Boh News is good news...by Boh Tong.

DBS CEO has cancer.

2009-01-29T21:56:00.001+08:00

DBS Group's chief executive Richard Stanley has leukemia and will take up to six months leave....here to continue

Bailout resturaunt

2009-01-14T20:40:00.000+08:00

Warning from Malaysian Police

2008-10-28T14:07:00.001+08:00

Pls be careful all, especially the ladies.

What a sad world we live in....
:Please read - notice on car (not a joke)

Warning....!!!!

Just last weekend on Friday night we parked in a public parking area. As
we
drove away I noticed a sticker on the rear window of the car. When I took
it
off after I got home, it was a receipt for gas. Luckily my friend told me
not to stop as it could be someone waiting for me to get out of thecar.
Then we received this email yesterday:

'WARNING FROM POLICE - BEWARE OF PAPER ON THE BACK WINDOW OF YOUR VEHICLE

--NEW WAY TO DO CARJACKINGS (NOT A JOKE)

Heads up everyone! Please, keep this circulating... You walk across the
parking lot, unlock your car and get inside. You start the engine and
shift into Reverse. When you look into the rear view mirror to back out of
your parking space, you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the
rearwindow. So, you shift into Park, unlock your doors, and jump out of
your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your
view. Whenyou reach the back of your car, that is when the carjackers
appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off. They practically
mow you down as they speed off in your car. And guess what, ladies? I bet
your purse is still in the car. So now the carjacker has your car, your
home address, your money, and your keys. Your home and your whole identity
are now compromised!

BEWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME THAT IS NOW BEING USED.

If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just drive away.
Remove the paper later. And be thankful that you read this e-mail. I
hopeyou will forward this to friends and family, especially to women. A
purse contains all kinds of personal information and identification
documents,and you certainly do NOT want this to fall into the wrong hands.

General of the Workers’ Party, Mr JB Jeyaretnam died of heart failure

2008-09-30T13:32:00.001+08:00

SINGAPORE: Former opposition MP and former Secretary—General of the Workers’ Party, Mr JB Jeyaretnam died of heart failure early Tuesday.

He was 82—years—old.

His son Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam told Channel NewsAsia that Mr Jeyaretnam, who had a pre—existing heart condition, had complained of breathing difficulties at about 1.30am on Tuesday.

He was rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital but doctors were unable to revive him.

He died of heart failure with both his sons, Kenneth and Philip, by his side.

A lawyer, Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam was the first opposition member to win a Parliamentary seat in 15 years when he defeated the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Pang Kim Hin and the United People’s Front’s Harbans Singh in the Anson By—Election in 1981.

He retained the seat in the 1984 General Election, but had to vacate it in 1986 after he was convicted on charges of mis—stating his party’s accounts.

Barred subsequently from standing for office, Mr Jeyaretnam returned to Parliament following the 1997 General Election.

That year, he was part of a 5—member team from the Workers’ Party who contested in Cheng San Group Representation Constituency (GRC), and garnered 45.18 per cent of the votes against the PAP’s 54.82 per cent.

A Non—Constituency MP seat was offered to the Workers’ Party for turning in the highest votes by an opposition party, and this was taken up by Mr Jeyaretnam.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, the fiery opposition member faced several defamation lawsuits brought against him by PAP leaders, among them Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

In 2001, Mr Jeyeratnam was declared a bankrupt and disbarred as a lawyer.

As a bankrupt, he was also barred from taking part in the General Election held that year.

Later, in October 2001 he left the Workers’ Party he had led since 1971.

After he was discharged as a bankrupt in 2008, a new political party, the Reform Party was formed in July by the 82 year old.

Mr Jeyaretnam leaves behind two sons.

The family later said in a statement that the family is overwhelmed with grief and we will make further announcements after the necessary arrangements have been made.

According to the statment from both his sons, Mr Jeyaretnam had spent his last hours at the Evelyn Road apartment of his son Kenneth.

"Earlier this evening he and I had enjoyed a light dinner and chatted and then he sat out on the balcony for a while before retiring."

The statement went on to say that the family was woken up at about 1:30am by Mr Jeyaretnam who was "obviously in distress" and was rushed to hospital.

"But unfortunately the medical team working on him were unable to revive him despite their lengthy and strenuous attempts. My brother Philip joined me at the hospital and we were then informed by the doctor in charge of his care that he had passed away" said the family in their statment which also gave thanks the medical team

'World's oldest blogger' dies in Australia

2008-07-14T20:57:00.001+08:00

Agence France-Presse - 7/14/2008 5:34 AM GMT

'World's oldest blogger' dies in Australia
An Australian woman described as the world's oldest Internet blogger has died at the age of 108 after posting a final message about singing "a happy song" in her nursing home.

Olive Riley "passed away peacefully on July 12 and will be mourned by thousands of Internet friends and hundreds of descendants and other relatives," a note on her website said.

Riley had posted more than 70 entries on her blog from Woy Woy on the east coast since February last year, sharing her thoughts on modern life and her experiences living through the entire 20th century.

Born in the outback town of Broken Hill on October 20 1899, she lived through two world wars and raised three children while doing various jobs, including ranch cook and barmaid.

In her final post on June 26, she wrote: "I can't believe I've been here in this nursing home for more than a week.

"How the days have flown, even though I've been in bed most of the time. I still feel weak, and can't shake off that bad cough.

"Penny, who's in the next bed to mine, had a visit one day this week from her daughter, who's a professional singer. Guess what happened! She and I sang a happy song, as I do every day, and before long we were joined by several nurses, who sang along too. It was quite a concert!"

Riley's blog, initially on www.allaboutolive.com.au and more recently at http://worldsoldestblogger.blogspot.com, was "mind-blowing to her," her great grandson Darren Stone said.

"She had people communicating with her from as far away as Russia and America on a continual basis, not just once in a while," he told the national AAP news agency.

"She enjoyed the notoriety -- it kept her mind fresh."

Hainan University Female hostel occupants nude pictures

2008-06-30T12:10:00.003+08:00

It is reported in Zao Bao http://realtime.zaobao.com/2008/06/080627_20.shtml that in China's Hainan a "teacher" university (中国海南师范大学), a female student discovered her own naked photos while surfing the net. She and her fellow occupants had their photos secretly taken. About 40 girls are affected, and over 200 photos were taken.
The pics were taken from http://msn.myspace.cn/t/3764186.html

Jailed and fined for drawing on maid's face

2008-06-27T18:49:00.000+08:00

Khushwant Singh
Fri, Jun 27, 2008
The Straits Times

TO TEACH her maid a lesson, finance officer Sally Ang Poh Choo took marker pens and drew lines on the Indonesian's face.

She punished Miss Sri Hartuti Rokiman for not properly closing the front door of her Eastwood Place house, off Bedok Road, while washing the family car in the front porch.

The 26-year-old maid, who was left with scratches on her face, ran away the next day and reported it to the police. She also asked a neighbour and her maid to take photographs of her scratches and bruises.

Yesterday, Ang, 44, a mother of two, was jailed three weeks and fined $1,500 for hurting the maid on that day and on four other occasions over a two-month period in 2005.

She had pleaded guilty to the offences, which included pinching Miss Sri Hartuti and poking her head with a finger.

Ang abused Miss Sri Hartuti because she was disappointed with the maid's work, including the way she scrubbed the kitchen.

Ang will start serving her jail term next Thursday after her lawyer, Mr Ramesh Chandra, told the court that she needed a week to tie up loose ends at work. The company she works for had been unable to find a replacement for her, he said.

Mr Ramesh said Ang regretted her actions and had compensated Miss Sri Hartuti to the tune of $4,000.

When District Judge Wong Choon Ning asked why there had been a delay of about three years in prosecuting Ang, Assistant Public Prosecutor Olivine Lin said it was because the police had 'sat on the case'.

The Attorney-General's Chambers had to ask the police to expedite the matter, she added.

A police spokesman said yesterday that it would look into Ms Lin's comments.

Foreign workers eat stray dog meat to cut food bill

2008-06-27T18:40:00.000+08:00

Wed, Jun 25, 2008
The Star

KLANG - STRAY puppies are ending up as meals for foreign construction workers in Malaysia trying to cut their food bills.

Indonesian construction worker Wagang Saring said the high prices of food and the need to send money to families back home has forced him and his friends to eat pooches.

'Puppies are the best as their meat is tender,' said the 37-year-old Saring. 'The meat gives us energy to work at construction sites. Three puppies will do for five men.'

Mr Saring was approached by The Star at a petrol kiosk in Bukit Tinggi after he was seen hitting a puppy with a piece of wood.

He knocked out the puppy with two blows and carried it back to his quarters where his friends had already built a fire.

Fellow Indonesian worker Marcel Jeheta, 30, said the large number of stray dogs in Klang provide ample supply of meat.

Mr Jeheta, who comes from Flores Island, said dog meat was a popular source of protein back home.

'Dog meat is widely eaten in Flores Island and we continue the practice in Malaysia,' he said.

A check around the construction site found many dogs, mostly females, that appeared to have littered recently . But there were no puppies in sight.

Cleaner Suriyati Norsalim, 40, from central Jawa, was quick to point out that only some Indonesians ate dog meat.

'Only those from Flores Island, who are not Muslims, and some non-Muslim Bataks (from Sumatra) eat dog meat,' she added.

Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Thu, 25, who works at a factory in Klang, said she noticed her countrymen eating more dog meat recently.

She said dog meat was a popular delicacy in Vietnam.

Animal welfare activist Sabrina Yeap said dog eating is becoming more common among foreign workers because there is no law against it. 'It is not illegal and so no action can be taken against those who do so,' she added.

Ms Yeap, who manages the canine sanctuary Furry Friends Farm, said it was time the Government banned dog eating as it involved inhumane killing methods. -- The Star/ANN.

Call from Burma: Help Organize 1 Million People to NOT Watch the Beijing Olympics

2008-03-30T17:32:00.001+08:00

In fact, we are asking one million people throughout the world to sign up to turn off their televisions and not participate in the Olympics, unless China changes its policies on Burma.

Here is why: China keeps Burma’s military regime — and its brutal human rights record — in power.

- Burma’s military regime has burned down or otherwise destroyed 3,200 ethnic minority villages, forcing 1.5 million refugees to flee their homes. Who is the #1 supplier of arms and weapons to the regime? China.

- Burma’s regime has recruited more child soldiers than any other country in the world. Who is the Burmese military regime’s leading supporter? China.

- Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, is locked up in prison along with 2,000 other political dissidents. Despite its huge influence, China refuses to call for her release...Full story click here

Final battle to take Basra by Iraqi govt forces.

2008-03-30T15:52:00.000+08:00

(AFP) - - The creator of the blockbuster Harry Potter books, JK Rowling, admitted she had "suicidal thoughts"

2008-03-24T11:44:00.000+08:00

AFP - 1 hour 3 minutes agoLONDON (AFP) - - The creator of the blockbuster Harry Potter books, JK Rowling, admitted she had "suicidal thoughts" after separating from her first husband in the mid-1990s, in an interview published Sunday.
"Mid-twenties life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted," Rowling said in an interview with a student magazine at Edinburgh University, which was re-printed in the Sunday Times.

"The thing that made me go for help... was probably my daughter. She was something that earthed me, grounded me, and I thought, this isn't right, this can't be right, she cannot grow up with me in this state."

Rowling and her first husband, Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes, had their daughter Jessica in 1993 but split up several months later.

The author, now 42, said the end of the three-year marriage plunged her into despair.

"We're talking suicidal thoughts here, we're not talking 'I'm a little bit miserable.'"

She said she sought treatment from her regular doctor, but he was away and the replacement doctor failed to take her problems seriously.

When her own doctor returned to work, she re-read the case notes and prescribed cognitive behavioural therapy, which typically involves sessions with a counsellor to help patients counter negative thoughts.

"She absolutely saved me because I don't think I would have had the guts to go and do it twice," Rowling said.

The author, whose seven books about the boy wizard have sold more than 350 million copies worldwide, said she was happy to talk about mental health problems to counter the stigma associated with depression.

"What's to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that," she said.

Rowling, who is said to be a billionaire, eventually married again, to British anaesthesiologist Neil Murray in 2002. They have had two children together.

SKorean mum held after daughter, 6, pulls off bank job Fri Mar 21

2008-03-23T09:23:00.000+08:00

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean police said Friday they had arrested a woman accused of telling her six-year-old daughter to steal some 140,000 dollars from a bank.

The girl took cash and cheques on Thursday from a small safe under the desk in the VIP room of a bank in the southern island of Jeju, they said. The room was temporarily empty apart from the child.

The mother was arrested the same day after a closed-circuit TV clip showed the child near the safe. Police seized the money and cash as evidence.

