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Honey, Here's Why You Shouldn't Hitch-Hike...
 Mon Dec 6, 8:15 AM ET

HARARE (Reuters) - A group of late night Zimbabwean hitch-hikers had a shock when they were driven to a cemetery and forced to dig up a coffin at gunpoint.
The three men in a truck who offered the 20 hitch-hikers a lift to Chitungwiza, a township outside Harare, instead sped to a graveyard, gave them picks and shovels and forced them to open a grave, the Herald newspaper reported on Saturday.
The reluctant grave robbers then had to tip the human remains back into the pit and hand the empty coffin to the gangsters, who drove off into the night, leaving them stranded.
Stealing coffins from graves for resale is on the increase in Zimbabwe because the AIDS pandemic has increased demand, and the economic crisis means many people cannot afford to buy them legally.

Winner of $149M Lottery Faces Divorce
Sat Dec 4, 4:12 PM ET

NEW YORK - Money — not even $149 million — can't buy you love. Juan Rodriguez, who collected the huge windfall in the Mega Millions lottery last month, is now on the outs with his wife, the New York Post reported Saturday. Iris Rodriguez wants a divorce from her husband of 17 years, and she filed the paperwork just 10 days after Juan bought the winning ticket on Nov. 19.
Iris Rodriguez is seeking a portion of her husband's huge lottery check, the Post said. Rodriguez, 49, opted to take his winnings in a single lump-sum payment of $88.5 million before taxes.
Although the couple appeared together at a news conference after Rodriguez matched the winning numbers, his wife had previously given him the boot over his financial difficulties. Rodriguez had filed for bankruptcy a month before his lottery win, and court papers showed he had just 78 cents in a savings account and owed $44,000 to creditors.
The Colombian immigrant bought the winning ticket at a store near the midtown Manhattan parking lot where he worked double shifts as an attendant, earning about $28,000 a year.

'Your Call Is Very Important to Us...'
 Mon Dec 6, 8:07 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - Nine out of 10 Chinese calling into a suicide-prevention hotline in the capital Beijing are getting the busy tone, a newspaper said on Monday, adding that nationwide four people were killing themselves every minute.
So far, more than 110,000 people had dialed in to the Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center hotline since it was set up in Beijing last year, the China Daily said.
It quoted an expert as saying poverty, unemployment, bereavement, breakdowns in relationships or legal and work-related problems were all causes.
But a lack of funds meant that not everyone who needed the hotline was getting through, said Michael Phillips, executive director of the suicide prevention center.
"Nine of every 10 persons only hear a busy tone," he told the newspaper. "It's very dangerous because they may be at high risk of committing suicide."
Stress in urban China has increased with 20 years of economic reforms, increased competition, job losses, breakup of the traditional family unit in the cities and the dismantlement of cradle-to-grave welfare benefits.

Couple Allegedly Report Stolen Marijuana
Fri Dec 3,10:13 PM ET

CALLAWAY, Fla. - Help, police, someone stole my pot! A Panhandle couple is under arrest after notifying police Thursday that their quarter-pound stash of marijuana was stolen and that they needed the weed back, because they were going to later sell it.
"They're America's dumbest criminals," said Lt. Ricky Ramie, head of the Bay County Sheriff's Office narcotics task force.
Deputies arrested 18-year-old John Douglas Sheetz and 17-year-old Misty Ann Holmes and charged the duo with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia.
According to the police report, the couple returned to the home they share and found the home broken into and a quarter-pound of marijuana missing. They immediately called authorities to report the break-in and theft.
Police said the couple told them they were going to resell the marijuana and allowed the detectives to search the apartment. Investigators discovered several marijuana stems among other drug paraphernalia during the search, The News Herald in Panama City reported for Saturday editions.
They were taken to the Bay County Jail and are each being held on $17,500 bond.

Marijuana Bale Found in Food Bank Shipment
 Sat Dec 4,11:36 AM ET

AUBURN, Maine - Drug agents are investigating how a 20-pound bale of marijuana got mixed in with a truckload of watermelons that were delivered to the Good Shepherd Food-Bank.
A volunteer came across the marijuana while picking through the watermelons Thursday afternoon. The man said the marijuana, which was neatly wrapped with packing tape, was loaded near the front end of a tractor-trailer that was delivering the watermelons to the food bank's warehouse.
After the bale was discovered, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency was called. An agent quizzed the man who found the bale but quickly determined he had nothing to do with the illegal shipment.
"It was definitely bizarre," the volunteer, who didn't want to be identified, told the Sun Journal of Lewiston.
When investigators came to the warehouse, the bale had been unloaded and the truck driver was gone.
Agents said they were looking for the driver in the Boston area, but they don't think he had anything to do with the marijuana, either.
More likely, a drug trafficker thousands of miles away in Mexico loaded the pot and either forgot about it or was forced to abandon the shipment, they said. The source of the pot isn't expected to be located.
The bale was seized as evidence and will likely be destroyed, investigators said. Police estimated the street value at about $20,000.
Good Shepherd Food-Bank distributes food to more than 470 food pantries and soup kitchens in Maine. Last year, the group distributed more than 9 million pounds of food.
Volunteers sort food that is donated from supermarkets and other sources, throwing away the products that cannot be eaten. The rest feed an estimated 50,000 people each month.

Man Sues Over Stolen Manhole Cover and Wins
 Mon Dec 6, 8:28 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - A court in China has ordered that a pedestrian be paid 30,000 yuan ($3,600) in compensation for breaking his leg by stumbling into an open manhole in Beijing.
The court on the western outskirts of the Chinese capital ruled that the Beijing Municipal Utilities Committee was to blame for the accident, as it failed to replace a missing manhole cover, Xinhua news agency reported Monday of the first case of its kind to be heard in a Beijing court.
Missing manhole covers are a fact of life on the sidewalks of Beijing where they are stolen to be sold as scrap for a couple of dollars each.
Last month, the death of Liu Kuilin, an official in charge of a garbage-collection vehicle parking lot in Beijing, brought the manhole crisis to the public eye.
"He slipped into and drowned in a coverless cesspool at night and pushed controversy to a new high," Xinhua said.
Zheng Dong, who broke his right leg on the evening of Nov. 28, 2003, and could not work for half a year, took both district and city public utilities departments as well as a construction company and a restaurant to court, requesting compensation of 60,000 yuan.
Government statistics show that 21,090 manhole and street-drain covers were stolen in Beijing in the first 10 months of the year.
"These covers are usually picked up by migrant laborers or people who have been laid off who sell them to the city's underground scrap metal dealers," Xinhua said.
A 66-pound manhole cover can sell for 20 yuan ($2.40) at scrap metal dealers, more than a day's salary for many migrant construction workers.
Beijing police so far this year had arrested 1,052 suspected manhole-cover thieves, detained 405, and raided 327 underground scrap metal markets, Xinhua said.

Nearly Half of Britons Unaware of Auschwitz?
 Fri Dec 3, 9:23 AM ET

By Jeffrey Goldfarb
LONDON (Reuters) - Nearly half of Britons in a poll said they had never heard of Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in southern Poland that became a symbol of the Holocaust and the attempted genocide of the Jews.
The results of the survey conducted by the BBC were released Thursday as Britain's public broadcaster announced it will show a new series next January to mark the 60th anniversary of the concentration camp's liberation.
"We were amazed by the results of our audience research," said Laurence Rees, a producer on the series, "Auschwitz: The Nazis & the 'Final Solution.'"
"It's easy to presume that the horrors of Auschwitz are engrained in the nation's collective memory, but obviously this is not the case," Rees said.
The survey found that 45 percent of those surveyed had not heard of Auschwitz. Historians estimate that anywhere from one million to three million people, about 90 percent of them Jews, were killed there.
Among women and people younger than 35, 60 percent had never heard of Auschwitz, despite the recent popularity of films such as "Schindler's List," "Life is Beautiful" and "The Pianist," which depict the atrocities of the Holocaust.
"The name Auschwitz is quite rightly a byword for horror, but the problem with thinking about horror is that we naturally turn away from it," Rees said.
The BBC said the research was based on a nationally representative postal survey of 4,000 adults 16 and older.
The broadcaster is marking Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27, with a variety of television and radio programs.
The Auschwitz series for BBC2 is based on nearly 100 interviews with survivors and perpetrators and is the result of three years of research with the assistance of professors Ian Kershaw and David Cesarani.

The fright before Christmas: Santa Claus in terror hoax
 AFP - Mon Dec 6, 7:15 AM ET

MOSCOW (AFP) - Moscow police swung into action to arrest a man who had reported that a female suicide bomber disguised as a Christmas fairy was planning to carry out an attack on Santa Claus in the northern Russian town of Veliki Ustyug, ITAR-TASS news agency said.
"An unidentified person claimed that Santa Claus in Veliki Ustyug would be the target of a terrorist act aimed at undermining New Year's and Christmas festivities," according to a police spokesman quoted by the agency.
The suspect claimed that, in addition to the Christmas fairy bomber, "explosives would be placed in Santa's sleigh and sack of toys," the report said.
Veliki Ustyug is a town located about 742 kilometers (460 miles) northeast of Moscow where a small commercial complex including a hotel, restaurants and shops has been promoted for tourists as "the home" of Russia's Santa Claus, played by a local resident.
Police found the suspect who made the hoax threat, who was at his home and who, according to neighbors, had been drinking heavily all night, the agency said.
The suspect, who faces up to three years in prison, said he made the threat because he had had a dream about Santa Claus being attacked by extremists.

