moonbuggy

‘Hollywood actor Tom Cruise has been likened to hated Nazi Joseph Goebbels.

The German Protestant Church compared the star status Cruise gives to the Church of Scientology to the work of the Nazi propaganda minister.

Scientology is regarded as a cult in Germany and its activities are monitored.

Cruise – a high profile Scientologist – is in Berlin acting out the part of the so-called “good Nazi” von Stauffenberg in a new movie.’

‘Call it a case of shopping-cart rage.

State police said a 45-year-old Dutchess County man became enraged at a 72-year-old woman who was in front of him at the checkout line of the Super Stop & Shop on Route 6 last night and ran her over with his shopping cart.

James Curcio of Hillside Road, Poughquag, continued pushing the shopping cart out the door, despite not paying for the groceries, then beat a retreat in his car, police said.

The 72-year-old woman was treated at Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt and released.’

‘A judge ruled that a teenager will be tried as an adult for the death of an 18-month old boy he is accused of repeatedly swinging against a wall because he was frustrated with the child’s toilet training.

Derris Smith, 18, the live-in boyfriend of the child’s mother, has been charged with murder. He was 17 on June 27, when authorities say he delivered the beating that led to Malakai Glenn’s death four days later.

The boy’s mother, 20-year-old Sasha Glenn, testified Wednesday that the impact of the child hitting the wall left drywall stuck to his head and cracked a wooden door.’

‘A former monk has appeared in court to contest his conviction for torturing children more than 40 years ago. [..]

In 2003, Murphy, known as Brother Benedict, was found guilty of giving children painful jolts with an electrical gadget. [..]

As well as Brother Benedict’s electric shocks, the pupils were whipped with knotted laces and made to eat their own vomit.

One boy’s arm was broken when the monk lost his temper over a cheeky comment.

A woodwork teacher at the same school is appealing against a jury’s verdict that he sexually abused boys there.’

‘His power and influence is legendary in his native Melbourne but Eddie McGuire has found out that his name will not open the same doors in Sydney.

The former Nine Network chief executive got a rude awakening when he tried to jump the queue at a motor registry last week. [..]

McGuire’s final tactic was to turn up in person at 4.50pm – 10 minutes before the registry was due to close – go straight to the counter and demand to be served.

But that did not work either, prompting the furious multi-millionaire to demand to see a manager.

After a heated argument with RTA management, McGuire, 42, was told his only option was to take a numbered ticket and wait like everyone else.’

‘Although his biting sarcasm in response to unfriendly questions can make members of the White House press corps grumble under their breath, President Bush got a different reaction from a 13-year-old girl who asked him about immigration during a forum in Ohio.

The Washington Times reports Jessica Hackerd was left in tears after Bush gave her a wry “yeah, thanks” in response to her query, drawing laughter from the crowd of 400 in Brecksville, Ohio Tuesday. Bush immediately began to backpedal when he saw the reaction from Hackerd, who told the Times she was crying because she is very shy and was nervous questioning the president.’

‘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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‘A missing staple in the court file of two of the state’s most notorious killers has given them a fresh appeal – and the possibility of being set free.

In an astonishing blunder, sloppy record keeping in the Court of Criminal Appeal registry has led to two murderers of Sydney clerk Janine Balding being given special leave to take their case to the High Court.

Amazingly, the appeal has been granted because a staple was found to be missing in their court file.

Janine’s mother, Bev Balding, yesterday expressed dismay and outrage at the legal loophole, which effectively quashes the pair’s unsuccessful 1992 appeal.’

‘Two teenagers were accused of gang raping a woman and forcing her 12-year-old son to join in the attack, then beating him and pouring cleaning solution into his eyes.

Authorities allege Avion Lawson, 14, and Nathan Walker, 16, were among a group of about 10 masked suspects who forced their way into the woman’s apartment in a crime-ridden housing project the night of June 18. [..]

