Visicous Visicous V

Another recall from China

2007-12-13T15:54:00.000-06:00

Where where these books growing up?!

2007-12-06T13:51:00.000-06:00

Don't Let Go!

2007-12-03T13:24:00.001-06:00

Weird pooping sign

2007-12-03T13:20:00.001-06:00

Satan's Kingdom

2007-12-03T13:19:00.001-06:00

Police Are Now Targeting Fat Chicks

2007-12-03T13:17:00.001-06:00

Christ Died For Dunkin' Donuts

2007-12-03T13:15:00.000-06:00

What? Wow, that's a well trained dog..huh.

2007-12-03T13:14:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Hell

2007-11-29T15:05:00.001-06:00

B-Grade amusement park

2007-11-29T15:04:00.001-06:00

OHG, it's Jaws! (in Iowa?)

2007-11-29T14:49:00.000-06:00

2007-11-29T14:48:00.001-06:00

Oh those dead people have the best sales

2007-11-29T14:45:00.001-06:00

Things could be worse, right?

2007-11-29T14:43:00.001-06:00

Another reason not to eat red meat!!! (OMG I'm going to barf)

2007-11-29T14:40:00.000-06:00

Don't Drink & Ride!

2007-11-29T14:38:00.000-06:00

It took me all weekend, but I got my tree up!

2007-11-29T11:18:00.000-06:00

Carlo's Birthday Party

2007-11-26T09:34:00.000-06:00

Stowaway piglet survives toilet roll ordeal 10:57am

2007-11-20T14:41:00.000-06:00

A piglet nicknamed Andrex is recovering after being found in the back of a truck full of toilet paper at a supermarket. The animal, thought to be two or three weeks old, was discovered in a delivery at a Tesco store in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. Staff wrapped the piglet in a duvet and called the RSPCA, a Tesco spokesman said Tuesday. He was taken to an animal shelter in Radcliffe-on-Trent, outside Nottingham, suffering from cuts and bruises to his snout. "We will now care for him until he is fit enough to be found a permanent home," said Ella Herring, the shelter's deputy manager. Tesco said store workers were unsure of how the piglet came to be on the truck, but thought it may have been a prank. "Staff are used to dealing with the unexpected, but little Andrex's arrival was a shock," a Tesco spokesman said. "They took it in their stride, wrapping him up straightaway in a duvet in the manager's office and calling the RSPCA for advice and help."

Headless goats and chickens found on U.S. beach

2007-11-16T11:26:00.000-06:00

Two headless goats, three decapitated chickens, a beheaded rooster and a dove or possibly pigeon have been found on a scenic Southern California beach in the past week, puzzled police said on Thursday, Police in Laguna Beach said they were unsure whether the seven animals had washed up on shore or been placed there. They are trying to figure out who was behind the decapitations, and why. The headless goats were found inside a purple burlap sack on the sand a week ago. The other beheaded animals turned up in recent days. "We are looking at all kinds of things -- Halloween prank stuff, kids or cold, ritualistic-type activities," Laguna Beach police Sgt. Jason Kravetz told the Los Angeles Times. "They are wet. That means they are close to the surf line or they are washing up," he said. "It's something I haven't seen in my 18 years on the job." Laguna Beach, which lies about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, is an affluent seaside community which also provided the setting for the 2004 MTV teen reality show "Laguna Beach."

Publisher challenges genitals picture ban

2007-11-15T15:06:00.000-06:00

A publisher has taken to Japan's top court his eight-year fight over the banning of imported images of male genitals in a book of pictures by the late American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Publisher Takashi Asai told Reuters he expected to win his case because the court had taken the step of agreeing to hear his appeal of a lower court ruling that the book, which includes sado-masochistic homosexual images, was obscene. Asai, who heads a film distribution company, translated and published a collection of Mapplethorpe's works in Japan in 1994, based on imported negatives that customs did not check. But when Asai carried a copy of his book back from the United States in 1999, it was seized by customs officials and he has battled with courts since to reverse the move. Japan's domestic obscenity laws were relaxed in the 1990s to allow pictures of pubic hair, but imported publications are handled by customs and it still bans images of genitals.

Sect holes up in cave to await end of world

2007-11-15T15:04:00.000-06:00

At least 30 members of a Russian doomsday cult have barricaded themselves in a remote cave to await the end of the world and are threatening to commit suicide if police intervene, officials and media said Thursday. "They have covered the entrance and refuse to come out and are threatening to blow themselves up," an official in the local prosecutor's office told Reuters by telephone. "They threaten to detonate a gas tank and blow themselves up." The cult members, who include 29 adults and four children, are hidden inside a snow-covered hillside in the Penza region of central Russia. A Penza police spokeswoman said they had moved into the dug-out on November 7. "No one wants to take on the responsibility of provoking them ... because our information is that there are children among them," said the official. They are thought to have taken food and fuel supplies in with them and Russian television pictures from the scene showed smoke or steam coming out of a hole in the snow-covered ravine where it was built. A police patrol was guarding the area to prevent anyone provoking them. "They are simple Christians," a local priest, Father Georgy, told NTV television station. "They say: 'The church is doing a bad job, the end of the world is coming soon and we are all saving ourselves'."

Chocolate began as beer-like brew 3,100 years ago?

2007-11-13T11:37:00.001-06:00

The chocolate enjoyed around the world today had its origins at least 3,100 years ago in Central America not as the sweet treat people now crave but as a celebratory beer-like beverage and status symbol, scientists said on Monday.

Researchers identified residue of a chemical compound that comes exclusively from the cacao plant -- the source of chocolate -- in pottery vessels dating from about 1100 BC in Puerto Escondido, Honduras.

This pushed back by at least 500 years the earliest documented use of cacao, an important luxury commodity in Mesoamerica before European invaders arrived and now the basis of the modern chocolate industry.

Cacao (pronounced cah-COW) seeds were used to make ceremonial beverages consumed by elites of the Aztecs and other civilizations, while also being used as a form of currency.

The Spanish conquistadors who shattered the Aztec empire in the 16th century were smitten with a chocolate beverage made from cacao seeds served in the palace of the emperor. However, this was not the form in which cacao had its beginnings.

"The earliest cacao beverages consumed at Puerto Escondido were likely produced by fermenting the sweet pulp surrounding the seeds," the scientists wrote in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

One of the researchers, anthropologist John Henderson of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said cacao beverages were being concocted far earlier than previously believed -- and it was a beer-like drink that started the chocolate craze.

