Yahoo! News - Alert: Total Lunar Eclipse Set Thursday Sun May 11, 4:16 PM ET
LOS ANGELES - If the weather cooperates, a total lunar eclipse will be seen across North America late Thursday — the first visible in the United States in three years — and just before dawn Friday in western Europe and western and southern Africa.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth casts its shadow on the full moon, blocking the sunlight that otherwise reflects off the moon's surface. Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view with the naked eye.
In North America, the moon will remain totally eclipsed for 53 minutes, and should turn substantially darker and reddish in color.
The total eclipse will start at 8:13 PDT in Los Angeles, 11:13 p.m. EDT in New York.
A second lunar eclipse, on Nov. 8, will be visible from North and South America.
Eclipses once helped prove the Earth is round, because its shadow on the moon is curved.
___
On the Net:
Naval Observatory: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/LunarEclipse.html
Griffith Observatory: http://www.griffithobs.org/lunareclipse.html
17:11 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Siberian Husky Born With Green Fur Mon May 12,10:49 PM ET
RIDDLE, Ore. - When Pixie, a Siberian husky, gave birth, the first six puppies looked normal. But the seventh came out green.
At first, dog owner Debra Ashdown thought there must be something wrong with the puppy. Both his parents were white.
"I thought it was going to die on me because I had never seen a green dog before," Ashdown said.
But the green-furred puppy was healthy. The mother took care of it along with the others, and it ate just fine.
Ashdown contacted a veterinarian to find out why the puppy had such an unusual color.
Alan Ross, of the Companion Animal Clinic in Roseburg, said fluids in the mother's placenta or fecal discharge from the other pups could have stained the fur.
The green tinge will eventually disappear, he said.
"He's a lot lighter than he was when he was born," Don Ashdown said. "He was really green before."
17:10 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - NASCAR Fan Pleads in E-Mail Barrage Tue May 13, 2:59 PM ET
BOSTON - A NASCAR (news - web sites) fan who flooded Fox with angry e-mails after a Red Sox game pre-empted an auto race pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge Tuesday.
Michael Melo acknowledged that he fired off more than a half-million e-mail messages to WFXT-TV 25 in Boston after the Red Sox game was broadcast instead of a NASCAR race in 2001.
The e-mail messages were automatically forwarded to Fox-25's Los Angeles parent company, Fox Entertainment. The network, thinking it was a hacker attack, shut down Internet communication with the affiliate and was forced to spend about $36,000 to clean up the barrage.
Melo pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of damage to a protected computer system. Under a plea agreement, the government recommended a sentence of six months' confinement in a halfway house. Melo's sentencing is Aug. 12.
After the hearing, Melo and his lawyer, Andrew Good, declined comment.
17:07 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Rotting Garlic Smell May Be Improvement Wed May 14, 8:47 AM ET
READING, Pa. - How much rotting garlic does it take before the whole neighborhood notices? Millmont residents say they know: one ton.
Already accustomed to foul smells from a nearby sewage treatment plant, Millmont residents recently noticed their usual putrid air had turned garlicy.
Turns out one ton of garlic — about five truckloads — has been spoiling in a warehouse since February.
After complaints from residents and businesses, the state Department of Environmental Protection traced the odor to a warehouse owned by Kenny Chen, the owner of Discount Markets, which sells food products to Chinese restaurants.
The DEP ordered Chen to toss the garlic by Monday, said DEP spokeswoman Karen Sitler. It was never shipped to customers, she said, because of a winter snowstorm.
Most residents, though, said they'd rather have the garlic stay.
"I think they should give the guy an award, not a violation," said Nick Civitarese. "It's much better than the alternative."
Resident Jim Caltagirone said he, too, prefers the garlic over the sewage. "But living in the world we do today, why should we have to be subjected to either smell at all?" he said.
Chen could not be reached for comment.
17:05 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Kangaroo Dies in Hit-and-Run in Austria Wed May 14, 2:13 PM ET
VIENNA, Austria - Who said there are no kangaroos in Austria?
Those struggling to distinguish the small alpine country in Europe from Australia were dealt a blow when a kangaroo was hit by a car and killed in central Austria.
Police said Wednesday that they had discovered the carcass of the Australian kangaroo near the town of Steyr, 100 miles west of Vienna.
