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'Sexist' Thong Ad Withdrawn
'Sexist' Thong Ad Withdrawn
Thu Feb 27, 8:23 AM ET
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's tourist board has temporarily withdrawn an ad showing a woman's half-naked bottom marked by the suntan outline of a thong with the slogan "Spain marks," after a deluge of complaints that it was sexist.
The ad was pulled after protests by political and women's groups, a spokeswoman for the tourist board Turespana said. A meeting of regional government and tourist authorities will decide whether the poster should be banned altogether.
"We asked the Women's Institute what they thought, and they said it was positive, not sexist. In fact, there is also a version in which a man appears, so it is a balanced campaign," the Turespana spokeswoman said.
Spain's Women's Institute is a department of the Social Affairs Ministry. But other women's' groups were not impressed.
"This resorts to the figure of a semi-naked woman as a tourist attraction, which is pitiful and it seems like we're taking a step backwards," said Micaela Navarro, responsible for equality issues at the main opposition Socialist party.
Tourism is Spain's biggest industry, accounting for more than one tenth of its economy. The "Spain marks" campaign has already been launched internationally, with a series of different photographs deemed to cause less offence.

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Yahoo! News - Man Cuts Off Penis, Tosses It to His Wife Man Cuts Off Penis, Tosses It to His Wife
Thu Feb 27, 8:07 AM ET
MANILA (Reuters) - A Filipino man cut off his penis and tossed it through a window to his estranged wife in a bid to prove his fidelity, a Philippine newspaper reported on Thursday.
The man wrapped the severed member in a newspaper and threw it through the window of his wife's parents' house in the northwestern town of Malasiqui, the Philippine Star said.
"So you will not suspect I am courting another girl," the Star said the man shouted before he hobbled off into the night.
His shocked wife gave the severed penis to police, who sought the help of an embalmer to preserve it until her husband could be found, the paper said.

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Yahoo! News - PETA Wants Beer As Wis. State BeveragePETA Wants Beer As Wis. State Beverage
Wed Feb 26, 9:49 AM ET
MADISON, Wis. - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants Gov. Jim Doyle to change Wisconsin's official beverage from milk to beer, saying milk is harmful to humans and is meant for calves.
PETA said in a letter to Doyle Tuesday that beer is healthier than cow's milk, which the group argued could cause heart disease, cancer, allergies, diabetes and obesity.
Milk consumption causes dairy cows stress because they are kept in a constant state of impregnation, the letter said.
Cows also suffer because their calves are "ripped" away from them so humans can have the milk meant for the calves, PETA said.
PETA first came up with the beer-for-milk national campaign two years ago, but it was retired after being criticized by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other groups. The animal rights group renewed the campaign last spring.
Doyle spokeswoman Jessica Erickson said Tuesday she had not seen the letter.

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Yahoo! News - Ala. Would-Be Burglars Escape on HorsesAla. Would-Be Burglars Escape on Horses
Wed Feb 26, 9:55 AM ET
FLORENCE, Ala. - Would-be burglars trying to steal from a gas station galloped away on horseback and made a clean getaway, police say.
The culprits had cut the phone line and were apparently trying to disarm the alarm at an Amoco gas station in Cherokee on Sunday night.
"But somebody must have spooked them, and they left on horse," Police Chief Paul Norman said.
Investigators took plastic casings of hoof prints outside the station and were on the lookout for anybody who spotted the four-legged getaway accomplice.
"I've never heard of anything like this before," Norman said. "Here comes the Jesse James gang back again."
In another bizarre case in Tuscumbia, police didn't have any hoof prints to go on, but perhaps some ring around the tub? Police said a burglar took a bath and turned on the ceiling fan before making off with a 19-inch television and some jewelry Friday.

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Yahoo! News - Bride Given 2 Years for 'Meth Kiss'Bride Given 2 Years for 'Meth Kiss'
Wed Feb 26, 8:44 AM ET
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Vivian Frazier won't forget her last kiss with her new husband, at least for the next two years.
Authorities say Frazier, who married Jeremy Guinther in an Indiana jailhouse in July, passed 2 grams of methamphetamine to Guinther in a kiss during the ceremony.
Frazier was sentenced Monday to two years in prison after pleading guilty to a felony charge of trafficking with an inmate.
The exchange was caught when a Vigo County Jail guard became suspicious after seeing Guinther with a slight bulge in his cheek. When ordered to open his mouth, Guinther swallowed, according to a sheriff's department report.
The packet of drugs was recovered during a hospital stay, prosecutors said.
Guinther, 26, pleaded guilty in December to a felony drug possession charge in connection with the wedding kiss. He also pleaded guilty to unrelated charges of theft and drug possession and is currently serving his sentence in a state prison.
The jail now has a rule against kissing during lock-up weddings.