In land of the Monkey God, a primate menaces

2007-11-13T11:30:00.000-06:00

First it was the death of Delhi's deputy mayor, who fell after a fight with monkeys on the balcony of his home last month

First it was the death of Delhi's deputy mayor, who fell after a fight with monkeys on the balcony of his home last month. Then, 25 residents were bitten, scratched and mauled by a lone monkey which went on the rampage in the capital last weekend.
The monkey reportedly tried to snatch several infants before being beaten back by residents armed with sticks and metal bars.

"Primal Invasion" read the headline in the Hindustan Times.

Authorities are struggling to contain primates that are stubbornly resisting efforts to portray New Delhi as a modern, clean and globalize capital.
The city of 14 million people is growing quickly and experts say monkeys are increasingly being forced out of forests to lead urban lives, putting them on a collision course with humans. It is a pattern seen across India as the economy booms. Elephants, leopards and tigers are also coming face to face with man as cities sprawl into their former habitats.

Monkeys are a regular sight in New Delhi. They can be seen in groups climbing outside government ministries. Troupes lounge on pavements, oblivious to the chaotic traffic around them. But culling monkeys has never been an option as many Hindus worship the monkey god Hanuman, seen as a symbol of strength, perseverance and devotion. And when Delhi tried to shift them out of the city, neighboring states complained.

Faced with what many saw as a monkey plague on homes, offices and ministries, this year city authorities started to capture and send them to a sanctuary on Delhi's outskirts.
Delhi government officials say they have caught and relocated around 1,900 monkeys. While there is no census of monkey numbers, officials say thousands still live on the city's streets.

But a spate of high-profile monkey attacks has made headlines and increased public pressure for the government to act quicker.

"The latest attack was unprecedented," said J.K. Dadoo, environment and forest secretary in the Delhi government. "Monkeys normally operate in groups."
Experts say there is a growing pattern of lone attacks that may highlight the random way authorities are trying to reduce the monkey population in the city.
"Incidents of lone monkey attacks were almost unknown until recently," said Sonya Ghose, founder of Citizens for the Welfare and Protection of Animals and a member of an enforcement panel overseeing the monkey relocation campaign.
"I fear that monkeys are being trapped in a haphazard manner. Monkey catchers are breaking up troupes of monkey families, leaving some monkeys alone without their families."

"Then they have nothing to lose and turn aggressive."

Spain's king tells Venezuela's Chavez to "shut up"

2007-11-12T11:56:00.000-06:00

Spain's King Juan Carlos told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday to "shut up" during closing speeches by leaders from the Latin world that brought the Ibero-American summit to an acrimonious end. "Why don't you shut up?" the king shouted at Chavez, pointing a finger at the president when he tried to interrupt a speech by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Zapatero was in the middle of a speech at the summit of mostly leftist leaders from Latin America, Portugal, Spain and Andorra, and was criticizing Chavez for calling former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a fascist. Chavez, a leading leftist foe of Washington, also attacked Spanish businessman Gerardo Diaz Ferran earlier in the week after he questioned the safety of foreign investments in Venezuela. "I want to express to you President Hugo Chavez that in a forum where there are democratic governments ... one of the essential principles is respect," Zapatero told the leaders gathered in the Chilean capital, Santiago. "You can disagree radically, without being disrespectful," Zapatero, a socialist, said sternly, drawing applause from some of the other heads of state.

Temple built 4,000 years ago unearthed in Peru

2007-11-12T11:54:00.000-06:00

4,000-year-old temple filled with murals has been unearthed on the northern coast of Peru, making it one of the oldest finds in the Americas, a leading archaeologist said on Saturday. The temple, inside a larger ruin, includes a staircase that leads up to an altar used for fire worship at a site scientists have called Ventarron, said Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva, who led the dig. It sits in the Lambayeque valley, near the ancient Sipan complex that Alva unearthed in the 1980s. Ventarron was built long before Sipan, about 2,000 years before Christ, he said. "It's a temple that is about 4,000 years old," Alva, director of the Museum Tumbas Reales (Royal Tombs) of Sipan, told Reuters by telephone after announcing the results of carbon dating at a ceremony north of Lima sponsored by Peru's government. "What's surprising are the construction methods, the architectural design and most of all the existence of murals that could be the oldest in the Americas," he said. Lambayeque is 472 miles from Lima, Peru's capital. Discoveries at Sipan, an administrative and religious center of the Moche culture, have included a gold-filled tomb built 1,700 years ago for a pre-Incan king.

Prehistoric women had passion for fashion

2007-11-12T11:47:00.000-06:00

If the figurines found in an ancient European settlement are any guide, women have been dressing to impress for at least 7,500 years. Recent excavations at the site -- part of the Vinca culture which was Europe's biggest prehistoric civilization -- point to a metropolis with a great degree of sophistication and a taste for art and fashion, archaeologists say. In the Neolithic settlement in a valley nestled between rivers, mountains and forests in what is now southern Serbia, men rushed around a smoking furnace melting metal for tools. An ox pulled a load of ore, passing by an art workshop and a group of young women in short skirts. "According to the figurines we found, young women were beautifully dressed, like today's girls in short tops and mini skirts, and wore bracelets around their arms," said archaeologist Julka Kuzmanovic-Cvetkovic. The unnamed tribe who lived between 5400 and 4700 BC in the 120-hectare site at what is now Plocnik knew about trade, handcrafts, art and metallurgy. Near the settlement, a thermal well might be evidence of Europe's oldest spa.

Cow plunges off cliff onto moving minivan

2007-11-07T14:35:00.000-06:00

cow plunged from a 200-foot (61-metre) cliff onto the hood of a minivan on a highway in central Washington state, according to police. The car's occupants, Charles and Linda Everson, were not hurt in Sunday's accident, but the cow was euthanized at the scene. "If the cow had fallen a split second later, the animal would have landed right in their laps," said Jeff Middleton, criminal deputy of the Chelan County Sheriff's Department. Middleton estimated the animal weighed 600 lbs (272 kilograms), or the average size of a mature cow. It had been missing for two days and wandered 5 miles from home near the popular Lake Chelan tourist area.

What says Christmas like a serial killer?

