‘An astonishing attempted escape from the police in the Bronx Wednesday morning left a suspect dangling from the side of a high-rise, 23 stories above the ground.
It wasn’t a typical sighting for New Yorkers walking outside or living across from the Soundview apartment tower.
“I started to think, ‘What’s wrong? Is he trying to commit suicide or something?'” said Alex Morales, who, along with his wife Patricia witnessed the suspect’s crazy antics.
But Francisco Correra Jr. wasn’t trying to kill himself. Instead he was trying to escape from police investigating an assault complaint.
“His foot was on the ledge of the window and he was hanging on a childproof bar,” Patricia Morales said.’
‘A man was cited for drunken driving twice in the same day, by the same officer, and jailed after authorities said he showed up drunk for his arraignment.
Court records said Adam T. Lundgren, 42, was cited for misdemeanor drunken driving after being spotted driving erratically at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
He was later released to a sober friend, but jumped from the friend’s car and returned to downtown Missoula, where he continued drinking, court records said.
At about 10 p.m., Lundgren drove into a bridge railing and started to run away. Witnesses captured him and held him until police arrived.’
‘The US military has embarked on a new and risky strategy in Iraq by arming Sunni insurgents in the hope that they will tackle al-Qaida operatives in Iraq.
The US high command this month gave permission to its officers on the ground to negotiate arms deals with tribal elders and other local leaders. Arms, ammunition, body armour and other equipment, as well as cash, pickup trucks and fuel, have already been handed over in return for promises to turn on al-Qaida and not attack US troops.
The US military in Baghdad is trying to portray the move as arming disenchanted Sunnis rising up in their neighbourhoods against their former allies, al-Qaida and its foreign fighters. But the reality on the ground is more complex, with little sign that the US will be able to control the weapons once they are handed over.’
‘Calgary police handed jaywalking tickets to homeless people evacuated from a shelter Thursday morning, upsetting residents and the centre’s executive director.
People inside the Drop-In Centre were told to leave after the discovery of an electrical problem. Executive director Dermot Baldwin estimates about 50 residents were given tickets after they exited the building.
“You’ve got hundreds of people who’ve been evacuated from the building and the police are giving out jaywalking tickets,” he said. “It’s not a helpful thing. It’s not a service to the people, that’s for sure.”
He said many of those ticketed, especially the mentally ill, won’t be able to afford to pay the $57 fine and will likely have to go to jail.’
‘Teachers who were suspicious that children on a school camp in Victoria might have alcohol in their bags found something much more sinister instead – two sawn-off shotguns and several rounds of ammunition.
Inspector Craig Gillard of Colac police said two boys, aged 14 and 15, were among a group of students from Colac College who had been on a school camp in the Gippsland region near the town of Bairnsdale.
He said teachers had become suspicious that some students might have alcohol hidden in their bags so decided to do a search.
“During that search, a teacher has located a 22 calibre (sawn-off) rifle and 10 rounds of ammunition in one bag, and a 12-gauge (sawn-off) shotgun and seven rounds of ammunition in another bag,” Insp Gillard said on Southern Cross radio.’
‘An Army Corps of Engineers report found mechanical and contracting problems with drainage pumps installed by the corps before the start of the 2006 hurricane season, prompting a Louisiana senator to call for a Justice Department investigation.
Although the pumps have been extensively overhauled, critical flaws remain a year later, according to the report, which was released Friday.
The review by three corps engineers from outside the New Orleand district office backed up findings of a May 2006 memo by a corps mechanical engineer working on the $32 million pump project. The memo warned the pumps were faulty and would not work during a hurricane.’
People are idiots. Funny idiots.
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This is a short clip from The Chasers War on Everything.
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‘Prime Minister John Howard says he is opposed to gay couples adopting children and heterosexual adoption is a benchmark society should maintain.
But he said that didn’t mean gay and lesbian people had no affection for children.
The Victorian Law Reform Commission has recommended to the Victorian Parliament that gay couples be allowed to adopt and lesbians have access to IVF treatment.
Mr Howard said today he believed children should ideally have a mother and a father.
“It gives children the best opportunity in life,” he said on Southern Cross radio.’
I don’t know why you’d want to jump over a moving car anyways. Atleast only the car got hurt. 🙂
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‘Ten years in prison for receiving oral sex. That is Genarlow Wilson’s sentence.
When he was 17 years old and a high school senior, he received consensual oral sex from a 15-year-old, 10th-grade girl.
Everyone agreed, including the prosecutor and the girl herself, that she initiated the act.
