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Husband accused of GPS-tracking wife, slashing her boyfriend

DAYTONA BEACH -- A Port Orange man having marriage problems tracked down his wife with a GPS device and then slashed the neck of her new boyfriend, Daytona Beach police said.

John Voss Jr., 39, is charged with aggravated battery and is in the Volusia County Branch Jail this morning on $15,000 bail, a booking officer said.

Voss is accused of cutting Alex Valentini, 36, Sunday with a 2- to 3-inch knife blade. Valentini suffered knife wounds to his head, arm and neck. His outer jugular vein was cut, Daytona Beach police said. Valentini was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center where he underwent surgery. His condition was not immediately available today.

According to a Daytona Beach police report the 18-year marriage of Yolanda Voss, 35 and John Voss Jr., was ending. Yolanda Voss still lives at the home she shares with her husband, and her husband started tracking her movements with a GPS device, police said. More

Lack of breastfeeding costs lives, billions of dollars

If most new moms would breastfeed their babies for the first six months of life, it would save nearly 1,000 lives and billions of dollars each year, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics

. "The United States incurs $13 billion in excess costs annually and suffers 911 preventable deaths per year because our breastfeeding rates fall far below medical recommendations," the report said.

The World Health Organization says infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life "to achieve optimal growth, development and health." The WHO is not alone in its recommendations.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all agree that breast milk alone is sufficient for newborns and infants until they are 6 months old. More

Woman arrested after making threats on police radio

Authorities arrested a 29-year-old San Jacinto woman who investigators said interrupted police and fire radio communications and made threats over the air during a two-day period, said Hemet police Lt. Mark Richards in a news release.

Irene Marie Levy was taken into custody early Monday at her mobile home in the 900 block of South Grand Avenue, Richards said. Levy was booked at the Hemet Police Department Jail on suspicion of making terrorist threats; false report of a bomb threat; and maliciously interrupting, disrupting, impeding, or interfering with the transmission of a public safety radio frequency.

Levy’s bail is set at $50,000, Richards said.

According to Richards, Levy, who is an Amateur Radio technician, was randomly broadcasting on CalFire and Hemet Police radio frequencies from Saturday evening until moments before she was arrested at her residence. More

Domestic violence program coordinator found guilty of threatening husband with hammer

A jury found the AWARE Inc. domestic violence program coordinator guilty of felonious assault for threatening her husband with a hammer.

Jurors deliberated about two hours and came to a conclusion shortly before 5 p.m., Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Martha Anderson is to sentence LaDonna Glenn, 46, on June 21. Glenn, who has a leadership position at the largely state-funded Jackson agency, faces a maximum penalty of four years in prison and a $2,000 fine.

She was accused of going Sept. 24 to her and her husband’s condominium in Southfield, beating on the door with a hammer and twice raising the tool at her husband, George Glenn, 69, whom she alleged was unfaithful. More

Grandmother and grandson to have child together

Pearl Carter and Phil Bailey, 26, have paid a surrogate mother £20,000 to have Mr Bailey’s child, which the couple plan to bring up together.

Mrs Carter, from Indiana, met Mr Bailey four years ago after he tracked her down following the death of his mother, Lynette.

Mrs Carter fell pregnant with Lynette at 18, out of wedlock, and claims that she was forced to give her child up for adoption by her strict Catholic parents. She went on to marry, but never had any more children.

The couple, who claim to be abused in public and could face prison for incest, say that they fell in love and became lovers soon after meeting. In an interview with the New Zealand magazine, New Idea, Mrs Carter, said: “I’m not interested in anyone else’s opinion.

"I am in love with Phil and he’s in love with me. Soon I’ll be holding my son or daughter in my arms and Phil will be the proud dad.” More

Commuters travel to work on the Tube NAKED

It was a cheeky and unexpected sight that greeted commuters as they boarded a Tube into work.

But the four naked men and women certainly livened up the usually dull journey for many people – attracting gasps from stunned workers.

Carrying handbags or briefcases to cover their modesty – and wearing shoes – the nudes travelled on escalators and rode in the carriages as though their lack of suitable attire was completely normal.

But, rather than trying to start a new trend on the London Underground, the group were promoting a TV series which sees staff at struggling businesses helping to turn their company around.

Steven Suphi, behaviour change specialist and leadership guru, believes stripping off in the office will help boost employees' confidence and develop trust. More

British Woman Told to Stop Loud Sex or Face Jail

A British woman whose noisy sex sessions were officially branded anti-social behavior was warned Friday she would face jail, if she fails to stop the excessively loud lovemaking.

Caroline Cartwright, 48, was given an eight-week prison term suspended for 12 months, meaning if she engages in over-noisy coupling again in the next year she will immediately be put behind bars.

"I've heard a very short extract of the noise you make and can well see that your neighbors would be upset and distressed by this," said judge Beatrice Bolton at Newcastle Crown Court in northeast England.

Cartwright was served with a civil order over marathon romps with husband Steve, described in court as unnatural and "like they are both in considerable pain." More

Man sues airline for not looking at his scrotum

MONTREAL - A Westmount resident's lawsuit against Air Transat, for failure to provide him with appropriated medical attention during a flight, was dismissed in small claims court this past Tuesday.

His illness? Sudden and mysterious bleeding in the area between his legs.