2007-11-07T14:33:00.000-06:00

A German advent calendar for children has become a hot seller since word got out it has a picture of a notorious serial killer on it. The cartoon calendar shows Fritz Haarmann, who murdered 24 young men and boys in the 1920s, lurking under a tree with a hatchet next to the door for December 1. Below him, Santa Claus hands out presents to children in a festive-looking Hanover. A local tourism office included the serial killer alongside 23 other celebrities in the northern city, including philosopher Gottfried Leibniz and hard rock band The Scorpions. Haarmann's depiction featured in last year's edition, but this year it is attracting wider attention because top-selling newspaper Bild questioned whether the use of the murderer in a children's calendar was in good taste. "People are queuing up to buy the calendar now," said a surprised Hans Nolte, director of the city's tourism board. Nolte said he expected the initial 20,000 copy run of the calendar to sell out soon as orders were pouring in from Berlin, Vienna and other parts of Austria. Proceeds from the sales are going towards a local charity for children with cancer. "It's part of our history," Nolte said. Nonetheless, the serial killer, who was beheaded in 1925, will not appear in next year's edition, Nolte said.

Girl born with 8 limbs undergoes surgery

2007-11-06T15:38:00.000-06:00

Revered by some in her village as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess, a 2-year-old girl born with four arms and four legs was undergoing surgery Tuesday to leave her with a normal body. The girl named Lakshmi is joined to a "parasitic twin" that stopped developing in the mother's womb. The surviving fetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped fetus. A team of 30 doctors was removing the extra limbs and organs, surgery that if successful would give her a good chance to live past adolescence. They have already separated the fused spines and the next step will be to remove the extra limbs and the rest of the "parasite," said Dr. Sharan Patil, the orthopedic surgeon leading the operation. "As of now, the child has been responding very well," Patil said several hours into the operation. Children born with deformities in deeply traditional rural parts of India, like the remote village in the northern state of Bihar that Lakshmi hails from, are often viewed as reincarnated gods. The young girl is no different — she is named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth and her parents say she is revered in her village. "Everybody considers her a goddess at our village," said her father, Shambhu, who goes by one name. "All this expenditure has happened to make her normal. So far, everything is fine." Others sought to make money from Lakshmi. Her parents kept her in hiding after a circus apparently tried to buy the girl, they said. The complications for Lakshmi's surgery are myriad: The two spines are merged, she has four kidneys, entangled nerves, two stomach cavities and two chest cavities. She cannot stand up or walk. "It's a big team effort of a lot of skilled surgeons who will be putting their heart and soul into solving the problem of Lakshmi," Patil said earlier in the day. "It's going to take many, many hours on a continuous basis to operate on the baby. So, these issues definitely make it complex." Patil put the risk of losing Lakshmi between 20 and 25 percent. Doctors have said the best case scenario after the surgery is that she will walk and function as a normal child. Doctors at Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, where the girl is undergoing surgery, said she is popular among the staff and patients. The hospital's foundation is paying for the operation because the girl's family could not afford the medical bills. "She's a very cute girl," Dr. Patil Mamatha said. "She's very playful and gets along well with others."

China's version of "Eye's Wide Shut"?

2007-11-06T15:23:00.000-06:00

Twenty Chinese men, including several on the country's richest list, paid $8,000 a head to attend a matchmaking party with 30 "single young beauties," state media said Monday. Saturday's controversial party was held at a luxury European-style villa in Shanghai, the birthplace of China's Communist Party in 1921, with guests arriving in stretch limousines and getting the full red-carpet treatment. "To disguise their identities from photographers' cameras, all guests scurried into the venue wearing a face mask, some even using a paper bag," the China Daily said. Market reforms in the past three decades have lifted China out of dire poverty, but they have also fostered a culture of quick wealth and money worship and as the income gap widens, resentment of the rich grows. Each male guest paid a 58,800 yuan ($8,000) entrance fee, while the women, chosen for their "looks, kindness, thought and taste," were selected from tens of thousands of candidates, according to the social network Web site (www.915915.com.cn) which organized the event. The site, which boasts a membership of 100,000, held a similar party on a boat in Shanghai last year, drawing criticism from many observers for treating women as objects. Tan Chao, the site's marketing director, said the company provided different services, including dating arrangements. "For those who pay most, we will try different means, not within our own club, until we find them the right one," he was quoted as saying.

"Cremated son" turns up alive

2007-11-06T15:18:00.000-06:00

A mother cremated a body she thought was that of her dead son, only for him to turn up alive later, police said on Friday. Gina Partington's 37-year-old son Thomas Dennison was reported missing last month and a body was found in Rusholme, Manchester, three days later. The 58-year-old mother, from Urmston, Greater Manchester, formally identified the body as that of her son and, following an inquest, the body was cremated on October 30. But police had actually found Dennison, living rough in Nottingham, four days earlier. The case has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to discover why Partington was not told of her son's discovery in the days before she attended the cremation. Inquiries are continuing to formally establish the identity of the body, but Greater Manchester police said they believe they know who he is. Next of kin have been informed. Police said in a statement: "This set of circumstances is clearly distressing and urgent inquiries are ongoing to establish how this happened."

J.C. Penney's

2007-10-31T15:56:00.000-06:00

A JC Penney catalog from 1977. It's not often blog fodder just falls in my lap, but holy hell this was two solid inches of it, right there for the taking.

I thumbed through it quickly and found my next dining room set, which is apparently made by adding upholstery to old barrels:

Also, I am totally getting this for my bathroom:

And there's plenty more home furnishings where those came from, however I'm not going to bore you with that. Instead, I'm going to bore you with something else. The clothes. The clothes are fantastic. Here's how to get your ass kicked in elementary school:

Just look at that belt. It's like a boob-job for your pants. He probably needed help just to lift it into place. The belt loops have to be three inches long. And way to pull them up to your armpits, grandpa.

Here's how to get your ass kicked in high school:

This kid looks like he's pretending to be David Soul, who is pretending to be a cop who is pretending to be a pimp that everyone knows is really an undercover cop. Who is pretending to be 15. Here's how to get your ass kicked on the golf course:

This "all purpose jumpsuit" is, according to the description, equally appropriate for playing golf or simply relaxing around the house. Personally, I can't see wearing this unless you happen to be relaxing around your cell in D-block. Even then, the only reason you should put this thing on is because the warden made you, and as a one-piece, it's slightly more effective as a deterrent against ass-rapery.

Here's how to get your ass kicked pretty much anywhere:

If you look at that picture quickly, it looks like Mr. Bob "No-pants" Saget has his hand in the other guy's pocket. In this case, he doesn't, although you can tell just by looking at them that it's happened - or if it hasn't happened it will. Oh yes. It will. As soon as he puts down his matching coffee cup.

Here's how to get your ass kicked at the beach:

He looks like he's reaching for a gun, but you know it's probably just a bottle of suntan lotion in a holster.

