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Man Drives Home with Headless Friend
 Mon Aug 30,11:46 AM ET ATLANTA (Reuters) - A Georgia man who drove home with a friend's headless body after a truck accident then went to bed while the remains dangled out the window faces charges including vehicular homicide and drunk driving, police said on Monday.
John Hutcherson, covered in blood and visibly inebriated, was arrested in bed on Sunday morning after a local resident out on a stroll observed a headless, bloody body hanging out of the 21-year-old man's truck, Cobb County police said.
Hutcherson was due to make an initial court appearance on Monday.
Police said that Hutcherson and his friend, identified as Francis Brohm, 23, were returning from a bar outside Atlanta early Sunday morning when their black 1992 Chevrolet Z-71 pickup hit a curb near a telephone pole.
Brohm, partially outside the window at the time, was decapitated by a guide wire on the telephone pole, according to police, who recovered his head at the crash site. "Alcohol is believed to be a contributing factor," police said.

Sexually frustrated chimpanzee takes up smoking, spitting in Chinese zoo
 Sun Aug 29, 9:34 AM ET

BEIJING (AFP) - Visitors to the Zhengzhou Zoo in central China's Henan province who do not enjoy passive smoking, let alone being spat on, had better avoid the monkey cage.
Thirteen-year-old chimpanzee Feili has turned to smoking, begging cigarettes from visitors and spitting on them when they do not comply, the Xinhua state news agency reported Sunday.
Her fierce behavior is in reaction to being paired with a male, 28 years her senior, who seems to lack either the interest or the capability to satisfy her sexual demands, the agency said.
Although Feili's behavior may seem outrageous, it is no more so than that of the people outside the cage, since she only took up her new habits after observing the visitors to the zoo, according to Xinhua.

Bishop hopes chocolate, invites will bring back worshippers
 Fri Aug 27,12:07 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - The Bishop of Manchester hopes to draw worshippers back to church with chocolate bars and invitations.
The Reverend Nigel McCulloch plans to distribute business card-style invites and goody bags, the Daily Telegraph said.
The bishop provoked strong reaction in March when he said the Church of England could disappear "within a generation or two" if no action was immediately taken.
Under the scheme, new church-goers will receive a brochure about the Church and 'fair trade' chocolate at the end of the service, the newspaper said.
The novel 'Back to Church Sunday' initiative to stem the ever-falling church attendance is being financed by a Christian businessman.
Half of the diocese's 300 parishes have already signed up for the scheme.
The idea has been inspired by marketing campaigns and glitzy launches where gift bags are given away to promote products.
The campaign aims in particular to woo over-50s who once went to church but have stopped.
For services celebrating the autumn harvest festival on September 26, clergy are being encouraged to use hymns that are popular among over-50s and do something completely different during the service, "such as showing a comedy video", the paper reported.
"We will, unless there is a turn in the tide, be a Church which gradually disappears from this land," the bishop told the paper. He was commenting on figures suggesting the number of Church members would fall to below six million, or one tenth of the population, by next year.

Dead Couple to Be Married
 Fri Aug 27,11:15 AM ET

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African man who shot his pregnant fiance dead before killing himself will be posthumously married to her at the weekend.
Police Captain Mohale Ramatseba said David Masenta shot 25-year-old Mgwanini Molomo after a quarrel before turning the gun on himself. But Johannesburg's Sowetan newspaper said family and friends wanted to remember them as a happy couple destined for a happy life together.
The groom's corpse would be dressed in a cream suit and his bride's in a gown for the ceremony, at which a priest in the rural village of Ceres in Limpopo will bless the union before the two are buried, the Sowetan said.
"In African culture, there is no death -- there is merely the separation of body and soul," said cultural expert Mathole Motshekga. "It is also important because the families are married together."
"This does not mean the relationship has irretrievably broken down."

Large Fish Catches Boy in Minnesota
Sat Aug 28, 8:28 PM ET

DULUTH, Minn. - An 11-year-old boy was out hunting frogs on Island Lake when he became the prey. A large fish, probably a muskellunge or a northern pike, attacked the boy about 5 p.m. Thursday as he and his young sister were wading in a foot of water.
The resulting wounds on Mason DeRosier's feet and hands required 11 stitches to close.
Mason's father, Richard DeRosier, was in a paddle boat just offshore during the attack. DeRosier, a Lake County deputy sheriff, said he was facing the children when he saw a huge swirl in the water.
"Before I can say 'Holy moley! Look at that!', all of a sudden the swirl is by their feet," he said.
Mason said he saw the fish splash just offshore. "It was like, maybe, 5 feet in front of us," Mason said. "Then it splashed right at my foot and bit me. It hurt."
It didn't let go. "I smacked it in the head and tried to pry it off my foot," Mason said. "He let go, but he bit my hand."
The sister wasn't hurt.
Mason was taken in back to the family's cabin to wash the wounds, then he was off to the hospital.
He received eight stitches in his left hand and three in the bottom of his right foot. He has numerous other bite marks across the top of his foot, his dad said.
"I'll bet he has 20 cuts on his foot and 10 cuts on his hand," Richard DeRosier said.

Cleaner Tosses Art Out with the Garbage
 Sun Aug 29,11:06 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A cleaner at London's Tate Britain modern art gallery threw out a bag of garbage that was part of an artwork because it was thought to be trash, British newspapers reported Friday.
The transparent bag of garbage -- full of newspaper, cardboard and other bits of paper -- formed part of a work by German-born artist Gustav Metzger called "Recreation Of First Public Demonstration Of Auto-Destructive Art."
It was on display next to a sheet of nylon that had been spattered with acid, and a metal sculpture on a table when a cleaner tossed it out with the other trash.
A Tate spokesman said the mistake was made the day before the exhibition opened at the end of June, and although the bag was later rescued, it had been damaged and Metzger had to replace it with another one.
The newspapers said the spokesman would not reveal how much the bag had cost to replace.
"It's now covered over at night so it can't be removed," the spokesman told the Times.

Plastic Surgeon Sucks Out Own Fat Cells
 Sat Aug 28, 8:29 PM ET

AUSTIN, Texas - An overweight plastic surgeon performed liposuction on himself on camera to promote the potential use of stem cells that can be harvested in such operations.
Dr. Robert Ersek, 66, who conducted the operation with the help of liposuction's French inventor, said he would encourage patients to save their liposuctioned fat from now on. Dr. Yves Gerard Illouz, who was in town for a plastic surgery seminar and who at one point during Ersek's operation advised him on his technique, agreed.
"This will be the future," Illouz said of stem cells. He said that in five years, adult stem cells derived from tissue, such as fat, and other organs will be successful in fighting disease and injuries. Illouz performed the first liposuction in 1977.
Adult stem cells are different from embryonic stem cells, which are controversial and involve the destruction of fertilized human eggs.
"It's unbelievable," said Ersek, who was captured on film by television and newspaper cameras, as well as by a staff member. "I'm the actor, the director and the cinematographer."
After using a local anesthetic to numb his left side, Ersek used a metal wand to suck out the fat. Attached to a long clear tube with a collection bottle at the end, Ersek stuck the wand deep into his abdomen and pushed it from side to side.
Ersek removed about 1 1/2 pounds of fat from his left abdomen, leaving the 5-foot-6 doctor weighing in at about 198 pounds. He said he would leave his right side "as is" for now and be his own before-and-after liposuction ad for his patients.

Entire Bridge Stolen in Southern Bosnia
 Fri Aug 27, 8:48 AM ET

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - In what could qualify for Ripley's Believe It or Not, seven thieves stole an entire 13-yard bridge near the southern Bosnian town of Mostar, police said Friday.
Over several days, the group dismantled the metal bridge built during the Austro-Hungarian empire 150 years ago, transported the parts to a local junk yard and sold them, a police statement said.
While it all happened in a remote mountainous region, local villagers saw the thieves loading parts of the bridge into vans and alerted police last Friday. The seven men were arrested and are being held pending a decision by a prosecutor.
Without disclosing their names, police said the Gypsies, or Roma, sold the metal parts for $170.

"Talking Toilet" tells you to be tidy
 Fri Aug 27,12:32 PM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The good citizens of Amsterdam may now take counsel of talking toilets that expound on the perils of smoking or the futility of war and berate them on hygiene and cleanliness.
The first such toilets, fitted with sensors to detect exactly what visitors do and to pass comment if appropriate, were installed in a central Amsterdam cafe on Thursday. Creator Leonard van Munster, who sees the project as an artistic venture, will build more if the demand arises.
"You might consider sitting down next time," the toilet told a male Reuters reporter politely in a female robot voice. The next user was told that "The last visitor did not take heed of basic rules of hygiene".
Depending on circumstances, the toilet might remind you to wash your hands or ask you to lift the seat.
"It could suddenly start coughing and warn you about the dangers of cigarettes, or name all the cool movie stars who smoke. It just depends what mood it's in," van Munster said referring to people who sneak off to secretly have a puff.