The curious incident occurred February 15, 2008 during a flight from Montreal to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Marcel Cote was comfortably seated in business class an hour after takeoff when, for some unknown reason, he felt enough discomfort to make an emergency visit to the washroom, where he discovered spots of blood on his body. More

Internet gamers let baby starve

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean couple addicted to an Internet game about raising a virtual child were arrested for neglecting their real three-month-old daughter and letting her starve to death, news reports said.

The couple spent between four and six hours every day at Internet cafes in Suwon, a city just south of Seoul, and bottle-fed their baby only once a day, the Yonhap news agency and other South Korean media reported, citing police.

The couple found their baby dead Sept. 24 when they returned home after playing online games at a nearby Internet cafe all night, Yonhap reported. More

Passenger Accused Of Exposing Self On Flight

DENVER -- An airline passenger exposed himself to a woman sitting next to him and masturbated underneath a blanket while flying from Philadelphia to Denver on Monday, officials said.

Murali Krishna Nookella was arrested when the Southwest flight landed at Denver International Airport, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. He is accused of making "an obscene and indecent exposure of his person" while on an aircraft.

During the flight, a female passenger told a flight attendant that the man seated next to her "was masturbating and that she saw his penis," according to the criminal complaint.

Nookella was relocated to a different seat, and the plane's captain called police to meet the aircraft upon its arrival in Denver. More

Naked rambler gets longest jail sentence yet

Naked rambler Stephen Gough has been jailed for 21 months for repeatedly walking around nude - and even refusing to put clothes on during his court appearances.

And a planned mass protest by nudists against the treatment of Gough fell flat – when no-one bothered to turn up.

Gough was jailed on Monday at Perth Sheriff Court after being found guilty of breaching the peace, and being in contempt of court by refusing to put clothes on.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis, who warned Gough he faced the rest of his life behind bars, gave him a final chance to walk free yesterday by agreeing to put trousers on. More

Survey: Brits think bacon comes from sheep

A survey of British youngsters suggests 26 percent of the country's under-16 population erroneously believe bacon comes from sheep.

The survey of 800 children and adults, conducted for the Home Grown Cereals Authority and the National Farmers' Union, also suggests 29 percent of youngsters believe oats grow on trees and 17 percent of both children and adults are under the false impression that eggs are a necessary ingredient in bread, the Daily Mail reported.

"Everyone should know where primary foods like cereals are grown and the role they play as part of a healthy, balanced diet," said Peter Kendall, president of the National Farmers' Union. More

President Cristina Fernandez Says Eating Pork Improves Sexual Activity

Argentina's president thinks eating pig meat is really sexy.

Many people in this beef-loving nation reacted with surprise Thursday after Cristina Fernandez promoted pork in a speech during which she not only said pork is better than Viagra, but suggested she's personally proven it.

"I didn't know that eating pork improved sexual activity," Fernandez said in a meeting with representatives of the swine industry late Wednesday. "It is much more gratifying to eat some grilled pork than to take Viagra."

She even joked that "it was all good" after she enjoyed some pork with her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner.

"I think they might be right," Fernandez said to a laughing audience. More

Woman Kills Boyfriend by Sitting on Him

A woman in Cleveland pleaded guilty to sitting on her 120 pound boyfriend and killing him.

Police said Mia Landingham and Mikal Middleston-Bey, who have three children together, got into an argument in August. During the altercation Landingham sat on Middleston-Bey.

Landingham pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Her attorney told said there was a long history of domestic abuse in the relationship. He asked the judge for leniency and pointed out she has no prior criminal record.

Landingham she was sorry for squashing the father of her children. More

Man OK After Penis Gets Stuck in Pipe

Medics at Southampton General Hospital struggled to get the man's penis out of the stainless steel pipe, because the restricted blood flow had caused it to become erect.

Instead, they resorted called in Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The fire crew turned up with a special equipment unit from St Mary's station in Southampton and seven firefighters to help, in what a spokesman understatedly described as a 'delicate operation'.

The firefighters used the four-and-a-half-inch industrial metal grinder to cut the pipe from around the anaesthetised man's penis. More

Teacher Cuts Off Girl's Braid In School

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee teacher was charged with disorderly conduct after cutting off a 7-year-old's braid in front of her classmates, WISN-TV in Milwaukee reported.

Lamya Cammon was angry, confused and scared by the incident last week in which the apparently frustrated teacher cut one of her braids off after she wouldn't stop playing with them in class.

Cammon, 7, sports a few dozen braids, but one is conspicuously absent. "She told me to stop playing with it, then cut it off and sent me back to my desk," Cammon said.

Cammon, a first-grader at Congress Elementary, said her teacher used a pair of classroom scissors to cut off one of the braids after she absent-mindedly kept playing with them. More

40% of Australian women wear a bra with a cup size DD or bigger

THE bra market is expanding, literally. Up to 40 per cent of Australian women now buy bras with a cup size of DD or higher, new figures from lingerie suppliers show.

In the 1950s, the most common bra-cup size was a B - three sizes less than a DD.

Modern breasts are getting so large that some bra companies have introduced cup sizes as high as K, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

Experts blame the cleavage boost on obesity, contraceptive pills and artificial hormones.