How to get your ass kicked in a meeting:

If you wear this suit and don't sell used cars for a living, I believe you can be fined and face serious repercussions, up to and including termination. Or imprisonment, in which case you'd be forced to wear that orange jumpsuit.

How to get your ass kicked on every day up to and including St. Patrick's Day

Dear god in heaven, I don't believe that color exists in nature. There is NO excuse for wearing either of these ensembles unless you're working as a body guard for the Lucky Charms leprechaun. In this next one, Your Search For VALUE Ends at Penneys.

As does your search for chest hair. And this -- Seriously. No words.

Oh wait, it turns out that there are words after all. Those words are What. The. Fuck. I'm guessing the snap front gives you quick access to the chest hair. The little tie must be the pull tab.

Also, judging by the sheer amount of matching his/hers outfits, I'm guessing that in 1977 it was considered pretty stylish for couples to dress alike. These couples look happy, don't they?

I am especially fond of this one, which I have entitled "Cowboy Chachi Loves You Best."

And nothing showcases your everlasting love more than the commitment of matching bathing suits. That, and a blonde girl with a look on her face that says "I love the way your junk fights against that fabric." Then, after the lovin', you can relax in your one-piece matching terry cloth jumpsuits:

I could go on, but I'm tired, and my eyes hurt from this trip back in time. I think it's the colors. That said, I will leave you with these tasteful little numbers:

Man, that's sexy.

dead man lies

2007-10-31T08:56:00.000-06:00

A dead man lies at the scene of a bomb explosion in Rawalpindi October 30, 2007. A suicide attack killed at least seven people, including the bomber, less than a kilometre from Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's army headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, police said. REUTERS/Mian Khursheed

"Singing for China's Communist Party"

2007-10-31T08:53:00.000-06:00

People's Liberation Army soldiers (PLA) perform as they attend a singing competition "Singing for China's Communist Party" in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan province October 30, 2007.

protest against the killing of dolphins

2007-10-31T08:52:00.001-06:00

U.S. actress Hayden Panettiere (C) of the television program "Heroes" watches as a Japanese police officer holds up an activist's passport to be photographed near the site of a protest against the killing of dolphins, in Taiji, October 27, 2007. Some 30 activists, including Panettiere, Australian actress Isabel Lucas and professional surfers formed a floating circle on surf boards offshore near the coastal village of Taiji, where thousands of dolphins are slaughtered at a cove in Taiji every year. Picture taken October 27, 2007

High Heel Drag Race

2007-10-31T08:46:00.000-06:00

Participants run in the annual High Heel Drag Race at Dupont Circle in Washington October 30, 2007. The event features drag queens parading in costume before racing down 17th street in the Dupont Circle neighborhood each year on the Tuesday before Halloween

Poland's prime minister

2007-10-31T08:33:00.000-06:00

A banner of Poland's prime minister and leader of PiS (Law and Justice) Jaroslaw Kaczynski is taken down from a building in the centre of Warsaw October 30, 2007. Kaczynski is resigning on November 5 after losing a parliamentary election, allowing centre-right opposition leader Donald Tusk to succeed him.

Centro de Operaciones Especiales

2007-10-30T14:44:00.000-06:00

A soldier from the Centro de Operaciones Especiales (special force unit), also known as the "COE", takes part in a military training exercise at a military base near Managua, Nicaragua, October 20, 2007.

annual buffalo races

2007-10-30T14:40:00.000-06:00

Two boys, their bodies painted in silver, sit on top of a water buffalo during a parade before the start of Chonburi's annual buffalo races festival, nearly 75 kilometers (47 miles) southeast of Bangkok, October 24, 2007. The event, which also celebrates the rice harvest, originates back to the buffalo trade in Chonburi, once the trade center of Thailand's East.

Serial jailbreaker escapes for fourth time

2007-10-30T14:39:00.001-06:00

A Belgian inmate made a dramatic escape from jail for the fourth time Sunday evening after his armed accomplices landed in the prison grounds in a hijacked helicopter, prosecutors said Monday. Nordin Benallal, self-styled "escape king" with several convictions for armed robbery and carjacking, has previously run from a prison van, walked out of jail wearing a wig and sunglasses and scaled a prison wall with a rope ladder. Sunday, Benallal's accomplices hijacked a helicopter near the prison in Ittre, some 30 km (19 miles) south of Brussels. On landing, the helicopter was crowded by other prisoners, making takeoff impossible and causing it to crash. The pilot and a prisoner were slightly injured. Benallal and his cohorts then briefly seized two prison warders as hostages and fled in a car parked nearby. It marked the second time this year that a prisoner has escaped from a Belgian jail using a helicopter. In April, two men posing as tourists hijacked a helicopter and flew into the yard of a prison near Liege, in the east of the country, to pick up an inmate.

Give us your money, this is a ketchup

2007-10-30T14:37:00.003-06:00

Two thieves armed only with ketchup ambushed a supermarket employee as he was taking cash to the bank, Greek police said Tuesday. "The thieves jumped out of the bushes and threw two big bags of ketchup on the front window to stop the car," said a police official who requested anonymity. The man fought with his attackers who managed to flee on a motorcycle with only 400 euros of the 140,000 euros he was carrying.

Teenager escapes prison in suitcase

2007-10-30T14:37:00.001-06:00

A 19-year-old German woman has escaped from prison by hiding in a friend's suitcase. The fugitive hid inside the large case when her 17-year-old fellow inmate was released from the youth prison in northwest Germany on Friday, Lower Saxony ministry spokesman Dennis Weilmann said on Monday. The girl simply walked out of the building with her friend concealed in her luggage, Weilmann said. "Our staff are going to make sure they inspect big suitcases more carefully in the future," Weilmann said. Neither of the teenagers has since been caught. Both had been jailed for theft. The escaped prisoner had less than two weeks left to serve.