The animal — the pet of a private owner — had apparently escaped from its cage early Tuesday before hopping onto a road where it was hit by a car, police in Steyr said in a statement.
The driver then escaped, "committing a hit and run," police said.
A police officer in Steyr reached by phone said that coming across a kangaroo — dead or alive — was "extremely uncommon around here."
"We're just used to dead deer and rabbits," said the officer, who refused to give his name.
16:58 Posted by David
Mom Puts Son in Hospital with Too Much Care
Wed May 14, 9:52 AM ET Add Oddly Enough - Reuters to My Yahoo!
ROME (Reuters) - An Italian mother stuffed her 14-year-old son with so many unnecessary medicines that he ballooned to 310 pounds, could not walk and eventually had to be taken to a hospital, media reported on Wednesday.
The housewife from Pavia, a northern Italian town near Milan, kept her only child away from school for more than a year, plying him with pills and potions to protect him from all of the illnesses she imagined could claim him.
Police visited his home after teachers raised the alarm when she tried to keep him out of school for a second year.
"The boy was in a wretched condition, swollen beyond belief, incapable of moving. It was foul, we called an ambulance immediately," one policeman told Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Doctors found cortisone-based drugs in his blood. Used to treat a variety of illnesses, they can cause swelling and imbalances in metabolism in large doses. After a few months in hospital, doctors were surprised at the still-dangerously-high chemical levels in the boy's blood.
They then discovered the mother, while pretending to deliver home-cooked food to her son, had actually been sneaking in more medicine and was slowly killing him.
Doctors said the woman was suffering from Munchausen Syndrome by proxy, where sufferers fabricate symptoms for other people and then try to cure them.
A local court has severed the mother's parental rights.
16:56 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Roadside Sex Romp Captivates Commuters Wed May 14, 9:52 AM ET
TIRANA, Albania (Reuters) - An amorous Albanian couple's very public highway hanky panky mortified motorists this week in a country emerging from decades of social conservatism.
The daily Korrieri newspaper reported on Wednesday that travelers on an eastern highway were amazed at the cheek of a couple who emerged naked from a car, had a brief roadside romp and then scampered off before the police arrived.
"The couple came out of their car completely naked and started making love on the asphalt," taxi driver Vangjush Poci told Korrieri. "They did not care about onlookers. After a few minutes, they kissed and walked back to their car."
Korrieri said police had confirmed the incident but said no actions would be taken against the "wild sex couple."
Albanian social behavior has become more libertine since the collapse of communism over a decade ago, but the asphalt intercourse incident is anecdotally considered a first.
17:25 Posted by David
Typing Monkeys Don't Write Shakespeare
Fri May 9,12:39 PM ET
By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - Give an infinite number of monkeys an infinite number of typewriters, the theory goes, and they will eventually produce the works of Shakespeare.
Give six monkeys one computer for a month, and they will make a mess.
Researchers at Plymouth University in England reported this week that primates left alone with a computer attacked the machine and failed to produce a single word.
"They pressed a lot of S's," researcher Mike Phillips said Friday. "Obviously, English isn't their first language."
In a project intended more as performance art than scientific experiment, faculty and students in the university's media program left a computer in the monkey enclosure at Paignton Zoo in southwest England, home to six Sulawesi crested macaques.
Then, they waited.
At first, said Phillips, "the lead male got a stone and started bashing the hell out of it.
"Another thing they were interested in was in defecating and urinating all over the keyboard," added Phillips, who runs the university's Institute of Digital Arts and Technologies.
Eventually, monkeys Elmo, Gum, Heather, Holly, Mistletoe and Rowan produced five pages of text, composed primarily of the letter S. Later, the letters A, J, L and M crept in.
The notion that monkeys typing at random will eventually produce literature is often attributed to Thomas Huxley, a 19th-century scientist who supported Charles Darwin's theories of evolution. Mathematicians have also used it to illustrate concepts of chance.
The Plymouth experiment was funded by England's Arts Council and part of the Vivaria Project, which plans to install computers in zoos across Europe to study differences between animal and artificial life.
Phillips said the results showed that monkeys "are not random generators. They're more complex than that.
"They were quite interested in the screen, and they saw that when they typed a letter, something happened. There was a level of intention there."
___
On the Net:
The monkeys' output: www.vivaria.net/experiments/notes/publication/
17:18 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Tries to Get Into Tough Prison Fri May 9, 9:36 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Was it a break-in or a break-out?