Bra company Eveden Australia launched a K cup into the market last year. The company's fitting specialist, Victoria Jubb, said obesity contributed significantly to the expanding chest sizes but the number of small-figured women with large breasts was on the increase. More

South Carolina man gets 3 years prison for sex with horse

A South Carolina man caught on video having sex with a horse was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison after pleading guilty for the second time in two years to abusing the creature.

Rodell Vereen was also ordered never to go near the stable where the horse's owner caught him and held him for authorities at shotgun point over the summer. He apologized to the woman and to himself after admitting to buggery at the Horry County courthouse.

"I'm sorry about what I've done. I didn't mean to do it. It's my fault. I'm sorry for what I've done to myself," Vereen said during Wednesday's court hearing.

Vereen was arrested in July after Barbara Kenley caught him entering the barn at Lazy B Stables in Longs, about 20 miles northeast of Myrtle Beach. She had been staking out the stable for more than a week after setting up a surveillance camera and videotaping Vereen's assault on her 21-year-old horse named Sugar. More

Drunk 4-Year-Old Steals Christmas Presents

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - A 4-year-old boy, beer in hand, is accused of stealing Christmas presents from his neighbors. It's a strange story, but also a sad one.

April Wright is 21 years old and is going through a divorce with her husband who is in jail. She says she is not sure how her 4-year-old managed to get out of the house, open a beer, and steal the neighbors presents from under their tree. Now she's just glad he's okay and says she won't let it happen again.

The child, Hayden Wright, was found around 1:45 am Tuesday, wandering the streets of his neighborhood. In a police reports, officers said he was wearing a little girl's dress and drinking a beer. The police report says the child had to taken to the hospital to be treated for alcohol consumption. April Wright said, "Biggest concern was him being out there, getting kidnapped, getting run over, the alcohol, having to have his stomach pumped." More

What naughty grandpa does while granddaughter plays

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - Punta Gorda Police tell WINK News they arrested 65-year-old Robert F. Desmarais of Port Charlotte on Saturday. Police say he was caught masturbating in the parking lot of Kiddieland at Gilchrist Park.

Witnesses notified police it appeared Desmarais was masturbating while seated in his Jeep.

Police reports say Desmarais brought his 8-year-old granddaughter to Kiddieland and remained in the car while she played on the playground. According to police, Desmarais admitted to masturbating in his vehicle while his granddaughter played in the park. More

Woman loses nipples in botched sex change surgery

KUALA LUMPUR: A 36-year-old businesswoman’s life-long wish to become a man by removing her breasts was dashed when she ended up losing more than she bargained for and became RM24,000 poorer to boot.

Instead of having her breasts removed, the woman, who only wished to be known as Sam, ended up losing both her nipples after a botched cosmetic surgery left her with a nasty infection and a bad scar.

In a press conference at the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department, Sam said she had gone to a beauty salon in Subang in May to undergo the procedure. More

Man charged with DWI in motorized La-Z-Boy

A Proctor man driving a motorized La-Z-Boy lounge chair hit a parked vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

Dennis LeRoy Anderson, 62, pleaded guilty Monday in St. Louis County District Court to DWI in connection with the Aug. 31, 2008, incident in Proctor. There were no injuries.

According to the criminal complaint, Anderson drove his motorized chair into a vehicle parked near a Proctor bar. Anderson told police he was traveling from the Keyboard Lounge after consuming approximately eight or nine beers. His blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.29 percent, more than three times the legal limit to drive.

Anderson claimed he was driving the chair fine until a woman jumped on it and knocked the chair off course. He has one prior DWI conviction. More

Teenager admits to raping siblings

A KwaZulu-Natal South Coast teenager has admitted to raping his two sisters and brother over a period of 10 days, apparently because he was upset that their father had gone to jail for raping his sisters.

The 18-year-old from Umzinto - who cannot be named to protect the identities of his victims - blamed his siblings for the fact that their father had been imprisoned for life. The State alleged, in its indictment before Judge Achmat Jappie in the Ramsgate High Court this week, that he had decided to take revenge.

In a written plea before the court, the teenager admitted raping his 13-year-old sister on January 20 this year, and again seven days later.

He also admitted to "holding her down" while a friend also raped her. More

Shag bands a parent's worst nightmare

THEY look like a symbol of childhood innocence. But these colourful bracelets are behind an "insidious" craze of primary school kids performing sex acts that it is feared will soon sweep through Queensland.

Rather than a mere fashion statement, the so-called "shag bands" are linked to gradations of sexual behaviour. A Facebook page about the innocuous-looking bands has already been inundated with more than 12,000 fans.

The game involves a boy or girl trying to break the rubber band off the wearer's wrist. If it snaps, the wearer has to perform the favour corresponding to the colour.

Snap an orange band and get a kiss, snap a yellow and get a hug. But snap a black, light blue or light green band, and the "prize" is something far more sinister. More

Guilty of negligence in son's home circumcision

A Metro Vancouver man who circumcised his four-year-old son at home with a razor blade and used blood coagulant meant for horses has been found guilty of negligence causing bodily harm.

The man, identified in a court ruling on Wednesday as DJW, admitted that in 2007 he circumcised his son, DJ, who was born at 2.5 pounds and couldn't be circumcised at birth.

The man performed the circumcision just a few years after he circumcised himself. After he did that, his foreskin bled in nine places, doctors sutured it at hospital and his penis became infected.