"The mother insists she did not tell the kid to steal the money," a detective told AFP by phone.

15 Great Ways To Get Revenge...

2008-02-23T09:26:00.000+08:00

1. Revenge on a dirty roommate - using a hairdryer blow flour or powder under their door to give everything an awesome white coat...

2. Revenge on a neighbor - write a nasty message on your target's lawn in weed killer, they'll never get rid of the bald patches...

3. Revenge on anyone who doesn't live with you - put gelatin down your target's toilet, in a few days it'll get solid...

4. When your roommate goes away, water his/her carpet and sow mustard and cress seeds for a lush shag pile...

5. Revenge on a neighbor - replace weed killer with plant food - they'll curse their green fingers...

6. Float unwrapped chocolate bars and toilet paper in your neighbor's pool...

7. Get as many alarm clocks as possible, set them for different times throughout the night and hide them on your roommate's room...

8. Fill your coworker's umbrella or coat hood with hole-punch waster, or even better four for a sudden blizzard...

9. Take your friend's bike, get a ladder and raise it over a lamppost so that it passes through the whole in the middle of the bike frame. Hide and witness their frustration...

10. Take your boyfriend's favorite clubbing shirt and use an ultraviolet pen and write what's on your mind, under any black light your message will appear...

11. Revenge on golfers - put dog crap in golf holes...

12. Make up elaborate flyers for a wild party at your enemy's home and wait for the guests to arrive...

13. Place a singles ad with your ex's phone number in newspapers and websites...

14. Subscribe your enemy to every form of junk mail you can lay your hands on, the more embarrassing the better...

15. Subscribe your ex to all sorts of weird sex magazines but send them to his neighbor's...

Corruption may ruin China's economy soon

2007-12-12T20:20:00.000+08:00

Financier Warren Buffett and Prime Minister Stephen Harper make an astute team of investment advisers. Mr. Buffett says people should be wary of investing in China. Mr. Harper says people should be wary of Chinese investment in Canada. Now, in a devastating analysis of China's systemic corruption, a distinguished academic predicts - "inevitably" - an end to the country's three decades of rapid economic expansion.

Author and commentator Minxin Pei is a political scientist (and Harvard PhD) who directs the China Project at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment think tank. (Carnegie operates its own research centre, affiliated with a number of Chinese universities, in Beijing.)

Mr. Pei calls China's "endemic corruption" the No. 1 reason for the country's coming crisis in government - a crisis, he says, which could bring down the Communist Party dictatorship. If he is right, Mr. Buffett will look good for selling his PetroChina shares (some purchased for 22 cents [U.S.] and some sold for $19.40). If he is right, Mr. Harper will look good for his tough approach with China on human rights as well as on China's purchase, through state-owned enterprises, of strategic Canadian companies.

Mr. Pei describes China as a number of mafia states run by corrupt officials, from the highest levels down to the lowest, who themselves form the Communist Party of China - which explains why the party will never be able to reform itself, why the party will never adapt either to democratic or to free-market norms.

Many people think the Communist Party wants to end the corruption, Mr. Pei says, citing public executions and long prison sentences. The appearances, though, are deceiving.

Beijing punishes only a small proportion of its corrupt officials, all of whom are party members. Although as many as 190,000 government officials are cited for corruption every year, 80 per cent of them get only a warning. Only 20 per cent get expelled from the party. Fewer than 6 per cent are prosecuted and only half of these serve jail time, theglobeandmail.com reports.

"The odds that a corrupt official will go to jail are, at most, three out of 100," Mr. Pei says, "making corruption a high-return, low-risk activity."
Source: http://english.pravda.ru/business/finance/101918-1/

Top MDA management staff

2007-11-28T10:05:00.000+08:00

Should Singapore Airlines Top management come up with something like this or its cabin crew which is very talented? Believe you me,its gonna be an excellent way of getting more publicity and as a result more businesses.......also cheaper way to advertise since SIA is always cost conscious...hahaha
There is an article in the Straits Times ( 28 Nov 2007 edition)regarding this rap.

Oil falls more than $1 on OPEC

2007-11-27T14:14:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil fell on Tuesday on expectations that OPEC may increase output and following a decline in global stock markets.

U.S. oil fell dropped 80 cents to $96.90 a barrel by 11:09 p.m. EST, after shedding more than $1.00 earlier.

London Brent crude fell by 61 cents to $94.71 a barrel..click to read

Swedes fight for topless rights.

2007-11-24T13:10:00.000+08:00

These want to be free. But only if they are Swedish Swedish women have launched a campaign called Just Breasts which fights for their right to go topless on beaches and in swimming pools.

Scandinavian feminists were outraged when two women were asked to cover up their breasts by a lifeguard at a public pool near Stockholm.

One of the pair (sorry), 22-year-old Ragnhild Karlsson, said: 'If women are forced to wear a top, shouldn't men also have to?'

Passenger ship sinks in Antarctic waters

2007-11-24T13:06:00.000+08:00

A ship carrying 152 people on board struck an object, possibly iceberg, in Antarctic waters, Britain's Coast Guard said Friday. All the passengers have been evacuated from the sunken ship...click here to continue

New Japanese Immigration Controls Worry Foreigners

2007-11-19T07:20:00.000+08:00

By MARTIN FACKLER
Published: November 18, 2007
TOKYO, Nov. 17 — Japan has tried hard in recent years to shake its image as an overly insular society and offer a warmer welcome to foreign investors and tourists. But the country is about to impose strict immigration controls that many fear could deter visitors and discourage businesses from locating here.
Read more

Global Crime Statistics & Syndicates

2007-11-19T07:12:00.000+08:00

Current Crime Rates Around the World

Although the United States still has more violent crime than other industrialized nations and still ranks high in overall crime, the nation has nevertheless been experiencing a decline in crime numbers. Meanwhile, a number of European countries are catching up; traditionally low-crime societies, such as Denmark and Finland, are near the top in street crime rates today. Other countries that weren't even on the crime radar--such as Japan--are also experiencing a rise in crime.

Comparing crime rates across countries is difficult (see sidebar "The Trouble with Crime Statistics"). Different definitions of crimes, among other factors, make official crime statistics notoriously unreliable. However, the periodic World Crime Survey, a UN initiative to track global crime rates, may offer the most reliable figures currently available.....read more

Detroit declared most dangerous US city

2007-11-19T07:05:00.000+08:00

By DAVID N. GOODMAN, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago

DETROIT - In another blow to the Motor City's tarnished image, Detroit pushed past St. Louis to become the nation's most dangerous city, according to a private research group's controversial analysis, released Sunday, of annual FBI crime statistics.
Read more

Jetlite pilots, cabin crew to get new salary contract

2007-10-15T13:01:00.000+08:00

14 Oct, 2007, 0054 hrs IST,Dheeraj Tiwari, TNN

NEW DELHI: Low cost airline Jetlite may soon roll out new salary package for its pilots and cabin crew under a different set of terms and conditions. According to sources, the pilots and the cabin crew, who were earlier on the direct payrolls of Air Sahara, will now be offered contract-based employment.

The pilots and the cabin crew, however, fear that the new structure could be worse, leading to high-scale attrition. It is only a few days back that Jetlite has re-signed the technicians of the erstwhile Air Sahara on new terms and conditions.

Around 220 technicians signed on the dotted lines, of which 186 were earlier a part of Air Sahara. “We felt that the salaries were not at par, so we decided to offer new packages. Besides better salary structure, it included cover for health insurance which was not provided earlier,” Mr. Gary Kingshott, CEO, Jetlite told SundayET.

Mr Kingshott dispelled any fears about contracts, stating that they’ll continue to review the term and conditions all across the board. However, there is still a feeling of uncertainty among the pilot and the cabin crew community of Jetlite. “We’ve heard that pilots will be offered new contracts. Whereas, earlier we were directly on the payrolls of Air Sahara now we may be employed under contracts in Jetlite. There is an air of uneasiness and we are contemplating to explore other options,” said a pilot.

After the merger of Air Sahara and Jet Airways, the pilots, engineers, technicians and cabin-crew were absorbed as continued employee and were employed under the same terms and conditions as of Air Sahara. Those who were in the cargo, marketing and ground handling department along with the legal team continued for three months after which a selective few were retained.

The pilots of Jetlite feel that a similar story could be in the offing. “I can’t stop speculations. Perhaps, these new offers to technicians have raised some concerns but this review is an on-going process so as to deliver the best to both our passengers and employees,” he said.

World's oldest wall painting unearthed in Syria

2007-10-12T17:25:00.000+08:00

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
Thu Oct 11, 12:05 PM ET

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - French archaeologists have discovered an 11,000-year-old wall painting underground in northern Syria which they believe is the oldest in the world.
The 2 square-meter painting, in red, black and white, was found at the Neolithic settlement of Djade al-Mughara on the Euphrates, northeast of the city of Aleppo, team leader Eric Coqueugniot told Reuters.

"It looks like a modernist painting. Some of those who saw it have likened it to work by (Paul) Klee. Through carbon dating we established it is from around 9,000 B.C.," Coqueugniot said.

"We found another painting next to it, but that won't be excavated until next year. It is slow work," said Coqueugniot, who works at France's National Centre for Scientific Research.

Rectangles dominate the ancient painting, which formed part of an adobe circular wall of a large house with a wooden roof. The site has been excavated since the early 1990s.

The painting will be moved to Aleppo's museum next year, Coqueugniot said. Its red came from burnt hematite rock, crushed limestone formed the white and charcoal provided the black.

The world's oldest painting on a constructed wall was one found in Turkey but that was dated 1,500 years after the one at Djade al-Mughara, according to Science magazine.

The inhabitants of Djade al-Mughara lived off hunting and wild plants. They resembled modern day humans in looks but were not farmers or domesticated, Coqueugniot said.

"There was a purpose in having the painting in what looked like a communal house, but we don't know it. The village was later abandoned and the house stuffed with mud," he said.

A large number of flints and weapons have been found at the site as well as human skeletons buried under houses.

"This site is one of several Neolithic villages in modern day Syria and southern Turkey. They seem to have communicated with each other and had peaceful exchanges," Coqueugniot said.

Mustafa Ali, a leading Syrian artist, said similar geometric design to that in the Djade al-Mughara painting found its way into art throughout the Levant and Persia, and can even be seen in carpets and kilims (rugs).

"We must not lose sight that the painting is archaeological, but in a way it's also modern," he said.

France is an important contributor to excavation efforts in Syria, where 120 teams are at work. Syria was at the crossroads of the ancient world and has thousands of mostly unexcavated archaeological sites.

Swiss-German artist Paul Klee had links with the Bauhaus school and was important in the German modernist movement.

For the Burmese, We Can Do More than Talk and March

2007-10-05T10:01:00.000+08:00

For the Burmese, We Can Do More than Talk and March
by Meteor Blades
Thu Oct 04, 2007 at 03:09:11 PM PDT

Before Burma’s generals gave the order to open fire on protesters, Pandagon’s Amanda Marcotte headlined one of her posts "Impotent blogging in support of the rebellion in Burma." An excerpt:

Our hearts are with those who struggle in Burma because they must, because you will never be wholly owned as long as you continue to struggle. It’s easy for me to say that, though, isn’t it? Which is why writing this is hard; my awe of those who put their lives on the line is humbling. May we all have the courage of our convictions as those who struggle against the military dictatorship do.

In many of the millions of furious and pleading words that have been spoken and written by the high and mighty and commoners alike since Burma’s monks took to the streets, there can indeed be detected an undercurrent of impotence and that humbling feeling which came from knowing early on that the dissidents could be gunned down or disappeared at any moment. It had, after all, happened before and the generals still reigned.

For so many of us here in America, this helpless sense of frustration in finding a means for stopping oppression and killings in that remote place so far from our everyday thinking is only heightened by our frustration at being unable to stop our own government from continuing its malignant policies in the Middle East. And we think, some of us, would we march for our cause if the threat of official gunfire or life in a dungeon was as high for us as those Burmese monks and their supporters well knew it to be for them?

As for words, the world seems as unified as it ever is on anything. Even Mister Bush joined in calling the situation outrageous. And Laura Bush, whose kinswoman is an activist for Burmese human rights, said, "[W]e...will not -- turn our attention from courageous people who stand up for democracy and justice." Of course, as the current administration has made abundantly clear in so many arenas, talk is cheap.

Worldwide protests are planned for Saturday at noon local time. These have already been scheduled in key locations including Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, India, Ireland, France, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, Britain and the United States. In solidarity with the monks, many protesters will wear red headbands which they will then tie onto government buildings, religious shrines and landmarks to signify the thousands of lives hanging in the balance.

