Check -out worker mugs herself !

Check -out worker mugs herself !

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German supermarket check-out worker stashed the day's takings into her shoes and hit herself over the head, pretending she had been held up and attacked by a robber, Bavarian police said on Thursday.
The 26 year-old woman told police she was alone in the south German store when a masked man forced her at gun-point to fill his pockets and several bags with money from the shop's cash box before knocking her unconscious with a blow to her head.
Police became suspicious after medical examinations revealed the woman's head injury didn't match up to her description of the attack. The woman then confessed she had hit herself on the head with a blunt object and stolen the money to pay off debts.

Halle's stunt double is a man

Halle Berry's stunt double in Catwoman is a man.
Nito Larioza wore red lipstick and a catsuit for the role, says the News of the World.
The Hawaiian-born martial arts expert is the same height and has has the same skin colour as Berry.
The 29-year-old said: "The scenes are shot so fast you can't tell.
"But a lot of boys feasting their eyes on Halle's sexy costume are gonna flip when they realise they got steamy about a bloke in a girl's costume."

Saturday, July 17, 2004

Man eats thousands of dollars

Some people put their money where their mouth is -- cops say Johnny Chilito put his money where his stomach is.
Chilito tried to board a flight from Colombia to Peru when officials noticed him acting nervously.
They X-rayed him and found $48,000 in US currency, sealed in 80 latex packets, in his stomach. They have charged him with money laundering

Clown proposal

A clown popped the question in a big top when he surprised his girlfriend in front of astonished circus-goers.
Nicol-the-clown swept into the circus with an engagement ring and was delighted when hula-hooping sweetheart Jana Roberts said "yes".
The 21-year-old Spanish funnyman dropped into the arena as world champion Miss Roberts, also 21, was half way through her hula-hooping routine at Roberts Brothers' Circus, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Flaming mess

Saturday July 17,

Fire eater Beth Guzdek may want to change careers. Performing at a party in Royal Oak, Michigan, she had just put flammable liquid in her mouth, held a flame to it and began to breath fire when she burst into flames, badly burning her face and torso.
"Don't play with fire. That's the short of it." said paramedic Scott Gardner who took her to hospital.

Hair raising ??

A man with a hair fetish has been arrested for creeping up on little girls visiting cemeteries with their families and cutting off their ponytails.
When police searched the home of Michael Sterkins, 51, of Gray, Louisiana, they found one of the ponytails placed neatly under a Bible at the side of his bed.

"Dumb blondes" live up to stereotype

"Dumb blondes" live up to stereotype

BERLIN (Reuters) - Blondes perform intelligence tests more slowly after reading jokes playing on their supposed stupidity, say psychologists in a newly published German study.

Some 80 women of various hair colours were tested on their mental capacity to work quickly and precisely in a series of psychometric tests. Before sitting the tests, half the participants had to read "dumb blonde" jokes, such as:
"Why do blondes open yoghurt pots while still at the supermarket? -- Because it says 'Open Here' on the lid."

"No blonde woman believes she is stupid," said Jens Foerster a social psychologist from the International University Bremen in northern Germany on Wednesday.

"But after exposure to negative social-stereotypes about them, the fair-haired participants performed significantly more slowly in the tests."

Foerster explained the result by saying that when people are told they can't perform a task well, they work more slowly but more cautiously, to try to make fewer mistakes.

"The study shows that even unfounded prejudices generally dismissed as untrue can affect an individual's confidence in their own ability," said Foerster.

German burns down house trying to impress girlfriend

A lovestruck German has burned down his house after candles he lit for his girlfriend sparked a fire.

The unnamed man had laid out hundreds of candles in the shape of a heart carrying the words "You set my heart on fire."

The 18-year-old had hoped the gesture would have impressed his girlfriend. Instead the heat was so intense it melted the candle wax onto the floor where it ignited.

Ten firefighters tacked the resulting blaze for an hour before getting it under control. No one was hurt but emergency services said damage to the property came to about Ā£33,000.

The young man told police: "My girlfriend didn't even see the message, all I have left of it is a photograph - and she was not in the mood to look at that when she realised what had happened."

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Half eaten banana sells for £1,650

Half eaten banana sells for Ā£1,650

LONDON (AFP) - A banana half eaten by a British television presenter has been sold for 1,650 pounds (3,000 dollars, 2,485 euros) in an Internet auction.

Kate Garraway, a presenter for the British breakfast television show GMTV, thought of the "quirky" idea during a television discussion about eccentric objects sold on www.ebay.co.uk.