DJW's lawyer, Doug Christie, said, "He learned from that experience to do things differently." More

Elderly Man With Oxygen Tank Robs La Jolla Bank

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- A neatly-dressed elderly male robber carrying an oxygen tank presented a demand note to a teller at a La Jolla bank Saturday and fled on foot with an unknown amount of cash, police said.

The heist was reported at 10:12 a.m. at the San Diego National Bank in the 7800 block of Ivanhoe Ave., according to San Diego police Sgt. Ray Battrick.

It was unclear whether the man had a weapon, the sergeant said. The robber was described as a white man in his 70s with white hair, a gray mustache and glasses, 6 feet 6 inches tall, wearing a white beret, argyle sweater and brown sports jacket, a dispatcher said.

It's not often you see a bank robbery suspect believed to be in his 70s or 80s carrying an oxygen tank with tubes in his nose. More

Expecting Sex With Craigslist Prostitute, Robbed Instead

SAN DIEGO -- A 34-year-old man who went to a La Mesa motel, apparently thinking he was going to have sex with a 17-year-old girl who advertised on craigslist, was robbed, and police arrested the girl and an accomplice, police said Tuesday.

The victim, whose name police withheld, met the girl at a room at the Heritage Inn, 7851 Fletcher Parkway, around 10:35 p.m. Monday, La Mesa police Lt. David Bond said.

After some brief sexual touching, the man gave the girl $100 for additional sexual services, Bond said.

About that time, a man in a mask came out of the bathroom with a knife, he said, and the would-be john fled and called police. More

Fripp Island golfer loses arm to alligator

A 77-year-old man lost his arm below the elbow Thursday when he was attacked by an alligator while playing golf on Fripp Island.

The man, the father of a Fripp Island property owner, was playing the 11th hole of the island's Ocean Creek Golf Course at about 3 p.m. when the attack occurred. The victim was leaning down to pick up his ball when a 10-foot long alligator grabbed his arm, said Kate Hines, general manager of the Fripp Island Property Owners Association.

Hines said the alligator dragged the man into a nearby pond and went into a series of "death rolls," a technique the reptile uses to tear apart its food. The man lost his arm in the struggle. More

Woman Sets Self On Fire At Mall

MIAMI -- A woman has been hospitalized after she set herself on fire inside a South Florida mall on Thursday afternoon, police said.

Witnesses said the woman, whom police identified as 42-year-old Cecilia Casals, lit herself on fire inside a store at the Mall of the Americas.

Police said Casals tried to commit suicide by covering her clothing with accelerant before setting herself on fire.

The woman stunned shoppers when she walked out of a boutique near Ross with her body covered in flames.

"When she walked out of the bathroom, she was lit on fire. She was walking to the middle of the mall. People started screaming hysterically," said witness Jose Morales. More

Man escapes charges for barbecuing pet dog

A man who roasted his pet dog to enjoy as a meal with his family and friends escaped prosecution after authorities in New Zealand determined the animal was killed humanely.

"We were in a dilemma at seeing something we were fairly upset about -- but being in a position of being able to do absolutely nothing about it," said Garth Halliday, of the Auckland Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, on Monday.

The SPCA -- which investigates acts of animal cruelty and presses charges -- responded to the house in Mangere, south of Auckland. There, officers found the charred body of a Staffordshire terrier cooking in a barbecue pit. More

Sheriff fires one deputy, suspends 3 others after Round Rock incident

The five Midland County Sheriff’s Office deputies involved in the photography incident with a scantily-clad waitress holding a county-issued rifle in Round Rock have all received disciplinary action, including one deputy who was terminated and three who have been suspended without pay.

Sheriff Gary Painter apologized to the citizens of Midland County at a press conference Wednesday afternoon for the actions his deputies were involved in while attending a patrol interdiction class in Cedar Park last week.

“I am very embarrassed by what happened and hurt at the same time,” Painter said, adding he understands if those in law enforcement want to unwind or drink from time to time.

“But in this particular instance, people got stupid real quick ... It went from not very smart to very stupid in about 30 seconds.” More

Man jailed for not supporting someone else's child

ADEL, Ga. - A Georgia man spent more than a year behind bars for failing to pay child support for a child that wasn't his, but he was released after DNA tests showed he wasn't the father.

Frank Hatley, 50, had been jailed since June 2008 for not making payments, but two separate DNA tests in the last nine years showed he was not the father of the boy, who is now 21.

Southern Center for Human Rights attorney Sarah Geraghty won Hatley's release at a hearing Wednesday in Superior Court. A court order has also relieved him of his financial obligation to the Georgia Department of Human Resources.

"State child support officials have shown extraordinarily poor judgment in Mr. Hatley's case," Geraghty said. More

Men-only train cars sought in groping fears

TOKYO (Reuters) - Many women taking the crowded train in Tokyo opt for women-only carriages during the rush hour to avoid gropers.

Now, for fear of being accused of groping, some are asking for carriages reserved for men as well.

Ten shareholders of Seibu Holdings, which runs trains in the Tokyo area, have petitioned for carriages reserved for men.

"There have been many cases of groping, as well as false charges of groping, on Seibu Railway," the shareholders said in a notice seeking a vote at the company's annual meeting. More

Woman Accused Of Killing Newborn, Ate Brain

SAN ANTONIO — The scene was so gruesome investigators could barely speak: A 3 1/2-week-old boy lay dismembered in the bedroom of a single-story house, three of his tiny toes chewed off, his face torn away, his head severed and his brains ripped out.