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Yahoo! News - Museum exhibit slapped with congestion fineMuseum exhibit slapped with congestion fine
Wed Feb 26, 9:25 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - A 105-year-old car which has been off the road since 1947 has been slapped with a penalty notice for allegedly evading London's recently introduced congestion charge scheme.
The Daimler, nicknamed Fiery Liz, was apparently spotted in south London on February 17, the day the scheme was introduced.
It was identified by its number plate, Y99, and a 40 pound fine was sent to staff at the museum in Bristol where the car has been housed for the past 25 years.
"We were surprised to get the paperwork because the Daimler has not moved under its own power for decades," museum curator Andrew King told Thursday's Daily Telegraph.
The scheme's organisers accepted the penalty notice might be one of a number of "individual errors" in the scheme, which aims to cut traffic in central London by 15 percent.
Drivers who fail to pay the five-pound charge for entering central London face fines ranging from 40 to 120 pounds, depending on how quickly they pay.

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Yahoo! News - Judge Duct Tapes Defendant's Mouth Shut
Judge Duct Tapes Defendant's Mouth Shut
Wed Feb 26, 7:21 AM ET
LUBBOCK, Texas - A Texas judge ordered a defendant's mouth to be taped shut after the man kept interrupting his lawyer and the judge during an aggravated assault trial.
For about 20 minutes Tuesday, Carl Wiley, 36, ignored pleas from state District Judge Jim Bob Darnell and his own mother to keep quiet during a hearing outside the jury's presence.
Finally, Darnell ordered bailiffs to seal Wiley's mouth with duct tape.
"He was being very disruptive and he was trying to fire his second court-appointed attorney, and I informed him that when the attorney is appointed by the court, only the court can fire the attorney," Darnell said.
"Mr. Wiley continued to interrupt him," Darnell said, referring to attorney Steve Hamilton, "so the court duct-taped his mouth until the jury came in. Then I had him removed from the courtroom."
Hamilton declined to comment on the incident or on his client's conviction later Tuesday for ramming his vehicle into his estranged wife's car. She was not injured.
No sentencing date has been set.

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Yahoo! News - Pensioner gets call-up to fight IraqPensioner gets call-up to fight Iraq
Wed Feb 26, 9:39 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - An 80-year-old pensioner has been called up by the Ministry of Defence for possible action in Iraq.
If he went, it would be the first time Joe Steer had seen active service since the famous World War Two battle of El Alamein in Egypt in 1942, the Sun said on Thursday.
The call-up papers came in an official government envelope and ordered Steer to report to a training camp.
"I'm a bit past my prime," the Sun quoted him as saying. "It's too high-tech today. I'm used to rifles and machine guns, not missiles."
A ministry spokesman told the paper the call-up was due to an administrative error.

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Yahoo! News - Size does matter in sex trialSize does matter in sex trial
Wed Feb 26, 9:34 PM ET
SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - A gynaecologist accused of sexually abusing patients sat passively as a doctor told a court the exact size of his penis, a measurement the defence says proves his innocence.
Dr Raul Ixtlahuac, 41, is accused of suddenly engaging in sexual intercourse with four of his patients while standing at the examining table. He is also accused of fondling two others during examinations.
His lawyers argued that Ixtlahuac could not have committed the crime because his penis would not reach the women, who were atop the examining table when the alleged attacks took place.
As defence attorney Doron Weinberg told the San Jose Mercury News outside court on Tuesday: "The physical evidence is going to show that you have to be either an acrobat or someone of superhuman proportion to do the things they alleged that he did."
In unusual and explicit Wednesday testimony, Dr Harlev Goldberg said he had measured Ixtlahuac's erect penis at 5.5 inches (14 cms). Some jurors appeared puzzled as to why the evidence was being presented in court.
The accused, who faces a possible 16-year sentence if found guilty, has had his license suspended and is on unpaid leave from his job.

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Yahoo! News - Grandpa Lin, Elephant, War Veteran, Dies at 86Grandpa Lin, Elephant, War Veteran, Dies at 86
Wed Feb 26, 8:05 AM ET
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Lin Wang, an 86-year-old Asian elephant taken prisoner by Chinese troops in World War II, died of old age Wednesday at Taipei Zoo.
In his youth the venerable beast, known to Taiwan children as Grandpa Lin, dragged Japanese army cannon and supplies through the jungles of Burma, now known as Myanmar, until his capture in 1943.
Then a sprightly 26, Lin continued his army service on the Chinese mainland and later on Taiwan. In 1954, he was retired to the zoo in the company of a female elephant, Ma Lan.
The island's children loved him, and the zoo threw birthday parties for him each year. The people of Taiwan mourned his death by burning paper money and lighting incense.
A zoo statement said Lin, in poor spirits since Ma Lan died last year, fell sick a few days ago and stopped taking food.
It appealed for T$5 million (US$144,000) in contributions to preserve the body of Lin, believed to have been the world's oldest Asian elephant.

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Yahoo! News - Man Dies After Fall from Hot Air BalloonMan Dies After Fall from Hot Air Balloon
Wed Feb 26, 8:13 AM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A British man plunged to his death from a hot air balloon in California's Napa Valley area on Tuesday, police said.
The planned morning flight over the state's famous wine region was canceled because of bad weather, but the operator agreed to let the British visitors take a quick mini-flight, Gene Lyerla of the Napa County Sheriff's office said.
"They decided to inflate the balloon a bit and raise it off the ground to take some photos," he said.
The British man, whose name was not immediately released, was apparently hanging from the side of the balloon throughout the flight for unknown reasons, Lyerla said. He fell from a height of 300 to 500 feet and died instantly upon hitting the parking lot below.
The Bonaventura Balloon Company, which takes tourists up for $195 a flight, did not return calls for comment.

