‘Criminal gangs are trafficking hundreds of children into Britain and forcing them to work in cannabis factories, with at least one child per week being found by police, a report said today.
Campaign group End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) said there had been a five-fold increase in the practice in the last year alone.
Children as young as 13, many from Vietnam, were being brought to Britain to work as “slaves” for organised criminals to push production of the drug here to record levels, it said.
They are forced to tend cannabis plants grown in suburban houses and often forced to sleep in cupboards, with little chance of escape for fear of being caught.’
‘A mum-of-three was “devastated” today after sickos apparently killed and pushed her family’s much-loved pets through letterboxes.
Two rabbits and five guinea pigs – four of them pregnant – were stolen from Paula Beard’s back garden in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
Animal remains were later found smeared over cars, in gardens and pushed through letterboxes a mile away in Wath-upon-Dearne.
South Yorkshire Police believe the two incidents may be linked and are appealing for witnesses in the area.
Mrs Beard, 37, said she was “absolutely devastated” when she found the runs and cages empty on her patio.
“My pets are my life – they’re like my kids,” she said.’
‘Three Mexican minors detained in California on suspicion of smuggling drugs stole a U.S. Border Patrol car while still wearing handcuffs and drove it back across the border to Mexico.
Police in the Mexican border city of Mexicali said on Tuesday the three boys had been driving a pick-up truck on a remote Californian highway when a Border Patrol agent stopped them.
Suspicious they were carrying marijuana, he handcuffed them and put them in his patrol car while he searched their truck.
“As the agent was doing his search, he left the vehicle running and the keys in the ignition, so one of the lads, still wearing handcuffs, grabbed the steering wheel and they headed back to Mexico,” a police spokesman said.’
‘This is “The Tube Cape” and island in Russia where strange formations of stone were found. Traditional geologists think that it might be lava structures, but locals who live nearby, and many visitors who come here from different parts of Russia doubt this and call them man made, probably belonging to some unknown people who lived here in prehistoric times. Some new-agers even suppose that this structures were used by some technologically advanced civilization that existed on the Earth at the age before the Bible flood.’
This little girl needs to learn to use her feet, not her face, when playing soccer.
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‘A rmaid who served a drunk customer a shot of disinfectant as a joke at a Melbourne nightclub made him so ill he vomited and his skin became ulcerated, a court was told today.
Melbourne Magistrates Court was told the customer drank a 30ml shot of Pine O Cleen served by barmaid Emily Craig, 22, on March 4.
He vomited in the street outside the Evolution nightclub in Prahran before an ambulance was called.
He also later developed ulcers on his skin.
Craig’s defence counsel George Balot told Magistrate Bill O’Day it was a “misguided practical joke”.’
‘A man has been arrested for allegedly downloading child porn in a first-class airport lounge in view of other passengers.
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg said the 44-year-old man had been downloading child pornography in the first-class lounge at Melbourne Airport on Friday.
He was using a free access computer at a desk and was overseen by passers-by.
The commissioner said the man had IT expertise and had been able to circumvent the lounge’s computer firewalls.
His home in Naremburn, Sydney, was searched and a computer and CDs were seized.’
‘A photograph by a controversial American artist which is part of Sir Elton John’s private collection has been seized by police from a gallery on suspicion it may have breached child pornography laws.
The image, which featured two young girls one of whom was sitting down with her legs wideapart, was taken by the renowned photographer Nan Goldin.
The shot, from the artist’s Thanksgiving series, was to be exhibited at the Baltic Modern Art gallery, Tyneside, this week along with some of her other work. But the day before it was due to be viewed by the public, police came and removed the image over fears that it might be breaking the law.’
‘Sotheby’s will auction off one of the earliest versions of the Magna Carta later this year, the auction house announced Tuesday.
This will be the first time any version of the Magna Carta has ever gone up for auction, according to David Redden, vice chairman of Sotheby’s.
The Magna Carta is expected to fetch at least $20 million to $30 million, Redden said.
Redden, who has also sold dinosaur bones, space race artifacts and a first printing of the Declaration of Independence, called the Magna Carta “the most important document on earth.”
The charter mandated the English king to cede certain basic rights to his citizens, ensuring that no man is above the law.’
‘Some little old man gets frustrated with some guy smoking next to him so he gets up to walk away and as he passes the big guy he lands a hard nut shot with his cane dropping the dude to the ground.’
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‘A giraffe that strayed into a township close to Zimbabwe’s capital has been rescued after residents tried to kill it for its meat, local media reported.
The animal was put under police guard before wildlife officers removed it.
A dry spell has forced wild animals into urban areas in search of grazing, animal welfare experts say.
Zimbabwe is suffering chronic food shortages and the animal protection society is investigating claims that a number of pets have been slaughtered.’