Smiling Frowned Upon in Visa Photographs
Mon Nov 29, 7:39 AM ET

PITTSBURGH - Imagine being denied a passport for, of all things, your teeth. It could happen, but not because they're crooked. Under new rules for visa photographs that began this summer, the State Department doesn't want to see them at all, according to a story published in Sunday's Pittsburgh-Post Gazette.
The new guidelines permit people to smile for passport and visa pictures but frown on toothy smiles, which apparently are classified as unusual or unnatural expressions.
"The subject's expression should be neutral (non-smiling) with both eyes open, and mouth closed. A smile with a closed jaw is allowed but is not preferred," according to the guidelines.
So why does the State Department frown on smiles?
Smiling "distorts other facial features, for example your eyes, so you're supposed to have a neutral expression. ... The most neutral face is the most desirable standard for any type of identification," said Angela Aggeler, spokeswoman for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, which handles travel-document guidelines.
A photograph of a person's face is considered the international standard for a "biometric" or physical identifier by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations (news - web sites) agency that sets international aviation safety standards. Last year, the organization announced standards for machine-readable passports which would include physical characteristics that computers could use to confirm people's identities.
"To allow for best possible comparison, if you smile or blink your eyes or turn your head, there would be fewer comparison points. So when you go to the counter, you will look at the camera in neutral face to offer the best comparison to the matching points on the picture in the passport," said Denis Chagnon, a spokesman for the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal.
Some photo shops and even immigration attorneys say they were blindsided by the prohibition against flashing pearly whites.
Mark Knapp, an immigration attorney with Reed Smith in Pittsburgh, said he knew about some of the other new guidelines for photographs but not the no-teeth rule. Knapp said he learned about the new guidelines from a colleague whose client's photo was rejected because of a toothy smile.
"You can't make this stuff up, honestly," Knapp said.
"What is interesting is the idea that you can't smile anymore and that they're rejecting photos. The idea that you can't smile is what most immigration lawyers find absurd," Knapp said.
Janet Stewart, who works at a downtown Pittsburgh photo shop, said she learned about the guideline the first day it went into effect because she had a photograph rejected.
"I'm the only photographer that says, 'Don't smile,'" she said.

Bank Machine Distributes Fake Money
 Thu Dec 2, 8:53 AM ET

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, already taking heat for accidentally faxing customers' financial information to a U.S. scrapyard, apologized on Wednesday after one of its cash machines dispensed fake money.
Instead of distributing C$20 bills, the machine, located in the Maritime province of New Brunswick, spat out colorful bills used as incentives at Canadian Tire Corp. hardware stores.
"The Canadian Tire money was contained within a bulk of regular currency, and it was apparently loaded into one of our bank machines," said CIBC spokesman Rob MacLeod.
The bank has refunded the money, issued apologies and started an investigation into how the incident, on Monday, occurred, MacLeod said.
Last month CIBC was dealt a public relations disaster when it was revealed it mistakenly sent confidential information about hundreds of clients to Wade Peer, a scrapyard operator in West Virginia.
Peer, who received the faxes over a three-year period, is now suing the bank for negligence. CIBC has fired back with accusations that Peer violated Canadian privacy laws.
CIBC will report its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday.

Strangers Marry Shortly After Meeting
 Fri Dec 3, 7:30 AM ET

DUBLIN, Ireland - AP - The first time Patrick Dunne saw his bride's face was when he lifted her wedding veil, shortly before the vows. Dunne wed accountant Bernadette Coleman from Dublin minutes after they were introduced by radio station 98 fm, which aired Ireland's first blind date-style wedding live.
"I was looking for Shrek, when I was walking down the aisle, the green man. But ... he is more than what I thought." said the bride, who is 30.
"She is beautiful," said the 34-year-old groom.
Wedding celebrant Michael Peter Ross performed the 20-minute civil ceremony in front of 180 people at the Clontarf Castle Hotel.
As the groom lifted his wife's veil before the vows, she immediately leaned forward and kissed him.
"I was going to write down a few words to say and I was trying to imagine what you looked like and you are more beautiful then I ever thought you could be," Dunne told Coleman.
The bride said she and Dunne had unwittingly met earlier in the week at the Dublin radio station when Dunne held a door open for her.
"For the honeymoon we are off to Austria so it should be fun and we get to spend time together as well which is all part of it," she said.
Asked how the couple will make a marriage work, she replied, "Come back to us in three months and you'll see. We are in it for the long haul.
"It is a very unusual way for two people to meet and although it is early days, the initial signs between us are very promising and we can now spend some real time getting to know each other, after all, we have the rest of our lives."
Coleman and Dunne beat hundreds of other applicants to win the chance to marry in 98 fm's "Two Strangers and a Wedding" competition, which began on Oct. 20. Similar competitions have been run in Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
The radio station said the lavish wedding, which included a medieval style wedding breakfast for 180, cost more than $63,000.

Armed Man Steals Salvation Army Kettle
 Sat Nov 27, 3:16 PM ET

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - A gun-wielding robber swiped a red Salvation Army kettle from a collector in front of a supermarket, police said.
Volunteer Jerlene Howard said she was ringing her bell to solicit donations from shoppers Friday night when a man wearing a scarf over his face got out of a car and demanded the kettle. He "had a gun and he told me not to say anything," she said.
The man then got back into the car, which was driven by an accomplice, police said. Howard was not injured.
Howard said her kettle was "kind of heavy," but she didn't know how much money was inside. She has collected up to $135 a day in the past.
The Salvation Army's annual Red Kettle fund-raising drive helps buy food for the homeless and toys for poor children.

Company Makes Gems From Loved Ones' Ashes
 Fri Nov 26,10:10 PM ET

By JIM SUHR, AP Business Writer
ST. LOUIS - Proving that diamonds indeed are forever, a widower got a gem of a keepsake made from his late wife's ashes this month: a 0.35-carat, round yellow diamond.
The synthetic stone, ordered by a man in his 40s shortly after his wife's death from heart disease in May, is the handiwork of LifeGems.
"It was beautiful, really pretty," funeral director Paul Baue said of the stone ordered by the widower, who requested privacy and declined to be interviewed for this story. "It's a great way to pay tribute to someone's life."
That LifeGem was the first sold in the St. Louis area, according to the suburban Chicago-based company. Three-year-old LifeGems estimates it has crafted nearly 1,000 of the diamonds — what it calls "the most unique memorial product ever invented" — for about 500 families.
"I think more people are looking for more-personal ways to remember somebody," says Dean VandenBiesen, LifeGem's vice president of operations. "Rather than having ongoing mourning for someone's loss, people are wanting to celebrate a life. The LifeGem is just another way to do that, versus having a weeping, somber occasion."
To LifeGem, the synthetic diamonds offer a choice in a funeral industry that for years, by nature, offered limited choices for consumers — bury a body in a graveyard or have the body cremated, with the ashes stored in an urn or scattered in the wind.
LifeGem needs 8 ounces of human ashes to make a diamond the company prizes for its "closeness and mobility," leaving the rest of the cremains to the family. Depending on size, LifeGem prices vary from about $2,500 for a quarter carat to about $14,000 for a full carat, VandenBiesen said.
"These remains are very precious and special to people, but they don't just have an aesthetic form and look," VandenBiesen said. "People actually really enjoy these, and that's really different from what you'd expect in the funeral profession."
As part of the LifeGems process that takes a few months, carbon extracted from cremains are subjected to the extremes of heat and pressure. The resulting diamond then is cut and faceted like a normal diamond.
Those behind LifeGems believe the market for the diamonds will only blossom. According to the Cremation Association of North America, the percentage of the dead that are cremated — nearly 28 percent in 2002 — is estimated to rise to 35 percent in 2010 and 43 percent in 2025.
Among more than 57,000 deaths in Missouri in 2002, 18.6 percent were cremated, the association said.
Beyond the synthetic diamonds, others in recent years have tried to think outside the box when it comes to options with cremains. Creative Cremains — based in California, long the nation's largest cremation state by volume — offers custom-designed urns, converting mementos — everything from sports equipment to photo frames and musical instruments — into places for loved one's ashes.
"The only limits are imagination and finances," the company's Web site says.
Not to be outdone, Georgia-based Eternal Reefs Inc. has catered to people who in life honored the environment, mixing their cremains into concrete and placing them in the water off any of several states, creating new marine habitats for fish and other sea life.
Other businesses will send cremains into space or place them in fireworks for folks who want to go out with a bang.
"I think different generations — the baby boomers and Generation Xers — are more open to making personalization part of their final journey in life," said Baue, vice president of Baue Funeral Homes, with four sites — and a crematory — in St. Charles County.
To him, turning loved ones into shiny ones is among the crown jewels of ways of being remembered.
"As they say, diamonds are forever," he said.

Dad's Attempt to Teach Lesson Backfires
 Sat Nov 27, 4:20 PM ET

NEWARK, N.J. - A father's attempt to teach his daughter a lesson about drinking backfired when the teen led police to a stash of drugs and weapons inside their home.
Kevin Winston, 46, called police at 2:45 a.m. Friday after his 16-year-old daughter came home drunk and unruly. When police arrived, however, the girl told them she feared for her safety because her father stored drugs and weapons in the home.
The girl led officers to a crawl space above the ceiling where they found four semiautomatic guns and more than 600 vials of cocaine.
Winston was charged with numerous weapons and drug charges. His five daughters were placed in the custody of a relative.
"He called us on her and ended up getting locked up himself," said Newark Police Director Anthony Ambrose.