Some 30,000 people reportedly made bids to buy the banana between July 4 and 11.
Jaime Falarczyk, who bought the item on Sunday, said that he will put the banana, or whatever is left of it, on display in front of his office "to generate a bit more fun".
Falarczyk, who works for an online brokerage company, said the money he paid is going to charity.

Man Jailed after shooting off his testicles

LONDON (Reuters) - A British man who accidentally shot himself in the testicles after drinking 15 pints of beer was jailed for five years on Tuesday for possessing an illegal firearm, a court spokesman said.

David Walker, 28, was arguing with a friend at a pub in South Yorkshire, northern England, when he went home to get his sawed-off shotgun, which he jammed into his trousers.

But as he walked back to the pub, the gun went off, blasting pellets into his testicles. Doctors later removed what remained of his testicles during emergency surgery.

Walker admitted possessing a prohibited weapon at a hearing in June at the court in Sheffield.

Novel ' to come out in SMSs'

A Chinese author is bringing out a novel that will only be available as a sequence of text messages.

BBC Online, quoting China's official Xinhau news agency, says Qian Fuchang has reduced his novel Outside the Fortress Besieged into 60 chapters of 70 characters each.

And pundits insists the novel, described as a steamy tale of adulterous love, will not be a gimmick.

Xie Wangxin, vice chairman of the Guangdong Literary Academy in southern China, said it will be 'a real literary work'.

Xinhua claims China sent more than 220bn text message last year - over half the global total.

So you think Big Brother has become too explicit...

British television is to sink to new lows with a reality game show based upon the exploits of a group of porn stars living in a Big Brother-style house.

Private Stars, which has been inspired by Channel 4's hugely successful Big Brother series, centres on the experiences of five female porn models who are locked in a house with five male members of the public.

The programme, which will run on cable and satellite television for 10 episodes next month, promises to go further than other reality programmes by offering "the real thing" in terms of sexual behaviour.

The contestants will be screened 24 hours a day as they produce their own X-rated porn film. The five men in the show, including one Briton, will be judged on their abilities to perform sexually with the women. Those judged to have done most poorly will be voted out, one by one, until a winner emerges. He will be awarded a full-time contract with a porn film producer.

Commissioned by the Bravo television channel, which is part of the British-based Telewest television company, the show will be produced by the Private Media Group, one of the world's leading producers of pornography.

The plan for the explicit show yesterday enraged MPs and campaigners, who condemned it as "a step too far".

There has already been growing concern over the behaviour of contestants on Big Brother, which was last week criticised for its lewdness. Channel 4 is under pressure to drop the show after two female contestants streaked through the house naked and another allowed fellow housemates to lick jam off her breasts.

These sort of antics, however, are likely to be eclipsed by the housemates in Private Stars. The show has been designed to maximise the amount of sexual contact in the house, situated in the red light district of Amsterdam.

Success for the men will depend on their willingness to lose their inhibitions and interact with the five professional female porn stars, two of whom are British.

John Beyer, the director of Mediawatch UK, a national campaign group that monitors standards in the media, said that Private Stars would just encourage immoral behaviour.

"What do the producers of this programme think is going to happen with a house full of porn stars?" he said. "Programmes like this send a bad example to viewers and they impact on everyday life. They explain why we have such a problem with sexually transmitted diseases and such a high level of unwanted pregnancies

Monday, July 12, 2004

Vy haff I got zees name ?

The Muenchner Postbank has frozen accounts belonging to Slobodan Milosevic - a Munich city bus driver. Officials thought he was the infamous Serbian war crimes suspect of the same name. Mr Milosevic, who emigrated from Serbia, said: "I tried to explain that my name is as common in Serbia as the name Hans Schmidt is in Germany. But they told me Hans Schmidt was not a war criminal. The other Slobodan is locked up in the Hague, so why would he have a savings account in a German post office? I asked them, if my name were Adolf Hitler would my account also be frozen? But it didn't help." The bank told him all of his accounts would be locked "due to mandatory legal prescriptions". They have given him a week to prove he is not the ex-dictator of Yugoslavia before his savings are seized for war reparations.

Sunday, July 11, 2004

Blind flight record

An adventurer soared into the record book as he completed his bid to become the first blind person to fly around the UK.
Steve Cunningham, 41, completed a personal hat-trick which has seen him conquer land, sea and now air.
After being delayed by low cloud at Cardiff as he prepared to embark on the final stage of his round Britain journey, the father-of-two finally touched down at White Waltham Airfield in Berkshire to a champagne welcome.

Len's huge pool takes a walk

Johannesburg - How does one keep one's head above water when thieves walk off with your swimming pool?

This was the question posed by Len Mayer, a contractor from Johannesburg, after his trailer carrying a "massive" swimming pool disappeared.