“Any rape case is horrible but this takes it to another level, something you can’t think of even in your worst dreams,” police spokesman Ted White said.

According to the police report, a man knocked on the woman’s door at about 9 p.m. and told her he had a flat tire. The mother and son, whom police have not identified, went outside and were ambushed by a group of gun-wielding suspects.’

‘As stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a convenience store, five shoppers, including one who stopped to take a picture of her with a cell phone, stepped over the woman, police said.

The June 23 situation, captured on the store’s surveillance video, got scant news coverage until a columnist for The Wichita Eagle disclosed the existence of the video and its contents Tuesday.

Police have refused to release the video, saying it is part of their investigation.’

‘Wrestler Chris Benoit murdered his seven-year-old son with his WWE finishing move, police have said.

Cops in Georgia are speculating that Benoit, 40, ended Daniel’s life with a version of the Crippler Crossface hold the morning after strangling his wife Nancy, 43, to death. Later that day Benoit committed suicide.

The Crippler Crossface was a move Benoit used in almost all his wrestling matches, including when he beat Triple H for the heavyweight title at WrestleMania XX.

Police were originally confused by bruising on the young lad that wouldn’t have been there had he been strangled.

Then an officer watched a wrestling tape, quickly realising that the marks on Daniel’s body matched the application of a version the Crossface.’

‘A 21-year-old woman was beaten almost daily by three housemates with a frying pan, belt buckle, hammer and other objects as punishment for not doing her housework properly, state police said.

Mickel Johnson, 24, was charged with second-degree assault and second-degree unlawful imprisonment for the physical abuse against Lenisha Artis in the home they shared at Fort Drum. Artis was also tied to a chair with her mouth taped shut and had boiling water poured over her, leaving extreme scarring, troopers said.

State police also charged Trina Strait, 40, with first-degree and second-degree assault and Crystal Johnson, 37, with two counts of second-degree assault.

“She wasn’t doing her chores,” said state police Investigator Stephen Kealy.’

‘Four dead dolphins have washed ashore with fatal bullet wounds and fifth with lacerations on its pectoral fin, said authorities who have offered a reward for information on the slayings.

The long-beaked common dolphins were all discovered between Carlsbad State Beach and Oceanside Harbor between May 29 and June 5. Photos showed their normally sleek gray skin mottled and stained with blood from the bullet wounds.

“It’s a horrendous thing that happened,” said Mark Oswell, spokesman for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. “That someone would go out there and shoot four dolphins.”‘

‘More than 450 people, including young children, have been freed from slavery in Chinese brick factories and mines but hundreds of others are believed to still be trapped, police said Friday.

In a crackdown that has laid bare a shocking underworld of human trafficking and slave labour, police in two provinces in northern and central China said the workers were freed after raids over the past week on hundreds of brick factories and small coal mines.

Various media reports have described freed workers, some as young as eight, as having been beaten, nearly starved and forced to work extraordinary long hours under appalling and dangerous conditions.

“So far, we have rescued more than 200 people including over 40 children,” an official with the Henan provincial public security department, who gave only his surname of Dang, told AFP by phone.

“They were abducted and sold to brick kilns in Shanxi and Henan provinces.”‘

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‘Poachers have shot the last two white rhinos in Zambia, killing one and wounding the other, in a night operation at the Mosi-Oa-Tunya national park in Livingstone, an official said today.

The shooting of the two endangered animals in a heavily-guarded zoological park near Victoria Falls in Zambia’s tourist resort town of Livingstone took place last week.

“I can confirm that one of the white rhinos was shot dead by suspected poachers. The other one was wounded and is undergoing treatment,” said Maureen Mwape, spokesperson of the Zambia Wildlife Authority, which would be investigating the shooting.

The dead female rhino’s horn was apparently removed.’

‘A man who spent five years in jail for exposing sexual partners to HIV was sentenced to life in prison for knowingly exposing another woman to the virus.