Poor Table Manners Lead to Stabbings
 Fri Nov 26,12:19 PM ET

WORCESTER, Mass. - A man was charged with stabbing two relatives after they allegedly criticized his table manners during Thanksgiving dinner.
Police said the fight broke out Thursday when Gonzalo Ocasio, 49, and his 18-year-old son, Gonzalo Jr., reprimanded Frank Palacious for picking at the turkey with his fingers, instead of slicing off pieces with a knife.
Palacious, 24, described by police only as an uncle, allegedly responded by stabbing them with a carving knife.
He is charged with domestic assault and assault with intent to murder, Detective Sgt. Thomas R. Radula said.
Police said Ocasio Jr. suffered stab wounds to the chest, back and right side. A nursing supervisor at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center said Friday she had no information on his condition. His father was treated for a stab wound in his arm.

Man Allegedly Sinks Huge Stolen Statue
 Wed Nov 24, 5:16 PM ET

THOMASVILLE, Ga. - Police in Thomasville are scratching their heads over the odd case of a man who apparently stole an enormous bronze horse statue on a dare, then sank it in a local river when he realized he couldn't hide it.
Authorities say the culprit would've needed a crane to remove the $4,000 statue from the entrance to a Thomasville subdivision. The crime occurred either late Thursday or early Friday.
"It's the statue for the neighborhood," said Thomas County Sheriff's Department Investigator Jason Shoudel. "It makes the neighborhood."
Police asked the public for help, thinking someone must have noticed a bronze horse 8 feet long and 6 feet tall. A few days later, there was a crack in the case.
A tipster said a local man had taken the horse on a dare and plunged in into the Ocklocknee River.
On Tuesday, police questioned the suspect, James Barden, who "basically admitted" to taking it, said Thomas County Sheriff's Department Investigator Bob Brettel.
Barden took investigators to where he hid the statue, under a bridge, chest-deep in the middle of the river.
"He didn't want anybody to find it," Brettel told the Thomasville Times-Enterprise. "I think when he realized what he'd done, he acted out of fear, thinking 'What am I going to do with it? I've got to get rid of it,' and took it down there and hid it."
But that was when more problems surfaced for Barden.
Once he got to the river and tried to dump the horse, Barden realized the statue would not sink. The hollow horse had to fill with water first. Barden said he rode the horse into the middle of the Ochlockonee River before it started sinking.
He's been charged with felony theft. The horse was saved. Police tied a rope around one of the horse's legs and dragged it out with a truck.

They Don't Come Any Dumber...
 Mon Nov 22, 9:10 AM ET

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Bemused diners watched as three hapless thieves unsuccessfully tried to kick open a sliding door in a botched attempt to rob an Australian seafood restaurant, police said on Monday.
The men, wearing balaclavas, ran off empty-handed but left their bootprints on the industrial-strength glass door in a robbery bid that Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio said could have been mistaken as "a rehearsal for a slapstick comedy."
Police said about 20 diners watched as the men, one of whom was carrying a knife, tried to push open the door of the restaurant in the coastal village of Gerringong, 140 km (85 miles) south of Sydney, and then began kicking the glass.
"They're probably more dangerous because they're dumb," police investigator Jamie Williams said.
Restaurant owner Greg Moore said diners remained calm as they watched events unfold while enjoying dessert and coffee.
"The door's open, the sign says 'Slide' but obviously with their balaclavas they couldn't read too well," Moore said.
Diners were given complimentary bottles of wine after the bizarre episode. Police later found what they believe to be a stolen car used in the robbery attempt, and are continuing their investigations.

Three Wives Attempt Suicide After Argument
 Mon Nov 22, 9:14 AM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - All three wives of a 67-year-old Iranian man took overdoses in an unsuccessful triple suicide attempt after the youngest wife bought an expensive pair of boots, a news agency reported on Sunday.
"My two other wives were very jealous after my 27-year-old wife bought a pair of boots for $450," the husband was quoted as saying by the ISNA student news agency.
"After they had an argument about the price, they all attempted suicide together," he added.
All three women, now in stable condition in the hospital, have separate apartments and cars.
Men in Iran, where Islamic law has been in force since 1979, can marry up to four wives, although polygamy is fairly rare.

Wedding Snaps Earn Guest a Beating
 Mon Nov 22, 9:25 AM ET

RIYADH (Reuters) - A furious Saudi bride beat up a woman who used a mobile phone camera to photograph her at her wedding party, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.
The bride "beat up the woman, completely destroyed her phone and pulled her by the hair in front of a big crowd of guests" for taking pictures in the women-only section of the wedding at Taif, in western Saudi Arabia, Al-Jazirah daily said.
The bride was applauded by guests for her "vigilance," the paper added. Women and men are usually segregated at wedding parties in the deeply conservative Muslim country, allowing women to remove their veils without being seen by men.
Saudi Arabia has officially banned mobile phones with cameras but they are widely used in the Gulf state and several ministries have appealed to the government to repeal the ban.

Woman Claims Drug Dealer Ripped Her Off
Mon Nov 22,10:39 PM ET

WATERLOO, Iowa - A woman called police to report that her dealer sold her bad drugs. The woman made the call about 4:30 p.m. Friday from a coin-operated laundry and told police a drug dealer sold her crack cocaine that was possible fake.
By the time police arrived, she apparently changed her mind about filing the complaint and was gone.

Farmer's Hog Tops Scales at 1,600-Pounds
 Fri Nov 19, 5:18 PM ET

HUBBARDSVILLE, N.Y. - Bob Peterson has one big pig on his hands. The hog named Norm, after the character on "Cheers," weighs an estimated 1,600-pounds, stands four feet high and measures seven feet from snout to tail.
Norm lives on Peterson's Madison County farm in central New York. The retired state trooper from Connecticut says the three-year-old hog may be the world's biggest pig.
Heather Sweeney, a livestock specialist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension in neighboring Oneida County, says a three-year-old pig normally would top out at 500 pounds.
Word has spread among Peterson's farmer neighbors, and scores of them have showed up to get a look at the big pig.
Peterson says Norm will never wind up as bacon. The pig has become a mascot for his farm and Peterson says the huge porker will live out the rest of his life without being sold for meat.

Robbery Suspect Leaves Big Clue for Cops
Fri Nov 19, 5:26 PM ET

LINCOLN, Neb. - Police had help in tracking down a robbery suspect ... from the suspect. Police Chief Tom Casady said officers investigating a Nov. 11 robbery had a strong clue in a $75 check from the Cass County Jail to 39-year-old Kevin Martzett.
Court records on the robbery say a 19-year-old Lincoln man was standing in his yard at about 2 a.m. on Nov. 11 when two men drove up, pointed a gun at him, forced him to get in their car and drove to an ATM.
The records say the men took $45 from the victim's wallet, then forced him to deposit the jail check, withdraw $60 and give it to them. The men then let the teenager go.
The victim identified Martzett — with help from the check — as one of the robbers. Martzett was arrested Wednesday on a robbery charge. The other suspect was being sought.
Cass County records show Martzett was arrested on Oct. 25 for failing to appear on a theft charge. He bonded out on Nov. 10.
Casady said jails typically write checks for inmates who have outstanding balances in their jail accounts when they are released.

Ground 'Moves' as Cane Toads Invade Park
 Fri Nov 19, 9:21 AM ET

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of poisonous baby cane toads invaded an Australian national park Friday, hopping around in such numbers that the ground seemed to move, an ecologist said.
The ugly amphibians moved into the Arakwal National Park near one of the country's famous surfing meccas, Byron Bay, following an explosion in toad numbers after recent rains.
"You should see the ground down there, it is just black and it is just moving, it is a seething mass of young cane toads, it looks like the ground is moving," local ecologist Steve Phillips told Australian radio.
Park officials plan to destroy as many of the toads as possible before they grow into adults, hoping that once numbers are reduced the threatened wallum froglet and wallum sedge frog populations will pick up.
Cane toads are one of Australia's worst environmental pests.
They were introduced to Australia from Hawaii in 1935 to stop the French Cane Beetle and Greyback Cane Beetle from destroying sugar cane crops in the northeastern state of Queensland.
The biological warfare experiment backfired as the beetles could fly and escape being killed.
The toads thrived, meanwhile, and quickly multiplied.
With females laying up to 35,000 eggs a year, the amphibians -- some as big as dinner plates -- have now spread out from Queensland west into the Northern Territory and south into New South Wales, threatening the unique Australian fauna in their path.
While cane toads will eat anything and appear easy prey for larger animals, they possess highly poisonous sacs behind their heads which kill predators quickly.

Peru Seizes Cocaine Haul Hidden in Giant Squid
 Mon Nov 15, 3:29 PM ET

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Peruvian police said on Monday they seized nearly 1,540 pounds (700 kg) of cocaine hidden in frozen giant squid bound for Mexico and the United States.
The drugs were covered in pepper to divert sniffer dogs and sealed in several layers of plastic and other wrappers. Police had been on the trail since August.
Seven people were arrested in the drug seizure. Police said the haul would have a street value of about $17.5 million.
Peru is the world's No. 2 cocaine producer after Colombia, and many of its drugs end up on U.S. streets after being sent via Mexico.

The key to a successful burglary? Try the French police
 Sat Nov 13, 3:06 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) - A swindler posing as the owner of a jewelery store outside Paris managed to steal a set of luxury pens and watches with the unwitting help of local police and a locksmith, police said on Saturday.
Claiming to be the owner of a jewelery store a few blocks away, a 30-year-old man called in at the police station in Enghien-les-Bains, a small town northwest of Paris, at around midnight on Saturday last week.
The man, identified only as Yves, told the officers he had lost his keys and needed their help to get into the shop. They kindly obliged, calling in a locksmith to pry open the door.
The locksmith became suspicious, however, after the man reached for the shop's display counters, grabbing a handful of fountain pens and watches -- among them a Rolex.
He asked him for an ID, but the burglar said he had left his papers at the police station. He then fled the scene, carrying with him booty worth some 10,OOO euros (13,000 dollars).
Police caught up with the thief the following day, and recovered part of the loot from his home in a nearby town.