A man wearing a New York State corrections department uniform presented himself for work on Wednesday at the gates of maximum security Sing Sing prison. But all was not what it seemed.
'He said he was a new employee, that he had paperwork that showed he was transferred there,' Department of Correctional Services spokesman Mike Houston said on Thursday.
But staff were suspicious of the man's ID card and uniform. 'He went out to his car to get the paperwork. He did not return,' Houston said.
The formidable prison in the town of Ossining, N.Y. on the Hudson River was locked down for several hours 'to ensure all the inmates were accounted for, and they were,' he said.
He said police were investigating what the man might have been doing trying to get into Sing Sing, which once housed New York's electric chair, and is better known for people trying to break out rather than break in.
17:16 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Fined for Cheering Gay Neighbor's Death Fri May 9, 9:41 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - A retired man was fined after setting off fireworks and singing in jubilation to celebrate the death of a gay neighbor, a court said on Friday.
The retiree, 63, was convicted for maligning the memory of the dead and defamation. He was fined 2,700 euro ($3,102) by the court in the western town of Lauterbach.
The man launched his celebrations as the neighbor's corpse was carried from his home in a coffin. The pensioner had shown intolerance toward his gay neighbors in the past and had often fought with them, the court said.
17:15 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Advertises 'Son for Sale' on Internet Fri May 9, 9:43 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - A man who jokingly offered his five-year-old son for sale on the Internet has had to explain himself to police after a complaint from a concerned web surfer.
Police officers visited Alex Wilson at his Scottish home after being alerted by a Canadian woman who spotted the offer on a Web Site selling bicycles and prams, the Times newspaper reported on Friday.
'Hyperactive kid for sale, good at vacuuming, not great at washing dishes because he's too short,' the ad read. 'Guaranteed to annoy. Five pounds ($8) or nearest offer.'
Wilson, 33, of Carrickstone, placed the ad as a joke about two years ago to tease his son Liam, now aged seven. He then forgot all about it until he heard from the police, the Times said.
'The police officer was quite jokey at the end of the conversation, but said I'd have to remove the advert,' Wilson told the newspaper.
17:14 Posted by David
Yahoo! Mon May 12, 1:09 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Czech pilot, exasperated by a deliberate go-slow by protesting workers at an Israeli airport, has flown back to Prague without passengers and carrying inbound baggage, an airline spokesman says.
The pilot for CSA Czech Airlines, who landed at Israel's international airport on the outskirts of Tel Aviv at 5:15 a.m. was scheduled to make a return flight 45 minutes later.
But after waiting 2-1/2 hours for airport workers to unload and reload his plane, he gave up and took off.
"They allowed the 82 arriving passengers to disembark, but no workers would take the luggage off the plane. So we flew back and will transport the luggage to Tel Aviv later today," CSA spokesman Vaclav Kral in Prague told Reuters on Monday.
He added that around 30 or so passengers scheduled to leave for Prague were stranded.
Israel Airports Authority spokesman Pini Schiff said: "He (the pilot) waited for as long as he did, then got approval from the Czech authorities to leave without passengers to Prague."
The work slowdown at the airport was called by Israel's Histadrut labour federation in protest at government plans to cut public spending by 11 billion shekels (1.5 billion pounds) through job and salary cuts.
CSA is a member of the Sky Team alliance led by Air France and Delta.
17:12 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Phoenix Airport Installing Dry Urinals Mon May 12,10:45 AM ET
PHOENIX - Dry urinals are being installed at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to help the environment.
Airport officials are hoping the new urinals will prevent thousands of gallons of water from being wasted. They also hope to save money.
Two public urinals in high-traffic Terminal 2 and one urinal in an employee building will be replaced with the new urinals.
Unlike conventional toilets, the waterless system doesn't require flushing. Instead, urine passes through a floating cartridge filled with an oil-like substance that absorbs the fluid, fights bacteria and soaks odor. Traditional urinals use one gallon per flush.
Three of the urinals will be installed this summer.
17:11 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man weighing 47 stone hoisted to hospital by crane Mon May 12,10:04 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - Firemen in Germany had to use a 38.5-tonne crane to hoist a German man weighing 300 kg (47.2 stone) out of his apartment and take him to hospital, the fire brigade in the northern city of Hamburg said.