More official action is coming, too. The European Union has agreed to new investment and trade sanctions regarding metals, lumber and precious stones, like rubies and sapphires. But the new sanctions won’t include a ban on EU investment in oil and gas operations in Burma.

We are not, however, confined to words, symbols and supporting sanctions that don’t hit home. We can focus our rage and sadness in a practical way.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, who has been forcibly kept all these years from assuming the prime minister’s post she won in Burma's 1990 elections, told us how to do this a decade ago:

Those fortunate enough to live in societies where they are entitled to full political rights can reach out to help their less fortunate brethren in other areas of our troubled planet. ...

There are multinational business concerns which have no inhibitions about dealing with repressive regimes. Their justification for economic involvement in Burma is that their presence will actually assist the process of democratization.

But investment that only goes to enrich an already wealthy elite bent on monopolizing both economic and political power cannot contribute toward égalité and justice — the foundation stones for a sound democracy.
I would therefore like to call upon those who have an interest in expanding their capacity for promoting intellectual freedom and humanitarian ideals to take a principled stand against companies that are doing business with the Burmese military regime. Please use your liberty to promote ours.

But haven’t sanctions against Burma been in place for more than a decade? And didn't Mister Bush tighten U.S. sanctions in 2003? Yes. However, one thing keeps the regime going, providing the generals not only a lucrative lifestyle but also the cash to fill their arsenals and buy the accessories with which they rule. As Amy Goodman writes:

Fueling the military junta that has ruled for decades are Burma's natural gas reserves, controlled by the Burmese regime in partnership with the U.S. multinational oil giant Chevron, the French oil company Total and a Thai oil firm. Offshore natural gas facilities deliver their extracted gas to Thailand through Burma's Yadana pipeline. The pipeline was built with slave labor, forced into servitude by the Burmese military.

The original pipeline partner, Unocal, was sued by EarthRights International for the use of slave labor. As soon as the suit was settled out of court, Chevron bought Unocal.

Chevron's role in propping up the brutal regime in Burma is clear. According to Marco Simons, U.S. legal director at EarthRights International: "Sanctions haven't worked because gas is the lifeline of the regime. Before Yadana went online, Burma's regime was facing severe shortages of currency. It's really Yadana and gas projects that kept the military regime afloat to buy arms and ammunition and pay its soldiers."

It’s not just Chevron and Total and the Thais which underpin the generals. At its website, the group Campaigning for Human Rights and Democracy in Burma provides a "dirty list" of the many companies who make things easier for the country’s thugs. These include the Houston-based Baker Hughes (oil and gas products) and BJ Services (oil services), Korea’s Daewoo, Japan’s Mitsui and Suzuki, Britain’s Rolls-Royce, Germany’s Siemens, and the truly multinational Schlumberger, now based in Houston.

As the democratically chosen leader of Burma has explained, the regime is vulnerable to campaigns against these companies.

Let me recommend, as others have done, that we start with the giant Chevron, in part because its many retail outlets throughout North America provide a ready-made forum for reaching lots of rank-and-file Americans. Just print and tape your own succinct mini-poster onto pumps urging customers to pick another place to buy their gasoline because Chevron props up the murdering generals of Burma by providing them with millions of dollars in oil revenues natural gas royalties each year. Those posters will no doubt disappear, but it’s easy enough to replace them frequently. If you're up for it, pick a place on the public sidewalk in front of your local Chevron to picket and pass out leaflets and converse with would-be customers. Between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, October 9, join the call-in to Chevron HQ at 925-842-1000. Ask to speak with CEO David O’Reilly. You can also fax the company at 415-894-6817. If you own shares of Chevron, make your concerns known by calling investor relations at 925-842-5690.

None of this requires facing men with guns. But as Aung Kyi urges, we must do more than talk in using our liberty to promote liberty for the Burmese.
Source:Daily Kos

Burmese soldiers were "ordered" to kill monks

2007-10-05T09:52:00.000+08:00

Source: Myanmar News.Net
Thursday 4th October, 2007 (ANI)

London, Oct 4 : A Burmese army major has revealed that secret codes were issued ordering the military to shoot and kill protesting monks in Rangoon last week.

Major Hla Lin, who disobeyed the order and fled before protests began in the capital, claimed there were divisions within the military, and many officers were horrified at being forced to crush the protesting monks.

"I knew the plan to shoot and kill the monks. There were secret codes to start shooting. If I had stayed on I would have to follow these orders," said Major Hla Lin. "I am a Buddhist and I did not want to carry out these orders."

Speaking from his refuge on the Thai border, he said that there are many other officers like him who are "deeply unhappy."

"The problem is they are of afraid of (dictator) Than Shwe. He is very cruel," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

The junta has waged psychological warfare against the people in Rangoon, as thousands of people, especially monks, remained unaccounted for.

Before dawn, trucks with loudspeakers drove through the streets announcing, "We have photographs. We are going to make arrests!" - a threat to anyone who attended last week's marches, the daily reported.

Meanwhile, the acting US Ambassador in Myanmar, Shari Villarosa said that people in Yangon were terrified.

"From what we understand, military police are traveling around the city in the middle of the night, going into homes and picking up people," the Sun quoted her as saying.

Villarosa added that embassy staff had gone to some monasteries in recent days, and found them completely empty. Others were barricaded by the military and declared off-limits to outsiders.

Dissident groups believe 200 people were killed in the initial clampdown last week, and 6000 people have been imprisoned so far.

Simpson named suspect in armed robbery

2007-09-15T11:33:00.000+08:00

Simpson named suspect in armed robbery By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY and LINDA DEUTSCH, Associated Press Writers
6 minutes ago

LAS VEGAS - O.J. Simpson says he went into a casino hotel room only to retrieve memorabilia that he felt was stolen from him. But police are investigating it as an armed robbery and named the fallen football star as a suspect Friday in yet another surprising chapter to his legal saga. Click here for continuation.

Swiss inmates slip away

2007-09-04T21:27:00.000+08:00

Four convicts escaped from a Swiss jail after an inmate lathered himself in soap and squeezed through the food hatch in his cell door.

Skinny Bert Bruegger, 20, stripped naked and rubbed soap all over his body to squeeze through the hole.

Once outside he opened the doors for three of his pals in the neighbouring cells at the prison in Kreuzlingen.

Wardens only noticed the next morning and police have so far managed to catch just one of the escapees.

Malaysian Taxi Drivers Issued Dress Code

2007-09-04T21:24:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Authorities are warning taxi drivers of hefty fines if they are caught without socks, shoes and the other proper attire prescribed by a licensing board, an official said Monday.

The dress code requires taxi drivers to tuck in their shirts - which have to be white, not the beige that many have been wearing.

Pants must be dark, no sandals are allowed, and shoes must be leather ones worn with socks, said Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board chairman Markiman Kobiran.

"Even though it's trivial, it reflects the entire profession," Markiman told The Associated Press.

He said the board can fine drivers who do not dress properly up to $87.

Richard Leow, secretary of a local taxi drivers' association, said the fine was too high given that taxi drivers only earn about $20 a day.

Leow said one of his drivers received the maximum fine last week for wearing jeans.

"This is too much. I saw him, and he was dressed very neatly. The passenger cannot even see the drivers' pants," he said. "(The board) is really harassing all the drivers. This is unreasonable."

All the news.

2007-08-13T19:37:00.000+08:00

For Russian news click here

For Funny news from Dave's click here

For China news click here

For Billionaires news its here

For Airline news by Yahoo, its here

Two Injured in Caesars Shooting

2007-08-05T19:27:00.000+08:00

By Francis McCabe
Review-Journal
Two men were shot inside Caesars Palace early today after a fistfight led to gunfire, Las Vegas police said.

The shooting happened about 4 a.m. when a group of four men got into a fight with another group including two men and two women at the casino, police said.

One of the men in the fight left the scene, got a gun and came back and opened fire at least four times on a group of people near the elevators to the self parking garage, police said.

It was unclear whether the men who were shot had been involved in the initial altercation, police said.

The shooting victims were treated and released from University Medical Center. One suffered a gunshot wound to the knee, and the other was shot twice in the arm, police said.

Investigators are questioning several people but had not made any arrests as of noon Saturday.

It was the second shooting at a Strip casino in less than a month. Four people were wounded by a gunman inside New York-New York on July 6.

Police identify suspect in casino shooting MORE INFORMATION
5 Injured in Vegas Casino Shooting (AP)

Steven Zegrean
Las Vegas resident is suspect in early-morning shooting at New York-New York casino

Police have identified the suspect who injured four people early Friday morning in a shooting inside the New York-New York as Steven Zegrean, 51, of Las Vegas.

Zegrean has been booked on four counts each of attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit murder and 16 counts of firing into an occupied structure.

Police have described Zegrean as emotionally distraught. The suspect walked into the casino about 12:45 a.m. with a handgun concealed inside his jacket and was firing from the mezzanine onto the casino floor.

According to the Associated Press, five people were injured in the incident. Four people were wounded by Zegrean before he was tackled by off-duty military reservists, police said. A fifth person was hurt in a crush of people fleeing the casino.

No time for a pet? Then rent one.

2007-08-01T21:05:00.001+08:00

SAN FRANCISCO.

A California company has begun offering FlexPetz, a new service for dog-lovers who just don't have the time to care for a pet, or the space.

The "shared dog" service is available in Los Angeles and San Diego. Its founder hopes to open new locations in San Francisco next month, New York in September and London by the end of the year.

Hanging out with man's best friend has a price. The annual fee runs about $100 a year. FlexPetz customers then make a monthly payment of about $50. A per-visit charge runs about $40.

The FlexPetz founder said only dogs with social temperaments are picked for the program. The current 10-dog crew includes Afghan hounds, Labrador retrievers and Boston terriers

Monkey Unlocks Pen, Eludes Zoo Staff

2007-08-01T21:01:00.000+08:00

Jul 31, 5:35 PM (ET)

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) - The Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo asked residents Tuesday to help in the recovery of a white-faced capuchin monkey that apparently managed to unlock his pen and escape. Oliver freed himself at about 8 a.m. and led park staff on a chase through the park's trail system before eventually eluding them.

Park employee Ann Stewart said Oliver will respond to his own name and may take bait of bananas, marshmallow or grapes. She urged people to call the park if they spot the mammal.

"He will bite. People around here have handled him, but he will bite. Just call the Buffalo Park," Stewart said.

Oliver is a nine-year-old capuchin, a species of monkey native to South and Central America.

Stewart believes Oliver could be in the Country Club or Colonial Estates areas, but said the monkey could have traveled much farther given his ability for speed.

"He could outrun the horses," she said in a article. "You can't catch him. If he doesn't want to be caught you can't catch him."http://www.djournal.com

---

Information from: Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, http://www.djournal.com

Animal friendship

2007-07-31T21:55:00.000+08:00

According to numerous news accounts a hippo and the tortoise found each other at a wildlife refuge where they were taken after being stranded by the tsunami disaster.
According to the BBC, the hippo is about 1 year old and was found alone and dehydrated near the Indian Ocean in Kenya.
He was taken to a wildlife enclosure near Mombassa where keepers have named him Owen.
He and a 100-year-old tortoise named Mzee struck up a friendship and have been partners ever since.
Keepers say they are inseparable and that the tortoise has been mothering the baby hippo.
Source:http://truthorfiction.com/rumors/h/hippo-tort.htm

Sportsman, 26, may be 4th to die of dengue

2007-07-27T15:12:00.000+08:00

> Dear friends
>
>
>
> You may have read the report on Pg 4 of today's Straits Times entitled

> "Sportsman, 26, may be 4th to die of dengue". This young man is my
> husband's nephew. From the info I've gathered, Ian's death is a
> tragedy that could have been prevented and I'm writing this email to
> warn you, my dear friends, to be more pro-active when dengue strikes a

> family member or loved one.
>
>
>
> Last Wednesday, Ian came down with a fever. He went to see a GP who
> gave him a blood test which turned out to be normal. Being in the
> adventure sports business, he was not one to take a fever lying down,
> literally and figuratively speaking. So he was up working at his
> projects whenever the fever subsided. By Friday evening and early
> Saturday morning, he was so sick that he called an ambulance at 6.30am

> to take him to SGH. He waited at the A&E for more than 3 hours, in an
> observation ward, before he was warded at 10am. (Another friend of
> mine, who went to SGH on Tuesday night and was discharged on the
> morning that Ian was admitted, waited 9 hours for a bed. During this
> period, no one came to check on her or give her water. Fortunately,
> she recovered after her platelet count went to as low as 21K , ie,
> 21000) .Based on what I learnt from a neighbour and a relative who
> had dengue years ago, once the platelet count dropped below 25K,
> platelet transfusion was given. However, when the friend whose
> platelet count dropped to 21K asked the nurses, she was told that she
> would only be given a blood platelet transfusion when the count drops
> below 10K. The normal level is 140K.
>
> His mum and brother went to see him and found out that his platelet
> count was only 13K. Throughout Ian's stay in the general ward, he had
> severe abdominal pain and went to the toilet to pass motion so often
> that he became very weak. He was only given blood transfusion at about