Distance no handicap for Aussie plan to build world's largest golf course
 Sun Nov 14,12:42 PM ET

SYDNEY (AFP) - Authorities in Australia have unveiled plans to open the world's largest golf course alongside a desert highway, in a scheme which will convert the Outback's Nullarbor Plain into a 1,400 kilometre (868 mile) sandtrap.
Local councils along the length of the Nullarbor have approved construction of the course, hoping it will induce tourists to slow down and appreciate what is generally regarded as one of the most desolate environments in Australia.
The plan is to build one hole at each of the 18 towns and roadhouses (petrol stations) dotted along the Nullarbor section of the Eyre Highway, to be collectively known as Nullarbor Links.
Motorists will stop at one roadhouse, play a hole, then drive on to the next teeing-off point -- 100 kilometres (62 miles) down the road in some cases.
The idea is the brainchild of Balladonia roadhouse manager Bob Bongiorno, who said it combined his love of golf and hopes of boosting tourism.
"I brought my golf clubs when I first came out here seven years ago and tried hitting a few balls in the bush," he told AFP. "I had to fight the spiders to get them back, though, so I gave it away."
Bongiorno said about 300 vehicles passed along the Eyre Highway each day, but most motorists were intent on completing the journey as quickly as possible.
To remedy the situation, he said Nullarbor Links would provide a unique golf experience and every stop on the course would showcase a hidden local treasure -- from whale-watching spots just 500 metres from the highway to ancient fossil beds.
Bongiorno's local attraction in Balladonia is the site where the US Skylab satellite came crashing to earth in 1979.
"Even if people only play a few holes, it will break up their journey and give them the chance to say they've played on the world's biggest golf course," he said.
The roadhouse manager plans to build the world's largest golfball in Balladonia to publicise the course. Its dimensions are yet to be finalised.
Goldfields Tourism Association chairman Alf Caputo said local councils had agreed to use their roadworks equipment to create the dirt fairways and "greens" made of oiled sand -- real grass is impossible to maintain in the arid environment.
"It's never going to be St Andrews," he told AFP. "But it's an awesome idea for promoting our area and should be a lot of fun."
Trial holes will be built in the next few months and the entire course is scheduled to open in 2006.
Caputo said he had already received calls from tour operators wanting to offer clients a round of Outback golf.
"Most of the interest is coming from overseas," he said, pointing out that the proposed course stretches further than the length of Britain.

Six Thai monks defrocked for drug and alcohol parties: police
 Sun Oct 24, 5:52 PM ET

BANGKOK (AFP) - A group of Thai Buddhist monks has been arrested and defrocked after holding a spate of rowdy drug and alcohol parties, police said.
The group of six monks at a temple in Ratchaburi west of Bangkok was arrested Friday night after local villagers complained about their wild behaviour and drug-taking, said Police Major Annop Nuamnaka.
"Villagers are fed up with the monks at this temple as they always make loud noise when they drink and take pills," Annop told AFP.
He said five of the saffron-robed monks had tested positive to amphetamine pills called "yaa baa" (which means "crazy drug" in Thai) while the sixth was drunk.
The monks were defrocked by the temple's head monk following their arrests, said police.
Monks are expected to refrain from drinking alcohol or taking strong stimulants, and are revered in Thailand, which is 95 percent Buddhist.

Elderly Italian prostitute wins right to continue working
 Tue Nov 16, 1:35 PM ET

ROME (AFP) - A 73-year-old prostitute won the right to continue to work from her camper van in two northern Italian communes after a lower court overturned a police warrant to move her on.
The woman took legal action against the police who in January this year ordered her to move on from two suburbs of Udine, in the northern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
The local police headquarters said her professional activities were "inappropriate" to the areas frequented by minors and issued the order after a police patrol found her entertaining a client in her camper, the Ansa news agency reported.
The woman's lawyer Alessandra Neva argued before a local court that the order had caused her economic hardship and had no basis in law as prostitution was not illegal.
Magistrates at the Regional Administrative Tribunal recognized the police warrant had caused "serious and irreparabile" damage to the woman's income and scrapped it.

Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Back Up on EBay
Wed Nov 17, 7:35 AM ET

MIAMI - The Internet auction house eBay Inc. reversed itself Tuesday and is allowing bids for half of a 10-year-old grilled cheese sandwich that its owner says bears the image of the Virgin Mary.
Diana Duyser, of Hollywood, put the sandwich up for sale last week, drawing bids as high as $22,000 before eBay pulled the item Sunday night. The page was viewed almost 100,000 times before being taken down.
An e-mail Duyser received from eBay said the sandwich broke its policy, which "does not allow listings that are intended as jokes."
But Duyser, a work-from-home jewelry designer who has bought and sold items on eBay for two years, said the grilled cheese wasn't a joke.
The auction was back on Tuesday afternoon with a top bid of $5,100. The winning bidder also has to pay $9.95 for shipping. In mocking response, two similar items were later posted — grilled cheese sandwiches bearing the images of the Virgin Mary's used gum and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.
A phone message left with San Jose, Calif.-based eBay was not immediately returned Tuesday.
Duyser thought eBay would be the best place to show off the sandwich, made on plain white bread and American cheese and cooked with no oil or butter. She said she took a bite after making it 10 years ago and saw a face staring back at her from the bread.
Duyser, 52, put the sandwich in a clear plastic box with cotton balls and kept it on her night stand.
At first, she was scared by the image, "but now that I realize how unique it is, I wanted to share it with the world," Duyser told The Miami Herald.
She said the sandwich has never sprouted a spore of mold.

Mom Breastfeeds Puppy to Protect Baby
 Wed Nov 17, 8:30 AM ET

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A woman in New Zealand says she is breastfeeding her pet puppy because she wants it to protect her baby daughter as they both grow up.
Kura Tumanako told the NZPA news agency Wednesday that she had started breastfeeding the Staffordshire bull terrier pup after her baby stopped taking her milk.
"I didn't want to waste it so I gave it to Honey Boy," she said.
According to NZPA, Tumanako said she had fed the dog twice a day for the past week but would probably wean it off in about six weeks' time. Her baby, now 2 months old, is on bottled milk.
"I wanted to raise it (the pup) with my baby," she said. "I wanted to bring it up with a baby. It will protect her as they grow up," said Tumanako, who lives in Hastings in New Zealand's North Island.
"He drinks more than the baby. It doesn't hurt, but it's a little bit ticklish."

Texas Officials Wary of Plan to Hunt by Internet
 Wed Nov 17, 8:45 AM ET

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Hunters soon may be able to sit at their computers and blast away at animals on a Texas ranch via the Internet, a prospect that has state wildlife officials up in arms.
A controversial Web site, http://www.live-shot.com, already offers target practice with a .22 caliber rifle and could soon let hunters shoot at deer, antelope and wild pigs, site creator John Underwood said on Tuesday.
Texas officials are not quite sure what to make of Underwood's Web site, but may tweak existing laws to make sure Internet hunting does not get out of hand.
"This is the first one I've seen," said Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife director Mike Berger. "The current state statutes don't cover this sort of thing."
Underwood, an estimator for a San Antonio, Texas auto body shop, has invested $10,000 to build a platform for a rifle and camera that can be remotely aimed on his 330-acre (133-hectare) southwest Texas ranch by anyone on the Internet anywhere in the world.
The idea came last year while viewing another Web site on which cameras posted in the wild are used to snap photos of animals.
"We were looking at a beautiful white-tail buck and my friend said 'If you just had a gun for that.' A little light bulb went off in my head," he said.
Internet hunting could be popular with disabled hunters unable to get out in the woods or distant hunters who cannot afford a trip to Texas, Underwood said.
Berger said state law only covers "regulated animals" such as native deer and birds and cannot prevent Underwood from offering Internet hunts of "unregulated" animals such as non-native deer that many ranchers have imported and wild pigs.
He has proposed a rule that will come up for public discussion in January that anyone hunting animals covered by state law must be physically on site when they shoot.
Berger expressed reservations about remote control hunting, but noted that humans have always adopted new technologies to hunt.
"First it was rocks and clubs, then we sharpened it and put it on a stick. Then there was the bow and arrow, black powder, smokeless power and optics," Berger said. "Maybe this is the next technological step out there."
Underwood, 39, said he will offer animal hunting as soon as he gets a fast Internet connection to his remote ranch that will enable hunters to aim the rifle quickly at passing animals.
He said an attendant would retrieve shot animals for the shooters, who could have the heads preserved by a taxidermist. They could also have the meat processed and shipped home, or donated to animal orphanages.

'Eternal Life' Almost Kills Five
 Wed Nov 17, 8:53 AM ET

DUSHANBE (Reuters) - A 23-meter (75-foot) high monument in Tajikistan called "Eternal Life" collapsed on Wednesday and nearly killed five people.
Five men working on the monument designed as a new centerpiece heralding optimism after war in the 1990s suffered broken arms and legs when it came crashing down on top of them, said police spokesman Alisher Khakimov.