"At this particular scene you could have heard a pin drop," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Monday.

"No one was speaking. It was about as somber as it could have been."

Officers called to the home early Sunday found the boy's mother, Otty Sanchez, sitting on the couch with a self-inflicted wound to her chest and her throat partially slashed, screaming "I killed my baby! I killed my baby!" police said. She told officers the devil made her do it, police said. More

Daily sex 'best for good sperm'

Having sex every day improves sperm quality and could boost the chances of getting pregnant, research suggests.

In a study of men with fertility problems, daily ejaculation for a week cut the amount of DNA damage seen in sperm samples.

Speaking at a fertility conference, the Australian researcher said general advice for couples had been to have sex every two or three days. More

Assault victim bites off attacker's tongue

A man was arrested in a hospital emergency room where he had gone for treatment about an hour after a woman he allegedly raped bit off his tongue, police said.

Murrieta police were summoned to the apartment in the 24000 block of Hancock Avenue around 10:23 a.m. There they found a woman with injuries consistent with a violent assault, according to a police news release.

Officers found a severed tongue at the scene.

Around 11 a.m., the suspect, 32-year-old Ronald McGowan, of West Covina, arrived at the Rancho Springs Medical Center in Murrieta, police said. More

New Zealand airline issues nude safety video

New Zealand's national airline has adopted a cheeky way to encourage passengers to watch its in-flight safety video: The cabin crew's uniforms are nothing but body paint.

The "Bare Essentials of Safety," screening in the cabins of planes flying Air New Zealand's main domestic routes, has gone viral online. It had 1.2 million YouTube views by Friday, four days after it was launched. In the video, three cabin staff and a pilot, all in full body paint applied to look like their uniforms, talk viewers through the aircraft's safety procedures. A demonstration seat belt, life jacket and arm rests are strategically positioned during the 3 1/2-minute video to protect the cabin crew's ... discretion. Passengers are shown ogling, mostly in appreciation. More

One in Five Americans Pee in Pool

Findings from a recent survey show that when it comes to public pools this summer, watch thy fellow swimmer closely! Rather than worry about the availability of lounge chairs, lockers, and food and beverages, swimmers should be thinking more about basic questions of pool water cleanliness.

According to a survey conducted by the Water Quality & Health Council, 84 percent of Americans believe their fellow swimmers participate in unhygienic pool behavior - and they may be right. In fact, almost half (47%) admit to one or more behaviors that contribute to an unhealthy pool.

Peeing in the pool?

One in five say they've done it (17%) - and eight in ten (78%) are convinced their fellow swimmers are guilty. As far as showering goes - forget it. Roughly one third (35%) pass the shower without stopping and three quarters (73%) say their fellow swimmers fail to shower before swimming. More

Britain's 66 y/o mum tried for an IVF baby five years ago

The woman expecting to become Britain's oldest mother tried to have a child through IVF around five years ago, a friend said yesterday.

Elizabeth Adeney, 66, was left 'emotionally exhausted' by the process and considered giving up.

But she persevered after seeking advice and is now expecting her child - understood to be a son - weeks before her 67th birthday.

The friend said: 'Liz first failed to fall pregnant several years ago and only wanted to go through the process again if it was likely to work. More

8-year-old Saudi girl divorces 50-year-old husband

An 8-year-old Saudi girl has divorced her middle-aged husband after her father forced her to marry him last year in exchange for about $13,000, her lawyer said Thursday. Saudi Arabia has come under increasing criticism at home and abroad for permitting child marriages. The United States, a close ally of the conservative Muslim kingdom, has called child marriage a "clear and unacceptable" violation of human rights.

The girl was allowed to divorce the 50-year-old man who she married in August after an out-of-court settlement had been reached in the case, said her lawyer, Abdulla al-Jeteli. The exact date of the divorce was not immediately known.

A court in the central Oneiza region previously rejected a request by the girl's mother for a divorce and ruled that the girl would have to wait until she reached puberty to file a petition then. There are no laws in Saudi Arabia defining the minimum age for marriage. Though a woman's consent is legally required, some marriage officials don't seek it. More

Feds plug a real leak: Cameras reveal alleged elevator urinator at IRS center

DETROIT - An agent used surveillance cameras to confirm a smelly suspicion: Someone had been urinating in a freight elevator at an Internal Revenue Service data center in Detroit.

Authorities filed a criminal charge Tuesday against Michael Hicks. In an affidavit, treasury agent Delmaria Scott said she interviewed Hicks in January 2008 and he admitted urinating in the elevator for months. Scott said Hicks did it "because he felt he could get away with it." It cost $4,600 to clean the elevator. More

Blind Bakersfield boy: 'Daddy ate my eyes'

Police believe a Bakersfield man bit the eyeball out of his son's face and ate it, according to court documents. The 4-year-old's other eye was damaged beyond repair, reports said.

The boy's missing eye could not be located, reports said, and he told a detective, ''Daddy ate my eyes.''

Prosecutors have charged Angelo Vidal Mendoza Sr., 34, with mayhem, torture and child cruelty. He's being held in the downtown jail in lieu of $1 million bail. More

Blondes March to Cheer Up Nation

Several hundred blonde women marched through the Latvian capital Riga yesterday in a bid to cheer up the crisis-hit Baltic nation, suffering the worst recession of all 27 EU member states.

