Wednesday, December 29, 2004

US woman, 55, gives birth to three grandchildren for daughter

WASHINGTON - A 55-year-old American woman gave birth in Richmond, Virginia, to three genetic baby grandchildren, for her adult daughter who was unable, hospital officials said.
Tina Cade had volunteered to have the children for her daughter Camille Hammond, 29, who is unable to have children due to medical reasons. Father Jason Hammond was reported to be delighted with the new additions to the family.

Doctors in May implanted three embryos, formed from Camille's eggs and Jason's sperm, into Tina. The babies, two boys and a girl, were born by Caesarian section.

"This is our Christmas blessing, our New Year's blessing," Camille said.

"Really, the most wonderful gift we've ever received in our entire lives and probably that we'll ever receive, and we are just so grateful to mother, as well as to God, for this, this huge, huge blessing," she added.

The babies, who had been due in mid-February, have been placed in a neo-natal wing of the hospital.

A prickly hangover solution

Researchers at the University of New Orleans say you can forget drinking gallons of water or wolfing down bacon and eggs to cure that hangover.

Apparently the latest answer is to use the skin of the prickly pear cactus.

It significantly reduces the body's inflammatory reaction to alcohol, thereby reducing the severity of hangover symptoms such as headache and nausea, they say.

Hungry superheroes fall out

Police were called to a burger van in the early hours of Christmas Day after a disturbance broke out between Spiderman, Superman and Batman.

It is believed the argument between the three men in fancy dress was over a shortage of food at the fast-food van on the A28 Wincheap, Canterbury.

A 23-year-old man was reported to have suffered facial injuries in the incident.

A Kent Police spokesman said: "Spiderman, Superman and Batman were involved in a minor altercation at 12.32am on Wincheap on Christmas Day. The injured party declined to take it any further."

Dog drives truck into store

Michael Henson left the car parts store with more problems than when he arrived. For that, he can thank his dog.

Henson, whose truck had been experiencing a sticking throttle, left his dog in the pick-up truck when he went into the O'Reilly Auto Parts store in Springdale, Arkansas.

"He'd left the truck running -- I guess to show the people at O'Reilly's -- and the dog jumped over and knocked the truck into gear," police Sgt. Billy Turnbough said.

The truck raced into the building, stunning Hennson and clerk Josh Hopper. No one - or the dog - was hurt in the incident.

Christmas snub leads to arson

A man angry that he got no presents for Christmas burned down his parents' house early the next morning.

Steven Murray, 21, was charged with arson and risking a catastrophe in the blaze that broke out early on Sunday in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. No one was injured.

Police said Murray had himself committed to a hospital on Christmas Day, but then signed himself out and walked eight miles home.

Later he told police he saw the flames in the distance. But officers said his jacket smelled of smoke and they found a lighter in his pocket and a petrol can near the front door.

`Elvis water` auctioned for £230

Don't get all shook up, or be a hard-headed woman, or even return to sender... Just three tablespoons of water from a cup once used by Elvis Presley have fetched £237 on eBay.

After seeing a cheese sandwich with a supposed image of the Virgin Mary go for £14,600, Wade Jones, 40, of Belmont, North Carolina, said he decided to sell the Elvis "memorabilia".

Jones, who got the cup after a 1977 Elvis show in Charlotte and stored it in his freezer, said the winning bidder only got the water, because he was "kind of attached to the cup".

Stolen car found - after 23 years

Terry and Robin Smith from Greenville, South Carolina, received a fantastic Christmas present - a car they last saw 23 years ago.

The vintage 1963 Ford Fairlane finally turned up 2,600 miles away in Sacramento. California Highway Patrol officers called the couple to tell them authorities had recovered the vehicle.

"What a wonderful gift at Christmas time - after 23 years to receive news that they`d found our car," said Mrs Smith, who got it as a wedding present from her parents.

Caught Pine handed

Pine cones lead police to burglar

It didn't take Winnipeg police long to solve the great Christmas tree heist - a trail of pine cones from the scene of the crime led directly to a suspect's living room.

"It's got to be the dumbest crime of the century," apartment caretaker Cindy Peterson said Wednesday. "You could see where they dragged it into the house."

The Yuletide theft happened early on December 23 when someone cut down an 5.5-metre (18-foot) blue spruce from in front of Peterson's apartment building.

The tree wasn't sawed at the base of the trunk, but about 2 metres up.

Peterson said she only noticed the tree had been lopped off when a neighbour pointed it out.

She went to investigate and found a small cedar tree apparently discarded in favour of the larger spruce. A trail of pine cones, needles and broken limbs led directly to a residence across the street.

Police questioned the 22-year-old occupant, who told them he had bought the tree from an unknown door-to-door tree salesman for $5 (£2.60).

The man was charged with possession of stolen goods and released on a promise to appear in court at a later date.

Granny, 105, has first doctor visit

A 105-year-old Bosnian grandmother has been treated by a doctor for the first time in her life, a Bosnian news agency reported.

Milja Markovic slipped and fell in her house in a remote mountain village near Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia earlier this week and broke her leg, her son Momir told Srna news agency. He said his mother had never been ill in her life.

Markovic was not even registered in the files of the local hospital in Srebrenica, located some 43 miles north-east of Sarajevo.