Croatia May Offer Holidays Behind Bars
 Wed Nov 17, 7:56 AM ET

By EUGENE BRCIC, Associated Press Writer
ZAGREB, Croatia - Croatia may reopen its most notorious communist-era prison for tourists willing to part with their money to re-enact the life of a political prisoner — including hard labor, stale food and nights in solitary confinement.
The plan has the support of some local officials and even former inmates, who have offered to work as tour guides, though the city council has yet to make a final decision.
"If you want to experience some of the torture that political prisoners underwent ... just come along," said Josip Modric, an architect who is promoting the project.
Modric envisions tourists being issued convict uniforms, pounding large stones with a sledgehammer and hauling the pieces on their backs to quarries around the prison on Goli Otok, a barren island in the northern Adriatic Sea.
Those who sign up would be given written awards after completing their "prison sentence."
Goli Otok — which means Naked Island — was a miniature gulag set up by Yugoslavia's communist dictator Josip Broz Tito after World War II. It housed 3,000 inmates at its height but has been derelict since its closure in 1989.
To bring in tourists, Modric wants to build a gondola connecting the mainland to Goli Otok and a smaller neighboring island that served as a political prison for women.
Local officials have expressed interest but say they are unsure how well a vacation from hell will sell.
"How avant-garde or realistic this idea is remains to be further analyzed," said the head of the district's tourism office, Alen Andreskic.
A final decision was expected within a few weeks.
Modric insisted he would offer gluttons for punishment only as much as they could take — with plenty of expert supervision.
"Weaker inmates would carry out light toil, while fitter inmates would 'kill themselves' with work in the sun during the day and spend the night in solitary confinement," Modric said.
"Of course, unlike real prisoners, nobody would be tortured."

Swedes beam poetry into outer space
 Wed Nov 17, 9:22 AM ET

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish poets have broadcast their work into outer space by radio to give alien life forms -- if they exist -- a taste of earthling literature.
"I can't think of anything more adequate than poetry to communicate what it means to be human," said Daniel Sjolin, editor of Swedish poetry magazine Lyrikvannen and organizer of the live reading at a Stockholm observatory.
The transmission on Tuesday night was aimed at Vega, the brightest star of the Lyra constellation, which is 25 light-years from Earth -- meaning the poets will have to wait 50 years for alien reviews.

Beavers Make Dam Out of Stolen Money
 Mon Nov 15, 7:57 PM ET

GREENSBURG, La. - These eager beavers had a whole new slant on money laundering. A bag of bills stolen from a casino was snapped up by beavers who wove thousands of dollars in soggy currency into the sticks and brush of their dam on a creek in eastern Louisiana.
"They hadn't torn the bills up. They were still whole," said Maj. Michael Martin of the St. Helena Parish sheriff's office.
The money was part of $70,000 to $75,000 taken last week from the Lucky Dollar Casino in Greensburg.
St. Helena Parish deputies searched for the money for days until a lawyer, hoping to make a deal with prosecutors for a client, called and said the money had been discarded in the creek, Police Chief Ronald Harrell said.
Officers searched the creek during the weekend, finding one money bag right away and spotting a second downstream against the beaver dam.
The third bag of cash couldn't be found, Martin said, so deputies started breaking down the beaver dam to drain the pond it was holding. That was when they saw the dam's expensive decoration. They eventually found the missing bag, which the beavers hadn't completely emptied.
"The casino people were elated" to get the money back, even if some of it was wet, Harrell said.
Altogether, deputies found about $40,000, and they expect to find the rest in a safety deposit box at a bank in Mississippi, authorities said.

Top Drug Sniffer Dog Gets Death Threats
 Tue Nov 16, 8:41 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A drug sniffer dog working at a prison in northern England has received death threats because it is so good at its job, a British newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The unnamed four-legged super sleuth searches visitors at Manchester's Strangeways Prison and there have been "tangible death threats against the dog because it is so successful," according to The Guardian.
The dog, one of six used at the prison, was removed from frontline duties after complaints and its sniffing powers assessed.
"He was 100 percent more sensitive than some drug dogs and he was also 100 percent more accurate," a prison spokeswoman told the paper, adding the prison's top dog was back on duty.

Minn. Church Apparently Conned - Again
 Sat Nov 13, 5:46 PM ET

WILLMAR, Minn. - After its last pastor allegedly bilked them out of $10,000, leaders of Rejoice Ministries church thought they were being extra careful when they hired James Poole.
Still reeling from the theft, they asked Poole to come to the church and preach in an act of caution to ensure Poole was legitimate before hiring him.
"He did a good service," church secretary Mary Steffens told The West Central Tribune of Willmar for a story in Saturday's paper. "I will give him credit for that."
Poole was hired in August, but less than a month later, he allegedly skipped town without repaying $3,344 he "borrowed" from the church for rent, trips, even a new bathtub, Steffens said.
Church officials later learned that Poole — whose real name authorities believe is Jerry Andrews — had served jail time for writing bad checks and credit card theft.
"I feel like we are a clearing house for bad pastors," Steffens said.
Last winter, Rejoice Ministries hired Dennis Bennett as pastor, not knowing that he was a veteran con artist. Prosecutors filed criminal charges after Bennett was accused of stealing $10,000 that the church gave him for a car, a home down payment and other expenses.
As with Bennett, church leaders found Poole in an Internet advertisement when they searched for a new pastor.
Rejoice's congregation of 12 is now trying to decide whether to look for a new pastor or just shut down.
"I don't know where we are going to go from here," Steffens said. "Each time it's cost us a lot of money."

Whatever You Do, Don't Open That Bedroom Door....
 Mon Nov 15,11:25 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A British house-buyer got more than they bargained for after the discovery of a badly decomposed body in an upstairs bedroom of their new home, the Daily Telegraph said Monday.
The newspaper said the skeletal remains may have been in the 98,000 pounds ($180,300) derelict house in Birmingham, central England, for at least two years and had escaped detection despite complaints from neighbors about a bad smell.
The odor was blamed on rubbish, including dead pigeons, that had accumulated while the property was empty.
The dead man, who has not been identified, is thought to have been a vagrant. His death is not thought to be suspicious.

Researcher Says Atlantis Found Off Cyprus
 Mon Nov 15,11:28 AM ET

By Michele Kambas
LIMASSOL, Cyprus (Reuters) - A U.S. researcher on Sunday claimed he had found the lost civilization of Atlantis in the watery deep off Cyprus -- adding his theory to a mystery which has baffled explorers for centuries.
Robert Sarmast says a Mediterranean basin was flooded in a deluge around 9,000 BC which submerged a rectangular land mass he believes was Atlantis, lying 1.5 km beneath sea level between Cyprus and Syria.
"We have definitely found it," said Sarmast, who led a team of explorers 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the south-east coast of Cyprus earlier this month.
Deep water sonar scanning had indicated man-made structures on a submerged hill, including a 3-kilometer-long wall, a walled hill summit and deep trenches, he said. But further explorations were needed, he added.
"We cannot yet provide tangible proof in the form of bricks and mortar as the artifacts are still buried under several meters of sediment, but the circumstantial and other evidence is irrefutable," he claimed.
At a news conference in the port city of Limassol, Sarmast provided only animated simulations of the "hill."
Whether and where Atlantis existed has captured imaginations for centuries.
According to ancient Greek philosopher Plato, Atlantis was an island nation where an advanced civilization developed some 11,500 years ago.
Theories abound as to why it disappeared, from Atlantis being hit by a cataclysmic natural disaster to Greek mythology which describes the civilization as being so corrupted by greed and power that it was destroyed by God.
Skeptics believe Atlantis was a figment of Plato's imagination.
Sarmast says he was led to Cyprus by clues in Plato's dialogues. Plato's reference to Atlantis lying opposite the Pillars of Hercules -- believed to be the Straits of Gibraltar -- have often led explorers to focus on either the Atlantic Ocean, Ireland or the Azores off Portugal.
"People who dismiss this have not really done their homework, skeptics don't really understand. To understand the enigma of Atlantis you have to have good knowledge of ancient history, Biblical references, the Sumerian culture and their tablets and so on," said Sarmast.
Although the most prevailing story of a world cataclysm is listed in the Biblical Old Testament, several ancient cultures do list accounts of civilizations being destroyed in floods.

Man Allegedly Bites Officer, Police Dog
 Fri Nov 12, 5:01 PM ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police say a man bit an officer and his dog Friday after trying to stiff a cab driver on an early morning fare.
Capt. Rich Lockhart said the suspect, who had not been charged Friday, broke the skin on an officer's hand when he bit him. The man then nearly bit the ear off the police dog.
Lockhart said a cab driver told a police officer at 2:15 a.m. that someone had refused to pay a fare. When the officer found the man nearby and got out of his car and to stop him, Lockhart said, the man spun around and punched the officer.
The officer used a remote control to release his police dog from the patrol car while scuffling with the suspect. During the fracas, the man bit the officer and the dog.
After other officers arrived, one used his Taser to subdue the man. The officer was treated at a hospital, while the dog's ear was reattached by a veterinarian.

Iowa Man Wins $100K Lottery for 2nd Time
 Fri Nov 12, 5:07 PM ET

SOLON, Iowa - An eastern Iowa man has beat extraordinary odds by winning $100,000 from the Iowa Lottery's Cash Game a second time. K. Morris Richardson picked up his second jackpot on Tuesday.
"I just kind of smiled all the way to the bank," he said.
Richardson first won $100,000 in 2000 through the same daily game. His latest win came when he matched the five numbers for Monday's drawing.
Richardson, 79, a member of the Solon American Legion Post 460, bought the $100,000 Cash Game ticket at a Hy-Vee Food store.
Lottery officials said the odds of winning the game twice are one in 324,632.