Mayer's swimming pool disappeared from the corner of Beyers NaudƩ Avenue and John Vorster Street in Randpark Ridge on Friday while he was with a client in the area.

"The trailer brought in wonderful business," said Mayer who had had his business for less than a month.

"Every day I received about five calls from people who saw it," he said.

According to Mayer, a street vendor said someone with a green Nissan bakkie drove off with his trailer - and the pool.

The pool, which stands about 3.5m high, would be worthless to the thief, said Mayer. "There are two huge holes in the bottom, where it was attached to the trailer," he said.

Beeld heard of Mayer's problem through eBlockWatch, an electronic system that warns people of crimes committed, via e-mails and SMS messages.

AndrƩ Snyman, eBlockWatch head, said Mayer's situation amazed him. "Something like that can happen only in South Africa."
He said that after the message was sent out, he was inundated with calls from subscribers who wanted more information.

But, Mayer does not find the incident funny. "In my heart, I hope to trace my trailer, but I am sure it has already been chopped up into pieces," he said.

He says the theft has probably cost him about R15 000.

"It's a huge step backwards for someone who only recently started up a business."

He has promised a reward for information that can help him recover his trailer.

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"You are nobody!" is slander in Italy

"You are nobody!" is slander in Italy

ROME (Reuters) - A driver who told a parking attendant "You are nobody!" has felt the weight of Italy's legal system, which ruled the seemingly innocuous words constituted slander -- and fined him heavily.


The tiff over a parking space led to Giulio C. being fined 300 euros (200 pounds) plus 500 euros legal costs when a court in the northeast city of Trieste turned down his appeal.


The court ruled the phrase 'you are nobody' "means precisely 'you are a nonentity' and to state that a person is a nonentity is certainly offensive because it is damaging to the dignity of a person."


The decision led celebrated Corriere della Sera commentator Beppe Severgnini to recall in his column on Friday that this was not the first time Italian appeal courts had deliberated on the definition of slander.


Indeed, over the years a sort of "guide to legitimate offence" has been formulated and Severgnini, quoting the courts, gave a few of the more common examples.


"Ball-breaker" is not slander because although "an undoubtedly rude expression it is now in common usage."


"I'll kick your arse" also passes muster because this is a "robust reaction which should be understood in a figurative way."


Under Italian law, the crime of slander is punishable by a maximum fine of 516 euros.

Man was raised by chickens

Social workers in Fiji are trying to rehabilitate a 32-year-old man they say was raised by chickens.

The man was locked in a chicken coop as a child for years by his grandfather after his parents died, reports NBC.

He had little contact with humans and picked up the habits of the birds. After escaping from the coop, the man was taken to a local hospital.

No one knew how to treat him, so hospital workers locked him in a room and tied him to his bed for more than 20 years.

Now, doctors are trying to treat the man. They say he has no mental defects and agree his condition is from years of abuse and neglect.

"He had imitated or imprinted with the chicken," said Elizabeth Clayton who is rehabilitating the man.

"He was perching, he was picking at his food, he was hopping around like a chicken.

"He'd keep his hands in a chicken-like fashion, and he'd make a noise which was like the calling of a chicken - which he still has."

Doctors said the man has made remarkable progress and is now learning to walk and speak like a human.

posted by dom at 6:31 PM 0 weirdo's replied links to this post

Toy firm markets talking Jesus action doll

Toy firm markets talking Jesus action doll

A US toy firm has created a talking action doll of Jesus Christ which recites the Ten Commandments.

Herobuilders says it has come full circle and created "the ONLY real hero: Talking Our Lord Jesus Christ Action Figure".

It's Jesus action figure stands 12 inches high, wears biblical robes and costs the equivalent of Ā£15.

The Connecticut-based firm also makes 'hero' action figures of President Bush, Tony Blair and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.

It also sells a range of 'villain' action figures including Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Saddam's son Uday.

All are marketed through the firm's website, www.herobuilders.com.

Wife killer, 100, spared prison

The judge said the killing was an "act of love"
A 100-year-old former butcher has been spared a prison sentence for killing his wife after the judge accepted his plea of diminished responsibility.
Bernard Heginbotham pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court on Thursday to the manslaughter of his wife, Ida.

She was living at a nursing home in Preesall, Lancashire, and in poor health when her husband slit her throat, the court was told.

Mrs Heginbotham was found by staff at the home on 1 April.


Her husband cried in court as he was given a 12 month community rehabilitation order.

Mr Justice Leveson said it was clear Mr Heginbotham had been a devoted husband during their 67-year marriage.

His 87-year-old wife was found with a single knife wound to her throat.