"Because the man was so heavy, we couldn't carry him on one of the normal stretchers, so we had to use the crane," said Hamburg fire brigade spokesman John Ralfs.
Ten firemen were needed to lift the 63-year-old man onto a hospital bed placed inside a large industrial container, which the crane had hoisted level with his first-floor balcony.
The crane then lowered the container to the ground and the man was wheeled off it, jacked into an ambulance van and taken to hospital.
17:09 Posted by David
Calif. Planning to Build Cow Condos
Mon May 12,10:44 AM ET
BARSTOW, Calif. - A plan is in the works to build the West's largest cow town, a nearly 2,000-acre gated community in the Mojave Desert where 600 dairy farmers and their families would live alongside about 90,000 cattle.
The plan being pursued by two successful California businessmen aims to reduce agricultural pollution in the town by turning manure into clean, renewable energy to run the cow complex, with some left over for sale to the electricity grid serving Southern California.
Estimated cost of the project is $1 billion.
"We're talking cow condos, a complete gated community, sharing all sorts of services. It will be good for dairymen and a good way to dispose of animal waste," Henry Orlosky, one of the developers of the proposed cow complex, told the Los Angeles Times in an article published Sunday.
Orlosky and partner William Buck Johns plan to seek permits for the dairy in July from San Bernardino County. With strong backing from lawmakers and the dairy industry, the first of the cows could begin arriving in the high desert early next year.
The complex would build 30 dairy farms from scratch with 3,000 cows each on a 1,920-acre former alfalfa field in the Mojave just north of Barstow. The cow condos would include paved floors and covered stalls, complete with solar panels on the roofs. A plumbing system would continually flush each dairy like a giant toilet since cows can produce 100 pounds of excrement a day.
17:06 Posted by David
Lizard Head Found in Salad Tests Negative
Mon May 12,10:51 AM ET
CORALVILLE, Iowa - A lizard head found in a carry-out salad from a restaurant in this eastern Iowa city has tested negative for salmonella, a bacteria that causes food poisoning.
The lizard head was found May 2 in a Santa Fe Chicken Salad prepared at Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar.
Kot Flora, an assistant director at the Johnson County Public Health Department, said Friday that preliminary results showed no presence of salmonella. Final results are expected Monday.
A complaint was filed with the health department by John Hellstein after his wife discovered the lizard head in a salad she ordered for lunch.
"Obviously, she was upset," said Hellstein, a University of Iowa professor of dentistry. "I don't expect she will be eating Santa Fe salads anytime soon."
Apple Corp. LP, the owner of the Applebee's restaurant, issued a statement Friday. In it, the corporation apologized and said it had confirmed it was an isolated incident. The restaurant is now using pre-cut, pre-cleaned lettuce for its salads, the statement said.
Flora said Applebee's is considered a good operator by the health department.
"We think this was just an unfortunate fluke," Flora said.
Hellstein agrees.
"I worked in produce for seven years, and I've seen lots of things crawl out of lots of things."
____
Applebees: http://www.applebees.com/
17:03 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Win a Chance to Get Beaten Up - in a Video Game Mon May 12, 9:41 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The good news: video game fans have a chance to star in an upcoming game release.
The bad news: your digital likeness will be beaten with lead pipes and body-slammed into concrete pool decks.
British video game publisher Eidos on Friday said it has struck a deal with games news company IGN Entertainment Inc. to sponsor a contest in which the winner will appear as a character in the upcoming game 'Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This at Home.'
The game is set for release this summer on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox game consoles, and the contest, which requires only a name and an e-mail address, is open to anyone age 18 and up.
Eidos said the contest runner-up will receive a lineup of 'Backyard Wrestling' DVDs, in which competitors abuse each other with anything they can find. The Web site for Backyard Wrestling Inc. shows a number of competitors lying on the ground, beaten and bloody.
Separately, Eidos said it had signed a deal with Island Records for an official in-game soundtrack featuring some of the top hard-core rock music acts, including Sum 41, Slayer, and the Insane Clown Posse.
17:01 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Race Driver's License Confiscated for Speeding Mon May 12, 9:42 AM ET
NICE, France (Reuters) - Colombian Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya has had his driving license confiscated for speeding, French police said on Monday.