> 12.30am. He was only sent to ICU at about 11.30pm because there was no

> bed in ICU earlier on when the doctor determined that he needed
> intensive care. He was on the drip but the amount of saline solution
> given him was insufficient for his severely dehydrated condition and
> his blood pressure dropped to a below recordable level. When the rate
> of flow was doubled, his blood pressure went back up to normal. At
> 2am, he sat up in bed and siad he was fine but cold and wanted to
> sleep. At 3am, he suddenly woke up with chest pain and almost
> immediately his heart stopped beating. The hospital staff tried to
> revive him over the next 90 mins but to no avail. And that's how the
> family lost a grandson, son, brother, nephew, grand-nephew and cousin.
>
> Here are the lessons I have drawn from this tragic episode:
>
> 1. Listen to your body--when you have fever, drink plenty of fluids
> and have plenty of rest.
>
> 2. When the platelet count is so low as to be less than 10% of normal,

> insist on blood platelet transfusion. Have complete bed rest.
>
> 3. I don't understand how the blood pressure could have dropped so
> drastically. Did the staff take the bp regularly enough? Maybe we
> should invest in a blood pressure monitor to monitor the pressure of
> the patient ourselves.
>
> 4. Severe abdominal pain is a red flag in the management of dengue
> cases. The patient may be about to go into shock. Inform the doctor
> and do not use the toilet but stay in bed. Do everything in bed and
> drink lots of fluids. You can read more about this in the documents at

> www.cfps.org.sg/pdfs/DengueAdvisory.pdf and
> www.epid.gov.lk/pdf/Guidelines on clinical management of DFDHF.pdf.
>
> 5. Buy medical insurance so that you can afford higher quality care.
>
> DON"T TAKE DENGUE FEVER LIGHTLY. GET PLENTY OF REST AND DRINK PLENTY
> OF FLUIDS. IF YOU FALL WHEN YOU HAVE A LOW PLATELET COUNT, INTERNAL
> BLEEDING CAN HAPPEN.
>
> PLEASE DO ALL YOU CAN TO MAKE YOUR SURROUNDINGS MOSQUITO-FREE.
>
> God Bless You
>
> LiSa Ng-Tay Lee Siang

Pilot in Brazilian crash tried to abort landing, official says

2007-07-23T11:26:00.000+08:00

"What appears to have happened is that he [the pilot] didn't manage to land and he tried to take off again," said Capt. Marcos, a fire department spokesman who would identify himself only by rank and first name in accordance with department guidelines. Click here for full story.

Is it too late?

2007-07-18T14:19:00.000+08:00

Drug Money

2007-06-29T20:27:00.000+08:00

BA Stewardess Sacked For Boozing On Flight

2007-06-29T15:21:00.000+08:00

Sunday, 3rd June 2007, 11:56

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A boozy British Airways stewardess who turned to drink after being seriously injured in a hit and run horror smash has been sacked after being caught over the limit on a passenger flight.

Milli Reid, 34, was suffering from depression when she was caught drinking on duty during a long-haul flight.

Two years earlier she had been mown down by a hit-and-run driver during a stop-over in the United States and was left so badly injured she was off work for 12 months.

The court heard that although she had been offered physiotherapy after the accident, BA had not offered the "substantial support" to her that Judge Stephen Powles said he would have expected.

Isleworth Crown Court was told that in February this year Reid was taken off duty after she was not at her post when her flight took off from Abu Dhabi and the cabin services director smelt alcohol on her breath. She slept through the rest of the flight.

A breath test in London found that she was still slightly over the drink drive limit, and four times over the lower air crew limit.

Three miniature vodka doubles were found in the toilet of the plane, and Reid admitted that she had also drunk two large glasses of wine and a double vodka the previous evening.

Mrs Reid, of Bracknell, Berkshire, admitted a charge of performing an aviation function while over the limit on the flight from Muscat via Abu Dhabi on February 22nd this year.

Fining her £200, the Judge said that her employers should have offered her more support on her return to work.

He said: "I would have expected you to receive substantial support from your employers to help you through the difficulties and to help you regain your work.

"I am told you did not receive any. All you were offered was some physiotherapy. Once you were fit to work that was the end of it as far as you were concerned.

"I think this is really an employment matter which has spilled over into the criminal courts."

No-one from the airline was in court to describe what kind of advice on drinking was given to the crew, but Douglas Adams, prosecuting, said that the cabin crew were told there were restrictions.

Anthony Lenaghan, in mitigation, said that Mrs Reid had admitted drinking the evening before the flight but said that she had been depressed since being struck down by a hit and run driver during a stopover in America two years ago.

He said: "She left the hotel briefly and was the victim of a very nasty hit and run accident in which she sustained serious injuries. She was off work for one year resuming in March last year.

"She didn't really want to go back to long-haul flying and she was very depressed. She has been in commercial aviation for seven years and knows the consequences of her actions.

"She has suffered enough. From today she has lost her job and she is very ashamed being in court."

Funny Pictures submitted by Dave

2007-06-16T09:19:00.000+08:00

Future flight attendant?

Neckwork by Nokia?

Myspace On Your Cell

2007-06-08T08:47:00.000+08:00

Myspace On Your Cell. As Simple As That. Sweet.
Edit your myspace, including your myspace layout, myspace contact table, myspace graphics, myspace freinds and more! Click here to view

Judge Now Wants Just $54M From Cleaner

2007-06-08T08:45:00.000+08:00

Jun 6, 2:25 AM (ET)

By LUBNA TAKRURI

(AP) A man leaves Custom Cleaners, in Washington on Wednesday, May 2, 2007. A customer who believes he...
Full Image

WASHINGTON (AP) - A judge who was seeking $67 million from a dry cleaners that lost his pants has loosened the belt on his lawsuit. Now, he's asking for only $54 million, according to a May 30 court filing in D.C. Superior Court.

Roy L. Pearson, a District of Columbia administrative law judge, first sued Custom Cleaners over a pair of pants that went missing two years ago. He was seeking about $65 million under the D.C. consumer protection act and almost $2 million in common law claims.

He is now focusing his claims on signs in the shop that have since been removed. The suit alleges that Jin Nam Chung, Soo Chung and Ki Chung committed fraud and misled consumers with signs that claimed "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Same Day Service."

But Chris Manning, the Chungs' attorney, says that can be considered fraud only if the signs misled a "reasonable" person. No reasonable person, he says, would interpret them to be an unconditional promise of satisfaction.

Pearson, who is representing himself, said in an e-mail that the focus of the case, from the start, was based on the "false, misleading and fraudulent advertisements displayed by the Chungs."

Man Sues Over Long-Lasting Erection

2007-06-08T08:43:00.000+08:00

Jun 5, 11:44 PM (ET)

NEW YORK (AP) - A man has sued the maker of the health drink Boost Plus, claiming the vitamin-enriched beverage gave him an erection that would not subside and caused him to be hospitalized.

The lawsuit filed by Christopher Woods of New York said he bought the nutrition beverage made by the pharmaceutical company Novartis AG (NVS) at a drugstore on June 5, 2004, and drank it.

Woods' court papers say he woke up the next morning "with an erection that would not subside" and sought treatment that day for the condition, called severe priapism.

They say Woods, 29, underwent surgery for implantation of a Winter shunt, which moves blood from one area to another.

The lawsuit, filed late Monday, says Woods later had problems that required a hospital visit and penile artery embolization, a way of closing blood vessels. Closing off some blood flow prevents engorgement and lessens the likelihood of an erection.

Woods' lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names Novartis Consumer Health Inc. as a defendant. A spokeswoman for the company, Brandi Robinson, said Tuesday the company was aware of the lawsuit but does not comment on pending litigation.

Woods' lawyer did not return telephone calls for comment Tuesday.

Novartis' Boost Plus Web site describes the drink as "a great tasting, high calorie, nutritionally complete oral supplement for people who require extra energy and protein in a limited volume," in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.

Banned Commercial

2007-06-06T15:06:00.000+08:00

This ad for Lynx was only broadcast once on TV on June 20, 2006. Here's your chance to see what you missed.

Police find 'werewolf' link to violence

2007-06-06T14:12:00.000+08:00

LONDON (AFP) - A police force is to put more officers on the streets during full moons because they believe the lunar cycle may be linked to violent behaviour, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Sussex Police have found that drinkers in the seaside city of Brighton and Hove are particularly aggressive during full moons, despite mixed findings from researchers who have examined the issue previously.

"I compared a graph of full moons and a graph of last year's violent crimes and there is a trend," Inspector Andy Parr told the Brighton Argus newspaper.

"People tend to be more aggressive generally. I would be interested in approaching the universities and seeing if any of their post-graduates would be interested in looking into it further. This could be helpful to us."

The announcement has led some locals to joke that werewolves -- humans who, according to myth, turn into wolf-like creatures during a full moon -- may be loose on the city's streets.

"When there is a full moon out, we look at the sky and say, 'Oh no, all the idiots will be out tonight,'" bouncer Terry Wing told the paper.

"I will start looking at the back of people's hands for hair next time."

Research on a link between the lunar cycle and violent behaviour has tended to be sceptical of any connection.

Earlier this year, Professor Michal Zimecki of the Polish Academy of Sciences reportedly found that a full moon could affect criminal activity.

But in a 1998 article for the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Sydney and Manly Hospital in New South Wales found "no significant relationship."

According to folklore, the moon can exert a gravitational pull on humans in the same way as it can move oceans because up to 75 percent of the human body is water.

In separate findings, police also found that violence in pubs and nightclubs increased on paydays.

More bad news for Nepal's king as statue 'sweats' Mon May 21

2007-05-23T09:55:00.000+08:00

KATHMANDU (AFP) - Hundreds of devotees are flocking to see a "sweating" statue of a Hindu deity, officials said Monday, describing the phenomenon as a bad omen for the Himalayan nation's already embattled king.

The centuries-old statue of Bhimeshwor -- the Hindu god of trade and commerce -- has been perspiring since Saturday evening, drawing hundreds to a temple in Dolakha district, 70 kilometres (43 miles) east of Kathmandu.

Shanta Krishna Shrestha, the temple's chief priest, said the sweating is seen as a bad omen that usually precedes disasters or crises for the royal family.

"Most famously the idol sweated just before the royal massacre in 2001," he said, referring to an incident where an apparently drunken crown prince went on a shooting rampage that killed nine royals, including the king and queen.

Local media also said the idol broke into a sweat prior to a massive earthquake in 1934, as well as during massive street protests last year that saw the current king, Gyanendra, forced to relinquish direct rule.

The latest incident comes as the future of Nepal's 238-year-old Shah dynasty is hanging in the balance, with fiercely republican Maoists -- who have joined the government since signing a peace deal last year -- now pushing for the country to be declared a republic.

Since the November 2006 peace deal, King Gyanendra has been stripped of most of his powers, including his position of head of state and army chief.

Iraq hero puts medal on eBay

2007-05-23T09:53:00.000+08:00

A hard-up soldier faces a court martial for trying to sell his top bravery medal on eBay.

Cpl Trevor Coult, who got a Military Cross for heroism in Iraq, said he needed the cash to support himself when he quits the Army.

But under Forces regulations, it is strictly forbidden for serving soldiers to sell medals, reports The Sun.

Top brass were furious as the Military Cross is so prestigious - with only the Victoria Cross and George Cross regarded as higher gallantry awards.

Trevor, 31, won the Cross for single-handedly defeating a suicide bomber's ambush in Baghdad in 2005. He put four other gongs on the auction website and wanted £80,000 for the lot.

Trevor, serving in the 1st Battalion the Royal Irish Regiment, wrote: "I'm leaving the Army and need the money, otherwise wouldn't want to sell."

He told his furious CO he placed the ad only to see what price they could fetch. It has now been withdrawn from eBay.

The MoD said: "Action will be taken where necessary."

As a junior NCO, single Trevor, of Belfast, earns £23,000 a year.

Tory MP and former Army officer Patrick Mercer said: "If the Government paid soldiers properly, his hand may not have been forced in this way."

Adults Using Breast Milk To Help Cure Cancer

2007-05-23T09:32:00.000+08:00

BOSTON While babies benefit from drinking breast milk, some people are now looking to mother's milk as a treatment for cancer. Inspired by Swedish research on the subject, a Massachusets man now credits the milk with his recovery to become cancer-free.