The couple, who lived in Preesall, near Blackpool, had raised six children together.

Guide dog barred for speaking only French

TORONTO (Reuters) - A blind Quebec student may sue a Canadian university that denied him entry to English classes because his guide dog responds only to French commands.

Yvan Tessier was turned away from an English immersion course at the University of New Brunswick because he would be forced to give his dog, Pavot, instructions in French.
Students in the course are expected to communicate only in English, at all times, during the intensive five-week course. That includes talking to the dog.

"I feel a little bit frustrated and sad about the situation," Tessier said from Fredericton, New Brunswick on Wednesday.
"They don't have the openness of spirit to understand that it's better for me and my mobility to operate with my guide dog. It's only 17 commands in French, it won't compromise the English program."

Tessier said he would file a complaint with the human rights commission if the university stuck to its decision.

The graduate student has been guided by the black Labrador retriever for the past two years. Pavot was trained by the Quebec-based Mira Foundation specifically for French speaking clients.

"We were astonished by this," said Pierre Noiseux, a spokesman at the foundation which placed Pavot with Tessier.

"The dog doesn't speak French or English. He doesn't know how to spell 'en avant.' He doesn't know it's French. He just knows that 'en avant' means forward."

Noiseux said the university's decision was tantamount to discrimination, given that it had accepted Tessier and only raised objections once he inquired about services for blind students.

The university in the eastern Canadian town of Fredericton, New Brunswick, said it turned Tessier away because it did not have enough time to prepare for his special needs. It said he can join the program once Pavot learns English commands.

"In the past, the service has been provided that we do teach their guide dogs commands in English, so the dog learns English as well," a university spokeswoman told CBC Television.

Tessier said it would take too long to teach Pavot English commands. The Mira Foundation said it was also dangerous to teach the dog new commands just as Tessier arrives in unfamiliar surroundings.

"He's in a new city, he needs a dog that will be really alert," Noiseux said. "Sure we could take the dog, bring him back and recode. But why would I do that? The guy is French."

Broken-hearted drinkers pay to cry into their beer

A bar for the broken hearted has opened in China where drinkers pay to cry into their beer.

Tissues and menthol drops are provided at the bar in Nanjing as well as onions and red peppers for customers who need help to burst into tears.

Bar tenders play sad music and there are dolls available for customers to throw around or beat to vent their anger of a broken relationship.

Customers must pay Ā£3 an hour, on top of their drinks bill, to weep and wail to their hearts content, a report in the Jinling Evening News said.

The bar has been a big success and is attracting crowds of depressed drinkers every day, according to the newspaper.

Beer-mad Bosnian wins advertising contract

A beer-mad Bosnian who has drunk more than 15 pints a day for almost 50 years has been offered a lucrative contract promoting his favourite drink.

Marijan Camber, 61, from Sutina, was made an offer he couldn't refuse after a local paper pictured him drinking his 400,000th bottle.

He said: "Negotiations are still ongoing, and I am not allowed to name the firm, but I think we are close to signing a deal. I am the world's biggest beer fan so I'm happy to be its ambassador."

Friends confirmed to Croatian daily Jutarnji List that Camber drinks at least 30 bottles containing a third of a litre a day, and say the beer seems to have no affect on him.

Camber said: "I once drank 80 bottles in one day to see how far I could go, and I still didn't feel drunk."

He added: "To be honest I don't drink to get drunk. I think I've been drunk about three times in my life - and that was when I drank other alcohol and not beer.

"There are always at least 20 different beers in my fridge. My favourites are from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia."

He reckons beer is as good as it gets: "Sex is a fleeting pleasure that is not always that great and not always available, but the pleasure from beer is always good - and you can have it as often as you want."

Naked Macy stuns fans

Macy Gray stunned fans by performing naked on stage - apart from a pair of designer shoes.

She protected her modesty by perching on a chair in the pose made famous by call-girl Christine Keeler.

Her flamboyant performance in London was to raise money for Elton John's charity to combat AIDS in Africa.

Macy had been fully clothed for most of her two-hour stint at the Coronet in London's Elephant and Castle.

But shortly before the end of the show, she left the stage only to return naked apart from a pair of Jimmy Choo heels.

She thrilled the crowd by closing the concert with a rendition of her 1999 hit, I Try.

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Athletes complete underground marathon

Eight Spanish athletes have completed the world's first underground marathon running 25 miles along Madrid's underground system.

The two women and six men used the underground number 12 route which circles around the southern part of the Spanish capital for their race.

In order not to disturb the traffic the marathon took place at night - and all the runners had to buy a valid ticket to use the underground.

"It was mainly the damp heat and the dull lighting that got to us," said one of the runners after the event, adding: "But it was worth it."