Derailment Spills 20,000 Gallons of Beer
Fri Nov 12,12:57 PM ET

CHILHOWIE, Va. - Fourteen cars of an 83-car Norfolk Southern train derailed near an industrial park, leaving the area smelling like a brewery Thursday.
About 20,000 gallons of beer leaked from three cars of the Roanoke-bound train, said railway spokesman Robin Chapman.
No one was injured when the cars skipped the tracks about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Chapman said.
Investigating officers said the leak did not contaminate any nearby water sources nor affect any highways.
"Everything was contained away from the creek," said Jack Tolbert Jr. of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
Authorities were investigating the cause of the derailment. All trains scheduled to use the tracks through Chilhowie were held until they were cleared Thursday evening.

Boy Survives Flight Hiding in Jet's Landing Gear
 Fri Nov 12,10:49 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - A 14-year-old homeless boy who stowed away in the landing gear of a passenger jet survived a 430-mile flight across southwest China, state media reported on Friday.
But a friend riding with him fell from the plane and died during Thursday's hour-long flight between Kunming and Chongqing, which reached an altitude of about 23,000 feet.
"The survivor was found by porters at Chongqing airport ... The boy who survived the flight said the other boy fell from the aircraft when it took off," the official Xinhua news agency said.

59-Year-Old Set to Give Birth to Twins
Thu Nov 11, 6:53 PM ET

By ELLIOTT MINOR, Associated Press Writer
SYLVESTER, Ga. - A 59-year-old great-grandmother is pregnant with twins and will deliver next month, three decades after she had her tubes tied. "They came untied," Frances Harris said Thursday.
The multiple birth Dec. 21 would break the purported record set this week by a 56-year-old New York City mother of twins.
Harris, of rural Sylvester, Ga., said she wasn't trying to get pregnant — and didn't realize she was — until she started gaining weight and went to see her doctor.
"A lot of things changed about me," she said. "I started craving grapes and apples, things I don't usually crave. By then I was four months pregnant."
When the doctor broke the news, "They had to sit me down. I couldn't even talk," she said.
The news was even more shocking considering Harris — the mother of five, grandmother of 14 and great-grandmother of six — had her tubes tied 33 years ago after the birth of her youngest child.
Harris had her first child when she was 15; 44 years will separate her first-born from the newborns. She was divorced years ago from the twins' father, 60-year-old Raymond Harris, a heavy equipment operator. She said they will remarry before the birth.
The oldest American believed to have given birth to twins is Aleta St. James, a single mother who turns 57 on Friday. She gave birth Tuesday by in-vitro fertilization at New York City's Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) show 263 children were born to women between ages 50 and 54 in 2002. The oldest American to give birth is Arceli Keh, of California, who was 63 when she had a daughter in 1996.
Harris said some family members, concerned about health complications, had suggested she end the pregnancy.
"I couldn't live with myself," she said. "I pray we all three pull through. When they're so little, they're so beautiful. I think they are God's gift."

Hunter Loses Wrestling Match With Deer
Thu Nov 11, 5:39 PM ET

NORTH VERNON, Ind. - When hunter Jim Mick went into the woods to bag himself a deer, he never expected to come out empty-handed — and badly bruised.
The 69-year-old bowhunter was treated for injuries he said he suffered during a wrestling match with an angry buck. Mick, of North Vernon, said the deer attacked him Monday while he was hunting alone in rural Decatur County in southeastern Indiana.
"He came out of the tall grass and briars," said Mick. "When I realized it, he was on me already."
Mick said the animal, which weighed about 150 pounds, struck him in the chest and knocked him to the ground, goring him in the thigh. "All I had time to do was throw my hands up and grab his antlers," he said.
After about a 10-minute struggle, Mick said he managed to put a tree between himself and the deer, and the animal retreated.
Mick put a makeshift bandage on his leg and returned to his vehicle to call family members for help, he said. His son-in-law took him to a hospital in Greensburg, where he was treated for the gash and other minor injuries and released.
"It was probably a draw, but I think I got the worst of it," Mick said. "I don't think he had any gouge marks on him."

Norwegian Mistakenly Burns Cash for Heat
 Thu Nov 11, 6:01 PM ET

OSLO, Norway - A Norwegian who felt a bit chilly after a night on the town and decided to stoke his fireplace didn't really have money to burn. It just turned out that way.
What he realized too late was that the paper he used to start the blaze was a stack of bills, worth about $2,400, the regional newspaper Avisa Nordland reported Thursday.
"I came home late at night after a party, and wanted a beer before I went to bed," he told the newspaper. "It was cold in the living room, but there was a glow in the wood stove."
So the man, identified only as being his 50s, grabbed a handful of paper next to the stove and tossed it in.
"I discovered too late that the envelope of money had fallen onto the floor with the kindling paper," he said. He said the cash had been payment for an artwork he had sold earlier in the day.
Had there been anything left of the bills, he might have been able to exchange some of it for undamaged bills at the state Bank of Norway, but the wood stove was too efficient.
The man, who lives on the Arctic Lofoten Islands of northwestern Norway, told the newspaper his tale of woe on the condition that it did not publish his name.

Truck Dumps Load of Peanuts Into Yard
 Thu Nov 11, 6:15 PM ET

SUFFOLK, Va. - A load of Georgia peanuts was delivered unexpectedly Thursday to a discriminating fan of the goober.
The 46,000-pound load of peanuts was dumped in J.S. Doughtie's front yard after the trailer they were in slipped off the road and tipped in the soft shoulder, driver Jeff Lanier told police.
Doughtie, 83, said he was working in a shed in his back yard when he realized what had happened. He was told to help himself.
"Oh, I'm going to roast some, make some candy," he said. "I love peanuts, but I do wish these were from Virginia."
Lanier, who was hauling the peanuts from Statesboro, Ga., was charged with reckless driving and failing to maintain control of his vehicle, Suffolk Police said.

Stage Sex Man Shocks Again in Court
 Wed Nov 10, 8:29 AM ET

OSLO (Reuters) - A couple who sparked outrage by having sex on stage in front of thousands of stunned rock concert goers in Norway shocked again on Tuesday when the man pulled down his trousers in court.
"Oops, I must have dropped my pants," Tommy Hol Ellingsen, 28, said as he stripped in front of reporters during a break at a local court in Kristiansand, southern Norway.
Hol Ellingsen and Petra Leona Johansson, 22, were in court after refusing to pay a fine of 10,000 crowns ($1,574) each for copulating on stage during a concert in July.
The two, who are members of an environmental group, said their sex stunt was meant to draw attention to a campaign to save the rain forest. Their attorney argued that they were protected under freedom of expression law.

Come Back Tomorrow, Cops Tell Bank Robber
 Wed Nov 10, 8:31 AM ET

ALBANY (Reuters) - An Albany man turned himself into police after seeing himself on TV news robbing a bank but was turned away by officers who told him to come back the next day, police said on Tuesday.
Albany resident Darrell Lewis, 40, surrendered to police hours after his Nov. 1 holdup of a downtown bank but was told to come back the next day to be arrested.
Lewis went to a different station the following day and was charged with robbery, Albany police spokesman Jimmy Miller said.
The incident has prompted an internal investigation.

Inmate Attends Funeral, Returns With Drugs
 Tue Nov 9,11:18 PM ET

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -AP- A jail inmate allowed to attend a family funeral returned to the jailhouse 12 hours later with a stash of drugs and syringes in his stomach, authorities said.
Joshua Robertson, 30, of Boulder Creek, had been in jail since Oct. 18 on charges of selling and transporting heroin and resisting arrest. Deputies suspected he may have planned a drug run when he asked to attend the funeral, Santa Cruz police Sgt. Steve Carney said.
"We weren't able to communicate our suspicions to the judge" before Robertson was released, Carney said Monday. But detectives got a search warrant, and when Robertson returned Friday night, he was taken to Dominican Hospital for an X-ray.
Laxatives and an enema were used and Robertson "gave them up within five hours," Carney said. Robertson expelled 17 grams of black tar heroin, 20 grams of marijuana and four hypodermic syringes.
Robertson was already facing up to 12 years in state prison, plus two parole violations, according to Assistant District Attorney Thanh Ngo. Officers seized 50 grams of heroin and $1,500 from Robertson when he was arrested in October, investigators said.
Additional drug charges will be filed this week, Carney said.

Women Allege Boss Spanked Them for Errors
 Tue Nov 9, 6:35 PM ET

By BILL POOVEY, Associated Press Writer
RED BANK, Tenn. - Two young women complained to police that they were spanked by their 57-year-old employer for mistakes on the job, and the boss now faces criminal charges.
One of the women told police that on her first day at the Tasty Flavors Sno Biz, before any spanking, owner Paul Eugene Levengood made her sign a statement that said: "I give Gene permission to bust my behind any way he sees fit."
The separate complaints prompted two sexual battery charges against Levengood of Cleveland, who was freed on a $2,000 bond pending a Nov. 16 court hearing.
Levengood could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and his Tasty Flavors Sno Biz shaved ice business in this Chattanooga suburb was closed.
Police Sgt. Jay LaMance said the two 19-year-old women likely accepted the spankings instead of leaving immediately because they were "brought up to respect anybody who is an authority figure."
One of the women told police Nov. 1 that she "was shocked at the incident but could not leave because she had no transportation." The other woman said she continued to work for Levengood more than a year after she was spanked and reported to police that he told her "either she could be spanked or be fired."
The Associated Press is not identifying the women because they may be victims of a sexual crime.
According to police documents, one of the women reported that on Oct. 30, her fourth day on the job, Levengood called her "into the back room of the store" after she forgot to put a banana in a smoothie drink.
She said that as punishment Levengood "bent her over his knee and spanked her behind 20 times."
She said that was one day after he "snapped a photograph of her behind" as she reached for a flavor bottle on a shelf.
LaMance said one of the women showed him photographs that had been kept at the store. The photos of women were shot from behind and in some cases do not show faces but "all you see are their behinds," he said.
"These photos are not sexually explicit," he said. "They are clothed."
At the company headquarters in Minneapolis, sales manager Tom Novetzke described Levengood as a "very Christian person." He said the company's toll-free number is very visible for employees and customers.
"We've never had a complaint," Novetzke said.
He said Levengood opened the store about two years ago and is "an independent operator using our products."