It was all captured on video — the evidence used to convict him at trial. On the tape, police saw a 15-year-old perform oral sex on one partygoer, and after finishing with him, she turned and did the same to Wilson. Under Georgia law at the time, this was considered aggravated child molestation, a felony for teens less than three years apart to have oral sex. It carried with it a 10-year sentence, even though it was only a misdemeanor for those same teens to have sexual intercourse.’
Way too forgiving, if you ask me.
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‘A British father thwarted from flying the Jolly Roger for his son’s pirate-themed birthday party said he would like to make local officials walk the plank.
Richard and Sharon Smith, who usually fly the British Union Jack or the English St. George’s Cross from their 18-foot flagpole in Stone, Staffordshire, thought that the skull and crossbones would be a festive touch for the party Saturday. But a neighbor complained to the local council.
Officials told the Smiths that they would have to apply for a permit, paying a $150 fee for an assessment of the flag’s impact, The Daily Mail reported.
Richard Smith told the newspaper that his son, Morgan, who is turning 6, doesn’t see the point of the party without the flag. He said they plan now to delay the party to see if they can get permission.’
‘A children’s book about life in Cuba has parents and school board members demanding its removal from district libraries even though it only features wholesome topics.
To many in this heavily Cuban-American community, “Vamos a Cuba” (“A Visit to Cuba”) is extremely offensive because it lacks any criticism of the country’s dictator
Fidel Castro or his communist government.
That’s why the Miami-Dade County School District will ask a federal appeals court Wednesday for permission to remove all 49 copies of the book from its libraries.’
‘A former Home Depot employee said the company fired he and three other workers because they helped police catch several suspected shoplifters in May.
Midwest City police said the men helped officers catch suspected shoplifters as they tried to run from a store with lawn equipment.
An internal memo from Home Depot outlines that associates cannot accuse, detain, chase or call the police on any customer for shoplifting. However, one of the fired employees said the company is selective in enforcing that policy.
“The loss-prevention guy at our Shields (Boulevard) store turned around and told me all we need to do is tell the shoplifter to have a good day as they leave the store. I said that just doesn’t make sense.”‘
‘Cardinal George Pell has warned Catholic politicians they face “consequences” in the life of the church should they vote for an “immoral” bill before the NSW Parliament to expand stem cell research.
In calling for a “no” vote, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney said he wasn’t threatening excommunication.
However, he didn’t rule out that their vote would disqualify them as church members or “loosen” their bonds with the church, which has taken a strong pro-life position on therapeutic cloning.
Catholic MPs would need to seriously think about taking Holy Communion, the key sacrament, Dr Pell said, and “were certainly doing the wrong thing”.’
‘Nuclear power stations will be banned in Western Australia by legislation aimed at thwarting the prime minister’s nuclear push, Premier Alan Carpenter says.
Mr Carpenter announced the new legislation at the WA Labor Party state conference.
The legislation will prohibit the construction or operation of a nuclear facility, the transportation of certain material to a nuclear facility site and the connection of nuclear generation works to electricity transmission or distribution systems.
Mr Carpenter said new technology was the answer to climate change challenges not nuclear power.’
‘The logo for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics has been unveiled in a star-studded ceremony in London.
The jagged emblem, based on the date 2012, comes in a series of shades of pink, blue, green and orange and will evolve in the run-up to the Games.
The word London and the Olympic rings are included in the first two digits of the new logo.
“This is the vision at the very heart of our brand,” said London 2012 organising committee chairman Seb Coe.’
The logo is pretty ugly. Someone submitted their own version of a logo which is hilarious and got a bit of exposure on the BBC’s website.
That’s a pretty good effort. 🙂
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‘A Japanese policeman distraught by working long hours and weekends for two months stabbed himself in the stomach with a knife to get some time off, police said Monday.
The 44-year-old officer knifed himself at his home in northwestern Japan on May 23, but told police he had been attacked, prompting an attempted murder investigation, Ishikawa prefecture police said in a statement.
Investigators became suspicious of his story after they could not find evidence of anyone who matched the description the officer had given of the supposed attacker, a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.’
‘China unveiled its first national program aimed at combating global warming on Monday, but it’s modest in scope and offers few firm targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The 62-page report said China is taking steps toward improving energy efficiency over 2005 levels by as much as 20 per cent by the year 2010. It said a top priority was to tackle China’s own environmental problems.
China’s top economic planner said the country will not submit to any outside targets and won’t let its industrial development be hampered by any fight in the West against global warming.
“The consequences of restricting the development of developing nations will be much more serious than the consequences of global warming,” said Ma Kai, the minister heading the National Development and Reform Commission.’