When Howard Cohen makes his smoothies, he adds fruit, yogurt, and milk - but in his case, it is breast milk, reports CBS station WBZ-TV's Dr. Mallika Marshall.

"When you drink it straight, it has a bit of a yucky oily under taste," said Cohen.

Cohen, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer, came across Swedish research that found that mother's milk killed cancer cells in petrie dishes. He gets his supply from a milk bank - similar to a blood bank but for breast milk.

"We're noticing an increase in the number of patients who are adults and children who have a variety of types of cancer who are using human milk," said Pauline Sakamoto of the Mother's Milk Bank.

Leading specialists like Massachusets General Hospital's Dr. David Newburgh say the Swedish research is interesting, but that there is no scientific proof that milk can help cancer patients.

"I do think it's premature for adults to be drinking breast milk," said Newburgh. "It has not been fully tested yet and we like to be very careful not to use things in humans that we do not understand."

Dr. Pamela Berens with the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine worries that adults using donor milk will delete an already limited supply. "Right now, we don't have enough breast milk for our donor milk banks for the premature infants who we have such wonderful data about the benefits."

Proven or not, Cohen is such a believer, that when his own cancer doctor would not give him a prescription required to get breast milk, he found a doctor who would. He says he is now cancer free.

"Initially I was drinking it every day. I cut back to two bottles a week," he said.

Breast milk from a milk bank runs on average $3 an ounce. Insurance does not cover the cost for adult consumption.

Man Sleeps Through Gunshot to the Head

2007-05-23T09:29:00.001+08:00

May 21, 4:08 PM (ET)

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - Michael Lusher apparently is a sound sleeper. A small-caliber bullet struck the 37-year-old Altizer man in the head as he slept Sunday morning, but he didn't realize it until he awoke nearly four hours later and noticed blood coming from his head, said Cpl. R.H. McQuaid of the Cabell County Sheriff's Department.

The bullet that struck him was one of five that someone sprayed across his mobile home and truck at about 4:20 a.m. Sunday, McQuaid said. The one the struck Lusher apparently lost velocity as it traveled through two walls.

"We're just glad he didn't suffer any life-threatening injuries with a head wound," he said.

Lusher came home from a night on the town about an hour before he was shot while lying in bed, McQuaid said.

He remained hospitalized at St. Mary's Medical Center on Monday. His condition was not immediately available.

Stores remove tainted toothpaste

2007-05-23T09:22:00.000+08:00

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- More than 10,000 tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste have been removed from stores because they contain a potentially deadly chemical.

Hundreds of health workers have been searching for brands "Excel" and "Mr. Cool" since Dominican authorities learned Friday that they are tainted by the chemical diethylene glycol, environmental health director Luis Felix Roa said Monday.

The shipments arrived from Panama, where last year medicines contaminated by diethylene glycol killed at least 51 people.

Panama also removed the toothpastes from stores last week, but said the chemical levels do not appear to be dangerous. Still, officials in both countries have advised consumers not to use the product.

Panamanian customs chief Daniel Delgado told officials here that the toothpaste was manufactured in China, Dominican customs spokesman Abinader Fortunato said.

China's international image for food and drug safety has been tarnished in recent months with allegations that tainted ingredients from its companies ended up in products blamed for deaths in Panama and for killing pets in the United States.

The contaminated toothpaste entered the Dominican Republic illegally in shipments registered as food for animals, the health department said. The government advised neighboring Haiti to watch for the toothpaste because some boxes contained writing in Haitian Creole.

Panama removed the toothpastes after a customer noticed their labels said they contained diethylene glycol. Tests by experts at the University of Panama confirmed the toothpastes contained about a 2.5 percent level of the chemical, a thickening agent often used as a low-cost substitute for glycerin.

US military blocks soldiers’ access to blogs, popular social sites

2007-05-21T16:47:00.000+08:00

The US Department of Defense issued regulations April 19 severely curtailing the use of the Internet by military personnel, contractors, and their families. As of May 14, the Pentagon has blocked use of public weblogs, forums, video hosting and social sites on military-run networks, citing bandwidth limits and security.

Blocked from military networks is the enormously popular social networking site MySpace, which many deployed soldiers used to keep in touch with family and friends. Also blocked is the video-sharing site YouTube, where soldiers had been uploading unauthorized original footage of combat, other troop activity, and daily life in Iraq.

For full story click here

Everything I need to know I learned from porn

2007-05-18T18:01:00.000+08:00

Illinois baby obtains gun permit

2007-05-18T17:52:00.001+08:00

A 10-months-old boy has successfully obtained a gun licence in the US state of Illinois.

Bubba Ludwig's father, Howard, applied on his behalf after his grandfather gave him a shotgun as an heirloom.

Mr Ludwig said he had not expected to succeed, but he filled in the online form, paid $5 and the licence was his.

The licence includes a picture of a toothless Bubba and a squiggle that represents his best attempt at a signature.

Illinois gun laws are said to be among the strictest in the US. But Illinois State Police, who oversee the application process, said that they had followed the law in this case.

Mr Ludwig said Bubba's gun would likely remain at his grandfather's house until he was 14.

"I'm not about to approve any unsupervised hunting or trap shooting for Bubba," he said. "Still, I'm glad he was able to get his FOID card. It makes an adorable addition to his baby book."

Judge: 'What's a website?

2007-05-18T17:46:00.000+08:00

A judge trying an internet terror case stunned a court by admitting he did not know what a website was.

Judge Peter Openshaw brought a halt to the trial as a witness was being quizzed about an extremist web forum.

He told prosecutors at Woolwich Crown Court: "The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a website is."

Prosecutor Mark Ellison tried to help the judge by explaining. But Judge Openshaw, 59, admitted: "I haven't quite grasped the concepts."

Later he said he hoped a computer expert would give "simple" evidence when called to the stand.

Judge Openshaw said: "Will you ask him to keep it simple? We've got to start from basics."

Gunplay, standoff with gangster stun Japan

2007-05-18T11:20:00.000+08:00

NAGAKUTE, Japan (Reuters) -- A former Japanese gangster shot a police officer dead after wounding his own son and daughter and another police officer and was still holed up in his home with a hostage after more than 17 hours.
In the latest shootout to rattle Japan, the police officer was shot Thursday evening while his colleague who had been hit earlier was being rescued.
The officer died a few hours later, a police official said, but the rescued officer's wound was not life-threatening. The son and daughter were taken to a hospital.
For more click here

Mechanical Emergency Lands Israeli in Iran

2007-05-09T14:39:00.000+08:00

LAURIE COPANS
The Associated Press

JERUSALEM -- When Iranian agents boarded an airplane that made an emergency landing in Tehran, the only Israeli passenger on board feared the worst. Instead, he left with a gift of a wooden music box and an invitation to return when times are better.
Click here to continue

Bomb killed hot dog stand employee at Luxor Hotel,Las Vegas.

2007-05-09T08:57:00.000+08:00

By Ken Ritter
ASSOCIATED PRESS

6:53 a.m. May 8, 2007

LAS VEGAS – Police and federal agents were piecing together evidence Tuesday after a homemade bomb exploded and killed a casino hot dog stand employee as he picked it up off the roof of his car outside a Las Vegas Strip resort.
A woman who left the Luxor hotel-casino with the victim and was standing nearby escaped injury when the device blew up just after 4 a.m. Monday on the top level of a two-story parking garage, police and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents said.

Police did not immediately identify the dead man or the uninjured woman.
“She is very lucky she wasn't killed or extremely injured,” Tom Mangan, a senior special agent with the ATF office in Phoenix, said of the witness.

“She did not have a scratch on her,” said Officer Bill Cassell, a Las Vegas police spokesman

Cassell said detectives believed the man was the intended target of the device and characterized the slaying as “a homicide with an unusual weapon.”

Mangan called the bomb “a homemade device, an improvised explosive device, or an IED” that produced a blast about the size of a stick of dynamite and blew a 12-inch hole in the man's car.

Shrapnel penetrated nearby vehicles, and pieces of the bomb were scattered across the parking structure, Mangan said. He declined to describe the bomb's components or confirm a broadcast report that the bomb had been disguised as a cup.

Deputy Las Vegas Police Chief Ted Moody called it “a small device that was constructed in such a way to target a single individual victim.”

“It was successful in doing that, unfortunately,” Moody said.

The man was taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where he was pronounced dead, the Clark County coroner's office said.

Police said the blast was not a terrorist act or a mob hit, but an apparent murder of a man who worked at a business inside the Luxor. Police would not say why the man might have been targeted.

Mangan confirmed reports by various Luxor employees that the man worked at a Nathan's Famous hot dog stand.

Workers at Nathan's would not comment, and a spokesman for Nathan's corporate offices in Westbury, N.Y., referred calls to the store franchise owner in Las Vegas. A message seeking comment early Tuesday was not immediately returned.

The eatery is one of a handful of non-casino businesses that remain open all night in a second-floor food court near an arcade and several shops inside the Luxor, a pyramid-shaped hotel with more than 4,400 rooms and 4,200 employees at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip.

Homicide investigators on Monday reviewed casino and parking lot security videotapes, hoping they would show who left the device atop the man's car.

Moody said investigators were reviewing videotapes from multiple cameras in and around the two-story parking structure.

Access to the garage remained restricted through the day, frustrating hotel guests who could not retrieve their vehicles. It was reopened late Monday.

“They said they'd call me and let me know when,” said Shon Brown, 32, a real estate agent from Lakewood, Calif., who wheeled his luggage away from an exit overlooking a sun-splashed pool and walked back into the casino. “But my phone's in my car.”

Gordon Absher, a spokesman for MGM Mirage Inc., which owns the Luxor, said vehicle owners were allowed to remove their vehicles from some parts of the parking structure after they were inspected by authorities.

ATF Special Agent Niña Delgadillo, regional spokeswoman for the agency in San Francisco, said the painstaking evidence collection process was important at a crime scene that will revert to a busy parking lot once authorities leave.

“You don't want to miss any bits of evidence that might provide investigative leads,” she said.

Polar bear Inuka will stay in S'pore

2007-05-04T19:28:00.000+08:00

May 04, 2007

GOOD news for those who feel sentimental about Singapore-born polar bear Inuka.

The Singapore Zoo has decided to keep the 16-year-old Arctic animal here even after his mother Sheba dies.

It had earlier said it would send him to a temperate-climate zoo when that happens..for more click here

Google fights YouTube copyright claim

2007-05-02T17:15:00.000+08:00

Jonathan Thaw
May 2, 2007

GOOGLE, the owner of the world's most-visited websites, has rejected claims by Viacom that Google's YouTube video-sharing site violates copyright law.

YouTube was protected ....for more click here

Dog welcomes shoppers

2007-05-01T21:01:00.000+08:00

Ananova:

A Chinese store owner is dressing up her pet dog in jeans and a t-shirt to welcome and attract customers.
The dog, wearing his distinctive outfit, sits on the front step of the leather goods shop in Suzhou city.
"He is very polite. When a customer comes in, he will smile, and bark in welcome," the owner told People's Daily.
"And when a customer is leaving, he will bow, expressing thanks."

Story filed: 10:28 Monday 30th April 2007 -->

Iran takes a snip at wacky male hairdos

2007-05-01T20:59:00.001+08:00

TEHRAN (AFP) - Tehran's barbers are to stop offering Iranian men unconventional Western hairstyles amid a nationwide crackdown on dressing deemed to be unIslamic, the Etemad newspaper reported on Sunday.

The paper quoted the head of the Tehran barbers' association as saying police had issued a directive forbidding its members from giving men offbeat hairstyles that are all the rage in more affluent parts of the capital.

"Currently some salons use Western grooming methods to create styles that are in line with the European and American ones," said the association's head, Mohammad Eftekhari-Fard.

"The union has repeatedly announced the restrictions against unconventional grooming when issuing permits to each of the barber shops. Hence barbers, knowing these rules, should not pursue the wrong methods," he warned.

"The union will withdraw its support from those barbers who cut hairstyles that are out of line with the norms of the system," he said.

Eftekhari-Fard did not specify which hairstyles were being targeted, but conservatives in Iran have long been upset by the heavy use of styling gel, shoulder-length hair and the spiky "big hair" styles sported by some of Tehran's young males.

The directive also banned the use of "facial cosmetics, plucking of eyebrows and applying special make-up in male salons," he said.

Iran has handed out thousands of warnings over the past week to women found to have infringed Islamic dress rules in the latest police crackdown.

However the authorities have emphasised that men are not excluded from the drive, and males whose T-shirts were found to be too short or tight and hair excessively groomed have also found themselves apprehended.