Tons of Flying Tomatoes Paint Town Red
 Thu Aug 26, 8:45 AM ET

By Emma Graham-Harrison
BUNOL, Spain (Reuters) - Tons of flying tomatoes streaked the streets of Bunol red and left 20,000 visitors wallowing in a pond of pulped fruit as the tiny Spanish town celebrated the world's largest food fight Wednesday.
Locals boarded up windows and locked their doors as drunk and determined revelers donned goggles to prepare for the arrival of six trucks carrying 130 tons of the edible missiles that give the annual "Tomatina" festival its name.
The red frenzy began in 1944, when Dr. Paco Garces Sanchez and some friends tried to throw tomatoes into the trumpet of a passing musician. The next year they pelted balloons launched for the town fiesta.
"The year after that we decided not to wait for balloons or anything, we all set out with our tomatoes... but the mayor got very angry and called the Civil Guard," Garces told Reuters.
The hour-long pelting session Wednesday turned the town square into a mass of slimy bodies, with some paddling in a waist-high pool of frothy tomatoes.
"It's fantastic, the most fun I have ever had. I've been waiting for this day since January," pulp-smeared Irish tourist Clarissa Hills shouted as tomatoes whizzed past her head.

The festival was banned in 1948 after an unlucky government official arrived in the town 25 miles west of Valencia on Tomatina day and was greeted by a hail of tomatoes. Grieving residents held a symbolic funeral for their festival by burying a giant tomato.
"All Bunol came along, dressed in black. There was a procession with a band at the front playing funeral marches and a band at the back playing paso dobles (a style of dance music)," Garces said.
The mayor eventually relented and agreed to reinstate the festival.
But not all Bunol is happy with a fiesta that costs the town nearly $60,450 and attracts a flood of heavy-drinking outsiders.
Garces said its growing popularity has ruined some of the fun. "Now you can't even throw a tomato, there is no room to aim because people are right on top of each other," he said.
Younger locals also worry about foreigners' techniques.
"People from outside don't know how to throw them; you have to squash them first so they don't hurt when they hit," said Irene Recueroaquila, 18, a student from Bunol.
And some tourists were overwhelmed by the mess.
"This is absolutely disgusting, I wish I had never come. I hate tomatoes," said 23-year-old Australian Joel Gorth.
"I'm never eating a tomato again," said 26-year-old London lawyer Laura Janes, pulling seeds from her hair.

Georgia says underpants ruin Russian image
 Thu Aug 26, 1:13 PM ET

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia has demanded that Moscow quit part of a military base on the Black Sea, saying the sight of Russian troops drying their underwear is ruining the reputation of its former imperial master.
Russia's two military bases in Georgia are a major irritant in relations. Georgia wants Russia to withdraw, seeing the bases as an unwelcome reminder of rule from the Kremlin, while Moscow says it needs a decade to pull out.
"They are drying their underwear, and the remains of a once-great army are lying around on their armoured vehicles. I do not think this is good for Russia," President Mikhail Saakashvili said on Georgian television on Thursday.
"I must ask that the Russian troops leave the Gonio firing range by spring, or we will make them leave."
The firing range, near the Black Sea port of Batumi, is set on low-lying land along the coast and flies its red, white and blue Russian tricolour prominently.
Georgian-Russian relations have also been strained in recent weeks by Tbilisi's claims that Moscow backs two breakaway regions that Saakashvili, who was elected in January after leading a bloodless revolution, wishes to regain control over.

Two Children Die Imitating Rare Execution
 Wed Aug 25, 8:29 AM ET

BOMBAY (Reuters) - India's first execution in 13 years has claimed an additional toll of at least two children dead in mishaps as they re-enacted the highly publicized hanging of a man convicted of raping and murdering a schoolgirl.
Two weeks ago, 41-year-old Dhananjoy Chatterjee was hanged in the eastern city of Calcutta after 13 years on death row.
On Sunday, 14-year-old Prem Gaekwad died when he tied one end of a rope around his neck and swung the other end on a ceiling fan in his Bombay home, in an apparent re-enactment.
"The boy's father told us Prem was a very bright but curious kid and kept asking questions about how Dhananjoy would be hanged," said assistant police inspector Dilip Suryawanshi.
"Dhananjoy was the top news on all TV channels for so many days and Prem would watch very closely."
Last week, a 12-year-old girl died in the eastern state of West Bengal, when she tried to demonstrate for her younger brother how Chatterjee was executed, newspapers said.
And a 10-year-old boy in the same state almost died last week when he and his friends acted out the execution, taking the roles of Chatterjee, the hangman, a doctor and the prison warden.
"Children have a natural curiosity about anything out of the ordinary," psychiatrist Anjali Chhabria told Reuters. "Also, several newspapers and TV channels had given detailed sketches of execution by hanging, making it easier for kids to imitate."

Dead Teenager Kept in Home 36 Years
 Tue Aug 24, 8:14 AM ET

HANOI (Reuters) - The family of a 17-year-old Vietnamese boy who died 36 years ago kept his body in their home after a fortune teller told relatives they had buried the teenager alive by mistake.
The boy's family thought he had died in 1968 of illness, but a herbal medicine man said told the father his son was still alive after the burial, the Ho Chi Minh City Police newspaper said on Tuesday.
Stricken with remorse, the father dug up the body and displayed it in a glass-covered coffin, keeping it in the family home in southern An Giang until he recently confessed the macabre secret to a police news reporter.
The newspaper ran a photo of the dead boy's brother posing with his arms folded next to the coffin of his sibling. The body of the boy had not decomposed, the report said.

Man on Quest for Knife-Proof Body Bleeds to Death
 Tue Aug 24, 8:09 AM ET

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A Tanzanian who went to a witch doctor in search of the power to resist bullets and knife attacks died when ritual cuts made on his body proved fatal.
He was one of four suspected robbers from a village in Kasulu district in western Tanzania who visited the witch doctor on a quest for magic, the African newspaper reported Tuesday.
The ritual included cutting their skin and rubbing in potions and powders.
The witch doctor fled after the man died Monday from profuse bleeding, the newspaper said, adding that the three survivors were arrested when they went to a hospital.

Noisy Sex Session Awakens Entire Street
 Tue Aug 31,10:20 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A pair of young lovers so annoyed their neighbors with a noisy sex session that police had to go and ask them to lower the volume, police said on Tuesday.
Officers in the western city of Essen interrupted the couple shortly after midnight after neighbors, listening to the sounds through an open window, called to complain.
"Gradually more and more neighbors gathered in front of the house to investigate the noise," said a police spokesman.
The embarrassed couple were asked to close the window and continue at a lower volume, he said.

Demands unmet, Swedish militants decapitate fiberglass cow
 Tue Aug 24, 3:16 PM ET

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - A shadowy group of militant Stockholmers carried out their threat to "execute" a fiberglass life-size cow after their demand that "Cow Parade", an outdoor art exhibit, be dismantled was not met, organizers said.
"We have received the cow cut into pieces in a bag. It's really sad. There's no way of repairing it," Cow Parade spokeswoman Helene Cederberg told AFP.
The Militant Graffiti Artists last week sent an email with a video clip attachment to Swedish daily Aftonbladet showing one of the exhibit's brightly colored cows flanked by two masked militants clad in black and brandishing electric drills as though they were machine guns.
In the video, the militants reportedly demanded that the Cow Parade "be declared non-art, otherwise hostages will be sacrificed".
"As members of Stockholm's Militant Graffiti Artists, we feel it is our moral duty to defend our city against the cows which have invaded our streets," a distorted voice said in the clip, according to Aftonbladet.
The paper on Tuesday published pictures from a new video film depicting how the masked militants decapitated the cow.
The group, which kidnapped the cow nearly three weeks ago, threatened to destroy the artwork unless the 100 or so other cows were removed from the city's streets by noon (1000 GMT) on August 23.
Earlier this month, when the touring exhibition was in Prague, a cow was stolen and feared dumped in the river.
Vandals also attacked dozens of the Cow Parade exhibition's 214 beasts dotted around central Prague, causing damage of around 1 million koruna (31,000 euros, 38,000 dollars), exhibition organisers said.

Parking Lot Dispute Boils Over
 Tue Aug 24, 8:12 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 69-year-old German vet has been arrested for attempted murder after stabbing a dentist from a neighboring practice in a heated argument over patient car parking places, authorities said on Tuesday.
The two had been arguing for months over the assignment of patient car parking outside the building.
"On Thursday evening the feud came to a head and the vet pulled out a knife, causing life threatening injuries to the other man," said prosecution spokesman Uwe Wick from the northern city of Kiel.
The attacker has been arrested for attempted murder.
The dentist, aged 41, is recovering in hospital.

Locusts invade "Passion of Christ" town
 Tue Aug 24, 1:37 PM ET

ROME (Reuters) - It seemed like an invasion of Biblical proportions in the Italian town of Matera, the outdoor setting for Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of The Christ".
Millions of locusts swarmed into the ancient stone city, scaring tourists off outdoor patios, and evoking some playful comparisons to Old Testament plagues.
The town Gibson used to depict Christ's final hours was still shuddering about the bugs on Tuesday, even though the worst seemed to be over.
"I'd never seen anything like it," said Rosalia Guira Longo, who runs the Albergo Italia, where Gibson stayed while shooting the controversial film.
"At night, the ground was carpeted by locusts ... they were huge," she told Reuters.
Matera, in the southern Basilicata region, is a designated UNESCO (news - web sites) World Heritage Site for its preserved ancient cave and stone dwellings.
Locusts are not uncommon in southern Italy.