"Faggot" dish cooks up controversy

LONDON (Reuters) - Television watchdog Ofcom has banned a supermarket chain from using the word "faggot" in an advert, referring to the traditional British dish.


Somerfield's advert featured a husband complaining about his wife's repetitive cooking.


When she told him it was Friday so he was getting his usual faggots, a traditional dish of meatballs in gravy, he said: "I've nothing against faggots, I just don't fancy them."


"Three listeners were offended, as they believed the husband's response alluded to homosexuals, faggots being a derogatory term for them," said Ofcom on Monday.


But Somerfield denied Ofcom's charge. "Faggots were chosen to demonstrate the idea because they are commonly perceived as an outdated and slightly comical product, not because of any allusions to homosexuality," it said.


But Ofcom ruled that the term was "highly derogatory" and banned the advert from being broadcast again.

Monday, July 05, 2004

Liberian team stoned by angry fans

MONROVIA (Reuters) - Angry Liberia fans have thrown stones at their national team as they left the stadium escorted by an armoured personnel carrier, following a goalless draw with Togo in a World Cup group one qualifier.

"Liberia have a good team and the game was okay. We played, but we couldn't score," said Togo's Emmanuel Adebayor, after a match on Sunday in which his team had dominated the first half.

"That's what football is about at times."

Liberian fans were also angered by the refusal of their captain James Debbah to leave the pitch when the team's manager tried to bring him off after he had sustained an injury.

The 0-0 draw leaves Liberia fifth in group one with four points from three games. Togo are third, also on four points.

Pilot stops traffic to land on busy road

BEIRUT (Reuters) - When a small plane made an emergency landing on a busy Beirut highway the pilot had the presence of mind to first stick his head out of the window and yell at the traffic to stop, witnesses say.

There were no injuries and no visible damage to the plane, which landed on a road on the southern edge of the Lebanese capital. Soldiers sealed off the area.

Airport officials said the Cessna 172 was on a training flight when it developed mechanical problems.

"I heard my neighbours shouting and came out to look," said Mohammad Matariya, who lives nearby.

"I saw the plane starting to come down, then I saw the pilot put his head out of the window and tell a boy on a motorbike: 'Stop the traffic, I have to land!'"

"The pilot was great, really brave," another witness Ahmad Abu Samir said. "He came down so slowly, very calmly. It could have been so much worse."

Naked jogger runs into trouble

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German sex therapist who enjoys jogging naked through the Black Forest has lost a legal challenge against a 600-euro (400 pounds) fine for his hobby.

The regional court of appeal in Karlsruhe upheld a lower court conviction for public indecency against Dr. Peter Niehenke, a 55-year-old psychologist who police have repeatedly arrested near his Freiburg home for jogging in the nude.

Niehenke, who wears only running shoes and socks, has argued in court there are no laws specifically banning his hobby -- but to no avail.

"The court does not support the defendant's view that running naked in public is one of his civil rights," the court said in its ruling on Friday.

But it did note that public opinion on nudity was changing, and that naked sunbathing was no longer considered a violation of public order.

Estonians crowned wife-carrying champs

SONKAJARVI, Finland (Reuters) - Two Estonian students have clinched the country's seventh straight wife-carrying world championship, winning the "wife's" weight in beer and a sauna.

Using the "Estonian Carry", where the woman clamps her thighs to the sides of the man's face while hanging upside down on his back, Madis Uusorg carried Inga Klauso 250 metres through a pool and over hurdles in just over a minute.

Uusorg, 20, claimed there was no secret to their victory on Saturday. "I just tried to run and not think about anything," he said.

"Madis is very good at carrying women. I didn't have to do anything," his friend Klauso, 19, said. Contestants do not have to be married.

The race has its roots in local legend, according to which it was common in the late 19th century to steal women from the neighbouring villages.

It is also based on the story of Ronkainen the Robber, who made aspiring gang members prove their worth by carrying sacks of rye along a challenging track.

The competition in the remote central Finnish village of Sonkajarvi, which lies deep in forest and a few hours' drive from the Arctic Circle, drew 18 couples from as far away as Canada, England and Ireland, and around 7,000 spectators.