Businessman Loses Pumpkin-Hurling Title
 Tue Nov 9, 7:11 AM ET

HOWELL, Mich. -AP- A businessman's effort to defend his pumpkin-hurling title literally fell short.
Bruce Bradford and his nine-ton contraption held the World Championship Punkin Chunkin title for two years until Sunday. A rival's machine claimed the crown by shooting a gourd that soared 4,224 feet before a crowd of about 40,000 in Sussex County, Del.
Bradford's mechanical device finished second in the field of 100, sending an 8- to 10-pound pumpkin 4,056 feet across a farmer's field with a blast of compressed air.
"Well, we're first-place losers, so we're not too happy about that," Bradford, 57, owner of S&G Steel Erectors in Howell.
He even found a silver lining: Not having to lug home the trophy, which required a forklift to load it onto a trailer to bring it to the 18th annual competition.
"At least we don't have to haul that big ugly thing home," he said. "It's the ugliest trophy in the world," said Bradford, whose tournament record of 4,594 feet set in 2003 remained intact.

Colas Solve Pest Problem
 Mon Nov 8, 8:24 AM ET

GUNTUR, India (Reuters) - Cotton farmers in some Indian villages are flocking to buy Coca-Cola and Pepsi, believing that the sugar in the fizzy drinks kills pests.
Farmers say scientists advised them to mix pesticides with a sugary syrup to control pests, and they found the mixture cheaper and more effective than pure chemicals -- although soft drink makers and scientists dismissed the claims.
N. Hamunayya, who has become a celebrity in his village in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, said his crop survived an attack of pests which had resisted other remedies.
"We found that all the colas had uniform effect on pests. The pests became numb and fell to ground," he said.
He said the drinks had all the elements they needed: they were cheaper, sticky, fizzy, and attracted ants, which devoured the larvae of the pests.
But Thirupathi Reddy, assistant director of the Regional Agri Research station, Guntur, says tests had refuted such claims.
"We conducted some field trials on cotton crop at our research station. There was no boosting of productivity or eradication of pests," he says.
Statements from Pepsi and Coca-Cola said there was "no scientific basis" for this practice.
But their vendors are enjoying booming sales.
Mantan Wali, who sells soft drinks in 17 villages in the region, said sales fizzed up, thanks to the farmers.
"For the 10 days between August and September I had booming business. Instead of just 30 cases (each containing a dozen one-liter bottles) of cola I started selling almost 200 cases," he said.
"We expected the sales to nosedive after the cacophony over pesticide residues in the cola drinks. Now I have to keep extra stock for the cotton farmers," he said.
In February, an Indian parliamentary panel upheld a report by an environment group that said beverages made by Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc contained pesticides and called for tougher safety standards.
The U.S. firms strongly rejected the findings of the New Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment and said their products were safe.

Parishioners Lock Church to Back Gun-Toting Priest
 Mon Nov 8, 8:27 AM ET

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Angry parishioners chained shut a church in central Mexico on Friday in protest at the firing of their priest, whose habit of tucking a gun under his robes has earned him fame and the nickname "Padre Pistolas."
Hundreds of people from the town of Chucandiro demonstrated outside the cathedral in the city of Morelia after Catholic church leaders there defrocked their gunslinging priest, Alfredo Gallegos, local media reported.
"We have closed the church with chains and that's how it will stay until Father Alfredo comes back," protester Gilberto Moron was quoting as saying, adding that locals would accept no other priest.
Gallegos is wildly popular with parishioners but has angered his Catholic superiors with his habit of wearing a shiny pistol beneath his robes, despite strict laws in Mexico banning private citizens from carrying guns.
Also known for his love of cowboy boots and country music, Gallegos says he only carries a gun for protection, noting several of his friends have been killed over the years.
Locals say he has brought them huge social benefits, helping the marginalized and raising money for roads and hospital projects. "He has united us as a people," said Moron.
Church leaders gave no reason for sacking the priest.

Swarming Locusts: if You Can't Beat Them, Eat Them
 Mon Nov 8, 8:37 AM ET

NICOSIA (Reuters) -AP- In their struggle to cope with an invasion of desert locusts, Cypriot farmers may do well to turn to a U.N. site that counsels if you can't beat them eat them.
Locusts are rich in protein and can be stir-fried, boiled or roasted, is one nugget of information provided by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (news - web sites) in a drive to help deal with locust swarms that have landed in Cyprus from Africa.
"Here are a few local recipes from locust-affected countries," a page on the FAO Web site says.
"Please send us yours!"
One recipe from a tribe in southern Africa advises grinding roast locust to a fine powder to eat on a journey. "The legs, when dried, are especially relished for their pleasant taste."
"Take several dozen locust adults, preferably females, slit the abdomen lengthwise and stuff a peanut inside," a Cambodian recipe suggested. "Then lightly cook the locusts in a wok or hot frying pan, adding a little oil and salt to taste. Be careful not to overcook or burn them."
Eating locusts has been documented from Biblical times. According to the Christian new testament, John the Baptist survived on locusts and honey when he was in the desert -- even though some question whether it was locusts he actually ate as the Greek name "acridae" can also mean the tips of plants.
The locusts reached eastern Mediterranean countries in early November after the worst infestation recorded in Africa for more than a decade.

Woman Selling $250M Divorce Judgment
 Mon Nov 8, 9:42 AM ET

LOS ANGELES -AP- For sale: One ex-wife's $250 million divorce judgment. All the buyer has to do is figure out how to collect from the Saudi royal family.
After battling for more than 20 years to collect the court-ordered judgment, Diana Bilinelli said she has decided to sell it — at a substantial discount — on the chance that others may have better means to track it down.
"It's a dandy investment opportunity," said her lawyer, Helen Dorroh-White.
Bilinelli's late ex-husband, Sheik Mohammed al-Fassi, gained national attention and the wrath of his Beverly Hills neighbors in the 1970s when he painted his mansion — and the genitals on the classic Italian nude statues in his yard — in garish colors.
When an arsonist set the mansion ablaze while he and Bilinelli were out of town in 1980, neighbors chanted "Burn, burn, burn."
Soon after that, Bilinelli and al-Fassi split over his plans to take more wives, and in 1983 a Los Angeles judge awarded her half his assets, including two Boeing 707 airliners, 36 cars, a yacht, 26 horses, a private zoo and homes in Spain, London and Miami Beach.
Al-Fassi died in Cairo of an infected hernia in 2002 at the age of 50 after claiming he had transferred all of his holdings to relatives, including Saudi King Fahd and his brother Prince Turki.
A court has ruled that Turki is liable for al-Fassi's debt, but Bilinelli's attorneys said they have been unable to find his assets.
"Putting the judgment up for sale is the Last Chance Saloon for us," Dorroh-White said. "It's the only thing we haven't tried."

Fighter Pilot Mistakes School for Target Range
 Fri Nov 5,11:12 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A National Guard F-16 fighter plane mistakenly fired off 25 rounds of ammunition at the Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School in South New Jersey on Wednesday night.
The pilot was meant to fire the rounds some 3 1/2 miles away at a military target range, Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs told reporters in the Jersey shore township's police headquarters.
No one was injured as school was out and a lone custodian was inside the building when the bullets hit.
Damage was minimal as the non-exploding, 20 millimeter bullets left only puncture marks in the school's roof and the asphalt outside the building.
The fighter jet was part of the 113th Wing, District of Columbia Air National Guard assigned to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
An investigation is being conducted into how the pilot mistook the school, located on Frog Pond Road, for a target range.

Sleep-Deprived Man Punishes Sadomasochism Club
 Thu Nov 4,10:02 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German, his slumber interrupted by noises from a nearby sadomasochism parlor, inflicted his own punishment on a patron by shooting him with a pistol in a bid for peace and quiet, police said on Thursday.
"He couldn't take it any more and decided to take the law into his own hands -- at 1:45 a.m.," said a spokesman for police in the southern city of Nuremberg.
Police said the man, 22, entered the neighboring club to complain about the noise and attacked the 37-year-old client with the gas-powered pistol after finding the dominatrices absent. The victim suffered a cut lip and impaired hearing.
Officers called to the club confiscated the assailant's pistol before charging him with causing grievous bodily harm and violating weapons laws. Such clubs are legal in Germany.

3 Sentenced for Golf Prostitution Events
 Fri Nov 5, 4:23 PM ET

NORCO, Calif. -AP- Two golf course managers and a tournament organizer were sentenced to house arrest for hosting two competitions featuring prostitutes and strippers stationed along the putting greens.
Superior Court Judge Christian F. Thierbach chided the three for their "immoral and illegal actions" at the so-called girlie tournaments in spring 2002.
More than a dozen prostitutes and strippers, including a 16-year-old girl, set up tents and advertised their services on boards, officials said. About 160 golfers paid $200 apiece to play, though some showed up without their clubs, officials said.
Sheriff's deputies wearing camouflage raided the second tournament, detaining 90 golfers and 17 strippers and alleged prostitutes, along with golf course workers.
Event organizer Sandy Juarez, 39, was accused of providing the prostitutes. In a deal with prosecutors, she pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to corrupt public morals and testified against Hidden Valley Golf Club general manager Jason Wood, 38, and his former assistant, Darren James Bollinger, 30. The pair pleaded guilty in July to the same charge.
All three were sentenced to 125 days of house arrest.
Two golfers have been convicted of engaging in prostitution, and the mother of the 16-year-old prostitute is charged with child endangerment and prostitution.