‘A guest at the Embassy Suites hotel in St. Paul could face jail time and a $5,000 fine for ripping the head off a tame duck.
The 26-year-old Denver businessman is in jail on suspicion of felony animal cruelty and is scheduled to appear in court Monday. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects until they are formally charged.
According to police, the hotel keeps an ornamental pond with about eight domestic ducks inside the lobby and atrium. About 2:30 a.m. Saturday, the man suddenly chased down and killed one of the ducks.’
‘A 20-year-old Bridgeport man has been charged with endangering the welfare of teenage males with whom he worked at New Hope Academy.
According to the criminal complaint, Steven Kidd II is alleged to have inhaled, or “huffed” a can of Axe Body Spray with the teenage clients in August.
Mr. Kidd also allegedly performed carotid massages known as “space monkeys,” during which the teenagers were choked until they passed out.
State police on Monday charged him with endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. Mr. Kidd, who no longer works at the school, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Oct. 31 before Magisterial District Judge Russell Shurtleff.
The academy is a residential treatment center for troubled teens, in which Biblical teachings and therapy are used in treatment.
“We never had an issue like this,” said the Rev. James Lowans, who oversees 13 students and 10 staff at the academy.’
‘How do you keep a leader as verbally gaffe-prone as US President George W. Bush from making even more slips of the tongue?
When Mr Bush addressed the UN General Assembly today, the White House inadvertently showed exactly how – with a phonetic pronunciation guide on the teleprompter to get him past troublesome names of countries and world leaders.
The White House was left scrambling to explain after a marked-up draft of Bush’s speech popped up briefly on the UN website as he delivered his remarks, giving a rare glimpse of the special guidance he gets for major addresses.
It included phonetic spellings for French President Nicolas Sarkozy (sar-KO-zee), a friend, and Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe (moo-GAH-bee), a target of US human rights criticism.
Pronunciations were also provided for Kyrgyzstan (KEYR-geez-stan), Mauritania (moor-EH-tain-ee-a) and the Zimbabwe capital Harare (hah-RAR-ray).’
‘This ball boy is getting a little frustrated that his home team is losing the game so when one of the opposing teams players comes looking for the ball he tosses it a bit low.’
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‘A man said he had a heart-to-heart conversation with an armed burglar over a cup of coffee after he found him stealing his belongings from his home on Sept. 11.
Steve Swanson said he found a man, who police suspect is Armando Hernandez, stealing items from his home in the 300 block of Terra Alta.
“I said, ‘What are you doing here?'” Swanson said. “He said, ‘I’m taking your stuff and it’s too bad you showed up.'”
Swanson said Hernandez was carrying a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, but he didn’t panic.
“I said, ‘You don’t want to do this. First of all, if you harm me or kill me, I’m just going to go to heaven. You’re going to go to prison forever,'” Swanson said.
Swanson said he gave the burglar all the money in his wallet and offered to listen to his problems over breakfast.’
‘A drunk samurai sword-wielding man seeking revenge on a former friend had the wrong apartment when he attacked a man and severed the victim’s pinky finger Sunday morning, police said.
Officers said the 24-year-old assailant was so drunk on his way to the apartment at 49th Street and Euclid Avenue that he hit several cars parked on a nearby street.
The man knocked on some wrong doors first, police said, attacking one door with the 20-inch samurai-like sword and causing a lot of damage.
The last door he came upon was kicked and struck with the weapon, police said, and when someone opened the door, the man went after him with the sword, bending it and severing a finger.’
‘Supermarket staff refused to sell alcohol to a white-haired 72-year-old man – because he would not confirm he was over 21.
Check-out staff at Morrisons in West Kirby, Wirral, demanded Tony Ralls prove he was old enough to buy his two bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Mr Ralls asked to see the manager who put the wine back on the shelf.
The grandfather-of-three said he had refused to confirm he was over 21 as it was a “stupid question.”
Mr Ralls, a retired insurance firm regional manager, said he expected the store manager to resolve the situation but he was disappointed.
“I felt like saying ‘What do I look like? Are you a fool?”
‘The man is dead. He can’t fight back. Nor could the children he pinned down and molested. Bob Collins was not killed by bowel cancer, as has been widely reported. He had beaten it – though there were complications after he had surgery in Adelaide. Collins is being eulogised as a great fighter for the north. But he did untold damage along the way.
When he had his way with boys, he was consumed by a sickness. But there can be no excuses for Collins. On the times he spoke up for the rights of children, he was the worst kind of hypocrite. And it must be remembered he was smart as a whip, being a minister in both the Bob Hawke and Paul Keating federal cabinets.
Collins was the first former or serving federal minister to be charged with child-sex offences. Police believe his preferred prey was Aboriginal boys, although white boys were not excluded.’
‘A dude flying a microlight plane deploys his parachute just a few seconds after takeoff..’