Sean L. Sykes, 33, was sentenced Tuesday. He was found guilty in May of having unprotected sex with a St. Joseph woman without telling her he was HIV-positive. Testimony at his trial — which was closed to the public to protect witnesses — indicated that he had exposed at least eight women to HIV. At least three have tested positive.

“I think it’s fairly clear he is a very dangerous individual,” Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins said after the sentencing. “If he is not in prison, he would likely continue to spread HIV.”‘

‘A Sun City West veterinarian was arrested on suspicion of punching a five-pound Chihuahua five times in the head, temporarily blinding one eye of the dog.

Dr. Joshua Winston faces charges of animal cruelty and theft, according to a prepared statement from Maricopa County Sheriff’s office.

Winston allegedly struck the Chihuahua’s head five times and dislodged the dog’s eye on June 4, according to the statement. The dog needed corrective surgery after the incident, according to the statement.’

‘Thirty-one dirty and disorientated workers have been rescued from a brickwork factory in China, where they were being held as virtual slaves.

Eight workers were so traumatised by their experiences that they were only able to remember their names.

The labourers had to work unpaid for 20 hours at a time, and were only given bread and water in return.

The brickworks, in the poor inland province of Shanxi, is owned by the son of the local Communist Party secretary.’

‘A seventy year old lady gets pulled over by a cop and while he attempts to radio in to dispatch she reaches her hand in his pocket. He explains that she should not do that with a swift knee to the forehead.’

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‘A gay gang that allegedly raped victims lured on the internet, drugged them and infected them with the AIDS virus has shocked the Netherlands and raised questions over its liberal sex culture.

A date rape drug known as “Easy Lay” and ecstasy were allegedly involved.

Health Minister Ab Klink called the case “horrible”, as the press splashed the news across its front pages today.

The matter came to light yesterday, when police said they had arrested three men two weeks ago after four victims, men aged 25 to 50, accused them of rape and premeditated bodily harm. [..]

The three suspects – one of whom is a male nurse – were said to have raped the men, and even injected some of them with a mix of their contaminated blood.’

‘The father of a teenaged girl faces attempted murder charges for allegedly slamming his van into six people, including his daughter, outside a Scarborough, Ont., high school on Friday.

The six were sitting in a park near Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute, near Birchmount Road and Sheppard Avenue when a van came speeding towards them, said police.

The daughter, her boyfriend and a friend of the couple were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Witnesses allege the father was angry over the daughter’s relationship with her boyfriend.

“This was not an unintentional collision,” said Sgt. James Cassells of traffic services with Toronto police.’

‘They have been accused of sexually abusing staff during a drunken rampage through the first-class cabin of an international flight.

Now Sydney men Jeremy Snaith and William Sergeant are eating fermented camel meat inside the notorious al-Wathba prison outside Abu Dhabi. in the United Arab Emirates.

The food is the least of their worries as the wheels of justice grind slowly and Snaith and Sergeant contemplate up to 15 years in a desert prison where the temperatures soar above 50 degrees and punishment includes stonings, lashings, overcrowding and sleeping in lice-infested blankets on cement floors.’

‘A 27-year-old man described as one of the world’s most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.

Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised “zombie” computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e-mails.

“He’s one of the top 10 spammers in the world,” said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. lawyer who is senior director of the company’s Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. “He’s a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day.”‘

‘Mercury Energy says it was unaware that disconnecting power to a south Auckland home could have potentially life-threatening consequences.

Folole Muliaga, 44, died within two hours of a contractor cutting power to her Mangere home at 2pm yesterday.

Today a relative said Mrs Muliaga’s family had told the contractor that the mother-of-four was dependent on an oxygen machine, which needed electricity to run.

Mrs Muliaga’s son told TV One News that his mother – sitting with the machine – had asked the contractor to give them a chance, but the man had replied he was just doing his job.’

‘A 14-year-old girl was murdered by a takeaway owner who joked with friends that she had been chopped up and mixed in with the kebabs, a court has heard.