Corpse to Be Buried After Fails to Rise
 Tue Aug 24,11:49 AM ET

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African authorities will bury a 77-year-old man who has been dead seven weeks despite his family saying a "prophet" had promised them he would be resurrected, police said on Tuesday.
Paul Meintjes's body was returned to his family late last week after the local mortuary refused to store it any longer. The body was kept in his widow's bedroom at their Free State home for three days before officials said it was a health risk and ordered it taken to the state morgue.
"The body is OK -- it is still recognizable," police spokesman Sam Makhele told Reuters by telephone from Bloemfontein. "But after a few days out of the fridge the smell was not OK."
Police had obtained permission from a magistrate to bury the corpse, he said. This would happen in the next 24 hours.
The family did not oppose the move in court, Makhele said, adding that the family would not be allowed to attend the funeral because the cost would be met by local authorities.
Meintjes died on July 1 but has been in South African newspaper headlines ever since, with his family at loggerheads with other members of their small farming community over his anticipated resurrection -- several dates for which have come and gone.
Police had no dealings with the Durban-based "prophet" and could give no more details about him, he said. South African media has named him as a former bank manager who has since gone to ground.

Tomb Collapse Kills Three Grave Robbers
 Tue Aug 24, 8:19 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - Three grave robbers were killed when a 1,000-year-old Chinese tomb collapsed on them.
Four herdsmen from Inner Mongolia broke into the tomb, from the Liao dynasty (916-1125) that ruled in the north, with the intention of looting, Xinhua news agency said.
No sooner had they got inside when the brick-made tomb collapsed, killing three of the men. The lone survivor escaped from the debris and reported the case to the police, Xinhua said.

'Sorcerer' Kills 10, Sells Bodies for Cremation
 Thurs August 26, 6:12 PT - Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have detained a "sorcerer" who killed 10 people and sold their bodies to bereaved families to cremate in the place of loved ones who were secretly buried, police and a state-run newspaper reported Thursday.
The 34-year-old man, surnamed Lin, strangled or poisoned the 10 villagers at his home, next to a temple, in the southern province of Guangdong, the Beijing Morning Post said.
Chinese tradition, especially in rural villages, holds that burial brings peace to the dead and tombs are placed according to the laws of geomancy. But in a country of 1.3 billion people, the seemingly haphazard siting of graves wastes scarce farmland.
Since 1978, when China launched its reform drive, all levels of government have recommended cremation to save land. "This region cremates its dead, but local people prefer to be buried in the ground. People bought the bodies to be cremated in place of their relatives," a police official told Reuters Thursday.
Lin, whom the newspaper called a sorcerer locals consulted to communicate with spirits, sold the bodies for 1,000 to 8,000 yuan ($120 to $966) each, the newspaper quoted local police as saying.
Police caught Lin plying his trade in corpses in mid-August in the city of Shantou, it said. Chinese newspapers, unrestrained by the contempt of court laws of the West, often quote police confirming guilt or a confession before a defendant has been charged or the case has gone to court.
Communist China considers itself free of mass violence. Its sensationalist but still self-censoring media tend to play down cases of serial murderers.
A Beijing taxi driver was executed in June for killing seven people, including four prostitutes. Last year, China executed one of its worst serial killers in history, a man who murdered 67 people and raped two dozen women in a four-year spree.

Scorpion Queen Stung But Eyes Record
 Mon Aug 30, 9:56 AM ET

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian woman holed up in a glass container with 6,000 scorpions has been stung twice, but is still determined to reclaim a world record for living with creatures, an aide said.
Nur Malena Hassan, who is attempting to set a new record by spending 36 days with the scorpions, suffered a mild fever after being stung on her face, Ali Khan Shamsuddin said Sunday.
"She's okay now and she's very determined to do it. God willing, she will leave the cage on September 25," Ali Khan told Reuters.
Nur Malena, nicknamed "Scorpion Queen," moved into the glass room measuring 12 feet by 10 feet at a shopping mall in Kuantan, about 160 miles east of Kuala Lumpur, on August 21. She leaves the cage just once a day for a 15-minute bathroom break.
The 27-year-old Malaysian woman, who set a world record by spending 30 days with 2,700 scorpions in 2001, is trying to win back the title from Thailand's Kanchana Ketkaew, who lived in a glass room with more than 3,000 scorpions for 32 days in 2002. Ali Khan said Nur Malena, who watches DVDs to pass the time, lacks sleep because of the scorpions crawling over her body, and that she is aware that she will pass out if stung three times within a short span.
Officials from Guinness World Records are monitoring the attempt.

Parachutist Survives 11,500-Foot Plunge
 Mon Aug 23,10:14 AM ET

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African skydiver survived a 11,500-foot plunge after her parachute failed to open and lines broke on her reserve chute, a local skydiving club said on Monday.
Christy McKenzie was hurtling toward the ground at more than 120 miles per hour on Sunday when her parachute failed to deploy, Johan Mulder, the chief instructor at the Johannesburg Skydiving Club, told Reuters.
"When it didn't open she tried to deploy her reserve parachute and it had a fairly hard opening. A couple of the lines broke and so it was not fully open," he said.
This meant that her descent was still dangerously fast.
Powerlines broke her fall and may have saved her life. She survived with a hairline fracture to her pelvis.
"It's extremely, extremely rare ... it's unheard of that there are malfunctions in reserve parachutes," Mulder said, adding that the equipment was being sent to the manufacturer to determine why it did not work properly.
The Johannesburg Star newspaper quoted McKenzie, an experienced skydiver, as saying from her hospital bed: "I'll jump again."
The incident occurred at Carletonville, about 40 miles west of Johannesburg.

Rescuers Save Man and Son -- Twice
 Mon Aug 23,10:12 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - British rescuers had an uncomfortable sense of deja vu when they saved a man and his eight-year-old son after they drifted out to sea in an inflatable dinghy.
Just 24 hours earlier the same hapless duo were plucked to safety off a beach in Somerset, southwest England, after getting stuck in treacherous mud flats while struggling with a punctured dinghy.
Friday the would-be sailors were back at it again.
"Very disappointing," was how coastguard Steve Bird characterized the back-to-back life saving rescues.
"Yesterday we had 50 people involved in the rescue ... but, nothing seems to have been learned," he told the BBC Friday.
Coastguards had warned the 30-year-old man of the dangers of the mud after his first rescue Thursday. Friday, they were incredulous.
"We are somewhat surprised that having lost one dinghy in a very dangerous situation, he then acquired another," Swansea Coastguard Watch Manager Helen Hutson said in a statement.

Giant moths trouble archers
 Sat Aug 21, 8:01 AM ET

By Jeremy Laurence ATHENS (Reuters) - The Olympic archers were expecting strong winds and searing heat -- but giant moths? A plague of thousands of meaty moths, some up to 7.5 cm (3 inches) long, have swarmed over the Panathinaiko Stadium in central Athens, the home of the first modern Games in 1896 and the venue for the archery at this year's Olympics.
Top Korean archer Im Dong-hyun was just about to shoot in the teams competition on Saturday, when one irritatingly fluttered in front of him. Games officials said the moths, from the adjacent National Gardens, were a common summer pest and were attracted to the brightness of the white marble of the terracing and the brilliant artificial grass on the archery range.
Earlier in the week, winds blew arrows off course, causing top archers to miss the targets altogether, and baking summer temperatures have kept competitors wiping their brows.

The Dog Ate My Euros
 Fri Aug 20, 8:42 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German woman thought she had been robbed by sedative-toting thieves when she returned to her car to find 380 euros ($470) missing and her dog vomiting, only to discover the pet had eaten the cash, police said on Thursday.
"She thought the dog had been drugged and that thieves had taken the money," a police spokesman in the western town of Aschaffenburg said. "The woman had withdrawn the money and hidden it under bank statements on the passenger seat."
She informed police and took the dog to a vet. "The vet gave the dog an injection and after 20 minutes six of the 50 euro notes reappeared," the spokesman said. "The dog spat out the rest of the money in shreds along with the bank statements."
"It should be noted that the damaged bank notes can be changed at the state central bank, so that there was no material loss in this case," the police said in a statement.

Dentist in Semen Case Closes Office
Tue Aug 17, 5:49 PM ET - AP

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A North Carolina dentist accused of putting semen into the mouths of six female patients closed his office after a panel of the N.C. Board of Dental Examiners revoked his license.
The panel, which heard testimony during seven days in July, revoked the license of Dr. John Hall, 43, of Cornelius. His lawyers said they will appeal the decision to Wake County Superior Court.
Patients testified that Hall squirted a foul-tasting substance from a syringe into their mouths. A seventh testified Hall jumped on her in the dental chair and gyrated against her lower body in a sexual manner.
In the past five years, the board has revoked only three licenses, including Hall's, said Bobby White, the dental board's chief operations officer.
" I am extremely disappointed with the board's decision. As I have vehemently maintained ever since I became aware of these bizarre and sensational allegations against me, I have not done what I have been accused of," Hall said in a statement issued by his lawyers. "I am going to continue to fight these allegations against me by whatever means necessary and by whatever legal avenues are available to me."
David Maloney, a prosecutor with the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office who attended the dental board hearing, has said the criminal investigation is continuing. Accusations against Hall became public in November, after several employees said they had become suspicious of his behavior. They collected five syringes from his office and asked a veterinarian to test the contents, which turned out to be semen. The employees contacted police, who searched Hall's office and found more syringes, containing similar material. DNA tests showed it was Hall's semen.
Testifying on his own behalf, Hall denied injecting semen into patients' mouths. He said he was collecting his semen in the syringes because he was tracking the side effects of Propecia, a hair-growth drug. Potential side effects include low sperm count and diminished semen. Hall said he collected his semen after-hours in an office bathroom because he didn't want to do so at home. He said he planned to take the vials to his doctor.
Emerson Thompson, one of Hall's lawyers, said Hall does not believe he received a fair hearing. The panel conducted the hearing like a civil court trial, but had a lawyer on hand to whisper advice on legal matters, he said. Thompson added that he believes the board made legal mistakes, such as keeping out evidence of a polygraph test he said Hall passed.