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‘Police caught a 15-year-old Greymouth youth driving an early-model Mitsubishi Lancer that had been lowered in a cheap and novel way. [..]
Constable Rachel Lord, of the Greymouth police, said it appeared the Lancer had been lowered by loading the boot full of rocks, rather than by the usual method of cutting the springs.
Police had responded to a complaint of dangerous driving after the car was seen swerving across State Highway 73 near Kumara, and forced it off the road, giving the driver a pink sticker, indicating it was unsafe and could not be driven. [..]
It has badly dented side-panels, no back seat and a bumper held in place by an old seatbelt.’
‘An Oklahoma man is facing charges for allegedly biting off and swallowing body parts from his ex-wife and her new husband, police said.
Kristy and Larry Nuckols got married on Monday. But two weekends ago, they were on the run from her ex-husband, Tom Ledgerwood, in the small town of Sasakwa.
Kristy Nuckols said the two of them were chased down a dirt road and their car got stuck.
That’s when Ledgerwood and some of his friends confronted them, she said.
“I had some mace and I hit him right in the eye and he dove in the car,” said Larry Nuckols.
Larry Nuckols said the two had started fighting and were rolling around inside the car when Ledgerwood began biting him.
“He told me, ‘You know what that was, that’s your ear,'” Nuckols said. “And he says, ‘I’m going to get the other one.'”‘
‘Nearly a quarter of teens say it would be “very easy” or “somewhat easy” to gain access to methamphetamine, a survey released Tuesday shows.
One in three teens also believes there is only a “slight risk” or “no risk” in trying meth once or twice, according to the study by The Meth Project, a nonprofit anti-drug group that produces gritty ads to show the perils of meth abuse.
And about one in four teens said there are benefits to using meth. Twenty-four percent of teens agreed with the statement that meth “makes you feel euphoric or very happy,” while 22 percent said meth “helps you lose weight” and 22 percent said it “helps you deal with boredom.”‘
‘It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into space on a rocket and come back stronger and deadlier than ever. Except, it really happened.
The germ: Salmonella, best known as a culprit of food poisoning. The trip: Space Shuttle STS-115, September 2006. The reason: Scientists wanted to see how space travel affects germs, so they took some along — carefully wrapped — for the ride. The result: Mice fed the space germs were three times more likely to get sick and died quicker than others fed identical germs that had remained behind on Earth. [..]
After 25 days, 40 percent of the mice given the Earth-bound salmonella were still alive, compared with just 10 percent of those dosed with the germs from space. And the researchers found it took about one-third as much of the space germs to kill half the mice, compared with the germs that had been on Earth.
The researchers found 167 genes had changed in the salmonella that went to space.’
‘A large crane is lifting a skid of networking supplies onto the roof of an office building when the cable snaps and drops the equipment onto a car below.’
I don’t know why the driver ran off like that.
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‘The father of an 18-year-old Redwood City man found his son dead after he fell into a waist-high vat of sulfuric acid early Sunday morning in a bizarre industrial accident, police said.
When Fernando Jimenez Gonzalez failed to come home after his shift at Coastal Circuits, his father went looking for him at the Redwood City manufacturing plant, said Sgt. Steve Dowden of Redwood City police. He found his body shortly before 2 a.m. [..]
Police believe Gonzalez passed out from chemical fumes as hesubmerged circuit boards into one of the plant’s three acid-copper-plating tanks, Dowden said.
The other employee at the facility, located in a Redwood City industrial area, was uninjured. It’s unclear why that worker didn’t call emergency crews.’
A collection of 10 videos of people getting caught having a wank.
Some of them are pretty funny.
‘What the fuck are you doing with my exercise ball?’
‘A community college instructor in Red Oak claims he was fired after he told his students that the biblical story of Adam and Eve should not be literally interpreted.
Steve Bitterman, 60, said officials at Southwestern Community College sided with a handful of students who threatened legal action over his remarks in a western civilization class Tuesday. He said he was fired Thursday.
“I’m just a little bit shocked myself that a college in good standing would back up students who insist that people who have been through college and have a master’s degree, a couple actually, have to teach that there were such things as talking snakes or lose their job,” Bitterman said.’
‘An Croatian motorbike rider was knocked unconscious when lightning struck his penis during a roadside toilet break.
Metro.co.uk reported Ante Djindjic, 29, escaped relatively unscathed from the incident, suffering only light burns to his chest and arms.
He said: “I don’t remember what happened. One minute I was taking a leak and the next thing I knew I was in hospital.
“Doctors said the lightning went through my body and because I was wearing rubber boots it earthed itself through my penis.”
“Thankfully, the doctors said that there would be no lasting effects, and my penis will function normally eventually.”‘
This guy make some lights that flash in time to music, out of a condom, some LEDs and part of a drink bottle.
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