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Yahoo! News - Mail Thief to Bear His Own Scarlet LetterMail Thief to Bear His Own Scarlet Letter
Wed Feb 26, 8:32 AM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A man convicted of stealing U.S. mail will have to wear his own unique scarlet letter telling the world he was a thief, a court ruled on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker sentenced Shawn Gementera to two months in prison and 100 hours of unusual community service for stealing mail from homes in San Francisco.
As his community service, Judge Walker ordered Gementera to spend 100 hours in front of a United States Postal Service office in San Francisco wearing a sandwich board bearing the words: "I have stolen mail. This is my punishment," the U.S. Attorney for Northern California said in a statement.
"A two month period of incarceration followed by the stigma of standing in front of a public post office wearing a sandwich board, Judge Walker stated, would emphasize to Mr. Gementera and others the seriousness of mail theft offenses," the statement said.

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Yahoo! News - His Beer Is Good Clean Fun?His Beer Is Good Clean Fun?
Wed Feb 26, 8:35 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German priest has developed a novel way to brew beer -- in a washing machine.
Michael Fey, 45, a Catholic priest from the western city of Duisburg, came up with the idea of converting his 35-year-old toploader to provide beer more cheaply for youth outings he organizes.
"All I needed was something that could be used to heat and stir the mix -- so why not a washing machine?" said Fey, who now uses another machine for his clothes.
His machine brews 40 pints of beer in 10 hours.
Fey said his unorthodox brewing method has made him consider experimenting with new flavors: "I recently read about some American beer made with chilies. Now that could be interesting."

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Yahoo! News - Man Allegedly Steals 6 Cars During ChaseMan Allegedly Steals 6 Cars During Chase
Wed Feb 19, 9:13 AM ET
HANNIBAL, Mo. - A 24-year-old man fleeing police apparently wasn't satisfied with just one stolen car. Police said Mark D. O'Brien broke into a half-dozen cars and crashed or abandoned them before finally being taken into custody Friday. He was charged with violating his probation from a previous auto-theft offense.
The chase began in Hannibal in northeastern Missouri and ended with O'Brien's arrest in neighboring Ralls County, when he lost control of the sixth stolen vehicle, Hannibal Police Lt. Michael Lawzano said.
Police said the car thefts started about 1 p.m. Friday when a Ford Tempo was stolen and then abandoned. A GMC pickup truck was the next target, which was abandoned on an overpass. Next, a Chevrolet Lumina was swiped near a funeral home.
Authorities said O'Brien next stole a Chevrolet Astro van and left the city of Hannibal. They said he drove it about 10 miles from Hannibal, where the vehicle became disabled.
He left it and stole a Saturn car. As he was leaving, he ran into the same van that he had abandoned. The Saturn then got stuck and he abandoned it, too, authorities said. The suspect then allegedly stole a gray Dodge flatbed truck.
Eventually the driver lost control and officers were able to take him into custody, police said.

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Yahoo! News - Ga. Man Invents Toilet 'Courtesy Wand'Ga. Man Invents Toilet 'Courtesy Wand'
Thu Feb 20,10:52 AM ET
STATESBORO, Ga. - Four years ago, when his mother couldn't bend over to lower the toilet seat, Emory Jones sprang into action.
First, he put the seat down for her. Then he began work on a tool to help people with similar dilemmas, a gizmo to assist them in raising and lowering the lid.
Jones named his invention the "Courtesy Wand," and once it's manufactured, it will sell for $19.95.
"You really have to use it to appreciate it," Jones said.
His mother was recovering from triple bypass surgery when she had her encounter with the toilet, so when she yelled for his help, Jones feared she had suffered a heart attack.
That wasn't her problem.
"Mama was holding the hand rail, and asked, 'Would you please put this dang seat down for me?'" Jones said.
The wand is a contoured rod with a hook for the lid on one end and a handle on the other. It might look simple, but Jones struggled with several variations before settling on the final version.
"You ought to see some of the crude drawings I first came up with," he said.

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Yahoo! News - Man Nabbed After Low-Speed Tractor ChaseMan Nabbed After Low-Speed Tractor Chase
Thu Feb 20, 6:48 AM ET
SISSETON, S.D. - A man on a stolen tractor led authorities on a low-speed, two-state chase that ended when the farm vehicle crashed into a police car and pickup truck, totaling both.
Thomas Arthur Dahl, 29, of Herman, Minn., faces charges including intentional damage to property and possession of stolen property.
He made his first court appearance Wednesday and was being held in lieu of $2,000 bail. Other charges were pending in Traverse County, Minn., Sheriff Donald Montonye said.
Authorities said after his pickup truck ran into a snowy ditch early Tuesday, Dahl allegedly stole a tractor from a farmyard and then led sheriff's deputies on a more than 20-mile chase from western Minnesota to a Hutterite colony in eastern South Dakota.
The big tractor stopped after it slammed into the squad car and pickup truck, Montonye said.
The sheriff said the man had allegedly been drinking but was "rational, coherent, cooperative and apologetic" when the chase ended.