Sunday, July 04, 2004

Norwegian Art Dealer Stands to Make Millions on Unknown Titian

Norwegian gallery owner Reidar Osen may be the proprietor of a previously unknown painting by Italian Renaissance master Titian, reports said Wednesday. Osen bought the painting at an auction in the west coast city of Bergen back in 1981 and although he was fond of it, did not have a clue that it could have been the work of Titian himself. A visiting American art dealer commissioned by an unnamed U.S. billionaire to buy a painting by Norwegian artist Odd Nerdrum, recently spotted the Titian-style painting in Osen's gallery. He immediately called his client and paid the equivalent of 145,000 dollars to reserve the painting, and 289,000 dollars to test the oil colours, the online edition of the Norwegian daily Aftenposten reported. A few days ago, the test results arrived indicating that the colours were at least 400 years old. American art experts would now study the painting to determine who painted it. The painting, bought for the equivalent of 868 dollars, could be worth some 57 million dollars. Titian or Tiziano Vecellio (1485-1576) is considered the greatest of the Venetian school of painters. He was known to make two versions of his works. The Osen-owned painting is very similar to the oil painting "Flora," but the only known version of that work is in the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Italy. Osen's painting could have been done by Titian or copied at his workshop, the commercial broadcaster TV2 said. Shortly after TV2 reported Osen's story, he was swamped with telephone calls and text messages from women proposing marriage and strangers requesting holiday money. Osen said he was happy with the 434,000 dollars deposit he had received for the painting, and would await developments. He told Aftenposten that he had also found a letter dated around 1520 in the frame of the painting.

Night vision goggles nab teen bootlegger

A 16-year-old was arrested early Wednesday in a theater showing "Spider-man 2" after a projectionist using night vision goggles saw him using a camcorder to make an illegal copy of the superhero sequel.

The teen could be charged under a law that went into effect Jan. 1 and makes taking a recording device into a movie theater a crime punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum fine of $2,500.

The Los Angeles District Attorney's office is expected to review the case and determine whether to charge the teen, who was released into his parents' custody, said Sgt. Mel Amoroso, a spokesman at the Los Angeles Police Department's Devonshire Division.

The film industry's trade group hailed the arrest and credited its recent initiative to offer cash rewards of up to $500 to theater employees who turn in moviegoers attempting to make illicit film copies.

"In theaters nationwide, there are now thousands of eyes looking for camcording-pirates and this incident proves that pirates who use these devices in theaters will be caught," said James W. Spertus, vice president and director of antipiracy operations for the Motion Picture Association of America.

Camcorders account for 92 percent of all illegal copies of films that appear for sale over the Internet and are sold on street corners from Burbank to Beijing, according to the MPAA.

The teen, whose identity was not made public, was among the throngs of midnight movie viewers across the country who crowded theaters for the debut of the "Spider-man" sequel.

According to the MPAA, the projectionist at the Pacific Winnetka theater in the Los Angeles suburb of Chatsworth spotted the teen using a camcorder a few minutes into the start of the film. He and two other individuals with him were escorted out of the theater by security and turned over to the police.

The camcorder contained a recording of the beginning of the film, the MPAA said.

"Hundreds of people have put tens of thousands of hours into making a truly great picture, and the notion of having it stolen and sent out for free around the world is just plain wrong," said Jeff Blake, vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the film company behind "Spider-man 2."

Free meal promotion for relatives of Genghis Khan

A London restaurant chain is offering customers free DNA testing to see if they're descended from Genghis Khan.

Restaurant Shish has promised free meals for any found to be related to the notorious Mongol leader.

The unusual promotion is to mark the Mongolian government's decision to allow citizens to have surnames for the first time since they were banned by the communists in the 1920s.

Some 50,000 Mongolians now proudly claim direct descent from and bear the name of Genghis Khan.

Shish has teamed up with DNA-based research company Oxford Ancestors to offer descendants food from their ancestral homelands.

From Saturday July 3 to Friday July 9, diners at the Shish restaurant venues in London's Hoxton and Willesden Green will have the opportunity to have their DNA sent off for analysis

The procedure needs only a small brush to be rubbed quickly around the inside cheek of the participant. The sample is then sent off for analysis which takes around two months.

It is estimated that 17 million people worldwide, including the British Royal Family, Iranian Royalty, and the family of Dracula, are direct descendents of Genghis Khan.

The conqueror founded an empire which, at its height, stretched from The Sea Of Japan, across Russia and northern India, to the edges of modern day Eastern Europe.

Saturday, July 03, 2004

Policewoman shot brother in row over butter

A Tennessee police woman says she accidentally shot her brother in an argument over a tub of butter.

State trooper Angelinette Crawford lost her temper after her brother, Jaison Bilbrew, 19, lent the butter to a neighbour.

She told her brother that it was time he moved out of the Antioch apartment where he had been living with Crawford and her young son.

''Their verbal argument turned into a shoving match at the top of the stairs,'' police told The Tennessean.

Crawford went to her bedroom and got her service weapon, a Glock semiautomatic pistol, according to police.

