in daily activities.
Alpha brainwaves, which are associated with focus and attention, initially increased and delta brainwaves, linked to drowsiness, decreased.
As participants went further into mediation the alpha brainwaves, too, started to decrease, as the brain no longer needed to make an effort to be alert.’
‘Life in an FBI muzzle is no fun. Two Connecticut librarians on Sunday described what it was like to be slapped with an FBI national security letter and accompanying gag order. It sounded like a spy movie or, gulp, something that happens under a repressive foreign government. Peter Chase and Barbara Bailey, librarians in Plainville, Connecticut, received an NSL to turn over computer records in their library on July 13, 2005. Unlike a suspected thousands of other people around the country, Chase, Bailey and two of their colleagues stood up to the Man and refused to comply, convinced that the feds had no right to intrude on anyone’s privacy without a court order (NSLs don’t require a judge’s approval). That’s when things turned ugly.’
‘hi…i want to know is it normal for teenage guys to bend over and try and suck themselves off, cos i trying it out last night and could just about put the tip in…i came in my mouth and am quite worried now cos i considered it quite a turn ON! i’m not gay but just love the fantasy of having my own cock in my mouth..!
what you reckon?
p.s. i have a sore back.’
This is a vaguely amusing little ad.
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‘Ireland’s top bookmaker, Paddy Power PLC, paid out more than $13,500 on Friday to people who bet that Al Gore would be arrested. Trouble was, the company neglected to specify which one.
The former U.S. vice president and global-warming activist was rated as a 14-to-1 outsider in a list of American celebrities likely to be arrested next. On Wednesday _ the day after the betting went live on Paddy Power’s Web site _ Gore’s 24-year-old son, Al Gore III, was arrested and charged with illegally possessing marijuana and prescription drugs.
Paddy Power said it was paying out winnings to about 50 people, because it had failed to identify which Gore it meant. “We got a good stoning,” the Dublin-based company said in a statement.’
‘Unable to scrounge together the $165 he needed to repay a loan to buy sheep, Nazir Ahmad made good on his debt by selling his 16-year-old daughter to marry the lender’s son.
“He gave me nine sheep,” Ahmad said, describing his family’s woes since taking the loan. “Because of nine sheep, I gave away my daughter.”
Seated beside him in the cramped compound, his daughter Malia’s eyes filled with tears. She used a black scarf to wipe them away.
Despite advances in women’s rights and at least one tribe’s move to outlaw the practice, girls are traded like currency in Afghanistan and forced marriages are common. Antiquated tribal laws authorize the practice known as “bad” in the Afghan language Dari — and girls are used to settle disputes ranging from debts to murder.’
‘More than 300 high definition CCTV cameras have been placed in potential terrorist targets in the lead-up to Sydney’s APEC Summit, acting Premier John Watkins says.
The new cameras bring to 6400 the total number of cameras watching people using buses, trains and ferries.
The cameras, 200 of which use cutting-edge facial recognition technology, have been installed across the city in buses, ferry and train stations.
“The technology which includes live streaming to large LCD displays will also prove a strong deterrent to common criminals and thugs,” Mr Watkins told reporters today.’
Or, atleast, trying to cross the yangtze in an overloaded truck. 🙂
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