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Yahoo! News - Flag Flap Causes Flag FlapFlag Flap Causes Flag Flap
Fri Feb 21, 7:49 AM ET
CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A man ticketed after complaints that his flag's flapping made too much noise has settled on a quieter way to show his patriotism.
Ray Saelens was ticketed last week after a next-door neighbor complained that the 18-by-12-foot American flag kept him awake at night.
Saelens, a self-employed mason, rejected suggestions he take the flag down at night. Instead, he proposed switching to a 15-by-10-foot American flag — an offer accepted by neighbors Mark and Sue Grucz.
"Discretion is the better part of valor," said Saelens.
He said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks prompted him to pay $4,000 to install a flagpole behind his home along Lake St. Clair's Anchor Bay, north of Detroit.
Sue Grucz said it wasn't the flag they objected to — it was the noise in the wee hours of the morning. She said she hopes the smaller flag will be a good solution.
"This is not a perfect fix. We're letting them work it out if they can," township attorney Bob Seibert said. "If they can't, either a judge will solve it or a jury will solve it."

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Yahoo! News - Workers Fight for Their Toilet RightsWorkers Fight for Their Toilet Rights
Fri Feb 21, 8:42 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Workers of the world unite -- over the toilets.
British union chiefs launched a campaign Friday to flush out employers who dock their workers' pay when they take a washroom break.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) "Gotta Go" campaign is targeting a legal loophole that says bosses must provide lavatories for staff, but aren't bound to let them go when they need to.
"It's incredible to think that in the 21st century workers are still being penalized for going to the loo," TUC spokesman Brendan Barber said in a statement.
"Employers clinging to Dickensian bathroom break policies should understand that if they trusted and respected their staff, they would end up with a healthier, better motivated, more productive workforce," he said.
The TUC, a national trades union body, said it wants workers to have the right to go on paid time, without any loss of wages.
It said it will name and shame employers who fail to provide adequate and clean toilet facilities.

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Yahoo! News - Explosions Are a Growing Hazard at CrematoriumsExplosions Are a Growing Hazard at Crematoriums
Fri Feb 21, 8:43 AM ET
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Dead people are increasingly going out with a bang in Sweden and the trend is posing serious occupational hazards for crematorium workers, a Swedish church newspaper said.
Kyrkans Tidning reported a growing number of explosions in caskets during cremations, sparked by undetected items including heart pacemakers, whose batteries ignite in the intense heat.
Swedes have increasingly taken to cremation and the paper said next of kin and friends were adding to the problem by leaving explosive farewell tokens such as bottles of alcohol, ammunition cartridges and pieces of fireworks in the coffins.
Silicon implants in women who had had cosmetic breast surgery were also known to have exploded during cremation.

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Yahoo! News - Schoolkids to Be Asked to Consider Oral SexSchoolkids to Be Asked to Consider Oral Sex
Fri Feb 21,11:00 AM ET
By Matthew Jones
LONDON (Reuters) - British school children are to be controversially asked to consider oral sex instead of intercourse as part of a drive to cut the country's high teenage pregnancy rate.
Sex education teachers are being trained to discuss with youngsters various "stopping points" on the road to full sex in a bid to reduce the number of teen pregnancies, the government said on Friday.
The idea is to encourage pupils to discover "levels of intimacy," including oral sex, which stop short of full sexual intercourse.
But the plan has been criticized as unworkable by family groups.
"The courses for teachers are to enable them to discuss various sex and relationship issues with pupils. One of those issues is oral sex," said a Department of Health spokeswoman.
"Oral sex is one of the 'stopping points' on the road to intercourse," she said, denying the advice was encouraging sexual activity.
"Another 'stopping point' is to hold hands," she added.
Family groups argue that oral sex is likely to lead to penetrative sex.
"One thing leads to another," said Robert Whelan, director of the Family Education Trust. "It is hard enough for adults to hold back and is even more difficult for teenagers with their raging hormones."
One teacher, who recently attended one of the courses, told the Times newspaper the advice could be construed as a green light to teens.
"By following this course, I feel that teachers are implicitly supporting underage sexual activity," said Lynda Brine.
Whelan also said oral sex was no protection against most sexually transmitted diseases.
"Delaying the onset of teenage sexual activity is the only way to cut teenage pregnancy," he told Reuters.
With nearly 39,000 girls under 18 conceiving each year, Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe. The government wants to halve it by 2010.
In line with that aim, students have already been offered condoms, oral contraceptives and easier access to counselors in schools.
The Department of Education said on Friday sex education was determined by individual schools.
"We give guidelines but we don't dictate what material is used," a spokeswoman said. "We trust head teachers and teachers to make sensible decisions about sex education."