Eftekhari-Fard told Etemad that while only five percent of Tehran hair salons were deviating from the laws, they would be strictly monitored and if necessary their permits taken away for at least a month.

Customers would also not be allowed to wear ties and bow-ties -- frowned upon in Iran as a symbol of Western imperialism -- in barber shops, he said

Japanese Patch Measures Pet Stress

2007-05-01T20:56:00.000+08:00

Apr 29, 1:47 PM (ET)

TOKYO (AP) - Wondering if your dog or cat is stressed? Just stick a special patch on the bottom of its paw and you'll be able to tell, according to a Japanese company.

The patch, developed by Japanese company Medical Life Care Giken, purports to measure the stress level of dogs and cats by detecting excessive sweat secretion - believed to be a sign of stress - the Nikkei Weekly reported Sunday.

The round, pin-sized patch is applied to the center pad of the animal's paw and changes color depending on how sweaty the pet is, the Nikkei said.

The company, which makes a similar patch for humans, says it worked with researchers at Toyama University to study the sweat patterns of dogs and cats, which secrete sweat from their paws, the Nikkei said.

The company expects strong sales amid a pet boom in Japan, the Nikkei said. The patches are expected to go on sale in Japan later this year, with the price still undecided, it said. It did not mention plans for overseas sales.

Doting Japanese pet owners are known to go to great lengths for their pets' well-being, taking cats and dogs to specialist masseurs and even acupuncturists.

Two weeks in an underwater box

2007-04-20T20:29:00.000+08:00

An Australian scientist has emerged after spending nearly two weeks underwater in a steel box.

Lloyd Godson, a marine biologist, spent 13 days at the bottom of a lake in the bright yellow capsule he calls the BioSUB to make a point about sustainable living.

Mr Godson used a system of solar panels and a pedal-powered generator to create electricity and recharge his laptop computer, and kept an algae garden to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen for breathing.

"It's nice to feel the sunshine on the face and the breeze here," he told reporters after emerging from the 10-foot-long box, which was submerged in a lake in the eastern Australian town of Albury.

"You start to get a bit of cabin fever, but I thought it was going to drive me a bit more nuts than it did."

Godson had to recycle his own urine and waste, but a team of divers delivered food and drinking water to the sub, including fruit, nuts and a homemade lasagna.

For entertainment, Godson watched videos on his laptop and used a wireless internet connection to communicate with schoolchildren from around the world.

The 29-year-old scientist won funding for the project by winning a £20,000 prize in a 'Live Your Dream' contest sponsored by Australian Geographic.

Internet Flirters Do It All The Time

2007-04-20T20:26:00.000+08:00

DULLES, Va. (Wireless Flash) -- Whether you're an "e-male" or an "e-female" the internet is becoming a hot place to flirt with potential dates.

According to a new poll by the online personals service Love.com, 12 percent of unmarried singles with internet access flirt by e-mail or instant messaging daily.

About 9 percent say they customize their internet messages with colorful wallpaper or icons to make them more "flirty" -- the same percentage who have asked someone out on a date by instant messaging them.

-- It takes an average of four weeks of computerized flirting before internet daters will arrange a hook-up offline.

-- 10 percent have conducted online searches on a guy or girl they met online before agreeing to go out with them.

-- And, finally, 10 percent of folks who have tried internet dating services say their boss has caught them trolling for dates online during work hours.

'Robobug' for heart ops

2007-04-20T20:23:00.000+08:00

A robot caterpillar which can crawl over a beating heart to perform vital operations has been invented by scientists.

The inch-long 'HeartLander' is inserted with keyhole surgery, then attaches itself to the organ with two sucker 'feet', reports The Sun.

It is controlled by a joystick and can be used to inject drugs or install pacemakers - after being developed at a university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Airbus makes history

2007-04-15T22:03:00.000+08:00

Laura Bly
USA TODAY
March 20, 2007

NEW YORK - The biggest airliner ever built swooped in for its U.S. debut Monday, drawing hundreds of gawkers on opposite coasts as two test flights of the double-decker Airbus A380 made back-to-back landings in New York and Los Angeles.
Click here

Garuda's ex-president accused in murder of activist Munir

2007-04-15T22:00:00.000+08:00

Posted by sn26567 on Sunday, April 15 @ 10:51:35 CEST
Remember human rights activist Munir Said Thalib?
He died of a fatal dose of arsenic in September 2004 while traveling on board Garuda from Jakarta to Amsterdam* via Singapore. For more click here

US airline pilot seven times over limit, jury told.

2007-04-15T21:56:00.000+08:00

By Russell Jenkins in Manchester
March 21, 2007 12:00am
A US airline pilot was so drunk he was almost seven times over the legal limit when he arrived for duty to fly a passenger jet across the Atlantic, a jury was told yesterday.
James Yates, 46, from Ohio, was due to be first officer on an American Airlines Boeing 767 flight carrying 181 passengers from the English city of Manchester to Chicago. Click here

Mutiny as passengers refuse to fly until Asians are removed

2007-04-15T21:39:00.000+08:00

Passengers refuse to allow holiday jet to take off until two Asian men are thrown off plane.
The extraordinary scenes happened after some of the 150 passengers on a Malaga-Manchester flight overheard two men of Asian appearance apparently talking Arabic.
For more click here

Footballer in sausage row

2007-04-05T14:46:00.000+08:00

A top German football player has demanded £200,000 compensation from a butcher who named a sausage after him.

German international Bastian Schweinsteiger (the surname means pig-climber) took a Munich butcher to court after it used his nickname "Schweini" which means Little Piggy, to create the new type of sausage, and won.

Now the player wants £200,000 as compensation for using his name without permission.

Gruesome April 1 prank

2007-04-05T14:44:00.002+08:00

A Chinese man is divorcing his wife after she pretended to hang herself as an April Fool's joke

It happened when Mr Lin, of Shanghai, came home on April 1 after a business trip, reports the Shanghai Evening Post.

"When I opened the door, I saw a black object swinging in the air. When I turned on the light I was shocked to see my wife had hanged herself," he said.

Lin immediately called police and the property office. Office staff helped Lin take down the 'body' while waiting for the police.

"Suddenly, she sat up, started to laugh hysterically, and said this was my April Fool's Day present," says Lin angrily.

His wife, Han, a 26-year-old actress, is always playing jokes on Lin as a way of keeping the marriage fresh. She says: "I just try to surprise him everyday."

But Lin has has had enough: "I feel as if I'm sitting on a bomb everyday. We're getting divorced!

"I can't stand the jokes and games anymore. She hides the dishes in the washing machine, or changes the lock on the door, so that I can only enter by giving the correct answer to some stupid questions, and so on."

Woman stole car by mistake

2007-04-05T14:44:00.001+08:00

A Romanian woman has turned herself in to the police after she mistakenly stole a car on her way home from church.

The woman told police she borrowed a car from a friend to go to an evening sermon in the town of Miercurea Ciuc, Harghita county.

After the service, the woman, whose identity was not revealed, went to what she believed was the same car, unlocked the doors, started the engine and drove back to her friend's house.

In the morning, the friend realised she had the wrong car in the garage and called the woman who realised her mistake and went to the police.

Local police confirmed the two cars of Romanian brand Dacia had the same colour and their keys fit one another.

The car's owner decided not to press any charges.

Girl bites Hamburger

2007-04-05T14:41:00.000+08:00

A German girl who could not get rid of a persistent admirer in a Hamburg disco unzipped his flies, pulled out his penis - and almost bit it in half.

Emergency services found the man clutching his blood-stained member in the middle of the dance floor.

Natascha Mueller, 23, told police: "I just wanted to dance and he kept coming alongside me and would not go away."

Her victim, Andreas Baum, 39, said: "She beckoned me over and told me 'I know what you need'.

"Then she unzipped my trousers and I thought it was Xmas, and then she bit me. The pain was incredible. She almost bit it off."

The young woman, who was arrested, was six times over the legal limit for driving when breath tested.

Beatles and iTunes talk growing

2007-04-02T08:36:00.000+08:00

Last Updated: Sunday, 1 April 2007, 15:25 GMT 16:25 UK
E-mail this to a friend
Printable version

Steve jobs teased fans with a Beatles song at the iPhone launchEMI is to hold a media event on Monday with Apple boss Steve Jobs as special guest, prompting speculation that Beatles songs will finally go online.
None of the Beatles ...click here to continue.

US women shed tears at orphans suffering

2007-03-30T16:21:00.000+08:00

US women shed tears at orphans suffering
By Jack Nduri
A group of African-American women on a tour of Africa were shocked by the devastating impact of HIV/Aids in Nyanza Province.
Some of the women broke down in tears at the sight of the suffering of hundreds of children in Karachuonyo, whose parents died of Aids.
A real estate broker and wife of a member of the House of Representatives, Mrs Jada Pettigrew, wept as an orphan at Wikondiek Mixed Secondary School, Tom Mboya, recited a poem on the impact of the disease.
Pettigrew offered to fund his education.
The group, led by a Washington DC-based sociology and inter-cultural communication consultant, Mrs Marcia Tate Arunga, also visited Wikondiek Primary School.
The two institutions in Rachuonyo District, which has an HIV prevalence of 37 per cent, are home to about 800 orphans.
The women are on their seventh cultural reconnection mission, which has seen more than 100 delegates from the US tour Kenya.
The cultural and economic exchange programmes seek to empower Africa communities.
We are Africans like you. Our forefathers were ferried in ships as slaves over 350 years ago and were made to work in farms for the whites. We are here to re-discover our ancestry, said Marcia.
Others in the team include a former Washington legislator, Ms Dawn Mason, Dr Maxine Buie Mimms, Ms Lillie Plumer, Ms Ruby Jones, Ms Elizabeth Howel, Ms Benita Horn, Dr Gloria Burges, Dr Joye Hardiman, Ms Alma Constable and media owner, Ms Gloria Bennet.
They called for an end to tribalism, saying development could only be achieved if people were united.
Mrs Phoebe Asiyo, who accompanied them, said dangerous cultures like inheritance of widows should be shunned.

Powerful perfume puts brakes on bus ride

2007-03-30T16:15:00.000+08:00

OTTAWA (AFP) - The scent of a woman was too powerful for bus drivers in western Canada who twice banished her to the curb for dabbing too much perfume, press reports said Wednesday.
The buxom brunette said she boarded a bus on two separate days wearing her usual two squirts of Very Irresistible by Givenchy, billed in advertisements as bringing out a woman's spontaneity, audacity and sensuality.

But during each commute, the driver said the potent odor was interfering with his ability to operate the vehicle, and kicked her off.

"I was humiliated and embarrassed in front of other passengers," the 25-year-old chiropractic assistant told broadcaster CTV. "I got off that bus in tears."

When she complained, transit officials steered her to the back of the bus, next to an open window. "I felt like a modern day Rosa Parks," she told the National Post.

Pundits said the confrontation illustrates changing attitudes in Canada to heavy perfume use, much in the same way that smoking became less acceptable in recent decades.

"At one point, the etiquette was that if you didn't like the smoke, then leave," scent expert Roedy Green told the Globe and Mail newspaper. "Now the rule is that you don't have the right to pollute somebody else's air."

In 2000, the city of Halifax in eastern Canada banned scents in all municipal buildings, including schools, libraries and courts, as well as many workplaces, theatres and shops.

The Lung Association meanwhile said it has received more and more requests for scent-free signs and related materials, with rising rates of asthma and other pulmonary diseases that are greatly susceptible to irritants in the air.

Man gives up sex to live forever

2007-03-30T16:10:00.000+08:00

A Chinese man has abstained from making love to his wife for 17 years because he wants to live forever.

Chen Dong, of Chongqing city, who is in his 50s, changed his way of living after a colleague told him he would live for 1,000 years if he became a celibate, vegetarian.

"He believed it completely, and since 1989 he has had me prepare him only vegetarian meals, and stopped living with me in the same room," says his wife Yu Hui.

Chen believes he has found the secret of eternal life.

"Simple meals can clean my body, and an asexual life can keep my energy from becoming depleted," he told Chongqing Business News.

Chen has now been granted a divorce, saying he wants a quiet life, but has been ordered to pay his wife £5,000 compensation.

Romanian men marry only moustached women.

2007-03-26T13:27:00.000+08:00

Young men in the province of Dimbovita, Romania, have a very specific requirement in choosing their wives: a girl should have a moustache. Local residents believe that moustached women become most faithful, healthy and fertile wives. Those girls, who do not have any hairs on the upper lip, have to deal with very serious problems as far as marriage and family is concerned.

"I love my moustache, my husband loves it even more. My mother, aunt and many others of my female relatives have it, and nobody ever thought of shaving the moustache off," Maria Nitoi (47) said in an interview with the Libertatea newspaper. Pravda

Remedy for loneliness.