That's What I Call a Traffic Jam!
 Tue Aug 17, 9:49 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German truck driver lost control of his vehicle while trying to swat a wasp and spilled his 15-ton load of jam jars on the motorway, police said on Tuesday.
"He was trying so hard to kill the wasp that he smashed the truck against the barrier," a spokesman for the motorway police in the western town of Greven said."That's when he really started attracting wasps. There was jam all over the motorway."
Police had to close the A1 motorway for two hours while they cleaned up the mess, causing a long traffic jam.

Hong Kong police probe insect-fight gambling ring
 Mon Aug 16, 1:01 AM ET

HONG KONG (AFP) - Hong Kong's obsession with gambling reached unusual extremes with the arrest of 115 people for betting on insect fights, police said. The city is well known as a haven for China's horse racing and soccer gamblers, but raids on a club in the seedy Mongkok district of Kowloon broke a betting syndicate gambled on battles between huge crickets.
Senior Inspector Angus Yeung Fu-yin of the Special Duties Squad in Mongkok said the cricket fights, the first officers have uncovered in five years, amazed even police. "Gambling of this type is very rare here although it was very popular in the old days, so we were very surprised when we first heard about it," Yeung said, adding that illegal gambling on dogfights and bird fights is common. "Only older people continue to do it," he said.
The gamblers, aged from 30 to 80, were arrested in the midst of what was billed as a championship between insects from Hong Kong, nearby Macau and Guangzhou in neighbouring China. Police said the men were not thought to have links with organised criminals, called triads here.
Officers seized nearly 200 crickets, 8,000 Hong Kong dollars (1,026 US dollars) and gambling paraphernalia, including small baskets that were used to house the insects and bamboo sticks used to agitate them. Cricket fighting can be traced back to the Tang dynasty of 618-907 and had long been confined to aristocrats, senior officials and wealthy merchants. Winning brought honour while losing meant shame, according to the South China Morning Post.
Traders of the battling insects hunt out the fiercest crickets and devote many hours training them, the Post said. A champion cricket can cost up to 20,000 yuan (2,600 US dollars) each, it said. While the prize money for cricket-fighting rarely exceeds a couple of thousand dollars, winners of fights between dogs can scoop up to a million dollars, according to the Chinese-language Sun newspaper.

A Vacation for Folks Who've Done Everything Else...
 Fri Aug 13, 9:03 AM ET

By Sarah Goodwin BERLIN (Reuters) - Former political prisoners voiced outrage on Thursday at a German company's scheme to sell tourists an authentic jail experience in what was former Communist East Germany's biggest women's prison. Thousands of women suffered torture and repression behind the walls of Hoheneck castle, a medieval fort perched on a hill above the town of Stollberg in Saxony, used as a jail for political dissidents from 1950 until 1989.
Now German company Artemis GmbH, which purchased the 12.4-acre estate in 2003, is advertising the chance to spend a night like a prisoner, eating sloppy food and being deprived of sleep in a tiny cell for the price of 100 euros ($122).
"We are offering people the chance to re-live the past first hand instead of just reading about it in dry history books," said project leader Michael Heinz. "It's also an opportunity for Stollberg's inhabitants to come to terms with what happened here," he said. "During Communist times Hoheneck prison was a black hole in the landscape that no one was supposed to know about."
But former Hoheneck prisoners accuse the business venture of riding rough-shod over their feelings and trying to profit from the misery inflicted by the former Communist dictatorship. "The women who spent years incarcerated at Hoheneck feel absolutely insulted by Artemis's complete lack of respect," said Margot Jann from a support group for former Hoheneck prisoners. "It's clear to us that this project is just a cheap attempt to make money," she said.
Karl Hafen of the International Society for Human Rights in Frankfurt said he had received thousands of telephone calls from furious former captives. "It's simply unacceptable to turn a prison into a holiday resort," said Hafen. The society has asked Saxony's state premier Georg Milbradt to block Artemis's plan but has got no response yet. The former Hoheneck inmates join the ranks of East Germans enraged by the commercial manipulation of nostalgia for pre-unification days, sparked by hit films such as "Good Bye, Lenin," retro fashion trends and relaunched East German TV shows.
"No one would dream of reconstructing a former Nazi crime scene and marketing it as a historical experience," said Hafen. "But it seems as far as nostalgia for East Germany's Communist past is concerned, anything goes."

Polish bridge thief arrested
 Fri Aug 13,11:22 AM ET

WARSAW (AFP) - Polish police said on Friday they had arrested a man on suspicion of stealing a 200-metre-long, 360-tonne bridge, which had then been sold to a scrap metal yard.
Danuta Wolk-Karaczewska, a police spokeswoman in the coastal city of Gdansk, said Friday that the 41-year-old suspect owned the warehouse where the 1.8-million-zloty (410,000-euro, 501,000-dollar) metal bridge had been packed up in pieces waiting to be taken away and placed.
The PAP news agency quoted her as saying the unidentified man had confessed to selling the bridge for 80,000 zlotys (18,000 euros) because he was in debt and faced a 10-year prison sentence. The bridge disappeared earlier this month and was found by police at a scrap metal yard, cut into metre-long pieces. In order to transport all the bridge sections the robber would have had to use 15 lorries, or make 15 separate trips, PAP said.

Blazing bunny destroys English cricket club
 Fri Aug 13,11:16 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - A burning rabbit has destroyed a 150-year-old cricket club in England after being set on fire accidentally in a bundle of branches by two groundsmen, firemen revealed.
The men, working at Devizes Cricket Club ground in the west of England, saw the rabbit escape, trailing its burning tail with it. Thirty minutes later, the club shed was on fire, and despite the best efforts of 11 firefighters, they were unable to salvage the shed or what it contained.
The club estimated that the unfortunate rabbit caused 60,000 pounds (89,000 euros, 110,000 dollars) of damage when the fire burnt the 12-metre (40-foot) long shed and all the material used for the upkeep of the club. Devizes fire station commander Philip Flowers, 41, said that in over 20 years of service he had never fought a blaze caused by an burning animal.
"We're 99 percent confident it was the rabbit that caused the fire," he said. "It was either burnt to a cinder or it escaped through a small hole in the corner of the shed, but I imagine it perished and went to bunny heaven."
No remains of the rabbit were found, leaving a little hope it may have survived the inferno. Flowers stressed jokingly that "extreme vigilance" was now being taken with all rabbits in his jurisdiction. "We now know that even bunnies can create a lot of problems," he added.

Nudes Readers to Reveal the Bare Facts
 Thu Aug 12, 3:25 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - It aims to be, literally, the naked truth. Starting nightly on Aug. 16, Get Lucky TV will broadcast via satellite to European audiences the daily news read by a series of nubile young women who will gradually -- but tastefully -- remove their clothes on camera.
"We are quite sensitive to certain issues, one of course being death," anchor Samantha Page told Reuters Television Wednesday. "We try to be as respectful as we can, and what we tend to do is we leave our clothes on."
Just in case people get the wrong idea, Page pointed out that she has a degree in psychology and zoology and a black belt in karate. Fellow Naked News anchor Lily Kwan exhibited a similar candor. "I got into Naked News very accidentally. I was actually studying to become a dental hygienist. I was attending school when I soon realized that I needed something a bit more creative to cultivate my creativity," she said.
She said she had no qualms about stripping in front of a television audience. "I do enjoy wearing clothes. But it is quite liberating to take your clothes off as well -- especially in public," Kwan added.
The phenomenon of nude news reading first started in Russia and spread to Canada where Naked News started in 1999. The Toronto-based firm is now hoping to emulate its North American success this side of the Atlantic.

Burglar with the Munchies
 Thu Aug 12, 8:18 AM ET - Reuters

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A hungry burglar more interested in food than glittering jewelry broke into nearly a dozen Seattle homes in the last week to gobble down vast quantities of food before being arrested, police said on Wednesday.
In one instance the ravenous burglar consumed six shrimp kebabs, a dozen mini corndogs, half a large package of lunch meat, a box of Creamsicles, a dozen clumps of frozen cookie dough, several handfuls of M&Ms, two fruit drinks and a glass of milk, according to Julie Sanchez, one of the burglary victims interviewed on local television. The man, in his late 20s, was not identified by the police since he has not yet been charged with a crime.
He was arrested after being caught rifling through a purse at a church in the northern part of Seattle, and his descriptions and belongings matched evidence from the burglaries. "It's unusual to the extent that food appeared to his main motive," said Seattle police spokeswoman Christina Bartlett.
In some cases, the burglar grabbed readily available cash from the homes he invaded, but usually left other items, such as Sanchez's three-diamond ring and earrings, untouched on the kitchen table. In another break-in, the burglar thawed frozen steaks, fried them, and ate them while watching television until being found by the returning homeowners and chased away, according to police.