Lock of "Che's" hair sold at Dallas auction

2007-10-26T15:38:00.000-06:00

lock of socialist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara's hair and related items were auctioned on Thursday in Dallas to a Houston-area bookstore owner for the very capitalist sum of $119,500. The curious collection had belonged to Gustavo Villoldo, 71, a former CIA operative who helped hunt Guevara down in the jungles of Bolivia in 1967 and who claims he cut off the lock before burying the guerrilla fighter with two of his comrades. There was media speculation that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a leftist who greatly admires the iconic Guevara, would bid for the items. In the end, it went to Houston-based Bill Butler. "Butler ... is thrilled to own items from Che (and) will display them in his store," said Kelley Norwine, vice president of marketing for Heritage Auction Galleries, which auctioned the mementos. The auction house said the hair could provide DNA proof that the remains of Guevara -- affectionately known by his admirers as "Che" -- are in Cuba, where he is venerated as a hero of the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power five decades ago. Then 39, the bearded rebel was captured by CIA-backed Bolivian soldiers on October 8, 1967 and shot dead the next day in a schoolhouse. Some remains believed to be his were dug up decades later and taken to Cuba. "This may be the only DNA that could prove that Castro has his body. Gustavo helped bury Che and he claims there were only two other bodies with his corpse," Norwine told Reuters shortly before the auction, as she pointed to the dark lock of hair sealed in a plastic envelope in a glass display case.

Teenager in go-kart leaves police standing

2007-10-26T15:36:00.000-06:00

A teen-ager speeding through a German town in a go-kart with seven squad cars in hot pursuit managed to give the frustrated officers the slip, police said on Friday. After leading the convoy on a 5-km (3-mile) chase through the winding streets of Moenchengladbach, the 18-year-old driver spotted a private garage with an open door, where he decided to lie low, police said. "We were chasing him across town, but the squad cars couldn't keep up because the go-cart was able to take the corners faster and he was able to get away," police spokesman Willy Thevissen said. However, police later discovered his hiding place. He was questioned and charged with driving without a license and driving a go-kart on a public street, which is not permitted in Germany. "He told us he knew driving a go-cart on the street is illegal," the spokesman said. "But he had purchased the vehicle from a friend and said he had no other way of getting it home." Moenchengladbach has produced two Formula One racing drivers. Both Nick Heidfeld of the BMW Sauber ream and former racer Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who retired in 2003, were born there.

They sound more like zombies than sleepwalkers...

2007-10-25T08:09:00.001-06:00

A surge in naked sleepwalking among guests has led one of Britain's largest budget hotel groups to re-train staff to handle late-night nudity. Travelodge, which runs more than 300 business hotels in Britain, says sleepwalking rose seven-fold in the past year, and 95 percent of the somnambulants are scantily clad men. "We have seen an increased number of cases over the years so it is important that our staff know how to help sleepwalking when it arises," Leigh McCarron, the chain's sleep director, said in a statement. One tip in the company's newly released "sleepwalkers guide" tells staff to keep towels handy at the front desk in case a customer's dignity needs preserving. The company said naked wanderers often ask receptionists such questions as "Where's the bathroom?," "Do you have a newspaper?" or "Can I check out, I'm late for work?" Studies have found that sleepwalking can be brought on by stress, alcohol, eating cheese or consuming too much caffeine. It generally takes effect an hour or two after going to bed, when people are first slipping into a deep sleep. Asked Thursday why she thought 95 percent of its sleepwalkers were naked men, a Travelodge spokeswoman said: "We have more men staying with us than women, so that could be a factor."

2007-10-25T08:03:00.001-06:00

Desiree Fairooz of Texas, 50, jumps up in front of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before Rice testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington October 24, 2007. Fairooz, an anti-war protester waved blood-colored hands in Rice's face at a congressional hearing on Wednesday and shouted "war criminal!", but was pushed away and detained by police. At right is the committee Chairman Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA

Fearing Crime, Japanese Wear the Hiding Place

2007-10-24T10:19:00.000-06:00

On a narrow Tokyo street, near a beef bowl restaurant and a pachinko parlor, Aya Tsukioka demonstrated new clothing designs that she hopes will ease Japan’s growing fears of crime.

Deftly, Ms. Tsukioka, a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer, lifted a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine. The wearer hides behind the sheet, printed with an actual-size photo of a vending machine. Ms. Tsukioka’s clothing is still in development, but she already has several versions, including one that unfolds from a kimono and a deluxe model with four sides for more complete camouflaging. These elaborate defenses are coming at a time when crime rates are actually declining in Japan. But the Japanese, sensitive to the slightest signs of social fraying, say they feel growing anxiety about safety, fanned by sensationalist news media. Instead of pepper spray, though, they are devising a variety of novel solutions, some high-tech, others quirky, but all reflecting a peculiarly Japanese sensibility.

Smokers irrational, like animals?

2007-10-23T11:26:00.000-06:00

Smokers are like animals that do not think rationally, a Malaysian hardline Islamist cleric said at the weekend. Islam discourages the faithful from smoking, just as it bars them from alcohol, said Nik Aziz Nik Mat, spiritual leader of the Parti Islam se-Malaysia, which seeks to turn the country into an Islamic state that punishes thieves by lopping off their hands. Smokers did not use their brains because they continued to let themselves be addicted to the habit, despite knowing it was bad for their health, the Star newspaper quoted Nik Aziz as saying. "People who do not want to think are like animals," Nik Aziz told the launch of an anti-smoking campaign in Kota Baru, the capital of Malaysia's northeastern state of Kelantan, which is his party's last remaining bastion. Nik Aziz, himself a non-smoker, has earlier said smokers would not be included among his party's candidates at Malaysia's next general elections, widely expected to be called as soon as early next year.

Woman in wheelchair takes highway shortcut

2007-10-23T11:25:00.001-06:00

An 81-year-old German woman driving to a cemetery in her electric wheelchair decided to take a shortcut and drove the wrong way down a highway. The wheelchair had been traveling at about four miles per hour. Vehicles on German motorways must clock at least 37 miles per hour, and there is no upper speed limit on some sections. Motorists spotted the woman and notified authorities, who escorted her to safety. "She told us she got lost and wanted to avoid taking a big detour," a police spokesman in the southern city of Nuremberg said.

Man, being a cop just gets worse and worse!

2007-10-23T11:24:00.001-06:00

Police patrolling the red-light district of the Belgian capital have been ordered to stop visiting brothels and drinking in bars when on duty. A letter sent to officers in Brussels' northern police district, and published in a Belgian daily Tuesday, urged them to set a good example and earn the public's respect. "These officers think their duty hours are to be used to drink alcohol in bars, practice sports..., visit brothels or massage parlors, and entertain (intimate) relationships with residents of the neighborhood during their patrol," said the letter from a local police chief. "It is only by setting a good example that the police can make itself respected," the letter said, urging officers to adopt more conservative behavior. A police spokesman confirmed the letter was authentic, but said the police chief had only reacted to rumors of officers behaving badly while on duty. "There was no concrete evidence to substantiate any wrongdoing by police officers ... If there had been, they would have been prosecuted," said spokesman Roland Thiebauld.