Led by an orchestra, the first-ever blonde parade featured women dressed in pink and white, some accompanied by lapdogs, in a charity fund-raising event that organisers hope will become an annual event.

"I'm not stupid. I'm beautiful and I'll prove it," Ilona Zigure, a participant, said. Organisers said they were determined to bring positive energy to their country, expected to see its economy contract by 16 per cent this year.

The parade was part of a "Blonde Weekend" which also featured a blonde golf tournament, a little lady fashion show, an evening ball, and a children's drawing competition. More

Affairs of the Lips: Why We Kiss

When passion takes a grip, a kiss locks two humans together in an exchange of scents, tastes, textures, secrets and emotions.

We kiss furtively, lasciviously, gently, shyly, hungrily and exuberantly. We kiss in broad daylight and in the dead of night.

We give ceremonial kisses, affectionate kisses, Hollywood air kisses, kisses of death and, at least in fairytales, pecks that revive princesses.

Lips may have evolved first for food and later applied themselves to speech, but in kissing they satisfy different kinds of hungers. In the body, a kiss triggers a cascade of neural messages and chemicals that transmit tactile sensations, sexual excitement, feelings of closeness, motivation and even euphoria. More

Italy dig unearths female 'vampire' in Venice

An archaeological dig near Venice has unearthed the 16th-century remains of a woman with a brick stuck between her jaws — evidence, experts say, that she was believed to be a vampire. The unusual burial is thought to be the result of an ancient vampire-slaying ritual. It suggests the legend of the mythical bloodsucking creatures was tied to medieval ignorance of how diseases spread and what happens to bodies after death, experts said.

The well-preserved skeleton was found in 2006 on the Lazzaretto Nuovo island, north of the lagoon city, amid other corpses buried in a mass grave during an epidemic of plague that hit Venice in 1576.

"Vampires don't exist, but studies show people at the time believed they did," said Matteo Borrini, a forensic archaeologist and anthropologist at Florence University who studied the case over the last two years. "For the first time we have found evidence of an exorcism against a vampire." More

Swiss heartland voters ban nude hiking in Alps

APPENZELL, Switzerland — Voters in the heart of the Swiss Alps on Sunday passed legislation banning naked hiking after dozens of mostly German nudists started rambling through their picturesque region.

By a show of hands citizens of the tiny canton (state) of Appenzell Inner Rhodes voted overwhelmingly at their traditional open-air annual assembly to impose a 200 Swiss franc ($176) fine on violators.

Only a scattering of people on Sunday opposed the ban on the back-to-nature activity that took off last autumn when naked hikers – primarily Germans – started showing up in eastern Switzerland. More

Oral sex linked to throat cancer

A virus contracted through oral sex is the cause of some throat cancers, say US scientists.

HPV infection was found to be a much stronger risk factor than tobacco or alcohol use, the Johns Hopkins University study of 300 people found.

The New England Journal of Medicine study said the risk was almost nine times higher for people who reported oral sex with more than six partners. But experts said a larger study was needed to confirm the findings.

Oral sex was said to be the main mode of transmission of HPV but the researchers said mouth-to-mouth transmission, for example through kissing, could not be ruled out. More

West Virginia: Incest good, Barbie bad

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Barbie's life in plastic? Not so fantastic, as far as one Lincoln County delegate is concerned

Democrat Jeff Eldridge introduced a bill in the House of Delegates on Tuesday that would ban the sale of Barbie dolls - and "other dolls that influence girls to be beautiful" - in West Virginia.

Eldridge said the dolls have encouraged girls to value their physical appearance more than their education and intelligence.

"I hate the myth around, if you're beautiful, you don't have to be smart," Eldridge said.

His bill, HB 2918, would make it illegal to sell Barbie dolls "and other similar dolls that promote or influence girls to place an undue importance on physical beauty to the detriment of their intellectual and emotional development." More

Motorist wanted to drive home in the nude

A driver caught naked while parked on the side of the road apparently had an urge to drive home in the buff.

That’s the story that Anderson, California police officer Mathew Goodwin got from the unidentified man Wednesday night at Interstate 5 and Balls Ferry Road.

The driver, who was in his mid- to late-40s, shed his clothes while in the car about 10 p.m.

The officer, who thought better of asking the man to step out of his vehicle, also noticed the man had several adult movies in a paper bag. More

Insemination fight ends in wife's arrest

PITTSFIELD — A woman who allegedly intended to artificially inseminate her wife with her brother's semen has been charged with domestic assault and battery.

Pittsfield police responded to a call shortly before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the city's Morningside neighborhood, where the assault allegedly occurred. Stephanie K. Lighten, 26, was released on personal recognizance after denying the allegations in Central Berkshire District Court Wednesday morning. Jennifer A. Lighten, 33, told police that Stephanie Lighten, her wife, was "all liquored up" when she returned to their Lincoln Street apartment, where the defendant then allegedly tried to use a syringe to inseminate her, according to a police report.

Jennifer told investigating officers that Stephanie "has been talking about trying to impregnate (her) for some time," police said. According to a report by Pittsfield Police Officer Kipp D. Steinman: "Jennifer said that Stephanie had a 'turkey baster and her brother's semen in a sealed container.' More

Edible Excretions: Taiwan's Toilet Restaurant

"There's poop everywhere! Y-u-c-k," says 6-year-old Jordan Lien as he and his family dine at the Modern Toilet, a popular Taiwanese restaurant chain that's expanding into China and other parts of Asia. The boy was looking at the poop-shaped lights and dish covers and the curry on toilet-shaped plates.