The argument continued, then Bilbrew grabbed Crawford's arm and they wrestled on the floor. Bilbrew got up, and as Crawford was getting up, the gun discharged into his leg, police said.

Bilbrew was treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre and released.

Metro detectives interviewed Crawford and forwarded the case to the Davidson County district attorney's office. They have not yet decided whether she will be charged.

NOOOO!! William Shatner is making a new album !

Ben Folds is pushing back the release date of his next solo album to early 2005 in order to give William Shatner's upcoming collection, "Has Been," his full attention. The set is being targeted for a September release by Shout! Factory.

"It is a great record and it is really worth going out and doing some shows in major cities," Folds tells Billboard.com. "[Shatner] is not a musician at all -- he's not rapping or singing -- but he is still part of the music. I've never heard a record quite like it." Shatner previously guested on Folds'1998 solo album "Fear of Pop, Vol.1"

Shatner's album was produced and written mostly by Folds and includes cameos by Henry Rollins, Aimee Mann and Joe Jackson, who duets with Shatner on Pulp's "Common People." Author Nick Hornby ("High Fidelity") also co-wrote a song with Folds for the project.

Ok would be thieves , just mug 1st Direct Customers !!!!

Warning over cash machine fraud

Letters have been sent to thousands of customers
One of Britain's biggest online banks has warned thousands of customers to limit their use of cash machines because of the growing risk of fraud.
First Direct has advised some customers to consider getting enough money out in a single withdrawal to last all week.

But the police have warned that carrying large amounts of cash creates more opportunities for crime.

ATM fraud rose to Ā£39m last year, according to the cheque and plastic crime unit set up by police in London.

Vacuum cleaner gives evidence in court

A man was trying to clear cobwebs with his new Dyson vacuum cleaner when the machine knocked him down the stairs, a court was told yesterday.

Norman Grant, 59, who is suing Dyson for Ā£50,000, said he suffered painful head and wrist injuries as a result.

The company has admitted liability, and a hearing at Aberdeen sheriff court will decide the amount of damages to be paid.

Mr Grant, from Aberdeen, used the purple Dyson cleaner in court yesterday to demonstrate how a hose extension had broken and knocked him over.

He said: "I needed the hose extension with the brush at the end to suck up the cobwebs. I was at the top step, going as near as I could to the cobwebs. I stretched out and got to the nearest one.

Then the extension just broke apart and came back at me. Suddenly there was just this flash and something struck me on the arm and the next minute I found myself at the bottom of the stairs."

He said he had to have a cup of tea after the accident and then tried to put the extension back together to see if he had made a mistake.

"I stretched the cable again and it came apart again. It came off immediately and I said there's a fault with the machine. Dyson said it was the highest technology in the world, and so on."

Mr Grant, a semi-retired oil worker, said he had fallen about 15 steps and still suffered from pain in his wrist which affected his golf, gardening and household chores. "There are nagging pains, I can feel it throbbing," he added.

The case was adjourned until a later date when further evidence will be heard.

French crooner to sue for borrowing

French "singer" (gawd he's awful!)Johnny Halliday is suing his record company Universal Music for lending him too much money.
Apparently over the last 20 years Universal have bailed the Tone deaf eejit out to the tune of Ā£10m.
He's now suing them for Ā£40m , saying "If zey had not lended moi le monie , I wouldna have had spended eet" ( that was a rough translation , my French ain't too hot)
One of his sites can be found here Johnny twat sings Or just google it !.. but be WARNED ! he is crap !

Bryan Adams blamed for divorce

Tina Shaw blames her ex-hubby for launching her love affair with Canadian rocker Bryan Adams. So she was bit surprised when he then named the superstar in their divorce as a reason for the split.

Her disgruntled ex complained that spending thousands of pounds on frequent concert trips, plastering their home with pictures of Bryan Adams and a keeping a six-foot cardboard cut-out of the popstar in their bedroom was unreasonable.

The 36-year-old, of Netley Place, Blurton, said: "My husband named him four times in our divorce, he had no other reasons. He complained about the pictures of Bryan all round the house and said I went to see him too many times."

Although she no longer talks to her former partner, Miss Shaw credits him for introducing her to the gravel-voiced veteran of rock back in the summer of 1987 when he took her to Birmingham's NEC for the Into The Fire tour.

Miss Shaw said: "It all started when my ex-husband wanted to see him at the NEC and I've been a fan ever since. I've been all over Europe and I'm planning a tour of the USA just to follow him."

The figurine painter, who has seen Bryan perform more than 100 times at a cost of Ā£10, 000, is not bitter - she's just overjoyed her hero is coming to Stoke-on-Trent on Sunday.