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Yahoo! News - Misspelling Spoils Alleged Counterfeiting
Misspelling Spoils Alleged Counterfeiting
Wed Feb 12,10:34 AM ET
HICKORY, N.C. - It's a case where spellcheck would have come in handy.
Police are looking for two men who tried to pass a $498 counterfeit payroll check bearing the name "Boryhill Furmiture" on Monday afternoon. The company's name is Broyhill Furniture.
The men took off after the clerk rejected the check because of the misspellings. Police did arrest two women who were seen following the men in a car.
Kathy Elaine Gillman, 39, and her daughter Amanda Kaye Gillman, 18, both of Ohio, were charged with aiding and abetting the obtaining of property by false pretense and possession of counterfeit checks.
Police found 42 bogus checks for $200 to $400 each inside the women's car, along with a software program used to print checks, pages torn from a phone book and a handgun. The checks purportedly were from businesses in Georgia, South Carolina and West Virginia.
Hickory Police Capt. Steve Wright said the checks' quality was impressive.
"There's a good possibility that if the name on the check had been spelled correctly, they would have gotten away with it," Wright said.

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Yahoo! News - Man Complains About Neighbor's LionMan Complains About Neighbor's Lion
Fri Feb 14, 8:47 AM ET
TONASKET, Wash. - The first roar woke Dick Riddle at 1:14 a.m. Another jolted him awake at 2:28 a.m., and one more at 5:05 a.m.
"It'll make the hair on the back of your neck stand up," said Riddle, recalling the "gut-wrenching" sound and a sleepless night a week ago.
The noise was coming from the yard of Riddle's neighbor, Stacey Storm, who keeps two big cats — Jonathan, a 600-pound African lion and Selena, a 500-pound Siberian tiger — in her yard.
Riddle has complained to the sheriff's office and the County Commission, and has testified at a House Judiciary Committee hearing last month in favor of a bill that would allow only trained professionals or certified institutions to own dangerous wild animals.
But Storm compares Jonathan's bellows to the barking of a dog.
"It's not an annoying thing. He roars when he hears a stranger around," she said.
And Selena only makes a growly, purring sound that doesn't carry across the valley, she said.
Last November, Okanogan County cited Storm for a noise ordinance violation. The county prosecutor wants her to pay a $150 fine and keep the lion quiet for a year. But Storm said she won't do it.
"I'm being harassed," she said. "It's an invasion of my constitutional rights."
County Prosecutor Karl Sloan said it might take a new state law to solve Riddle's problem.

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Yahoo! News - Ind. Councilman Arrested in Snow ScuffleInd. Councilman Arrested in Snow Scuffle
Tue Feb 18, 3:14 PM ET
MUNCIE, Ind. - A scuffle over a 4-foot mound of snow dumped by an irate neighbor has landed a city councilman in jail.
Charles Stoneburner told officers he was angry that a city plow had pushed snow across his driveway, so he used a tractor to pile the snow into the driveway of Councilman Sam Marshall, who also is a supervisor of the street department.
Marshall found the pile when he arrived home Monday night and confronted Stoneburner, who told officers Marshall hit him in the head and wrestled him to the ground.
Marshall, 55, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor battery. He was released on $2,500 bail and said Tuesday he would not comment on the case.
The battery charge carries up to a year in jail.
The city got about 10 inches of snow over the weekend.

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Yahoo! News - Graffiti Space Trap TestedGraffiti Space Trap Tested
Fri Feb 14,10:29 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Psssst, wanna catch a tagger?
Satellites and super-sensitive sensors are now tuned to the sibilant hiss of spray cans in a space-age effort to eradicate one of the oldest and most persistent urban problems -- graffiti.
TaggerTrap, a graffiti eradication system being tested in several California cities, uses global positioning system technology, cell phones and sensors that ecognize the ultrasonic pitch of spray cans to alert police when vandals begin their work, representatives said.
"The tagger, when he pushes down on that spray can, he's calling police," said George Lerg, co-founder of TrapTec, the Escondido, California-based company that developed TaggerTrap.
The unique, ultrasonic tone emitted by aerosol paint cans trips the sensors, which signal a transmitter linked to a police cell phone or radio. The global positioning system pinpoints the location of the transmitter, Lerg said.
The portable sensors have a range of 100 feet in any direction.

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Yahoo! News - Toilet Disinfectants Hit Cancer CampaignToilet Disinfectants Hit Cancer Campaign
Fri Feb 14,10:41 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Colorful toilet disinfectants could be undermining a national campaign in Britain to make people more aware of early signs of colon cancer.
Britons are being urged -- "Don't blush, look before you flush" -- to check for any rectal bleeding which could be an indication of the disease."
But a researcher in Britain said some toilet disinfectants are making it difficult.
"The lavatory disinfectants now sold in supermarkets are mostly blue in color and change water blue, which makes looking for any blood quite difficult," Mourad Ibrahim Habib, of St James's University Hospitals in Leeds, said in a letter to the British Medical Journal.
He suggested the brightly colored products should not be used and that manufacturers could help to improve detection of the disease by developing products that change color in the presence of minor amounts of blood.

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Yahoo! News - Dogs Shake Their Booty on the Dance FloorsDogs Shake Their Booty on the Dance Floors
Fri Feb 14,10:50 AM ET
ROME (Reuters) - Rocking red setters? Boogying beagles? Man's best friend has Saturday Night Fever.
Doggy disco divas will hit the dance floor in a northwestern Italian village on Sunday, with pooches putting their best steps into practice.
Organizer Karina Trangeled, who jives with her border collie Chance, says German shepherds and dachshunds are the Fred Astaires of the canine world and pick up steps most quickly.