It is alleged that Charlene Downes was killed by Iyad Albattikhi, who owns a fast food shop on Blackpool Promenade.

Prosecutors said Charlene was one of a number of girls who had sex with men who worked in fast food shops on the promenade, including Mr Albattikhi. [..]

Police started a missing persons inquiry, but later launched a murder probe after being told she had been “killed and chopped up”, the jury heard.

No trace of Charlene’s body has been found.’

‘A disabled gran was stabbed 97 times by her killer — for 32p in her piggy bank.

Frail Ann Alfanso, 61, was knifed in the head, body, hands and neck by drug-crazed John Mansfield.

Convicted robber Mansfield, 45, was high on heroin, morphine, cocaine and methadone when he used two knives and scissors to butcher his victim, who lived alone.

A court was told that one blade went right through one of Mrs Alfanso’s hands as she tried to protect herself. As he hunted for cash, Mansfield dragged her around her flat before raiding the piggy bank beside the phone and fleeing, leaving her for dead.’

‘A woman who tried to steal a fetus by knocking her pregnant neighbor unconscious with a baseball bat and cutting open her stomach was sentenced Tuesday to 22 to 50 years in prison.

Peggy Jo Conner, who could have been sentenced to up to 80 years in prison, apologized for attacking Valerie Oskin on Oct. 13, 2005.

“I’m sorry for what happened to Valerie and for what part I had in it,” Conner said. “I’m not that kind of person. I was on drugs then.”

But Armstrong County District Attorney Scott Andreassi said blood tests at the time showed no intoxicants in Conner’s system. She is now being treated for bipolar disorder and manic depression.’

Followup to Fetus-Theft Suspect to Claim Insanity.

‘A Californian man who tried to kill his girlfriend by leaving her in a car parked across railway lines was himself killed when an oncoming train hurled the car into him as he fled.

His girlfriend survived, the Associated Press reported.

The man drove the car to the head of a line of traffic stopped at a level crossing in the San Fernando Valley neighbourhood of Sunland on Monday, police spokesman Mike Lopez said.

The man, who was seen arguing with the woman, then parked the car on the tracks and jumped out, leaving her behind, Mr Lopez said.’

‘In the emergency room at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, Edith Isabel Rodriguez was seen as a complainer.

“Thanks a lot, officers,” an emergency room nurse told Los Angeles County police who brought in Rodriguez early May 9 after finding her in front of the Willowbrook hospital yelling for help. “This is her third time here.” [..]

Parked in the emergency room lobby in a wheelchair after police left, she fell to the floor. She lay on the linoleum, writhing in pain, for 45 minutes, as staffers worked at their desks and numerous patients looked on.

Aside from one patient who briefly checked on her condition, no one helped her. A janitor cleaned the floor around her as if she were a piece of furniture. A closed-circuit camera captured everyone’s apparent indifference.

Arriving to find Rodriguez on the floor, her boyfriend unsuccessfully tried to enlist help from the medical staff and county police — even a 911 dispatcher, who balked at sending rescuers to a hospital.

Alerted to the “disturbance” in the lobby, police stepped in — by running Rodriguez’s record. They found an outstanding warrant and prepared to take her to jail. She died before she could be put into a squad car.’

Update: now with the 911 call.

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‘The mother and aunt of a legally blind 10-year-old boy were booked on cruelty charges after briefly leaving him on the side of a highway because he was misbehaving, a sheriff’s spokesman said.

A driver reported seeing someone pick up a child from the side of Interstate 12 on Wednesday about 40 miles east of Baton Rouge and put him in a van. Authorities feared they were dealing with a kidnapping, said Jason Ard, the Livingston Parish sheriff’s spokesman.

Investigators found the boy had actually been dropped off as punishment. The van traveled a short distance down the highway before the mother got out and retrieved him, Ard said. It was unclear exactly how long the child was out of the car but Ard said Friday it was probably only a few minutes.’