Leader, Muddled by Gender, Bans TV Make-Up
 Thu Aug 12, 9:15 AM ET - Reuters

ASHGABAT (Reuters) - Turkmenistan's authoritarian president, whose recent decrees have included banning gold teeth, has told television presenters to stop wearing make-up because he had difficulty telling the men from the women. "You put too much make-up on female TV presenters whose faces would be paler without it. Her own, natural color is better," President Saparmurat Niyazov said. "Sometimes you even put make-up on the lads. Then I really cannot tell the two apart," he said at a meeting with cultural and television representatives shown on state TV on Thursday.
Since post-Soviet independence, Niyazov has cut the gas-rich Central Asian state's ties to the outside world, stamped out dissent, and built up a bizarre personality cult around himself with golden statues and idiosyncratic decrees. In the footage of Wednesday's meeting Niyazov also expressed a dislike for spitting in public and confiscated three months of wages from a minister whom he blamed for a short-lived hike in sales taxes last week.
Other recent decrees by the president, who calls himself Turkmenbashi the Great (Father of all Turkmen), include the ban on gold teeth, making his book on morality part of the driving test, and opening a leisure center for horses.

Italian arrested for throwing hamsters
 Thu Aug 12, 1:11 PM ET - Reuters

ROME (Reuters) - A retired Italian man could face up to a year and a half in prison if found guilty of killing his six pet hamsters and one guinea-pig by throwing them off his terrace into passing traffic.
The man, detained by police after the guinea-pig crashed into the windscreen of a car, told officials that he had accidentally knocked the animals off his terrace while sweeping, AGI news agency reported on Thursday. Police in the northern coastal town of Imperia discovered the hamsters' bodies littered across the street after the motorist complained about the broken windscreen. By studying the trajectory of the pets' bodies they were able to identify the pensioner's apartment.
Under a new cruelty to animals law, the man could be sent to jail for between three to 18 months for killing the pets. He will also be held responsible for the damage to the windscreen.

Catholics e-mail prayers to Lourdes
 Thu Aug 12, 8:10 AM ET - Reuters

LOURDES, France (Reuters) - Roman Catholics who can't make it to France for Pope John Paul's pilgrimage to Lourdes this weekend can now say a prayer and light candles there thanks to a new Internet service.
The Web site Croire.com -- "croire" is the French verb for "believe" -- is offering to add prayers it receives by e-mail to the intentions to be prayed for during the annual Lourdes pilgrimage the pope will attend on Saturday and Sunday. For a five euro (3.40 pounds) fee, it will light a candle at the grotto where Saint Bernadette Soubirous saw visions of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, in 1858.
Thierry Lamboley, editor of the site, said the prayer service had already brought in over 2,000 messages in several languages, some from as far away as India and Venezuela. While this is an innovation for Europe's most popular Christian pilgrimage site, it is not the first time the Internet has offered long-distance prayers. Jews have been able to e-mail prayers to Jerusalem's Western or Wailing Wall since 1996.

'Arrest me, I'm drunk' says driver
 Wed Aug 11, 5:45 PM ET - Reuters

BOSTON (Reuters) - In this story, it was the drunk driver who pulled over the police officer. "He pulled up behind me, rolled down the passenger side window and said he was looking for a police officer to arrest him," Ian McCollin, chief of police in Vernon, VT, said in an interview on Wednesday. "When I asked him why, he replied 'I'm drunk.'"
To make matters worse, the drunk driver was operating on a suspended license, which was taken away after a previous drunk driving charge, McCollin said. Bryan Condo, 28, was driving on a quiet Vermont road at night when he asked McCollin to take him in. Since drivers rarely pull over police cruisers, a cautious McCollin called a colleague for backup with an amused "You won't believe this one."
" I was a little concerned but I also wanted him to hear the story too," he said. "I was afraid they'd think I was senile or losing my mind." Police discovered Condo, a resident of North Pownal in Western Vermont, was four times over the legal limit and charged him with driving under the influence as well as driving without a license.
Condo, was released hours after his arrest and will be arraigned on August 17. He could not be reached for comment. "This guy was hilarious," McCollin said. "And he was very cooperative and polite, unlike your average drunk driver."

Dog(meat) Days... or Would You Prefer Chicken?
Wed Aug 11,10:55 AM ET - Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) - In South Korea (news - web sites)'s capital, sweating through the highest temperatures of the year, the hottest topic is whether to eat dogmeat stew or ginseng chicken soup.
With the mercury hitting 93 degrees in Seoul on Tuesday and set to rise, thousands are heading to restaurants for a traditional if possibly controversial meal to replenish nutrients lost through sweating.
" It is the last phase of the Dog Days. We have four times more customers today, compared to regular days," chicken-soup restaurant manager Jeong Sung-hoon told Reuters.
Jeong, whose packed restaurant is near the presidential Blue House, was referring to the period South Koreans designate as the hottest days of the summer. Traditionally, Koreans eat either dog stew or ginseng chicken soup during this time.
On the other side of Seoul, 48-year-old An Hong-sik went for a more controversial boiling pot of dog stew, known as "poshintang." It is made from dogmeat, vegetables and spices.
" Dog stew is not fatty and soft. I feel more energetic after eating dog stew than eating beef or chicken," An said.
Animal rights activists oppose eating dogmeat because some people use illegal methods to kill the dogs for tender meat -- beating, burning or hanging. The government says those practices are illegal and most dogs are killed humanely.
The chicken soup, "samgyetang" in Korean, is made of boiled chicken stuffed with rice, ginseng, garlic and jujubes.
" It is delicious, but more importantly it is good for your health when your body becomes weak after sweating a lot -- it's our tradition," said Lee Tae-jong, 61, after ordering soup at Jeong's restaurant.
Nowadays, more Koreans tend to opt for the chicken soup.

Sex Attacker Wins Lottery on Weekend Out of Jail
Wed Aug 11,10:42 AM ET - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - A convicted rapist serving a lengthy jail sentence has won $13 million on Britain's national lottery, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
Iorworth Hoare was on weekend release from a low-security prison when he bought his winning ticket for last Saturday's Lotto Extra draw, the Sun said.
Hoare was nearing the end of a life sentence after being jailed in 1989 for attempted rape. The length of a life sentence is at the discretion of the judge. He had previously served sentences for rape, attempted rape, and indecent assault.
Hoare's celebrations were cut short though when he when he was moved to another a higher-security prison for his own safety, the Sun said.
The Prison Service said prisoners were allowed to play the lottery and claim a prize.
" We are aware a prisoner on release on a temporary license has participated in the lottery, and we understand that he has won a substantial amount," a Prison Service spokesman told Reuters.
Lottery operator Camelot said it was not able to confirm or deny the report. The near-$39 million Lotto Extra jackpot was shared by three winning tickets, a spokesman said.

Christmas comes very early to London
Tue Aug 10,11:09 AM ET - AFP

LONDON (AFP) - It is a perennial complaint of shoppers that the consumer frenzy of Christmas begins earlier every year. Usually, however, even the most eager stores wait until the summer heatwave is over.
But not Harrod's, the famous London department store, which on Tuesday opened its Christmas department more than four months before the big day, with the city still enveloped in a fug of warm, humid weather.
Those keen to stock up on decorations and gifts well ahead of the event can now peruse the Christmas World section, all 10,000 square feet (930 square metres) of it.
In a publicity stunt to launch the department, Harrod's arranged for a Santa Claus to preside over the opening, dressed seasonally in Hawaiian shirt and shorts and carrying a surfboard.
The real business begins in November, when a more traditionally-dressed Santa welcomes children to the Harrod's grotto, a traditional feature of the London Christmas for many years.

Flight Turns Back After Cat Scratches Pilot
Tue Aug 10, 8:27 AM ET - Reuters

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A cat running loose on a Belgian commercial flight attacked a pilot and forced the crew to turn back to the airport.
The gray cat, named "Gin," broke out of its cage about 20 minutes after take-off and scurried to the cockpit where it scratched the co-pilot, SN Brussels Airlines said Tuesday.
The flight with 62 crew and passengers had left Brussels for Vienna Monday when the cat, a prized animal that travels to cat shows around the world, started wandering around the passenger cabin.
" The passenger was asleep and at that point the cat managed to escape the cage," an airline spokesman said.
The cat managed to slip through the cockpit door as a flight attendant served lunch to the pilots.
The scared animal was "very aggressive and scratched the co-pilot," forcing the crew to return to the airport, the spokesman said.
The passengers were put on another flight to Vienna, without the cat and its owner, who had to take a separate flight there.