Police: Man Tried to Rob Bank Being Built
 Fri Nov 5, 4:26 PM ET

KENNESAW, Ga. -AP- There is little money to be gained from attempting to rob a bank that is still under construction, police say a Marietta man learned on Wednesday.
Michael Donald Marshall, 39, entered the Bank of America and demanded $500 from the tellers while threatening that he had a gun, according to the Kennesaw Police Department.
The employees then told him the bank wasn't open for business and there was no money. Kennesaw Police arrived as Marshall exited the building empty-handed, officers said.
The suspect is charged with armed robbery. During their investigation, police also learned that Marshall had an outstanding warrant for shoplifting in Cobb, Kennesaw Police spokesman officer Scott Luther said.

Arkansas Inmate Escapes Twice in a Week
Fri Nov 5, 6:43 PM ET

MARION, Ark. -AP- An inmate charged with theft escaped twice in one week, including once after his wife had a forged letter authorizing his release faxed to the jail from a McDonald's, officials said.
Tristian Wilson, 20, was in custody Friday and being treated for a broken leg he apparently suffered after jumping from a second-story window. Officials said he would be charged with two counts of escape.
Wilson, originally jailed on theft, forgery and burglary charges, first escaped Oct. 30. Officials said jailers freed him after receiving a letter allegedly written by a detective authorizing his release.
Wilson's wife, Crystal Wilson, 19, and a friend have been charged with forging the letter.
West Memphis police Assistant Chief Mike Allen said the friend acknowledged taking the forgery to a West Memphis McDonald's and asking an employee he knew to fax it. Police do not believe the employee knew what the letter said or where it was sent.
Tristian Wilson was caught Monday, then escaped again Wednesday, this time from a hall in the courthouse in Marion, an Arkansas delta town near Memphis, Tenn. Chief Jailer Mickey Thornton said the hall is used as a holding cell, and Wilson managed to pry open a door leading to an unused wing, where he climbed out an open second-floor window.
Officers arrested Wilson again Thursday.
Thornton took over as Crittenden County jail administrator in August. That month, a capital murder suspect managed to escape by climbing through a hole in the detention center's roof; he was captured the next day. A week later, Thornton's predecessor was arrested for allegedly agreeing to provide cocaine to a prisoner.
Thornton said prisoners will no longer be released on faxed authorization, and the doorway Wilson forced open has been welded in place. The jailer said he is looking for ways to make the county's detention facilities more secure.

Tanker Spills Liquid Chocolate on Highway
Fri Nov 5, 4:38 PM ET

GROVELAND, N.Y. - Part of a highway in the Finger Lakes region was closed for five hours Thursday evening after a tanker truck crashed, spilling 45,000 pounds of slippery liquid chocolate that hardened.
State Police said there were no serious injuries in the crash shortly after 5 p.m. A road grader was used to scrape the northbound lanes of Interstate 390.
Truck driver Bert Nestlrode, 46, of Ephrata, Pa., swerved to avoid a deer, the truck rolled over and the tanker split, police said. He was treated at a hospital for cuts and bruises and no tickets were issued.
The syrup also covered a bridge and a car on another road below. The truck, from M&M Mars. Co. in Elizabethtown, Pa., carried liquid used to make milk chocolate.
"It smelled like a Hershey bar," Groveland Fire Chief Lloyd Butler said. "There was a lot of chocolate, but no peanuts."
Groveland is 36 miles southwest of Rochester.

Fla. First-Grader Brings Crack to Class
Fri Nov 5, 4:16 PM ET

ORLANDO, Fla. -AP- A 6-year-old girl brought more than $1,000 worth of crack to school, and her mother claimed the child must have gotten it while trick-or-treating.
The first-grader was suspended from Tangelo Park Elementary. Her mother is under investigation.
School officials sent a letter home to parents Thursday, explaining how an anti-drug campaign led another student to recognize the more than a dozen pieces of crack.

Two Episcopal Priests Leave Druid Society
Fri Nov 5, 4:43 PM ET

DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. -The Philadelphia Inquirer- Two Episcopal priests face possible punishment from the church after it was discovered that they were leaders of a local society of Druids, people who follow a pre-Christian practice of worshipping the sun and venerating the Earth.
While directing parishes in Malvern and Downingtown, the Rev. Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk and the Rev. William Melnyk, a married couple, were also spiritual guides to local Druids.
On Thursday, after national Christian groups and Internet bloggers accused the Episcopal Church USA of promoting paganism through the priests' activities, the two wrote letters of apology, saying they "recanted and repudiated" their connection with Druidism.
Ruppe-Melnyk, rector of St. Francis-in-the-Fields parish in Malvern, and Melnyk, rector of St. James' Church in Downingtown, said in letters to Bishop Charles Bennison of the Diocese of Pennsylvania that their involvement in Druidism was an effort to "help others who had lost connection to the Church to find a way to reconnect."
In the letters, the Melnyks — in Druid circles, she used the name Raven, he the name OakWyse — affirmed their belief in the historic creeds of Christianity and asked for "the mercy of the Church and of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Their involvement in Druidism came to light last month after the Episcopal Church's women's ministry listed two of the couple's Druidic liturgies on its Web site, for possible use in developing feminist liturgies. The church removed the liturgies, but several Christian groups and bloggers accused the church of promoting pagan rites to pagan deities. The church denied it.
Jeffrey Brodeur, a spokesman for the four-county Diocese of Pennsylvania, said Bennison had accepted the apologies but "continues to review his options" as to discipline. That could include removing or suspending the two from their parish posts, he said.

Woman to Win Bet She'll Live to 100
 Thu Nov 4, 9:04 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) -AP- A British woman stands to collect a check for 12,650 pounds ($23,300) on Friday after betting she would live to 100.
Rosalind Strover from Sudbury in Suffolk, eastern England plans to celebrate her centenary with her family at a nearby golf club.
As well as the traditional congratulatory telegram from Queen Elizabeth, she will also receive a check for her winnings from bookmaker William Hill.
Ten years ago, her daughter-in-law Jennifer wagered 100 pounds at 100-1 that she would reach her century, topping up the bet with a 50 pound stake a year later at 50-1.

Naked Man Hides in Plane Wheel Well
Thu Nov 4, 4:41 PM ET

LOS ANGELES -AP- A man was charged with trespassing after he stripped naked, scaled a airport fence, ran across the tarmac and climbed into a plane's wheel well before firefighters talked him out, officials said.
The man had earlier tried to buy a ticket for a Qantas Airways flight to Australia with only a credit card receipt. He told authorities at Los Angeles International Airport that he stripped off his clothes Monday to protest the airline's decision to deny him the ticket, airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles said.
The man, Neil Melly, 31, of Canada, suffers from bipolar disorder (also called manic-depressive illness) and had been listed as a missing person in Canada, Castles said. He was booked on a tresspassing charge, and was released from custody Tuesday.
Baggage handlers saw the man climb an 8-foot, barbed-wire fence that separates public and private areas of the airport and run to a departing plane as it backed from the gate. He climbed into a wheel well before the plane stopped.
He ignored police officers' commands to come out, but complied when city firefighters arrived. The Boeing 747, bound for Melbourne, Austrialia, departed an hour late.
Airport authorities will look into improving the fence, said Paul Haney, a spokesman for the agency that operates the airport.

Liquid Heroin Found in Fruit Juice Boxes
 Wed Nov 3, 8:50 PM ET

MIAMI -AP- Nearly 100 fruit juice boxes containing liquid heroin were intercepted Wednesday in a shipment from Colombia, federal officials said.
The juice boxes were part of a private shipment that wasn't destined for the United States food supply, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said. The juice would be deadly if consumed.
The 6-ounce boxes, labeled "Hit Fruit Drink," contained a total of about 84 pounds of heroin worth $1.7 million.
Customs agents said the juice was initially bought from a grocery store in Colombia, then emptied and refilled with heroin. The shipment was relabeled and five pallets of boxes were shipped alongside pallets of legitimate juice boxes, the agents said.
The pallets were intercepted at an undisclosed location in Miami and federal agents are working to track the drug dealers responsible, customs agents said.
In 1990, a 25-year-old man died after drinking a cocaine-laced Colombian soft drink that was part of a drug smuggling scheme. It went awry when burglars broke into a warehouse, stole cases of the drink not knowing what they contained, and sold them to local grocers.
The FBI discovered at least 45 contaminated bottles of Pony Malta, some on store shelves.

Police: Woman Seeks Directions After Heist
 Wed Nov 3, 8:42 PM ET

POWAY, Calif. -AP- A woman robbed a credit union of at least $3,000 and then asked a teller for directions to another bank, authorities said.
Around 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, the woman handed a note demanding money to a teller at the Great American Credit Union in Poway, according to San Diego County Sheriff's Department Lt. Rick Figueroa.
The note also asked for directions to a nearby San Diego County Credit Union branch in San Diego, the sheriff's department said.
Deputies searched the area around the Great American Credit Union but were unable to find the suspect. They notified the San Diego County Credit Union that the robber had asked for directions to that site.
The FBI is investigating.

Man Tries to Bring Jesus to Zoo Lions
 Wed Nov 3, 4:42 PM ET

TAIPEI, Taiwan -AP- A lion attacked a man who jumped into the animal's enclosure and shouted "Jesus will save you!" at the big cat Wednesday at the zoo in Taiwan's capital.