Gives new meaning to "going in the car"

2007-10-23T11:23:00.001-06:00

If you're stuck in traffic when Mother Nature calls, Japan's Kaneko Sangyo Co. has developed the loo for you. The manufacturer of plastic car accessories drew back the curtain on Tuesday on its new portable toilet for cars. The toilet comes with a curtain large enough to conceal users and a plastic bag to collect waste. "The commode will come in handy during major disasters such as earthquakes or when you are caught in a traffic jam," a company official told reporters, according to Kyodo News. Japan is situated on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater. Drivers stranded by tectonic movements or stuck in tailbacks simply assemble the cardboard toilet bowl, fit a water-absorbent sheet inside and draw round the curtain. The product is small enough to fit inside a suitcase, the company said. But prospective customers will have to hang on until November 15, when the firm begins selling the new product online.

Officials battle through "samurai" diet

2007-10-12T15:12:00.000-06:00

Overweight local government officials in Japan have slimmed down with a three-month "samurai" diet, soldiering on despite a fellow samurai's death. The mayor of the city of Ise in west Japan and six officials joined forces as the "Seven Metabolic Samurai," after Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" movie, to fight the so-called metabolic syndrome -- excess belly fat, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. The program took an unexpected and unfortunate turn when one of the samurai, a 47-year-old city official, died in August from heart failure while he was jogging, a spokeswoman for Ise's public health department said, confirming earlier news reports. But the remaining samurai continued with the plan, which involved eating healthy food and exercising. When the program ended Thursday, Mayor Takao Morishita had shed 5.6 kg (12 pounds) and trimmed his waistline by 5 cm to 85 cm (33 inches). At least two other officials also succeeded with the diet, while the city is waiting to hear results from the others. "There was a time when things were rough, but I was able to reach my goals," the mayor said on a panel that showed his diet results. "I want to make sure that my weight won't bounce back." Metabolic syndrome has become the new buzzword in health-conscious Japan, where nearly 30 percent of Japanese adult males are overweight, according to a government survey from 2005. Two male officials in the health ministry kept blogs earlier this year to show their efforts in combating the syndrome, while tummy-tightening briefs and "fitness phones" targeting fat-fighting middle-aged men have come on the market.

Drunken priest punches cop, jailed

2007-10-12T15:09:00.001-06:00

A Mexican priest briefly ended up behind bars after punching a policemen who caught him driving drunkenly through the streets of the northern city of Monterrey. Priest Manuel Raul Ortega, who was not wearing clerical dress but was clutching a prayer book when captured, launched himself at the traffic cop who pulled him over earlier this week. "The individual became very violent because they were going to tow away his car. He attacked a policeman and was taken away," said transit department spokesman Hector Lozano on Thursday. Ortega's papers identified him as a priest. He was released a few hours after his arrest after paying the fines for his offenses. Monterrey and Mexico City are in the midst of a tough new drive to clamp down on widespread drunken driving after tequila and beer-fueled lunches and parties.

Russian serial killer says murder is like love

2007-10-09T12:19:00.000-06:00

A Russian man accused of murdering 49 people asked a court on Tuesday to add another eleven victims to his tally, and told a jury when he first strangled a man it was like falling in love for the first time. Supermarket worker Alexander Pichushkin, 33, has been branded the 'chessboard murderer' by Russian newspapers because he hoped to put a coin on every square of a 64-place chessboard for each murder. "A first killing is like your first love. You never forget it," he said from a cage in the courtroom, after explaining how he started killing at age 18 with the murder of a classmate. Pichushkin said he had suggested to his classmate that they kill someone, but when his friend refused, "I sent him to heaven." He then smirked at the jury. "The closer a person is to you, and the better you know them, the more pleasurable it is to kill them," he said. "In all the cases I killed for only one reason. I killed in order to live, because when you kill, you want to live."

Shock burns cable thief beyond recognition

2007-10-09T11:59:00.000-06:00

A thief in Germany was charred beyond recognition by a 10,000 volt electric shock when he tried to steal a live copper cable, authorities said Monday. Police in the western city of Duisburg found the 32-year-old man's blackened remains by a set of cable cutters and pile of non-live cables he had already stolen. Only because one of his hands survived incineration were officers able to identify the man as German of Kazakh origin. "His fingerprints were already logged on police files," a local police spokesman said. "The force of the shock was so great that the hand was severed from his body."

"Gift rage" lands worker in court?

2007-10-05T09:22:00.001-06:00

A disgruntled Japanese worker smashed up his employer's office in a fit of pique after his boss ignored his gift of jelly desserts, a national paper said on Thursday. An Osaka court heard that the 31-year-old man, who worked for an online clothing sales company, had given the company president a box of jellies in the summer as a mark of gratitude after landing the job, the English-language Asahi Shimbun said. Many Japanese maintain a tradition of sending gifts to important business contacts in summer and winter. When the employee realized that his boss had left the box of jellies unopened under his desk, he smashed 22 computers in the office with a truncheon, the paper said. No one was injured in the incident. The man pleaded guilty to charges of obstructing business with force, the paper said. "I wish the company president had cared a little more," the paper quoted the employee's lawyer as saying. Prosecutors said the employer had been too busy to open the gift, the paper said.

Cops go out on a limb for ampu

2007-10-05T09:20:00.002-06:00

A man whose amputated, embalmed leg was sold at a North Carolina auction will get the limb back over the objections of the buyer, who wanted to include it in a macabre, money-making Halloween display, police said on Thursday. The dispute over the leg John Wood lost in an airplane crash three years ago was apparently resolved when police decided the buyer, Shannon Whisnant, had given up ownership by calling authorities and asking them to take it away. "The simple fact is that he said he didn't want it," said Capt. Tracy Ledford of the Maiden Police Department, who chuckled his way through an interview about the case that has made for lively gossip in the small North Carolina town. "The guy don't have a leg to stand on," Ledford said. "He's not getting the leg back." Wood, 42, kept the embalmed leg because he wanted it to be cremated with him when he dies. He stored it in a small barbecue smoker in a Maiden storage unit, but failed to keep up the unit's rent, police said. The storage company auctioned the smoker on September 25 and Whisnant was the buyer. When he found the leg, he called police and said he "wanted to get rid of it," but later decided to make some money from it, Ledford said. "He wanted to show this thing at Halloween and charge money to see it," he said. Whisnant told local media he was willing to go to court to keep the leg and planned to charge admission to see it -- $3 for adults and $1 for children. "It's a hell of a conversation piece," he told the Greenville News. "I bought it. It's mine."