Sharpshooters Hobble Swashbuckling Thief
Tue Aug 10, 8:15 AM ET - Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police marksmen shot a cornered burglar twice on Monday after he initially eluded capture by brandishing a decorative sword, police said.
Police called to a restaurant in the western city of Worms in the early hours, surrounded the surprised burglar. In the frantic effort to escape the thief tore a meter-long sword from the wall of the restaurant, slashed his way through the police cordon and beat off attempts to subdue him with pepper spray.
During the ensuing street chase, the man inflicted several gashes on a police dog, but was eventually cornered near rail tracks where police marksmen shot him in the foot and the hip.
The man was taken to a hospital but his wounds were not life-threatening, police said.

Man Trips Over Woman; Her Family Eats Him?
Tue Aug 10, 8:10 AM ET - Reuters

MANILA (Reuters) - A man and his two sons have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a neighbor and then eating parts of his body after he tripped over a woman relative at a dance, Philippine police said on Tuesday.
The three men are suspected of stabbing neighbor Benjie Ganoy to death last month in a remote village in the southwestern island of Palawan. They ate his ears, tongue and arms after roasting the body over a fire, provincial police chief Michael Garraez said.
" They stabbed him repeatedly, cut off the man's ears, pulled out his tongue and ate it," Garraez told Reuters by telephone. He was quoting a sworn statement by a witness, who said he had been forced to eat some flesh taken from the victim's arms.
Garraez said there was no tradition of cannibalism in the area.
He said the father had apparently been angry after Ganoy accidentally tripped over his daughter during a dance party.
Police said the victim disappeared after the dance party on July 17. The witness led them to the burned body almost a week later.

Court Approves Public Shaming of Mail Thief
Tue Aug 10, 8:04 AM ET - Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A man required to wear a signboard stating "I stole mail. This is my punishment," outside a San Francisco post office was reasonably sanctioned, a U.S. federal court said on Monday.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's order that required mail thief Shawn Gementera to wear the sign, noting the public humiliation was intended to "break" him of an illusion he had committed a victimless crime.
Paired with requiring Gementera to write apologies and lecture at a high school, the "somewhat crude" condition he wear the signboard provided an opportunity to "repair his relationship with society," the court ruled.
Gementera had argued the signboard served no purpose other than to humiliate him.

Ex-wife's dog bites man in wallet
Mon Aug 9, 1:42 PM ET - AFP

TORONTO (AFP) - A Canadian man got off the leash by divorcing from his wife, but was ordered by a judge to pay 200 dollars a month in doggie-alimony.
Four-year-old St Bernard, Crunchy, is munching his way through a monthly bill of 200 dollars (150 US) in food, health bills and general care giving, the National Post newspaper reported.
Pampering the pooch is truck driver Kenneth Duncan, of western Alberta province, in what is thought to be the first court order of its kind in Canada.
The 200 dollar assessment is about a third of what Duncan would be required to pay his ex-wife Barbara Boschee had there been a child involved -- but the ruling doesn't involve any visitation rights.

Can You Name All 53 States?
Mon Aug 9, 7:58 AM ET - Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A chain of private California schools that taught immigrants there are 53 U.S. states and four branches of the U.S. government was ordered to stop handing out phony diplomas this week, state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said on Friday.
Authorities seized the assets of California Alternative High School and asked a judge to stop the company's 30 schools statewide from handing out "high school diplomas" to students dreaming of a better life through education, Lockyer said.
The company charged its mainly Latino students $450 to $1,450 for a 10-week course based on a 54-page book that was riddled with errors, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday.
Students learned that Congress had two houses -- the Senate for Democrats and the House for Republicans; that the U.S. flag had not been updated to reflect the addition of Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico to the "original" 50 states; that the federal "administrative" branch oversees the Treasury Department (news - web sites); and that World War II occurred from 1938 to 1942.
There are 50 U.S. states, including Alaska and Hawaii, who are represented on the U.S. flag. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, not a state. There is no "administrative" branch of the U.S. government. The three branches are judicial, executive and legislative. World War II was fought between 1939 and 1945, although the United States did not enter the war until 1941.
The workbook also refers to the play, "Death of a Traveling Salesman," not Arthur Miller's classic "Death of a Salesman."
The company claimed to have 78 locations nationwide and said it was actively expanding operations despite court orders in two other states that sought to block it from claiming the diplomas were "official," Lockyer said.

England Gets First National Jester for 350 Years
Mon Aug 9, 7:55 AM ET - Reuters

By Jeremy Lovell
STONELEIGH, England (Reuters) - Nigel Roder beat six rivals by public acclaim on Saturday to become England's first official jester for more than 350 years, succeeding Muckle John who lost his job when King Charles 1 was beheaded in 1649.
" This is a real job. He will have to amuse and provoke -- although failure to do so will no longer risk beheading," Tracy Borman, events director of English Heritage, told Reuters.
Unlike court jesters of old, Roder will be able to negotiate his salary, and his initial contract with English Heritage -- to divert the public from the tedious daily grind -- will run from March to October 2005.
Roder -- professional name Kester the Jester -- juggled and diaboloed his way to victory over a diverse field that included a poetry-reading Frenchwoman in the contest near Warwick in central England.
" It feels good. I am a national fool now. It is the best thing a man can be," he said after his victory.
Jesters of the past, though figures of fun at the royal court, were often highly intelligent men whose quick wit and sharp tongue both diverted the monarch and reminded him of his mortality.
Success could bring fame and fortune, but failure could result in shame, pain and even death. Two jesters, Will Somers under the quick-tempered King Henry VIII, and Tarlton under his younger daughter Elizabeth I, were household names in England during their lifetimes.
Many of William Shakespeare's plays feature fools both as buffoons and as rapier-tongued deflators of bombast -- notably in Twelfth Night and King Lear.
The role of court jester died out in Europe in the 18th century, though their roles were taken up by comedians and satirists. "It is about time we had a jester again. We could do with one," Borman said.

Paris tramp unmoved by Hollywood fame
Mon Aug 9, 6:06 AM ET - Reuters

By Kerstin Gehmlich
PARIS (Reuters) - Alfred Merhan has lived quietly on a bench inside Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport for 16 years, his few belongings stuffed into bags and boxes beside him.
Merhan's surreal existence under the neon lights of the airport's grim food hall has inspired Steven Spielberg's new blockbuster "The Terminal", starring Tom Hanks in the role of an East European who is stranded at New York's airport for months.
Merhan, who was born in Iran and whose real name is Merhan Karimi Nasseri, says he has not seen the film -- or any Spielberg movie -- as there is no cinema at the airport.
Since "The Terminal" opened in the United States in June, reporters have been lining up to meet him at his makeshift airport home, passengers stop to take his photo and fans send him letters -- addressed to "Alfred, Terminal 1".
" I might be famous. But my life hasn't changed at all. I'm still sitting here, and not in some fancy flat," Merhan said.
The soft-spoken, balding man says he received more than $300,000 (162,813 pounds) from Spielberg's production company DreamWorks for the rights to his life story, but he hasn't touched most of it. He lives on a few euros each day, buying papers, food and coffee.
Merhan, who says he is 59, does not look like a tramp. His moustache is impeccably trimmed, his black hair carefully combed. Although 16 years at the airport have not made him physically ill, his doctor says he has lost his grip on reality.
" Alfred might be on the same record as us. But he's not on the same groove," said Philippe Bargain, head of the airport's medical centre, who has treated Merhan since he arrived in 1988.
" What astonishes me most in this affair is that in all the years I've known Alfred, I haven't had a word from a single person who said he knew Alfred before he came here. So I rely on him alone to know his life story."
And that story changes. Within just a few hours, Merhan can give an entirely different account of what brought him to Paris.
What seems known is that he was born in Iran. As a young man, he moved to Britain to study at Bradford University in the 1970s, where he took part in demonstrations against the Shah.
On returning home in 1976, he was detained and questioned about his militant activities. Banned from Iran, he went back to Britain where he was refused political asylum.
Merhan then bounced across Europe on a homeless odyssey for several years and spent several months in prison for illegal immigration. In 1999, the French authorities finally agreed to grant him refugee status but he had changed his mind.
" When we arrived at the prefecture to sign the papers, it said Merhan Karimi Nasseri on the document -- his real name," Bargain recalls. "Alfred said: 'I refuse to sign these papers because that's not my name. My name is Sir Alfred Merhan'."
Merhan, who denies he was born in Iran and says he does not speak any Farsi, is still without papers but the authorities turn a blind eye to the quiet man in the corner.
" He doesn't disturb public order," said a police officer. "He's not bothering us, so we're not bothering him. We've never had any problems with the guy. He's a bit of the airport mascot."
Bargain says Merhan could leave his self-imposed airport arrest if he wanted to -- he would just have to sign the papers. But Merhan seems uncertain about his future plans.
He says he does not feel at home in the concrete building, whose unusual design adds to the Kafkaesque setting. Passengers get easily lost in the doughnut-shaped structure, where transparent tubes carry people to departure satellites.
" I don't want to stay forever, but I'm happy with it as a short-term solution. I don't feel like I'm in prison. I'm not bored. I read. I write," he said.
Merhan washes in the airport's bathrooms in the evenings when most tourists have gone. "I miss going shopping sometimes, being in a city, going to the cinema."
Merhan, who has been the subject of several documentaries and now wants to publish a book on his life, sometimes steps outside the airports' doors to get some fresh air but he never walks further than some 100 yards from his camp.
" I would like to go to Hollywood for more film projects," he says, smilingly. "But I'd charge more then, that's for sure."
He could be disappointed once he finds out Spielberg's film barely resembles his own life. Hanks' character falls in love with a stewardess played by Catherine Zeta-Jones -- Merhan says he does not have a single friend.
" Mr Nasseri's story was an inspiration for the early treatment of the film, but the film is not his story," DreamWorks said in a statement.
Although Merhan seems unsure about leaving his terminal, he has not given up dreaming. Glancing from the window behind his bench, he said: "There are many flights leaving to the United States from here every day. It should be easy to get there."