I pooped my pants and shut down a reservoir !

A man who soiled his underwear and tried to dispose of the evidence by tossing it over the fence of the cityā€™s largest reservoir has been fined $5,000.

The city bomb squad and hazardous materials crew responded after an Erie Water Works employee spotted a black bag near the 33-million gallon Sigsbee Reservoir last month.

The reservoir was shut down for several hours while the bomb squad X-rayed the bag and hazardous materials crews waited to test it.

Police tracked down Troy Musil, 18, of Erie. He told police heā€™d been ill and soiled his underwear. He changed at a friendā€™s house, then climbed over two barbed-wire-topped fences to ditch the skivvies.

Musil pleaded guilty last week to defiant trespass. The judge gave Musil a 90-day suspended jail sentence and ordered him to pay $500 a month for 10 months to the emergency agencies that responded.

If he doesnā€™t pay, the judge said Musil would be jailed. A telephone number for Musil couldnā€™t be found.

longest cake to be made in Peru's poorest district

To Comas, Peru, not much more than a shantytown, one of the poorest areas in that county, but it is a glorious day in Comas. Local chefs have gathered together over 900 pounds of flour, 119 gallons of egg yolks, 88 pounds of baking soda, enough sugar to suffocate a llama, all to bake the Guinness Book of Records new worldā€?s largest cake -- 807 feet long, made by 300 bakers, enough to feed 15,000 people. They may not have had dinner, but they will all get dessert. A big cake indeed, but honestly, ever been impressed when they make a cake like that and then call it worldā€?s largest? Itā€?s a normal size cake, itā€?s just really long. Big deal!

DJ suspended for playing Cliff

LONDON (Reuters) - Veteran radio DJ Tony Blackburn and his boss are not talking anymore after he was suspended for playing too many Cliff Richard records.

Blackburn, 61, one of Britain's best known DJs, played two Cliff songs back-to-back and then ripped up a written warning from his radio station managers live on air.

"He just got carried away," said John Baish, managing director of Classic Gold, part of UBC Media Group Plc. "He played two records by the artist we had specifically just asked him not to play."

He said the station has a playlist covering 40 years of pop music and DJs are told to stick to it.

"If we are going to play Cliff Richard it ought to be because the listeners want it, not because Tony does," Baish said.

After Blackburn played the number one hits "We Don't Talk Anymore" and "Living Doll" on Tuesday, managers told him not to turn up for work on Thursday.

Blackburn's publicist said he hoped the DJ would return to work soon after a ticking off.

"He is slightly amazed they suspended him," the DJ's spokesman said. "But he realises he defied them."

Blackburn began his 40-year career at pirate station Radio Caroline and went on to play the first record at BBC Radio 1's launch in 1967.

Friday, July 02, 2004

Convict to sue police over poster

A convicted drug dealer plans to sue police for using his picture in a campaign against gun crime.
Michael Polizczuk says police breached his human rights by featuring his photo on leaflets distributed in Nottingham.

The 24-year-old contacted lawyers from civil rights group Liberty to make a claim against the force.

He is serving a four-year sentence at Sudbury Prison in Derbyshire after being convicted of possessing a handgun, ammunition and cocaine.

Name and shame

The leaflets show his picture, alongside other convicted gun criminals, with the message: "No such thing as untouchable".

About 30,000 leaflets were distributed in the city in a name-and-shame campaign in April this year.

He was chosen by police for the campaign which aims to show youngsters that armed criminals are now serving long prison sentences.

Liberty claims the campaign was an infringement of Polizczuc's human rights.

Glastonbury mud 'sells for Ā£490'

A lump of mud scooped up from this year's Glastonbury Festival has reportedly sold for Ā£490 on an internet auction site.

IOL says bidding on eBay for the mud, scooped up from the front of the Pyramid stage, started at 99p, but rose quickly.

The seller said the mud, stored in a plastic bag, 'should arrive nice and damp with the early Glastonbury dew still soaking into it'.

The price should more than cover the cost of the seller's admission ticket, the site says.

Thursday, July 01, 2004

Woman finds drunken burglar wearing her clothes

A Florida female student came home to find a drunken burglar in her apartment - wearing her clothes.

Theresa Hall found the man passed out in her laundry room, according to a Local 6 News report.

The University of South Florida student had arrived home to find her living room and kitchen trashed.

After she called police, she searched the house and discovered the man passed out in her utility room.

She said: "He had gotten into all kinds of food in my refrigerator, drank half my liquor, made himself at home and pulled things out of my underwear drawer, and every box of stuff that I have, and went through everything I own."

Hall barricaded the room and locked the man inside, while she waited for police. The man was arrested and faces charges.