Bar gossip leads to nasty surprise for couple

2007-10-05T09:20:00.001-06:00

A Czech couple who decided to take a DNA test to squash persistent pub gossip and prove that their 10-month-old baby was their own got a nasty surprise. The couple, from the southeastern town of Trebic, had some doubts about the child as her hair was blonde and they both had dark hair. Fellow drinkers' suspicions got on their nerves. But the test showed neither of the parents had the same DNA as the baby, Czech news agency CTK reported Wednesday, suggesting a mix-up at the hospital. Authorities were looking into the case.

Witchdoctor caught at poll tribunal

2007-10-02T11:43:00.002-06:00

Nigerian police have arrested a witchdoctor employed by a politician to perform rituals at an election tribunal, local media reported Thursday. Officers caught Oluwole Abiodun Wednesday at the court building in southwestern Ondo state with charms and copies of the Bible and Koran in a black plastic bag. A pot containing a rabbit, seven eggs, cowrie shells and palm oil was found nearby, the state News Agency of Nigeria said. "Abiodun said that he was sent by one of the principal officers of the state House of Assembly to perform some rituals in the court premises," the agency said. Hundreds of cases are being heard across Nigeria to resolve disputes arising from April elections that were so heavily rigged they were deemed not credible by international observers. The witchdoctor's rituals would have been intended to ensure that the challenge to the election of the legislator failed.

Oktoberfest reveler stuck in chimney for 12 hours

2007-10-02T11:43:00.001-06:00

German man who had been drinking heavily at Munich's Oktoberfest beer festival got stuck in a chimney for 12 hours while trying to climb into a friend's apartment, police said Friday. After finding his friend was not at home, the 27-year-old climbed on to the roof of a neighboring building at about 2 a.m. Thursday and headed for what he thought was a gap in the wall between the two houses. He found himself sliding almost 30 meters (98 feet) head first into a chimney, a spokesman for Munich police said. An 82-year-old janitor from the hotel next door eventually heard the man's calls for help and he was rescued at around 2 p.m. by fire brigade officers who knocked a hole into the side of the chimney to liberate him, the spokesman said. He had managed to turn around and had removed his clothes to try to help him squeeze back up. "Miraculously, he was only slightly injured in the fall, sustaining just grazes and bruising," police said. The man was taken by helicopter to the hospital, where he is being treated for hypothermia, they added.

Lover to die for kiss-and-kill pill

2007-10-02T11:41:00.000-06:00

A Chinese woman who killed her lover with a rat poison-laced kiss when she suspected him of being unfaithful has been sentenced to death, a newspaper said Thursday. Xia Xinfeng, from Maolou in the central province of Henan, passed a capsule with rat poison from her mouth to her long-time lover, Mao Ansheng, during a kiss, the Shanghai Daily said. Mao swallowed the capsule and died soon afterwards. "The couple had said that if either one of them cheated on the other, he or she would have to die," the paper said in explaining the mouth-to-mouth assault. Xia found Mao had been "talking" with another woman and deemed that he had broken their promise.

Leader rails at teen breast implants gift fad

2007-09-26T15:14:00.000-06:00

President Hugo Chavez railed against a new trend in beauty-conscious Venezuela, giving girls breast implants for their 15th birthday. "Now some people think, 'My daughter's turning 15, let's give her breast enlargements.' That's horrible. It's the ultimate degeneration," Chavez said late on Sunday on his weekly TV show that lasted a record eight hours. Venezuela is well known for its beauty queens, who have regularly won world crowns, and many women have plastic surgery in the oil-rich country where there is widespread spending on consumer items that would be considered luxuries elsewhere. But Chavez, the anti-U.S., self-styled revolutionary who came to office in 1999, is seeking to change those attitudes to create what he calls the "new man" to build a socialist society in this South American nation. Chavez complained about the new fad of giving the plastic surgery operation at 15 -- when Latin Americans celebrate a girl's coming-of-age -- during a diatribe against what he says are Western-imposed consumerist icons such as Barbie dolls. While breast implants are advertised on TV and banks offer special credit lines for such operations, if girls do get the enlargements they are not expected to become sexually active afterward. Venezuelans' have a habit of avid consumerism since the 1970s oil boom in the OPEC nation. They have won the nickname of the "Give-Me-Twos" in the tourist destination of Florida for buying double the amount of typical consumers. Breast implants cost thousands of dollars in Venezuela.

Chavez's answer? He has told his supporters to give away any extra goods they do not need, urging them to leave out in town squares items such as fans or refrigerators. "I am calling on your conscience, fathers of this country, mothers of this country, they are our sons, they are our daughters," Chavez said. Still, Chavez, who happily describes himself as ugly, may struggle to change Venezuelans' mind-set to spending on plastic surgery. In elevators, at huge, jam-packed shopping malls, women can be overheard openly boasting about their recent, conspicuous operations.

China bans "sexual sounds" on airwaves

2007-09-26T15:12:00.001-06:00

China has banned "sexually provocative sounds" on television and pulled the plug on a show reconstructing infamous crimes by women ahead of a major Communist Party meeting next month. The order, issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, is the latest in a raft of measures which have included axing reality shows featuring sex changes and plastic surgery and banning talent contests during prime-time. "Sexually suggestive advertisements and scenes showing how women are influenced into a life of crime are detrimental to society," it said in a statement posted on its Web site on Wednesday, referring to its decision to axe "Red Question Mark," a crime documentary. "Commercials containing sexually provocative sounds or tantalizing language as well as vulgar advertisements for breast enhancement and female underwear are banned, effective immediately," said the SARFT notice. The watchdog also ordered an end to programs with titles including the names of "sex-related drugs, products or medical institutions." A total of 1,466 advertisements worth 2 billion yuan ($246 million) in revenues had been stripped from China's airways since August, SARFT said, citing department statistics. Since launching a campaign to purify China's state-controlled airways earlier in the year, the media watchdog's edicts have gained fever pitch in recent weeks, ahead of a meeting of the 17th Party congress, a sensitive five-yearly meeting at which key government leaders are appointed and national policy set for the next few years. It earlier urged the country's increasingly freewheeling broadcasters to forgo vulgarity and bad taste in the pursuit of ratings in favor of providing "inspiring" content for the masses imbued with "socialist" values.