2007-03-26T13:24:00.000+08:00

A new invention designed specifically for lonely women

Japan comes up with another invention. This time it is a pillow designed specifically for lonely women. The new product is made in a form of a man's body filled with foamy solution. In actuality, the pillow resembles a man's bicep, which is usually placed under a lady's head. Hence the pillow's name: "A friend's arm". According to the inventor of the product (by the way, it is a man) Tomoki Kakehasi, he was inspired by the words of his grandmother who used to say: "The most comfortable pillow is another human being." Many women who have purchased "Friend's Arm” claim that their sleep and their personal life in general have significantly improved, since the day they purchased this revolutionary pillow. This "man" stays true to you no matter what and more so, does not snore. "Friend's Arm” costs $80 USD and comes with pajamas in blue, pink or green colors. Manufacturers of the "magic" pillow have already designed similar device for men. In this case however, a man's head will rest peacefully on a female's hip.

Woman Grows Nipple On Her Foot.

2007-03-26T12:57:00.000+08:00

A 22-year-old woman sought medical care for a lesion in the plantar region of her left foot, a well-formed nipple surrounded by areola and hair. Microscopic examination of the dermis showed hair follicles, eccrine glands, and sebaceous glands. Fat tissue was noted at the base of the lesion. Clinical and histopathologic findings were consistent with the diagnosis of supernumerary breast tissue, also known as pseudomamma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of supernumerary breast tissue on the foot.
These supernumerary breasts can pop up all over the place, including the face, back, and thigh (and foot, obviously). They can be functionally complete, and can even lactate. The authors report some weak and sometimes contradicted associations with other oddities, but no causal mechanism is known. These cases of autonomous self-organization and recruitment of organs are extremely interesting—it suggests that a breast would be a fairly easy tissue to grow in a dish.

Dermatology Online Journal

Rabbit vibrator may cause serious damage to health

2007-03-22T09:55:00.000+08:00

Rabbit vibrator and other popular sex toys created for pleasure may be also very harmful for health. Such a conclusion was made by Greenpeace which had investigated levels of phthalates in sex toys.

Phthalates are a chemical compound used to soften hard plastics into soft rubber and jelly. Derived from Phthalic acid, and often called a plasticizer for its plastic softening properties, phthalates have been produced since the 1920’s and have been used in everything from perfumes to pesticides and, of course, sex toys.

Rabbit vibrator or Jack Rabbit vibrator is a vibrating and twirling sex toy made in the shape of a phallus with a clitoris stimulator fastened on the shaft. The name of the device is derived from the fact that the clitoris stimulator looks like a pair of rabbit ears. Rabbit Vibrators appeared recently as a response to the growing female needs in more pleasurable sex toys and gained a special popularity after one of the episodes of the world-known HBO's TV series Sex and the City.

Rabbit vibrator allows receiving more pleasurable sensations, since they are designed for stimulating the vaginal erogenous zones and clitoris simultaneously. The device is applied for masturbatory purposes or during partner love plays

According to different polls rabbit vibrator appears to be the most popular sex toy today. Scientists studied the molecular structure of several kinds of sex toys and found that rabbit vibrators have the highest amount of phthalates.

Studies on rodents have revealed that when exposed to very large doses, phthalates can cause damage to the liver, lungs, kidneys, testes and can cause hormonal disruption.

Phthalate molecules are not chemically bound to the plastics they soften, and as such, phthalates can ‘break free’ from plastic fairly easily, and cause rubber and jelly toys to deteriorate over time. Some studies have reported that phthalates may mimic the female hormone oestrogen.

Porn movie producer beats Disney

2007-03-22T09:52:00.000+08:00

Entertainment giant Disney has been forced to back down over its 'dreams come true' slogan - as it's already used by a British porn movie producer.

45-year-old Michael Wightman from Newcastle, has trademarked 'A Place Where Dreams Come True' for his mobile phone porn movie company.

Disney also used the slogun to promote their theme parks until its lawyers backed down after a legal challenge.

Mr Wightman said "It's a David v Goliath victory."

Disney will now use 'The place where dreams come true'.

Russia’s ex-president Boris Yeltsin loses 40-million-dollar elite land

2007-03-22T09:45:00.000+08:00

Ex-President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, lost his documents confirming his property rights for two elite plots of land in the Moscow region. The four-hectare land is evaluated at about 40 million dollars.

Most likely, the loss took place last year. However, Yeltsin noticed the absence of the documents only several days ago. Yeltsin asked his former assistant, Alexander Moskovin, to report the loss to the police. The official told the police that the documents for the property had been lost under unknown circumstances.

The disappearance of such important documents may lead to lamentable consequences for the family of Russia’s first president. If the documents have been stolen, perpetrators may successfully sell the land to someone else, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper wrote. The problem can definitely be solved at court, but the process may take a very long period of time that will bring nothing but a nerve-racking experience to Boris Yeltsin.

Singapore News

2007-03-21T09:05:00.000+08:00

New anti-smoking campaign includes hard-hitting TV ads
By Wong Mun Wai, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 20 March 2007 1920 hrs

SINGAPORE: A new hard-hitting anti-smoking campaign in Singapore aims to jolt smokers into quitting. The three-month campaign includes graphic television advertisements showing cancer sufferers. Click here for more...

Hundreds line up for sheep testicles

2007-03-21T08:33:00.000+08:00

VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. - Hundreds of people waited in lines for up to an hour for a chance to taste something different at the 16th annual Mountain Oyster Fry.
Servers at five booths dispensed about 130 pounds of "fried oysters," or sheep testicles, at the Saturday event in this historic mining town about 25 miles southeast of Reno.

Visitors gave mixed reviews to the tiny morsels, which can be fried, barbecued, stuffed, or ground up and sauteed.

"People think, `Oh sheep testicles, gross,' but it was pretty good," said Amanda Palmer, 21, of nearby Carson City.

Among other things, the versatile meat has been used in tacos and sloppy Joes.

"We try to get families from all over to try them, but they're all `nuh-uh,'" said Shauna Reese, 32, of Reno. "It's just another tender meat."

___

Washing machine 'twists and turns' for faster cleaning

2007-03-21T08:24:00.000+08:00

TOKYO (AFP) - For Japanese people who want their lives to be even faster, a company on Monday unveiled a washing machine billed to be the quickest in the world.
Mitsubishi Electric said it has made the first machine that changes angles automatically depending on the volume of clothes and function.

The "Moving Drum" machine can wash nine kilograms (20 pounds) of clothes in 35 minutes and dry six kilograms in 145 minutes -- half the time of a traditional washer.

"It's not only about saving time for users but also saving energy," said company spokesman Kazuhiko Mizuno.

"We wanted to maximise the best of washing and the best of drying. A straight tub is the best when washing, but a slanted tub is the best for drying. So we combined the two functions," he added.

The slant also means that clothes will not stick onto the walls as in a normal machine, the company said.

The machine will go on sale from May throughout Japan, although there are no plans yet for sales overseas.

mettetations: Home Sweet thrifted Home

2007-03-20T18:33:00.000+08:00

mettetations: Home Sweet thrifted Home

Airline moves dead body to 1st class

2007-03-20T15:23:00.000+08:00

By JENNIFER QUINN, Associated Press Writer
Mon Mar 19, 6:30 PM ET

LONDON - A first-class passenger on a flight from Delhi to London awoke find the corpse of a woman who had died in the economy cabin being placed in a seat next to him, British Airways said Monday. The economy section of the flight was full, and the cabin crew needed to move the woman and her grieving family out of that compartment to give them some privacy, the airline said.
The first-class passenger, Paul Trinder, told the Sunday Times newspaper that he was sleeping during a February flight from India and woke up when the crew placed the dead woman in an empty seat near him.

"I didn't have a clue what was going on. The stewards just plonked the body down without saying a thing. I remember looking at this frail, sparrow-like woman and thinking she was very ill," the newspaper quoted Trinder as saying. "When I asked what was going on, I was shocked to hear she was dead."

British Airways said in a statement that about 10 passengers die each year in flight and that while each situation is dealt with on an individual basis, safety is paramount.

"The deceased must not be placed in the galley or blocking aisles or exits, and there should be clear space around the deceased," the statement said. "The wishes of family or friends traveling with the deceased will always be considered, and account taken of the reactions of other passengers."

Because there was space in the first class cabin, that "allowed the family members traveling with the deceased some level of privacy in their grief," the airline said.

"We apologize to passengers in the first cabin who were distressed by the situation — our cabin crew were working in difficult circumstances and chose the option that they believed would cause the least disruption," the statement said.

David Learmount, a former pilot and cabin crew member who now writes about the aviation industry for Flight International magazine, said that each airline has to deal with the relatively rare situation on an individual basis. He said that diverting the flight would be an unusual move, and that the captain would be consulted before the crew acted.

"Personally, I think they did the thing that was the best thing to do," he said. "Really, you want as much as possible to isolate the person.

"It's an isolated incident. It's not as if it happens every day, but you do have to take in people's sensibilities when it does happen."

Cop's Internet breasts prompt investigation

2007-03-20T15:07:00.000+08:00

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A photograph of a young Australian policewoman's breasts, sent to her boyfriend as a get well message on her mobile phone, has sparked an investigation after it was circulated on internal police e-mail.
The Victoria state police constable was in her police uniform with her name badge visible, her shirt undone and her breasts exposed when she was photographed, Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported Monday.

The image was circulated widely through the force's internal e-mail, landing in the inboxes of top-ranking officers and ethical standards department detectives.

"She has sent an image to her boyfriend and obviously he has done the wrong thing and forwarded it on," a Victoria Police spokeswoman told AAP.

"The ethical standards department has been notified. They are aware of the incident, which involved the circulation of a photograph, and they are examining it to see if an offence has been committed

Former vice president under Saddam Hussein hanged

2007-03-20T15:03:00.000+08:00

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Taha Yassin Ramadan, the former vice president under Saddam Hussein, was hanged just before dawn Tuesday, according to a source close to Iraq's High Tribunal.

An official who witnessed the execution told The Associated Press measures were taken in order to prevent a repeat of what happened to Hussein's half brother, Barzan Hassan, who was decapitated on the gallows. Ramadan was weighed before the execution and the appropriate size rope was chosen, the official said.

Last month, Ramadan was sentenced to death by the Iraqi court for his role in the 1982 killing of 148 men and boys in Dujail. An appeals court upheld the sentence last week.

Ramadan was sentenced to life in prison in November on charges that included willful killing in the 1982 crackdown, but the next month, the tribunal's nine-member appeals chamber decided the original sentence was too lenient and ordered the court to resentence him.

The court's decision drew opposition from coalition officials and nongovernmental groups in Iraq, and some members of Iraq's legal advisory community suggested judges came under pressure from politicians.

Hussein, Hassan and another official from his regime -- Awad Bandar -- also were hanged for their roles in the Dujail crackdown.

Hassan and Bandar were executed side-by-side on January 15, and Hussein was hanged on December 30.

Woman reports stolen cannabis to police

2007-03-13T10:38:00.000+08:00

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A middle-aged New Zealand woman rang police to report a theft of cannabis plants she had been growing at her North Island home, local media reported.
The crying woman told a constable at the police station in the city of Napier the plant theft was the fourth from her property in as many years. The 45-year-old woman, who was not named, lamented someone had again sneaked on to her property at night to steal her three carefully nurtured marijuana plants.

"I am a good person. I am sick of these low-lifes stealing my things," the woman told a police communications officer.

Senior Sergeant Mal Lochrie told local media Friday that the officer found it hard to stop smiling as the women gave details of the theft over the phone.

A community constable who visited her to take details of the theft had also warned her that her horticultural pursuits could have legal consequences, Lochrie said.

Police decided no action would be taken against the gardener, he said.

Building boom blamed for skunk sightings

2007-03-13T10:35:00.000+08:00

TORRANCE, Calif. - Residents in this southern California city are finding out that development stinks.
That's because as more houses go up, more skunks come out. The city has seen 1,398 housing units built in the past six years, and with it came an increase in the black-and-white smelly creatures.

"We're seeing more of them because their habitat is being destroyed," said Jeff Rudolph, El Segundo's animal control officer.

Shayne Brinkerhoff, the city's animal control supervisor, said that the department is dealing with more skunks lately than anything else.

"We're constantly getting calls about skunks," said Brinkerhoff. "They're under houses, they're getting hit on streets."

One area skunk even gained international attention when it crawled into a rubber hose and got shipped to Canada. The stowaway skunk, nicknamed Dorothy, wound up hitching a ride in a delivery truck for a weeklong, 2,200 mile trek.