The Williams driver was caught driving at 204 kph in his BMW on a motorway between Le Muy and Frejus, on the French Riviera.
Chased by motorcycle policemen, he had his license confiscated on the spot.
Montoya, who lives in Monte Carlo, faces a heavy fine as speeds are limited to 130 kph on French motorways.
The incident will not affect his world championship campaign since a regular driving license is not required to drive a Formula One car.
17:00 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - I Now Pronounce You Well and Truly Robbed Mon May 12, 9:43 AM ET
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine police are warning wedding parties to keep their eyes on their valuables after a gang robbed three women as they jostled for the bridal bouquet.
With the busy June wedding season just around the corner, police said a woman from the 'Salisi Gang' walked off with cash, a camera, a mobile phone and other valuables recently after scooping up three handbags from a table at a reception in Manila.
'Security personnel said they saw her boarding a car with the plastic bag,' one investigator told reporters. 'They did not stop her because they thought she was an acquaintance of the victims.'
16:58 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Official Trapped in Car After Computer Fails Mon May 12, 9:43 AM ET
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Security guards smashed their way into an official limousine with sledgehammers on Monday to rescue Thailand's finance minister after his car's computer failed.
Suchart Jaovisidha and his driver were trapped inside the BMW for more than 10 minutes before guards broke a window. All doors and windows had locked automatically when the computer crashed, and the air-conditioning stopped, officials said.
'We could hardly breathe for over 10 minutes,' Suchart told reporters. 'It took my guard a long time to realize that we really wanted the window smashed so that we could crawl out. It was a harrowing experience.'
00:10 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Couple Uses Duct Tape For Prom Attire Wed Apr 30,10:22 AM ET
RED WING, Minn. - Instead of the usual formal prom attire, Samantha Isakson and Luke Peterson chose a stickier option.
Isakson and Peterson crafted their 16th-century costumes using nearly 70 rolls of tape in five colors. This was the third year Duck Brand duct tape sponsored "Stuck on Prom."
Contestants vie for a top college scholarship prize of $5,000 per couple. This was the first time Red Wing High School students entered, and judging by the crowd's reaction to their entrance, Isakson and Peterson stood a chance.
Isakson used two Hula Hoops to create the farthingale — the basket-like undergarment that held women's skirts out 400 years ago. Thin strips of tape created the look of gussets and gores on both costumes.
Peterson said neither he nor his date was worried their costumes would unravel during the dance.
"I have some tape hidden in my hat, just in case," Peterson said.
00:08 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Ex-Sex Shop Faces Woes As Christian Store Wed Apr 30, 2:06 PM ET
PUTNEY, Ky. - A man who converted his sex toy shop to a Christian bookstore said sales are so slow he was able to stock his shelves only after receiving $80,000 worth of donated religious goods.
Michael Braithwaite said he had considered closing his fledgling store when unexpected help arrived from an Ohio couple who decided to help after reading about his religious conversion.
Ron and Phyllis Branstetter arrived last week with a van and rental truck filled with Bibles, books and other religious items.
"Praise the Lord. It's just heaven-sent," Braithwaite said as he carried boxes into the nearly empty store.
In October, Braithwaite said God persuaded him to close the shop, burn $10,000 worth of sex toys and open the bookstore. He dropped the old name, Love World, and now calls his store Mike's Place.
Braithwaite said he hopes business will pick up now that he is fully stocked.
00:07 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Pot Rally Moved to Avoid Kids' Event Fri May 2, 8:41 AM ET
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. - City officials have decided that, while the time has come to talk of many things, legalizing marijuana for medicinal use is not a topic for kids.
A rally scheduled Saturday by Mountaineers for Medical Cannabis was moved from Bicentennial Plaza to a different location after city officials discovered a family event called "Parkersburg Through the Looking Glass" planned activities there at the same time.
Mayor Jimmy Colombo said the marijuana rally would be inappropriate for children.
Carol Wimer, state director of Mountaineers for Medical Cannabis, said she was unaware of the family event. She said she appreciated the decision to move the rally to Point Park, a couple of streets from the plaza.
The family event is sponsored by the Parkersburg-Wood County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
"We'll have quite a few characters in costume," said Steve Nicely, president of the bureau. "And probably some characters not in costume."