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Yahoo! News - NBC to Offer Single Moms Up for MarriageNBC to Offer Single Moms Up for Marriage
Fri Feb 14,10:33 AM ET
BURBANK, Calif. (Reuters) - NBC, already hot on the trail for talented kids and senior citizens, is now looking for a few good moms to marry off.
The network on Thursday said it will launch a new reality series, "Who Wants to Marry My Mom?," in a five-episode installment this spring.
The show, NBC said, is a spinoff of its dating show "Meet My Folks," and will feature the adult children of single mothers choosing among several candidates to decide who gets to go with their mom on a fantasy vacation.
Last week, NBC unveiled two talent-based reality series, "The Search for the Most Talented Kid in America" and "Second Chance: The Search for the Most Talented Senior in America." Both series are set to air later this season.

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Yahoo! News - Beach City Offers $13 Beggar BountyBeach City Offers $13 Beggar Bounty
Fri Feb 14,10:37 AM ET
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's China Beach, which gained fame as the playground for U.S. servicemen during the Vietnam War, is offering $13 to anyone who turns in a beggar.
"This is our latest effort to clean up the cultural environment of the city," an official from the Danang People's Committee, or the local government, told Reuters on Friday.
He said the beggars would be sent back to their home towns or put in vocational centers. The drive was launched on Wednesday, he added.
China Beach is located in the city of Danang, which is 700 km (435 miles) south of Hanoi.
The beach city received nearly 660,000 visitors last year, up 16 percent from 2001.
The beggar bounty of 200,000 dong is a considerable sum of money for the residents. A third of Vietnam's 80 million people live in poverty, and the country's average annual per capita income is around $400.

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Yahoo! News - Nev. Moves to Repeal Sheep-Shearing LawNev. Moves to Repeal Sheep-Shearing Law
Tue Feb 18, 7:26 AM ET
CARSON CITY, Nev. - The Nevada Assembly voted unanimously Monday to get rid of an old law that makes it illegal to shear sheep within city limits.
The old law, dating to at least 1911, makes it a misdemeanor for "any sheep to be penned, housed or fed for the purpose of being sheared" within city limits.
Legislative staffers couldn't figure out why the law existed, and included it in AB10, a measure that gets rid of various antiquated laws. The bill now moves to the Senate for final legislative action.
AB10 also erases a law dating to the early 1900s that prohibits people from pasturing livestock in an enclosed private or public cemetery. Legislators agreed that trespassing laws would cover any such offense.
The bill would also remove from the state's lawbooks the misdemeanor offense of refusing to get off a telephone party line immediately upon learning that the line was needed for an emergency. Such phone lines no longer exist.
Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, sponsored the proposal, which came out of an interim study on categories of misdemeanor offenses.

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Yahoo! News - Woman Said to Use Disguise to Elude CopsWoman Said to Use Disguise to Elude Cops
Tue Feb 18, 1:02 PM ET
STUART, Fla. - A woman who caused a fender-bender fled into a Kmart bathroom and tried to conceal her appearance with hair dye, makeup and a change of clothes stolen from the store, authorities said.
Police said they found Melissa Anne Nunziato, 28, in the bathroom, along with empty boxes and price tags for the stolen items in the trash.
Nunziato was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, theft, obstruction of justice by disguise and driving without a license. The driver of the car that was hit by Nunziato identified her, police said.
At one point, police took her out of handcuffs and Nunziato tried to swallow the contents of a bottle of Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, authorities said. She was treated at a hospital and ordered jailed Monday on $7,300 bail.
It was not immediately known whether the Vero Beach woman had a lawyer.

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Yahoo! News - Woman Gets Allergic Shellfish Reaction from KissWoman Gets Allergic Shellfish Reaction from Kiss
Sun Feb 16, 9:10 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Here's a tale to dampen romantic passions: sometimes a kiss is not just a kiss, if you have food allergies.
A 20-year-old woman with shellfish allergies went into severe anaphylactic shock after kissing her boyfriend, who had just eaten a few shrimp, doctors reported on Friday.
"It is important to warn susceptible patients that food does not actually have to be eaten to trigger an allergic reaction," Dr. David Steensma of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, said in a statement.
"Touching the offending food and kissing or touching someone who has recently eaten the food can be enough to cause a major reaction."
Writing in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Steensma and colleagues reported that the woman had a sever reaction -- her throat swelled up and she had cramps and nausea. A quick trip to the emergency room saved her life.
Both the woman and her boyfriend worked at a seafood restaurant, and Steensma said the patient may have sensitized herself to the shellfish by repeatedly touching it.

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Yahoo! News - Penis Extensions Top the List in BritainPenis Extensions Top the List in Britain
Tue Feb 18,10:50 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Penis extensions are the top cosmetic surgery treatment for British men while women choose liposuction or breast enlargement, medics said.
The Harley Medical Group, which runs 10 private clinics in Britain, released figures for 2002 which showed more than a third of operations on men were for penis extensions, followed by nose surgery and liposuction.
Men made up 35 percent of the group's patients last year and their average age was between 22-37 years old.
The group said more men were also getting non-surgical procedures such as botox or collagen injections and paying for treatments with credit cards.
Non-surgical treatments to remove fine lines and wrinkles were also popular with women, according to the group.