A $25,000 diamond was found stuck in a shower drain at the prison

2007-03-13T10:34:00.000+08:00

ORANGE, Calif. - A $25,000 diamond was found stuck in a shower drain at the prison housing the man accused of stealing it two years ago.

Bret Allen Langford, 39, allegedly asked the owner of a Jewelry Express store to show him a 2-carat colorless diamond in April 2005. Langford then grabbed the diamond and sped away, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

Langford was arrested shortly after but the police did not retrieve the diamond. Langford was charged with commercial burglary and, after several transfers, ended up at Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange, where he awaited trial.

This week, an investigator representing Langford told jail officials to search the jailhouse drains if they wanted to find the diamond. Officials discovered the rock wedged in a screen beneath one of the facility's shower stalls.

Authorities said Langford told them he stole the diamond and swallowed and regurgitated the rock each time he was transferred. But 14 months ago, just as Langford was about to be searched he threw the diamond into a shower stall and it fell down the drain.

Amormino suspects Langford came forward as part of a bargain he made with prosecutors. Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office, would not confirm such a deal.

Langford's trial is set to begin May 7 and the diamond is expected to be a featured piece of evidence.

Then it will be cleaned and returned to the store.

Paris Hilton lives without sex for seven months and has no complaints

2007-03-07T14:16:00.000+08:00

The hotel heiress took a vow of celibacy and hasn’t broken it yet!

Paris Hilton hasn’t had sex for seven months. Earlier this year, Paris has vowed to stay celibate for at least twelve months and insists she has stuck to her self imposed sex ban.

The socialite said “I have been celibate for about six or seven months, I think. I would rather just make out and kiss someone instead of sex.”

Paris Hilton had also denied the reports that she has rekindled her romance with Greek shipping heir Stavros Niarchos saying she is definitely single and not looking for romance, desifans.com says.

Meanwhile, the socialite has dismissed reports she publicly defended new pal Britney Spears on the internet.

Reports earlier this week suggested Hilton had posted a message of support on her MySpace page after toxic star Britney Spears’ heavy criticism by press for her incessant partying.

Bikini models risk their health wearing G-strings

2007-03-07T14:11:00.000+08:00

Bikini models risk their health wearing G-strings knickers. They can damage the skin and cause infections, experts in Germany warns women.

Dr Thomas Gent of the Association of Gynaecologists advised women to wear bigger pants to avoid complications.

He blamed the friction caused by the string part of the underwear for a big rise in the number of patients he had seen reporting genital inflammation.

A UK gynaecologist said it was the ill-fit rather than the underwear type that was probably the problem.

Dr Gent said: "G-strings can abrade and injure the sensitive skin around the genital area - especially if they are too tight or made with badly stitched material."

This damage can aid the spread of bacteria and cause fungal infections, he said.

He said if underwear is too tight it can create an ideal environment for fungal infections, such as thrush, to grow and thrive.

Experts say that bikini models are the most risk-prone in terms of fungal infections because usually have to wear G-strings during long periods of time.

Short stories (snippets)

2007-03-05T17:06:00.000+08:00

Hot sexy girls with slim waists enjoy immense popularity across centuries

Hot sexy girls with narrow waists have enjoyed immense popularity across centuries. A team of researchers in the United States surveyed accounts of female beauty in British literature from the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and found that the only feature that consistently got authors’ pulses racing was a slender midriff.

Boobs on Bikes paralyze Christchurch town

The Boobs on Bikes parade hit town to promote the start of the Erotica Lifestyles Expo at the Christchurch Convention Centre. Nine pairs of breasts and four greased and muscled men circled the city on the backs of Harley Davidson motorbikes

Personal training: annoying facts about being personal trainer

The emphasis on personal training should come from the personal trainer's understanding of what works best for their client and an understanding of human movement. Some people think that it is a prestigious job, but actually there is nothin funny about it.

1. When a client pulls at a microscopic piece of flab on her thigh and asks, "What exercise can I do to get rid of this one little squidge right here?"

2. People who come to the gym with really, really offensive BO or extreme perfume.

3. Guys who pick a bench and sit and read the newspaper for twenty minutes.

4. "You know, I'm in really good shape even though I haven't been to the gym in over two years."

5. People who sing along to their Walkman.

6. People who think they're cool because they sweat a lot.

7. Guys who get all territorial about machines.

Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, worst celebrity dog owners, treat their pets like accessories

2007-03-03T10:10:00.000+08:00

Her parenting skills have been scrutinized for months. Now Britney Spears has been voted the World's Worst Celebrity Dog Owner for 2006.
When it comes to celebrity dog-parenting skills, Oprah Winfrey is tops and Britney Spears is the world's worst, according to an online vote by readers of two dog magazines.
"Britney was the overwhelming choice" for worst celebrity dog owner for 2006, Hilary O'Hagan, editor of The New York Dog and The Hollywood Dog magazines, said in a statement.
"She once had three chihuahuas ... and never left home without at least one of them on her arm," O'Hagan said.
"As soon as she met K-Fed (her now estranged husband Kevin Federline) and had kids they (the dogs) disappeared."
Paris Hilton, 2005's "worst" winner, placed second this year for "treating her dogs like accessories," the magazines said.
Winfrey, who owns five dogs, was voted this year's best celebrity dog owner.
The talk-show host replaced 2005 winner, singer Joss Stone, and beat off competition from actors Tori Spelling and Nicollette Sheridan, AP reports.
Voting took place online over a three-month period, but the total number of votes won't be released, O'Hagan said today.

Japanese Festival of Steel Phallus bestows prosperity, health and fertility

2007-03-03T10:06:00.000+08:00

The Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) is an annual Shinto fertility festival held in Kawasaki , Japan in spring. The exact dates vary, but the main festivities fall on a Sunday. The penis forms the central theme of the event that’s reflected everywhere; in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decoration, a parade of mikoshis, etc.
The Kanamara Matsuri is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine, once popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Today, the festival is used to raise money for HIV research.
Created back in Japan’s Edo period (1603-1867) to pray for sexual safety (especially against syphilis) among Kawasaki’s prostitutes, this Shinto gathering now helps raise money for HIV/AIDS research. But the festival attracts more than just those interested in fighting STDs; it also draws Japanese couples looking for good fertility luck, a large gay/lesbian crowd, lots of proud locals, and scores of interested foreigners who come to gawk at the gigantic portable plaster phallus shrine and buy souvenir John Thomas lollypops and charms.
It is certainly not by coincidence that the Kanamara Matsuri falls during the cherry blossom season; a precious two-week window where Japan’s famous flowers bloom. Today, like every weekend day in the Spring, there are outdoor parties all over the archipelago. Throngs of frisky fun-seekers head outdoors, spreading blue tarps under cherry trees, sipping silver-canned Asahi beers and eating Japanese picnic food – sushi, sukiyaki, takoyaki (fried octopus), tempura, and tofu – under the pink blaze of blossoms overhead. On a small stage, a band plays a mixed bag of tunes, from rock and roll to pop to country. Red-faced teenagers and passed-out grandfathers lay within feet of each other, 2camels.com says.
The ceremony ends up in a building next to Kanamara Shrine. People climb up a wooden staircase into a small, dusty, room, where a small collection of items collected from past festivals is on exhibit. Behind panes of glass is a neat display of penises carved from wood, paintings of traditionally-clad Japanese engaged in copulation, and fat Buddhas with penis heads and hidden vagina imprints underneath their bases.
Hirohiko Nakamura, the chief priest at his family shrine says, "Whether your prayers be for prosperity, healthy offspring, a fertile marriage, wedded bliss, an uncomplicated delivery or personal health, this shrine remains the focus of community faith, as it has been for centuries. "Shinto is traditionally non-judgmental in the matter of individual sexual behavior, and my family's shrine has long served as a place of help and a refuge to those suffering from sexually transmitted diseases. What could be more natural, then, that the shrine would embrace those who are concerned with the spread of HIV and AIDS," says Nakamura.
How to get there
From Shinagawa take a Keihin Kyuko (red) train towards Yokohama. Get off at Keikyu Kawasaki stn, go down the stairs and take a Daishi Line train three stops to Kawasaki Daishi stn. From there, walk across the street and you'll find Kanamara Shrine (Wakamiya Hachiman-gu shrine) just a few meters down on the right. From JR Kawasaki stn take the No. 23 bus for Daishi and get off at Wakamiya Hachiman-gu shrine, metropolis.co.jp reports.

Man dives into liquid faeces of 18 million people for 400 dollars a month

2007-03-02T16:41:00.000+08:00

Julio Cesar Cu wanted to be an oceanographer but instead he swims through foul-smelling sewage in underground tunnels where the occasional dead body bobs beside excrement and car parts.

Paid just $400 a month to de-clog the miles of sewage tunnels running beneath the Mexican capital, diver Cu comes across the nastiest of flotsam.

"The oddest have been dead animals, animal heads, dead people," he said. "Unfortunately a lot of bodies end up here."

Cu's job is to prevent blockages in tunnels of up to 20-feet (6-meter) wide that could cause sewage to flood onto city streets. "Once, we fished out car parts which I think would have fit together to make a whole car," he said.

It is so dark down amid the cold liquid waste of some 18 million inhabitants that Cu and his three fellow divers cannot see and have to feel their way along the tunnel walls.

Dressed in a thick red wetsuit, Cu pulls debris out with his hands or unblocks tunnels with a stick.

The divers receive air through a tube connected to the surface and are attached to a safety harness to stop them being swept away, as happened to one colleague 21 years ago who died in a torrent of filthy water while clearing a blockage.

One of 10 brothers from a poor family, Cu did not have enough money to finance studies to become an oceanographer. He began diving at 18 and soon became a scuba instructor.

He later took a job clearing debris out of the aging Mexico City sewers, and has been immersed in the brown stuff ever since.

"I like diving as a sport. As a job I like it even more," he said. "I do a job that benefits a lot of people."

He and his team inspect the deepest 103-mile (166-km) section of the sewers, through which 9,200 gallons (35,000 liters) of liquid pour ever second, Reuters reports.

Some of the city's sewers are open, allowing debris to fall in, or be dumped.

At the end of each shift, the divers scrub their wetsuits with detergent, removing the stink of urine and rotten waste.

Paris Hilton sex tape site shut down

2007-03-02T16:30:00.000+08:00

Paris Hilton sex tape site shut down by a federal jurdge. The federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the website selling the viewing rights to Paris’ former possessions

It was first reported by TMZ that Bardia Persa acquired a storage locker filled with Paris Hilton’s possessions for $10 million after an unknown buyer acquired them at a storage facility’s auction. Persa is the alleged creator of the website under fire, parisexposed.com, where visitors can pay a fee (about $40) to view the personal materials. The restraining order has shut down Paris Hilton sex tape site for now.

The materials include confidential medical information as well as photos and videos showing the heiress engaging in sexual acts and illegal drug use, the report said. Hilton’s Social Security number, address book, photo albums and journals are all included in the collection of her belongings.

Hilton’s legal eagle, Howard Weitzman, has filed suit against Persa for invasion of privacy and copyright infringement.
Persa is due in court Feb. 16 to attempt to get the injunction lifted, TMZ reported

Interesting and Funny news.

2007-03-01T15:39:00.000+08:00

Pensioner who participated in group sex orgy recognized by his nephew.

A pensioner is suing the organisers of a world-record sex session after they reneged on a promise to pixellate his face in the video they made of the group sex orgy.

Leszek Szwerowski, 61, took part in a group sex orgy during which three women had sex with as many men as they could over the space of several hours.

He was subsequently embarrassed when his nephew watched a DVD of the orgy in which he was clearly shown waiting in line to take his turn.

The nephew told the rest of the family.

Women rape men when they have no one to have sex with

There are hundreds of lonely women in the prime of life seeking to apply their libido
When an older woman has a love affair with a younger male, a teenager, it is not the pedophilia issue that actually matters. They are all about women's unmet needs. Women may easily cast prudence to the winds when receiving not enough care from husbands or after they break up with partners. Feeling absolutely abandoned these women either drop in sex shops or seek Internet acquaintances with students or teenagers

Russian fishermen catch squeaking alien and eat it.

Village residents from the Rostov region of Russia caught a weird creature two weeks ago after a strong storm in the Sea of Azov. The shark-looking creature was producing strange squeaky sounds. The fishermen originally believed that they had caught an alien and decided to film the monster with the help of a cell phone camera. The footage clearly shows the creatures’ head, body and long tail. The bizarre catch was weighing almost 100 kilograms, the Komsomolskaya Pravda reports.
However, ufologists and scientists were greatly disappointed when they found out that the fishermen had eaten the monster. They said that they were not scared of the creature so they decided to use it as food. One of the men said that it was the most delicious dish he had ever eaten