Diarrhea for dinner? That's the point. "It's supposed to shock and confuse the senses," says Modern Toilet manager Chen Min-kuang. But as Jennifer Finch, an American who was dining there, described it, "They do it tastefully. It's all very clean."

Every customer sits on a stylish acrylic toilet (lid down) designed with images of roses, seashells or Renaissance paintings. Everyone dines at a glass table with a sink underneath. The servers bring your meal atop a mini toilet bowl (quite convenient, as it brings the food closer to your mouth), you sip drinks from your own plastic urinal (a souvenir), and soft-swirl ice cream arrives for dessert atop a dish shaped like a squat toilet. More

Ugandan Men Warned of Booby Trap

Uganda’s police warned male bar-goers to keep their noses clean after a probe found a gang of robbers had been using women with chloroform smeared on their chests to knock their victims unconscious.

“They apply this chemical to their chest. We have found victims in an unconscious state,” Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) spokesman Fred Enanga told AFP.

“You find the person stripped totally naked and everything is taken from him,” he said. “And the victim doesn’t remember anything. He just remembers being in the act of romancing.”

Enanga said he first came across the practice last year when an apprehended thief named Juliana Mukasa made a clean breast of the matter. More

Chinese mistress contest takes tragic turn

BEIJING, China - A married Chinese businessman who could no longer afford five mistresses held a competition to decide which one to keep.

But the contest took a fatal turn when one of the women, eliminated for her looks, drove the man and the four other competitors off a cliff, Chinese media reported.

The spurned mistress died and the other passengers were injured, the reports said. Police initially thought the car had plummeted off a mountain road in eastern China on December 6 by accident. Then they learned of the contest through a letter the dead woman had left behind, the Shanghai Daily newspaper said.

The 29-year-old woman, identified only as Yu, was a waitress when she met the businessman at a restaurant in the coastal city of Qingdao in 2000. More

Child Left In Freezing Car While Dad Visits Teen Girl

GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- A 22-year-old Montana man has been arrested after his 4-year-old daughter was left in a car for hours in below-zero temperatures.

Jeramey Sheeler, of Vaughn, Mont., faces a charge of criminal endangerment. Great Falls Police Lt. Jack Allen says Sheeler left his sleeping daughter in a Jeep parked on the street early Saturday while he went inside a house to visit a 13-year-old girl.

When the 4-year-old woke up, she got out of the vehicle and starting going house-to-house, knocking on doors at 2 a.m. Someone let her in and then called police. The temperature outside at the time was about 14 degrees below zero, according to the Great Falls Police Department. More

British couple has 'black-and-white twins' twice

A mixed-race British couple has defied the odds — twice — by producing two sets of twins in which one sibling appears to be black and the other white.

Dean Durrant's newborn daughter Miya has dark skin like him. Twin sister Leah has fair skin like her blue-eyed, red-haired mother, Alison Spooner.

Their older siblings Lauren and Hayleigh, born in 2001, also have strikingly different skin tones and eye colors.

Both sets of twins are fraternal rather than identical, meaning they are the product of two separately fertilized eggs, so it is not unusual that they don't look alike. Miya's skin color was more influenced by her father's genes, while Leah takes after her mother. More

Man Says Wife Was Accidentally Shot During Sex

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- A Tri-State woman is in critical condition Wednesday after police say her husband shot her while they were having sex.

Timothy Havens, 38, told Springfield police he was reaching for something on the nightstand when the pistol went off, hitting his estranged wife Carolyn in the upper chest.

Carolyn Havens, 42, is being treated at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. More

Woman deafened by passionate kiss

A young lady lost her hearing after a passionate kiss from her boyfriend in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

The 20-something girl reported to hospital completely deaf in her left ear soon after the painful pucker.

Dr Li, an ear specialist, from Zhuhai Second People's Hospital, said the woman's hearing would likely return to normal after about two months. More

For Better or Worse, Sex in Space Is Inevitable

Weddings in space could be right around the corner, and experts figure the inevitable cosmic consummation will be just around the next corner.

The Japanese firm First Advantage and the U.S.-based private spaceflight firm Rocketplane Global, Inc., announced last week they will host weddings in space for about $2.3 million apiece.

For all we know, sex in space has already taken place. But NASA officials aren't talking about that much.

Nobody claims to know whether "it" has happened already in space.

"We don't study sexuality in space, and we don't have any studies ongoing with that," said NASA spokesman Bill Jeffs of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "If that's your specific topic, there's nothing to discuss," he added, referring to "sex in space." More

'Whizzinator' makers to plead guilty

The owners of the company that makes the Whizzinator, a prosthetic penis used to mask illegal drug use, were charged yesterday in federal court with conspiracy to defraud the government and are expected to plead guilty.

Gerald Wills, the president of Puck Technology, based in Signal Hill, Calif., and Robert D. Catalano, the vice president, are charged in a 19-page criminal information of conspiracy for selling two different products that mask illegal substances in a user's urine.

The products, the Whizzinator and Number 1, are sold through the company's Web sites.