Finn and Belarussian win sauna contest
Sun Aug 8, 3:12 PM ET

HEINOLA, Finland (Reuters) - A Finnish man and a Belarussian woman have won a competition for sitting in a blisteringly hot sauna, with both nations keeping the world titles in the bizarre endurance test.
Leo Pusa, 56, a three times former champion took back the title won by a fellow Finn last year, spending almost 12 minutes in the 110 degrees Celsius (230 degrees Fahrenheit) heat on Sunday.
Natalya Tryfanava from Belarus held onto the title she won last year in the women's contest, managing to stick it out for just over eight minutes.
Ninety competitors from 12 countries took part in the contest, held for the sixth time in the small Finnish town Heinola, some 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of the capital Helsinki.
Competitors sat in sauna cabins set up on a stage for as long as they could take the heat before running out to cool down.
Water was poured onto the sauna stove every 30 seconds to keep the temperature up.
A crowd of several thousand followed their favourites on a big video screen, cheering on every competitor as they rushed out.
" In the sauna, my head was almost empty, no thoughts about victory or anything," said 36-year-old Tryfanava, her face and limbs red from the heat.
" I was just trying to relax as much as possible, keep my breathing in check and not get burned, and still enjoy it."
Tryfanava said she and her team mates, who came third and fourth, underwent a special training programme, but declined to reveal details.
The men's contest has always been won by a Finn.
Pusa said it would be hard for foreigners to beat Finns as saunas are the country's favourite pastime.
Finland has more than 2 million saunas for a population of 5 million.

Needed: a Ban on Unsolicited Toe-Licking?
Sun Aug 8,12:01 PM ET - Reuters

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch Labour party wants to pass a law making unsolicited toe-licking an offence after police were unable to prosecute a would-be Casanova with a taste for female toes because he had committed no crime.
A police spokesman said on Friday a man had been detained after women sunning themselves in Rotterdam's parks and beaches claimed he would sneak up on them and begin to lick their toes.
" The officers had to let him go. Licking a stranger's toes is rather unusual but there is really nothing criminal about it," the spokesman said.
Dutch press reports said the man, who is about 35, had been licking the toes of strangers for about three years but was only recently caught by police.
Peter van Heemst, a Labour member of parliament, asked Christian Democrat Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner on Friday to explain why Dutch laws forbid littering but not uninvited toe-licking. van Heemst demanded an amendment prohibiting it.
" It is a violation of one's privacy and one's physical integrity," he told a local news agency. "The norm... is that no one should touch your body if you haven't asked them first."
A spokesman for Donner said the minister could not immediately comment.

Prozac "found in drinking water"
Sun Aug 8, 8:42 AM ET - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - Traces of the anti-depressant Prozac have been found in the drinking water supply, setting off alarm bells with environmentalists concerned about potentially toxic effects.
The Observer said that a report by the government's environment watchdog found Prozac was building up in river systems and groundwater used for drinking supplies.
The exact quantity of Prozac in the drinking water was unknown, but the Environment Agency's report concluded Prozac could be potentially toxic in the water table.
Experts say that Prozac finds its way into rivers and water systems from treated sewage water, and some believe the drugs could affect reproductive ability.
A spokesman for the Drinking Water Inspectorate said Prozac was likely to be found in a considerably watered down form that was unlikely to pose a health risk.
" It is extremely unlikely that there is a risk, as such drugs are excreted in very low concentrations," the spokesman said. "Advanced treatment processes installed for pesticide removal are effective in removing drug residues."
But environmentalists called for an urgent investigation into the findings.
Norman Baker, environment spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said it looked "like a case of hidden mass medication upon the unsuspecting public".
" It is alarming that there is no monitoring of levels of Prozac and other pharmacy residues in our drinking water," he told the Observer.
The Environment Agency has held a series of meetings with the pharmaceutical industry to discuss any repercussions for human health or the ecosystem, the Observer said.
Prescription of anti-depressants has surged in Britain. In the decade up to 2001, overall prescriptions of antidepressants rose from 9 million to 24 million a year, the paper said.

Giant sandwich vies for world record
Sun Aug 8, 8:37 AM ET - Reuters

BARI, Italy (Reuters) - A southern Italian town is hoping to set a world record with the creation of a 700 metre- (2,300 ft-) long meat and salami sandwich.
Bakers and construction workers in the southern Puglia hilltop town of Mottola baked, stuffed and then cut a 1,500 kilogram (3,307 lb) submarine sandwich into 19,000 pieces.
Some 50 construction workers with cranes were needed to pass the lengthy loaf of bread on a conveyor through a massive oven, which cooked it in sections, before it was stuffed with 300 kilograms of mortadella and 200 kilograms of salami and laid out in the streets.
Seven workers from the local "Catucci" bakery worked together for almost 24 hours to beat the previous Italian record set in the northern city of Milan with a 347-metre sandwich that was filled with Nutella chocolate spread.
" The mega-sandwich required up to 800 kilograms of flour, 400 litres of water and 200 kilograms of salt," said Pietro Catucci, 40, the creator of the competition.
" It expanded thanks to our work and to natural warmth from the summer sun. That was the additional challenge," he told Reuters.
A notary documented the making of the sandwich in hopes the effort will be recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records.
After the required measurements, portions of the giant sub were sold and the proceeds given to charity.

Man, rejected by wife, cuts off penis
Sat Aug 7, 7:14 PM ET

RABAT (Reuters) - A 70-year-old Moroccan cut off his penis in protest at his wife's long refusal to have sex with him, hospital sources say.
The unidentified man severed his organ on Monday in the southern town of Ait Ourir and was taken to a hospital in the nearby city of Marrakesh for treatment.
" He didn't bring his penis with him. He has left the hospital well, but without his penis," a doctor from the Ibn Toufail hospital told Reuters on Saturday.

Mexico finds two "Most Wanted" in jail
Sat Aug 7, 2:57 PM ET

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Two Mexicans from a "Most Wanted" list released to great fanfare by the government last week have already been tracked down -- in jail.
Alfredo Cervantes Ramirez, also known as "The Bullet-swallower," and Alvaro Dario de Leon Valdes were withdrawn from the list after officials discovered they were already in prison, the Mexico City prosecutor's office said on Saturday.
The state prosecutor's office put out a statement saying it "recognizes and values the unmatched cooperation of the citizens and authorities of the country ... which allowed us to locate these two dangerous evil-doers, who are already in jail."

Oklahoma man on lookout for fugitive
accidentally shoots himself in rear end
Fri Aug 6,11:29 AM ET - AP

BRISTOW, Okla. (AP) - Drew Patterson wanted to protect himself after hearing reports of a fugitive in this northeastern Oklahoma community.
He didn't think he would be nursing a sore rear end though.
Patterson's .22-calibre pistol, hooked into the waistband of his denim shorts with the hammer pulled back, apparently fired, hitting Patterson in the left buttock Wednesday afternoon.
Patterson, 27, said he suffered "one of my most embarrassing moments" when his gun fired.
" I had good intentions, but I screwed the whole thing up," said Patterson.
" At first, I didn't feel anything at all," he added, talking readily about the incident Thursday at his parents' Bristow home.
" Then about 30 seconds later, I felt that burning, stinging."
He felt something warm trickling down his left leg and found an exit wound.
Patterson said he walked into his parents' home and said, "Mom, I did something bad."
Patterson said he was told to keep walking to avoid complications as the wound healed.
" It hurts fiercely now," he said while walking slowly and gingerly.
Law enforcement officers searching for escaped inmate Raymond Lee Smith, 26, who ran from a Bristow courtroom Wednesday, stopped their hunt when Patterson's gunshot wound was reported.
Smith fled a courtroom in handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit and was still at large Thursday. He was facing charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a police officer.

Reality TV takes on naughty Germans
Fri Aug 6, 9:56 AM ET - Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German reality television show will whip misbehaving husbands into shape in a physical and psychological battle to win back their wives, show producers say.
" Kaempf um deine Frau" (Fight for Your Wife), due to launch in September, follows the lives of 12 men in a rigorous 10-week training camp to kick bad habits whilst improving fitness, self-discipline and self-confidence.
" These men have been chucked out by their wives for impossible behaviour: being couch potatoes, unfaithful or totally uncommunicative," said Dieter Zurstrafenen, a spokesman for the show's producers, Sat 1.
" They have made the first step but their ultimate goal is to turn themselves into attractive partners again." The wives scrutinise their husbands' performance during the show.
The winner, picked by viewers, gets to ask his wife: "Will you have me back?"
Producers said the show had already received 5,000 applications despite the absence of any cash prizes. "It's all about love, not material gain, which makes it so popular," Zurstrafenen said.