00:07 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Dead Grandfather Attends Wedding Ceremony Wed Apr 30, 5:39 PM ET
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Johannes Fransen died two days before his granddaughter's wedding, but his family brought him along anyway — parking his body in an open coffin in the church during the ceremony.
The former gardener and father of twelve died while celebrating his 79th birthday last week, New Zealand Press Association reported Wednesday.
But the family decided he would still attend granddaughter Rachel James' wedding two days after his death, said Rachel's mother, Nancy James.
"We just went ahead with the wedding and put Opa's coffin at the side of the church," she said, referring to Fransen by the Dutch word for grandfather. Fransen immigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands in 1950.
During the wedding reception, the open casket was placed at the end of the hall.
"He was just there ... and people went up to see him," Nancy James said. "It really helped everybody, including Mum who wanted to be with Dad."
Fransen was buried in the city of Hamilton, 330 miles northeast of the capital, Wellington, Wednesday.
He was survived by his wife, Dora, 12 children, 54 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
00:05 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Says Used Gum Was In McDonald's Salad Wed Apr 30, 9:39 PM ET
DETROIT - A man is suing fast-food giant McDonald's after allegedly biting into a piece of already chewed gum in a salad.
In a lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, Joseph Taylor says the Feb. 26 incident has caused him "mental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, and pain and suffering and loss of appetite." He has sought medical attention, according to the lawsuit.
Taylor also said he fears he may have contracted AIDS or hepatitis, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.
The fast food giant said in a statement Wednesday evening that it and health officials had investigated and found no "evidence whatsoever to suggest that this allegation is true."
The lawsuit states Taylor was eating a salad at a McDonald's on the Wayne State University campus when he "discovered a foreign object in his mouth that had already been chewed by someone else." He is seeking damages of more than $25,000.
00:00 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Man Nabbed Selling 'Stolen' Car on Internet Wed Apr 30, 9:16 AM ET
BERLIN (Reuters) - German police detained a man who was selling his car piecemeal on the Internet after he had reported it stolen, authorities in the western town of Neuss said on Wednesday.
A police spokesman said the 33-year-old reported the BMW stolen two months ago and then began selling off parts on an Internet auction site. Afterwards they spotted the chassis of the BMW being towed away with its new owner.
"The car was being towed illegally, so the police were bound to stop them," said police spokesman Hans-Willi Arnold. "That wasn't very smart of them."
Police said he got a 250 euro ($278) bid for the car's engine but was unable to remove it himself -- so he threw in the whole car.
The man was towing the 24-year-old buyer in the BMW with his new car when police hove into view and stopped them. Both men are now under investigation for attempting to pervert the course of justice, insurance fraud and receiving stolen goods.
23:59 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Wife Won't Cook Dinner, Husband Calls Police Thu May 1, 9:40 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - An angry British husband made an emergency call to police -- because his wife refused to cook him his dinner.
The man dialed "999" in a fury, demanding help from officers because his wife was busy decorating, Avon and Somerset police in western England said on Thursday.
The plea was one of a number of genuine calls made by the public to police which the force published on its Web Site to highlight abuse of the emergency number.
"My wife's left me with two salmon sandwiches which was left over from last night, and I'm sat in the chair here and she's out there decorating," the man told the police operator.
"She won't put any food on or anything for anybody."
The operator is then heard interrupting him saying: "I'm sorry but I really can't take this. It's not an emergency because your wife won't give you anything to eat."
23:55 Posted by David
Fri May 2, 5:54 AM ET
ORLANDO, Fla. - A woman was jailed for nearly 24 hours after her description was mistakenly listed on a warrant issued by the State Attorney's Office, which was actually seeking to have her husband arrested, officials said.
Dawn Gentry, 37, was released from Orange County Jail on Wednesday. Her husband, Ronnie Gentry, 34, was planning to turn himself Thursday night on charges of battery and resisting arrest Thursday night, she said. The incident stemmed from an apparent domestic dispute during which Dawn Gentry claims she was beaten by her husband.
"I'm a victim in this," Dawn Gentry said. "Not once — twice."
A telephone message left early Friday with an Orlando police spokesman was not immediately returned.
Randy Means, a spokesman for State Attorney Lawson Lamar's office, said the confusion occurred because mistakes were made during the data-entry process. Police were given Ronnie Gentry's name, but the warrant they carried had Dawn Gentry's physical description.
"The last thing we want to do is re-victimize the victim," Means said.