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The Random Masturbation Synonym Generator The Random
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Yahoo! News - Woman Says Magic Wand Zapped Her Dough
Woman Says Magic Wand Zapped Her Dough
Wed Jan 29, 9:12 AM ET
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - A woman who says she bought magic wands from a self-described psychic to erase negative thoughts says $5,400 of her money was all that disappeared.
Joann Zansky, 57, said she paid a woman who claims to be a psychic $1,800 for each of three wands.
"She was a terrific actress," Zansky said. "I believed her."
Zansky said she contacted Bethlehem police Friday after she became suspicious about the effectiveness of the wands.
"We're investigating," police Lt. Robert Righi said Monday. "Possibly it is some violation of consumer fraud."
No charges have been filed against the woman named in the complaint. A person who answered the phone at the woman's business said she was unavailable.

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Yahoo! News - 106-Year-Old Summoned to Start School106-Year-Old Summoned to Start School
Fri Jan 31, 9:12 AM ET
OSLO, Norway - Ingeborg Bertea Thuen was delighted when local authorities offered her free bus rides to the school she's supposed to attend as a first-grader this fall.
The last time Thuen started school, in 1903, she had to walk an hour each way.
"That's great," the 106-year-old told the Oslo newspaper Dagsavisen Friday about the free ride. "It's quite a way to walk."
She was born in 1897, but computers in Os township, near the west coast city of Bergen, misread the '97' in her birth date as 1997. That would have made her 6 years old, and the township sent her a letter summoning her to start school.
The letter also encouraged the centenarian's parents to list the children she would like to have in her class.
Thuen, who gets around with the help of a walker, reckons she may do better than her first-time peers.
"Since I can already read, maybe I should skip a couple grades," she joked.

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Yahoo! News - Missing Mouse Causes Flight CancellationsMissing Mouse Causes Flight Cancellations
Fri Jan 31,10:41 AM ET
ZURICH, Switzerland - A missing mouse forced the Swiss airline to cancel flights two flights between Zurich and New York, the company said Friday.
The mouse, destined for use in laboratory experiments, escaped from its transport container in the hold of an Airbus A-330 during a flight Wednesday from Boston to Zurich, Swiss spokesman Manfred Winkler said.
On safety grounds, authorities were forced to gas the mouse by pumping carbon dioxide through the hold — even though modern aircraft design limits the risk of cables being gnawed. As a result, a scheduled flight Thursday from Zurich to New York was scrapped, as was the return leg.

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Yahoo! News - Couple Sues McDonald's Over Tough BagelCouple Sues McDonald's Over Tough Bagel
Tue Feb 4,10:15 AM ET
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - A couple is suing the franchisee of a McDonald's restaurant, claiming an improperly prepared bagel damaged the husband's teeth and their marriage.
John and Cecelia O'Hare sued Friday for unspecified damages more than $15,000. They alleged the McDonald's, owned by Johnstone Foods Inc., was negligent and violated an "implied warranty that the food sold was reasonably fit for human consumption."
They contend in the suit that John O'Hare broke teeth and bridgework on Feb. 1, 2002 when he bit into the bagel. The suit did not say what exactly was wrong with the bagel.
The suit alleges the wife "lost the care, comfort, consortium and society of her husband." The couple's attorney, Tim Warner, did not return telephone messages left at his office.
Tracey Johnstone, owner of Johnstone Foods, said she never before had a bagel complaint and had no idea how it could have been prepared in a way that would damage teeth.
"It's a bagel," she said.

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Yahoo! News - Bush Budget: Aliens May Be Out ThereBush Budget: Aliens May Be Out There
Mon Feb 3,10:32 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Proof that life exists outside the boundaries of Earth continues to elude scientists, but President Bush's budget suggests that "space aliens" may be out there.
And it could just be a matter of time before they are discovered.
In a brief passage titled "Where Are the Real Space Aliens?" Bush's budget document released Monday says several important scientific discoveries in the past decade indicate that "habitable worlds" in outer space may be much more prevalent than once thought.
The finds include evidence of currently or previously existing large bodies of water — a key ingredient of life as we know it — on Mars and on Jupiter's moons.
Astronomers also are finding planets outside the solar system, including about 90 stars with at least one planet orbiting them.
"Perhaps the notion that 'there's something out there' is closer to reality than we have imagined," the passage concludes.

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Yahoo! News - Vatican Says No to Transsexual Priests, Nuns
Vatican Says No to Transsexual Priests, Nuns
Mon Feb 3, 8:13 AM ET
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In case anyone had any doubts, the Vatican believes that transsexuals should not become priests, monks or nuns.
According to the Catholic news agency Adista, the Vatican has sent a note to heads of Roman Catholic bishops' conferences and religious orders around the world on the subject of sex change operations.
The confidential document written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, its doctrinal watchdog, says those who undergo sex change operations have a "pathological personality situation."
It advises bishops and heads of religious orders not to allow transsexuals to become priests, nuns and monks and any who have already made it through the admissions process should be expelled if discovered.