Cancer Sufferer Scoops Record Lotto Win
Fri Aug 6, 9:47 AM ET - Reuters

BELFAST (Reuters) - A 58-year-old cancer sufferer from Northern Ireland was unveiled on Friday as the biggest single winner in the 10-year history of Britain's National Lottery with a 20.1 million pound ($37 million) jackpot.
Iris Jeffrey, a mother-of-two from north Belfast, bought the winning ticket on July 14, but did not realize she was sitting on the massive windfall until lottery organizers made an appeal for the missing winner to come forward earlier this week.
" I watched the news on television and it came out with the numbers on the screen. I wrote them down to check them later on, and forgot about the ticket," she told a news conference at a hotel on the outskirts of the city.
" I didn't believe it actually, my daughters checked the ticket for me."
Jeffrey was accompanied at the news conference by her daughters Wendy, 32, and Karen, 28, who is expecting a baby.
The record winner said she intended to spoil herself by buying a new washing machine and was planning a holiday in Las Vegas with retired husband Robert, 62.
Asked what she would do with the rest of her millions she said: "Make sure my family and friends are very secure for life."
She also spoke about how she was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, and expected to undergo surgery.
" I'm being treated for cancer at the moment, cancer of the gullet (esophagus), I just found out in April about it," she said. "I'm undergoing chemotherapy at the moment and I will be having a major operation, hopefully next month."
Britain's highest lottery win was the 42 million pounds shared by three ticket holders in 1996. Jeffrey's jackpot is the highest won by an individual.

Man Glues Hand to Girlfriend in Prison
Fri Aug 6, 8:17 AM ET - Reuters

MADRID (Reuters) - A German prisoner in Madrid and his girlfriend glued their hands together during a jail visit in an attempt to fight the man's possible extradition to Germany, judicial sources said on Thursday.
The pair were taken to hospital, where doctors were considering whether to operate or use a powerful solvent to separate the man's left hand from the woman's right.
The glue is a type normally used in car repairs.
Spanish police arrested the 39-year-old man in the southern city of Cadiz in April on request from Germany, where he faces accusations of smuggling women from Eastern Europe to force them into prostitution, the judicial sources said.
The Madrid court studying the extradition request will not make a decision for several months, they added. The man has a separate judicial case pending in Spain and authorities want it resolved before any handover to Germany.

Police Clash with Wife-Swappers
Fri Aug 6, 8:13 AM ET - Reuters

LAGOS (Reuters) - Two policemen were shot and two more stabbed during a raid on an Islamic sect engaged in wife-swapping in the northern Nigerian state of Kebbi, authorities said on Thursday.
Sect members armed with guns, daggers and bows and arrows attacked police and government workers who were sent to destroy the group's base in the state capital Birnin-Kebbi.
The raid on Wednesday morning sparked an intense hour-long battle, police said.
" They were debasing the morality of our community and the teachings of Islam by prostituting their wives in such a way," said Kebbi State police spokesman Ibrahim Sa'ad Muhammed.
" They attacked the workers, and the police called in reinforcements. An hour-long battle commenced, two of our men were shot and two stabbed. Some of the members of the sect were also injured in the fight," he added.
Police said the Shi'ite sect had refused offers of dialogue and orders from the state government to vacate its premises after residents complained the sect was an insult to Islam.
The group had called their base the Ka'bah, named after the holiest shrine in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam.
Police arrested about 20 sect members and sent patrols to hunt down hundreds of others who escaped, said Muhammed.
Kebbi is one of 12 northern Nigerian states to have declared Muslim sharia Islamic law in 2000.

What Are You Smiling At, Traveler?
Fri Aug 6, 8:16 AM ET - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - The fight against terrorism has wiped the smile off the face of British passport holders.
The UK Passport Service (UKPS) said Friday it would forbid open-mouthed smiles on passport pictures, one of several rules introduced to comply with strict new U.S. standards. Smiles are forbidden -- along with sunglasses and hair slanting across the eyes -- because they may confuse security cameras used to scan faces and verify the passport is authentic.
" These new guidelines are an important step in the development of the new biometric e-passport and use of facial recognition technology that will be introduced in 2005 as part of the ongoing fight against fraud and international terrorism," UKPS Chief Executive Bernard Herdan said in a statement.
New British passports will also be fitted with a chip containing the facial image and other data, hi-tech measures introduced to help stamp out passport fraud.

Green Card Is Ultimate Prize on Hispanic TV Show
Fri Aug 6, 8:06 AM ET - Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Some TV shows offer an extreme makeover, others a bid for pop stardom. But the hottest reality show in the U.S. Hispanic market is offering the ultimate prize -- a potential green card to immigrants desperate to pursue the American dream.
" Gana la Verde" ("Win the Green") has attracted big audiences and hundreds of contestants willing to eat burritos crammed with live worms, jump off high-speed trucks or wash sky-scraper windows in exchange for a year's legal help in speeding up their visa or green card cases.
The show, run five times a week on small Spanish-language television channels in Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston and Dallas, was the brainchild of Lenard Liberman, executive vice president of the independent TV and radio company Liberman Broadcasting.
" When you are in the Hispanic market, you realize that immigration and legal status is the number one issue ... They want to be able to earn a living and not have the pressure of wondering if they are able to stay or not," Liberman said on Thursday.
" We could do a show and give the winner a cash prize, or a toaster oven. But I thought, what would be the ultimate prize for someone living in the United States as an immigrant? ... To have a prestigious law firm handle their case would be something invaluable," he said.
The show started running on July 1 and Liberman said it had been consistently No. 2 in prime-time Los Angeles Spanish language stations.
" The response has been outstanding. We have a waiting list. We get letters in the mail, hundreds if not thousands of phone calls, and had people flying in from places like Chicago who want to be in the show," he said.
An estimated 2 million immigrants, most of them Latino, live and work in California and millions more are trying to extend or alter their visas to remain in the country legally.
" It is a sad commentary ... You can't really blame the program makers," said Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition which campaigns for positive Hispanic representation in the U.S. media.
" But how humiliating it is, and how desperate do people have to be, to get something that is so necessary to your life and to the future of your children. It is heart-wrenching," he said.

Nigerian Sorcerers Nabbed with 50 Bodies, 20 Skulls
Thu Aug 5, 3:05 PM ET - Reuters

By Ijeoma Ezekwere
UBAHU-EZIKE, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian police have arrested 30 witch-doctors in a raid on fetish shrines in Anambra state where over 50 decomposing bodies and 20 human skulls were discovered, a police spokesman said on Thursday.
The head, genitals and other vital parts had been severed from some of the bodies, found in a teak forest in Okija village, a sign they may have been killed for ritual.
" We saw more than 50 bodies in various coffins. There were several skulls, some of them really fresh," Anambra police spokesman Kolapo Shofoluwe told Reuters by telephone.
Ritual killing is common in some parts of Nigeria where many people believe they can become instant millionaires by using human organs to make potent charms. Many Nigerians mix traditional religions with Christianity or Islam.
Police said preliminary investigations showed that the victims died after the sorcerers engaged them in an animist ritual.
Residents of Ubahu-Ezike, a small town near one of the shrines, said they were afraid to go near the shrine because men faithful to the deities were waiting there to attack outsiders.
They said that a small group of "high priests" had exploited the traditional religion and turned it into a big money-spinning operation.
" Those juju priests are very fraudulent," said a secondary school teacher in Ubahu-Ezike, asking not to be named.
" They have been using the shrines to extort money from innocent people. They ride the best cars in the community and build fine, fine houses. Nobody dares challenge them, not even the traditional ruler."
As part of the ritual, police said the victims pledged their property, including bank accounts, to a deity upon their death. Their relations were made to believe they would also die if they refused to give up the property.
" We are looking beyond the deity," Shofoluwe said, adding that at least 20 shrines were raided.
" The priests may have killed the people for ritual, or to obtain their property by false pretence or they may have been running a human parts market," he said.
Shofoluwe quoted a villager who had tipped police off, as saying the sorcerers ate the flesh of some of their victims.
" Thank God the police have found out and raided the area. I wish they had burned down the place," said the school teacher.
Local media reported on Thursday that the witch-doctors enjoyed the patronage of rich businessmen and influential politicians in eastern Nigeria.
" I am sure our investigation will reveal a lot of things in the next two or three weeks," said Shofoluwe, who said he did not know the identity of the sorcerers' patrons.

Suspect Nabbed at Anti-Crime Party
Thu Aug 5, 7:58 AM ET - Reuters

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - When Claude Meadows stopped by a street party celebrating Nashville's annual "Night Out Against Crime," he helped the cause in a way he hadn't intended.
A man had reported being forced to hand over his car keys at a laundromat on Tuesday just before the citywide neighborhood parties opened. A description of the thief went out over police radios, Nashville Police Capt. Ben Dicke said.
Meadows, 34, was spotted a short time later at the block party near the laundromat helping himself to a free hamburger, Dicke said. He was charged with aggravated robbery and jailed on $50,000 bail.
The car was recovered.

Couple quits smoking for health of parrot
Wed Aug 4, 6:07 PM ET - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - A couple booked themselves into a clinic to quit smoking after the vet said it was