The incident has prompted an internal investigation, Means said. Lamar's office is not blaming the officers involved.
"A lot of people lie to you when you go to arrest them," Means said. "I can't second guess anything they did."
23:54 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - Dyslexic ref avoided dishing out the cards Fri May 2, 5:33 AM ET
OSLO (Reuters) - Soccer players in Norway rarely got sent off for ugly fouls when referee Per Arne Brataas was on the pitch -- he suffered from dyslexia and hated having to write down names and offences.
"I was reluctant to give red cards. I didn't give yellow cards either so then I avoided having to write the reports," he told the daily Verdens Gang on Friday.
Brataas, 52, was formerly a referee in Norway's amateur fourth division. Referees have to fill in a form explaining why they send off or caution players.
23:52 Posted by David
Yahoo! News - High School Graduates Class of One Fri May 2, 8:06 AM ET
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Most high school seniors look forward to graduating with their classmates.
But for Luke Bremer, the Heartland Lutheran High School's first commencement will be a solitary experience.
Bremer, the lone member of the Class of 2003, will receive his diploma in a ceremony Sunday at the school.
"I see it's importance. It's a big thing, the first graduation for the school," he said. "I fully realize it's important to a lot of people."
Heartland Lutheran began three years ago with five students — including Bremer — meeting in rooms at Peace Lutheran Church. It now has 26 students, including eight juniors.
The Rev. Dan Bremer, the graduate's father and the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, will be the commencement speaker. Luke Bremer also has some prepared remarks.
23:49 Posted by David
Running Out for a Smoke -- and Not Stopping Fri May 2, 8:21 AM Fri May 2, 8:21 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg's smoking ban in New York bars and restaurants has given a new twist to the old bar prank of drinking and running.
The Daily News calls it "the smoke and scram" -- customers order, drink, excuse themselves to smoke a cigarette outside but do not return to pay their tab.
Bar owners say they cannot pay for extra staff to patrol the sidewalks. But at least one New York bar manager believes he has what it takes to catch the dodgers.
"I can run. I can jump the bar. I can chase them down the block," Rod Williams of the Subway Inn in Manhattan told the Daily News.
Since 1995, smoking has been banned in city restaurants with more than 35 seats. But smaller establishments, pubs with separate bar areas and stand-alone bars were exempt -- until a new law took effect March 30.
The law, initiated by former smoker Bloomberg, allowed for a 30-day grace period that ended at midnight on Wednesday.
Similar to California's anti-smoking statute and one of the stiffest in the United States, it subjects owners to fines of between $200 and $400 for a first offense and $500 to $1,000 for a second offense. The licenses of repeat offenders can be revoked.
In recent days, Manhattan's sidewalks have been chock full of huddled smokers taking a break from their revelries. But, it seems the new smoking ban does not apply to everybody.
The Daily News gossip column on Thursday said Princess Caroline of Monaco lit up at the trendy Le Cirque eatery recently. "Nobody had the nerve to tell her to put out her cigarette," one observer told the tabloid.
23:46 Posted by David
Climber Pinned by Boulder Cuts Off Arm to Live
Fri May 2, 1:48 PM ET
DENVER (Reuters) - A mountaineer pinned by a heavy boulder in an eastern Utah desert cut off his right arm with a pocketknife after he determined that was the only way he would survive, officials said on Friday.
"He's pretty darn tough. He wanted to live. He saved himself," Sgt. Mitch Vetere of the Emery County Sheriff's Office in Green River, Utah, told Reuters.
Aron Ralston, 27, of Aspen, Colorado, used a pocketknife to cut off his arm below the elbow, then rappelled down a rock wall and hiked until he ran into some hikers who flagged down a rescue helicopter 60 miles south of Green River on Thursday. He had applied a tourniquet to his arm.
Vetere said Ralston would never have been spotted in the remote area where he was pinned by the boulder, which rescuers estimated at between 800 and 1,000 pounds.
Ralston was hiking into a canyon on Saturday when the boulder fell on him. He ran out of water on Tuesday and by Thursday realized he had to take the drastic action.
He was in serious condition on Friday at St. Mary's Hospital in western Colorado, spokeswoman Kim Williams said.
A rescuer who went back to see if he could retrieve the arm said the boulder was too heavy to move, according to Vetere.