‘A grim-faced George AuClair Jr. wandered his 25-acre patch of desert looking every inch the broken man.
“I’m ashamed of what happened here, but you can’t lie about it,” said the Torres Martinez tribal member. “You have to own up when you do wrong.”
Not far away, bulldozers piled up mountains of junk from AuClair’s illegal dump, a dump so toxic it has been declared a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency. He now faces millions of dollars in fines. [..]
AuClair’s biggest mistake was burning thousands of toxic wooden grape stakes.
“How could we have known grape stakes were treated with arsenic and chromium?” he asked. “There was no sign saying, ‘This is hazardous to your health.’ ”
And he insists his own health wasn’t damaged.
“I lost my hair, but I think that was a thyroid problem,” he said, “and I get headaches, but that could be anything.”‘
‘It was just six inches.
That was what made the difference at 4:40 a.m. yesterday as Gilberto Cantu, a truck driver from Texas, approached the New Jersey entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel in his big rig, loaded with bathtubs, toilets and plumbing fixtures. The truck was 13 feet 6 inches high. The tunnel has a height limit of 13 feet. Six inches can make a big difference.
Mr. Cantu drove the entire 1.5 miles of the tunnel from Weehawken, N.J., to Manhattan, tearing his way under the Hudson River in the tunnel’s center tube and peeling back the roof of his tractor-trailer as if it were a tin can. No one was injured, but an undetermined number of decorative tunnel ceiling tiles were ripped off.’
‘Jackass star Johnny Knoxville is being sued by for £5.3million by an actor who had his penis clamped in a mousetrap for a stunt.
Perry Caravello says he was severely injured when the trap crushed his manhood as he appeared on a radio talkshow with Knoxville.
He claims Knoxville promised to pay him £5million for agreeing to the prank.
Mr Caravello has filed legal documents in a US court alleging fraud and negligence. He says he was further humiliated when footage of the stunt was videotaped and posted on the Internet without his permission.’
‘A Newcastle family claim they have been forced from two homes by thugs who have targeted them over their ginger hair.
Kevin and Barbara Chapman say they and their four children, aged between 10 and 13, have endured years of taunts, smashed windows and violence. [..]
Son Kevin, 11, said he was recently punched in a street attack. Newcastle Council is “discussing the situation”. [..]
Mr Chapman said: “The abuse we get is unbelievable. It started more than three years ago, when the kids started getting bullied by lads over the colour of their hair.
“They’ve been punched and kicked and thrown over a hedge. Every time they go out these gangs get to them.”
He added that the family now wanted to move again.’
It seems a bit stupid to be claiming this is an alternative energy source, ’cause thermodynamics dictate you’ll be putting more energy into the system than you can recover from the combustion. But, it’s a neat little trick anyway. 🙂
see it here »
‘Detailed plans for the new U.S. Embassy under construction in Baghdad appeared online Thursday in a breach of the tight security surrounding the sensitive project.
Computer-generated projections of the soon-to-be completed, heavily fortified compound were posted on the Web site of the Kansas City, Mo.-based architectural firm that was contracted to design the massive facility in the Iraqi capital.
The images were removed by Berger Devine Yaeger Inc. shortly after the company was contacted by the State Department.
“We work very hard to ensure the safety and security of our employees overseas,” said Gonzalo Gallegos, a department spokesman. “This kind of information out in the public domain detracts from that effort.”‘
‘The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.
The Agriculture Department tests fewer than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. A beef producer in the western state of Kansas, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wants to test all of its cows.
Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone should test its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive tests on their larger herds as well.
The Agriculture Department regulates the test and argued that widespread testing could lead to a false positive that would harm the meat industry.’
‘A 43-year-old German man was taken to hospital in critical condition after he fell off a second storey balcony during a spitting contest with his 12-year-old son, police said Friday.
A spokesman for the police in the eastern town of Cottbus said the man in Forst had apparently lost his balance after thrusting too far forward in his attempt to outspit his son.
He tumbled over the ledge and landed on a balcony of the ground floor apartment, police said. He was taken to hospital in a rescue helicopter.’
‘China’s heritage bureau has launched a probe into Chinese mining companies alleged to have brought down part of the Great Wall to allow their trucks to avoid paying road tolls, state media reported on Thursday.
Coal mining companies operating near Hujiayao village, on the border between the northern province of Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, had also taken soil from parts of the Ming-era (1368-1644) wall to build houses and piled “small mountains” of coal against it, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a local newspaper.
“Big trucks carrying coal had even opened a big gap in the Great Wall to make a coal shipping thoroughfare,” the paper said.’