As part of the case, the government is moving for forfeiture of all of the company's assets, as well as its Internet domain names. More

Butt Bandit Grabbed For Greasy Graffiti

Graffiti has all forms, some of which is labeled art, but residents of the small Nebraska town of Valentine likely aren’t in love with the displays left by a man who has been tagged the “Butt Bandit”. In fact, it has to be one of the weirdest cases in the little town’s history, perhaps that of the whole state.

Police in the town had been on the lookout for the “Butt Bandit”, a man who had been visiting businesses during the nighttime hours during the spring and summer months, pressing his naked rear end or groin against storefront windows, churches and even schools after greasing up with petroleum jelly or lotion, leaving graphic images. More

Responders Accused of Molesting Patients in Meat Wagon

They answer the call 24-7, often risking their own safety to rescue the sick and injured and rush them to the hospital. But some paramedics have been more predator than hero.

Over the past 18 months, at least 129 ambulance attendants across the U.S. have been accused of sex-related crimes on duty or off, an investigation found. Some of them molested patients in the back of an ambulance.

"It's a dream job for a sexual predator," said Greg Kafoury, a Portland, Ore., lawyer who represents three women who were groped by a paramedic. "Everything is there: Women who are incapacitated, so they're hugely distracted. Medical cover to put your hands in places where, in any other context, a predator would be immediately recognized as such." More

Man loses appeal over cartoon porn based on The Simpsons

CARTOON characters are people too, a judge has ruled in the case of a man convicted over cartoons based on The Simpsons, in which children are shown having sex.

In the New South Wales Supreme Court today, Justice Michael Adams ruled that a fictional cartoon character was a "person" within the meaning of the relevant state and commonwealth laws.

Alan John McEwen was appealing his February conviction for possessing child pornography and using his computer to access child pornography.

"The alleged pornography comprised a series of cartoons depicting figures modelled on members of the television animated series The Simpsons," the judge said. More

El Caganer: (S)catalonia's Fecal Christmas Festivities

El Caganer, a rather strange figure, has been a characteristic of Nativity scenes all over Catalonia for many years. No self- respecting Catalan Bethlehem scene would be complete without him!

Nowadays he comes in many shapes and forms, from monks to shepherds, Barcelona or Madrid football players to famous film stars - all performing the exact same action - defecating. That's right! They are actually squatting down, with their trousers round their knees, having a bowel movement!

Although an integral and essential part of the Nativity scene, this colourful character is often difficult to spot. He is usually to be found in an ''outlying'' area - behind a suitably placed bush, for example - and not actually centre stage with the infant Jesus himself! Traditionally he was made of clay, but now he is usually made of longer-lasting plastic. More

'Sexy' MP Kate Ellis offered $30,000 to strip for lads' mag

FEDERAL minister Kate Ellis has been offered $30,000 to strip for a men's magazine.

Zoo Weekly asked the minister for youth and sport to pose, but she rejected the offer today, the magazine said.

"She had a chuckle at the idea but has decided against it,'' her spokesman told Zoo.

The invitation came a few weeks after Ellis, 31, the country's youngest ever federal minister, was voted Australia's "sexiest'' MP by her political peers including nearly 70 federal MPs and senators. More

Health funds billed for brothel sex in New South Wales

HEALTH funds have been paying rebates to members who get massages with a "happy ending" in Sydney brothels a fraud investigation has found.

The sexual services which cost $60 were billed as a massage or as acupuncture and attracted a health fund rebate of $40.

An undercover investigation has resulted in about 80 massage services in Sydney being deregistered by health funds for fraudulent practices.

Four Chinese massage and acupuncture centres, including one in Ryde and another in Paramatta, offered undercover health fund investigators sexual services during a raunchy massage.

Health funds uncovered the practice after chasing up Chinese community newspaper advertisements offering to provide "young attractive masseuse with a health fund rebate". More

Cosmetic surgery addict injects cooking oil into her face

Hang Mioku, now 48, had her first plastic surgery procedure when she was 28; hooked from the beginning she moved to Japan where she had further operations - mostly to her face.

Following operation after operation, her face was eventually left enlarged and disfigured, but she would still look at herself in the mirror and think she was beautiful.

Eventually the surgeons she visited refused to carry out any more work on her and one suggested that her obsession could be a sign of a psychological disorder.

When she returned home to Korea the surgery meant Hang's features had changed so much that her own parents didn't recognise her. More

Teacher charged with unlawful sex with 17-year-old boy

They had sex anywhere they could, police said -- in the parking lots of grocery stores and under a bridge.

The arrest of a Warner Christian Academy teacher, who police say was having sex with one of her 17-year-old students, has unleashed a series of details that reveal a steamy relationship between the teen and the 45-year-old woman.

An eight-page arrest affidavit released by Port Orange police paints a picture of a teacher engaging in a variety of sexual acts with the boy in her car and inside low-budget motels on Ridgewood Avenue and International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach. The documents also detail the sexually charged text messages Cynthia Horvath routinely sent to the high school senior, praising his sexual prowess but also warning him to "keep quiet" about their affair.

Aside from the litany of interviews Port Orange and Daytona Beach detectives conducted with the student and several of his classmates, Port Orange detectives also took a box of keepsakes the boy had saved from his encounters with Horvath. The mementos included black thong underwear, plastic keys from the motels and Horvath's Warner Christian picture identification card. More

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