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Yahoo! News - Man Aged 122 Dies in EgyptMan Aged 122 Dies in Egypt
Mon Feb 3, 8:15 AM ET
CAIRO (Reuters) - A 122-year-old man, whose age if substantiated would have made him the oldest living person on the planet, has died in Egypt, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
Al-Wafd said that Youssef Mohamed Attia al-Chadhli, a carpenter from the town of Damietta on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, had eight children, the oldest of whom had died at age 72.
The paper said the man, who had 32 grandchildren, had never been to see a doctor.
The current holder of the record for the world's oldest living person is Japan's Kamato Hongo, who the Guinness World Records Web site says took the title last March at 114.
A South African woman who died in January, reportedly at the age of 122, had failed to claim the record for being the oldest person alive because she could not produce the necessary proof of her age, media reported.

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Yahoo! News - Soccer in the rain banned in GambiaSoccer in the rain banned in Gambia
Tue Feb 4, 3:14 PM ET
BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh has banned youths from playing soccer in the rainy season, saying they should be toiling in the fields to boost agriculture.
Jammeh, a bird-loving former wrestler who seized power in a 1994 coup, said on a meet-the-people tour that Gambia's young needed to work to make the West African country self-sufficient in food, rather than kicking a soccer ball around.
"Youths in rural areas should not involve themselves with football in the coming rainy season (June to October). Failure to do so and I will send them to jail. I mean it," Jammeh said on his tour of the West African country.
Gambia's 1.25 million people survive on tourism, fishing and groundnuts.

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Yahoo! News - Pet Eel 'Aalfred' Allowed to Stay in BathtubPet Eel 'Aalfred' Allowed to Stay in Bathtub
Tue Feb 4, 8:59 AM ET
BOCHUM, Germany (Reuters) - "Aalfred" the pet eel, who was threatened with eviction from a German family's bathtub where he has lived since 1969, can stay at home provided he gets a piece of pipe to sleep in, authorities ruled Monday.
Aalfred (Aal means eel in German) has become a celebrity in Germany, even appearing on television recently after newspapers reported his long stay with the Richter family.
Paul Richter caught the eel 33 years ago, and after the Richter children refused to eat the eel for supper, Aalfred was put in the tub and became a part of the family, decanted to a bucket only when someone needed to bathe.
But animal rights activists complained Aalfred was being held under unnatural circumstances and asked authorities in the western city of Bochum to release the eel into the wild.
A veterinarian sent to examine the 90 cm (36 inch) eel found him well-nourished and apparently happy, said city spokeswoman Barbara Gottschlich.
"He's a bit more lightly colored than a wild eel, but otherwise he is fine."
Bochum informed the Richters they could keep Aalfred if they installed an arm-length pipe which would allow him to rest more comfortably.
"This was the only reasonable outcome," Paul Richter told Reuters Monday. "In any case, we would have protected Aalfred."

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This is for Murat!
Yahoo! News - Istanbul Launches 'Escaped Bull' HotlineIstanbul Launches 'Escaped Bull' Hotline
Tue Feb 4, 9:06 AM ET
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Vets in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul said Tuesday they were launching a hotline and a special bull-catching unit to round up rampaging animals during the Muslim Festival of the Sacrifice next week.
Turkish cities fill with goats, sheep, bulls and sometimes even camels ahead of the annual festival where many devout Muslims perform animal sacrifices.
But fearful and enraged animals often escape the knife and lead their owners and police on dangerous chases over highways and train lines.
Istanbul has tried over the years to provide hygienic and humane facilities for the sacrifices but many residents butcher their animals in makeshift abattoirs on roadsides before donating the meat to the poor.
The city's veterinary service said specialist teams equipped with tranquilizer guns would be on 24-hour call during the festival.

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Yahoo! News - Gang Steals Guns, Drugs from Police StationGang Steals Guns, Drugs from Police Station
Tue Feb 4, 9:11 AM ET
LILLE, France (Reuters) - Burglars broke into a police station in the northern French city of Lille and stole 15 guns along with cannabis, heroin and cocaine, police sources said.
Using a blowtorch and aided by a faulty security alarm that failed to go off, the burglars cut through metal bars on the window of the police investigation headquarters during Sunday night.
As well as guys and drugs, they took money and were believed to have stolen police uniforms, the sources said.

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Yahoo! News - Runaway 'Ghost Train' Crashes at StationRunaway 'Ghost Train' Crashes at Station
Tue Feb 4, 9:13 AM ET
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A driverless runaway train in Melbourne, Australia, sped silently downhill through 12 suburban stations and seven level crossings before crashing into a commuter train, rail officials said on Tuesday.
Eleven passengers on the stationary commuter train suffered minor injuries in the impact on Monday after the runaway rolled away empty with its electric power unit switched off and traveled nine miles at speeds of up to 62 miles per hour.
At one stage, controllers said, it almost caught up with a slower-moving passenger train on the same line.
"Action instructions (were given) to the train in front to move through stations without stopping," Victoria state transport minister Peter Batchelor told reporters.
A transport users group said the train was equipped with two emergency braking devices, but neither could work without power.
The Victorian state government ordered an official inquiry into the incident.

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