Handcuffed kids steal U.S. border agent car

2007-09-26T15:10:00.000-06:00

Three Mexican minors detained in California on suspicion of smuggling drugs stole a U.S. Border Patrol car while still wearing handcuffs and drove it back across the border to Mexico. Police in the Mexican border city of Mexicali said on Tuesday the three boys had been driving a pick-up truck on a remote Californian highway when a Border Patrol agent stopped them. Suspicious they were carrying marijuana, he handcuffed them and put them in his patrol car while he searched their truck. "As the agent was doing his search, he left the vehicle running and the keys in the ignition, so one of the lads, still wearing handcuffs, grabbed the steering wheel and they headed back to Mexico," a police spokesman said. The Border Patrol, which plays cat and mouse around the clock with illegal Mexican migrants and drug traffickers, confirmed the vehicle was stolen in southern California on Sunday and driven over the border near Mexicali. Mexican police used a helicopter to locate the patrol vehicle in a remote agricultural area near the border.

Hillary Clinton Nutcracker Teaches Those Republican Nuts a Lesson

2007-09-25T13:41:00.000-06:00

Who says Hillary Clinton is a ballbuster? No, she's a nutcracker. Here's proof. Just in time for the Christmas season, shell out $29.99 and remove the shells from your walnuts with style. When she's done cracking nuts, Hillary stands up on her own, lording over you as she awaits her next opportunity to bust a few nuts. And if you don't like it, well, you can just sleep on the couch, buster

Glamorous Bavarian wants law to allow 7-year itch

2007-09-20T15:49:00.000-06:00

Bavaria's most glamorous politician -- a flame-haired motorcyclist who helped bring down state premier Edmund Stoiber -- has shocked the Catholic state in Germany by suggesting marriage should last just 7 years. Gabriele Pauli, who poses on her web site in motorcycle leathers, is standing for the leadership of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) -- sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) -- in a vote next week. She told reporters at the launch of her campaign manifesto Wednesday she wanted marriage to expire after seven years and accused the CSU, which promotes traditional family values, of nurturing ideals of marriage which are wide of the mark. "The basic approach is wrong ... many marriages last just because people believe they are safe," she told reporters. "My suggestion is that marriages expire after seven years." After that time, couples should either agree to extend their marriage or it should be automatically dissolved, she said. Fifty-year-old Pauli, twice divorced, is a maverick intent on shaking up her male-dominated and mainly Catholic party which has dominated Bavarian politics since World War Two. "This is about bringing ideas into the CSU and starting a discussion," she told German television Thursday after she had unleashed a wave of criticism from other politicians.

He used WHAT?

2007-09-20T15:48:00.001-06:00

It was a stick up of a different kind for one Australian burglar, who broke into a neighbor's house and played sex games in the bathroom with a bottle of toilet detergent and a vacuum cleaner. A court in the northern city of Brisbane heard how 27 year old Jamie Lacey, high on drugs, broke into the house in September 2004, scattering pornographic magazines around the bathroom and making a sex toy from a bottle of detergent, a piece of wood and a rubber glove, the Brisbane Times reported. Lacey was arrested in December 2006 after police matched DNA his DNA to that on the rubber glove, according to the Australian Associated Press. A vacuum cleaner was also found in the bathroom, but the judge dismissed a defense submission that there was no proof the vacuum has been used for sexual purposes. "I'm sure that your client didn't hoover the carpets," the newspaper and AAP quoted judge Tony Rafter as saying. Lacey was sentenced to 12 months community service, with judge declining to send him to jail since he had held a steady job for two years and was now a father.

Man hides sex toys in the wurst way...

2007-09-20T15:47:00.001-06:00

Staff at a German butcher's shop were shocked to discover a customer had hidden two sex toys in their sausages for transport to Dubai, police said Wednesday. "It was two latex dildos with a natural look," said a spokesman for police in the southwestern city of Mannheim. After shopping there earlier in the day, the man, who spoke broken English, returned to the butcher's with two large "Schwartenmagen" sausages. He asked a shop assistant to wrap and cool them until he departed for Dubai the next day. But the assistant noticed the goods had got heavier and alerted police. Officers discovered the man, who was about 50, had removed some of the meat and packed the dildos inside. "He could have used a loaf of bread," the spokesman said. "It's not against the law here. But obviously I can't speculate on what customs in Dubai will have to say about it."

"Dead" man wakes up under autopsy knife

2007-09-20T15:45:00.000-06:00

A Venezuelan man who had been declared dead woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began their autopsy. Carlos Camejo, 33, was declared dead after a highway accident and taken to the morgue, where examiners began an autopsy only to realize something was amiss when he started bleeding. They quickly sought to stitch up the incision on his face. "I woke up because the pain was unbearable," Camejo said, according to a report on Friday in leading local newspaper El Universal. His grieving wife turned up at the morgue to identify her husband's body only to find him moved into a corridor -- and alive. Reuters could not immediately reach hospital officials to confirm the events. But Camejo showed the newspaper his facial scar and a document ordering the autopsy.

Baboon adopts a chicken at Lithuanian zoo

2007-09-14T09:09:00.001-06:00

A lonely baboon in a private Lithuanian zoo has adopted a chicken he saved from certain death last month and the two have formed a fast friendship, the zoo's director said on Friday.

The chicken was intended as food for other animals in the zoo, but escaped and was sheltered by Mitis, a six-year-old Hamadryas Baboon, Edvardas Legeckas, who runs the zoo near the port city Klaipeda in western Lithuania, told Reuters.

Mitis has been fed chicken meat before, but this time he fell in love with his food, Legeckas said.

"He plays with the chicken, cleans its feathers, sleeps with it, and takes care as if it was his own baby child," the zoo director said.

"But I am not sure how long this affair would last, because baboon may finally realize this is food."

Baboons, with their distinctive long dog-like muzzles and heavy powerful jaws, are omnivorous, but usually prefer fruit. In the wild, they live in close-knit social groups.

"Obviously this baboon needed someone to communicate with," the director said.

Banking to the poor ...something we all can do!

2007-09-14T09:04:00.000-06:00

Fueled by last year's Nobel Prize for a man nicknamed "banker to the poor," microlending to small businesses in the world's poorest countries is booming as individuals discover they can be their own mini World Bank.

And you don't have to be Bill Gates to get in on the act.

A microfinance Web site that lets people lend as little as $25 to small businesses from Vietnam to Kenya is drawing so much interest from lenders that it's struggling to keep up.

Kiva.org, described by founder Premal Shah as an "eBay for microfinance," has been operating for two years but saw traffic surge after Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize last year as the founder of Grameen Bank.

"Overnight the volume of the traffic to our site pretty much doubled," Shah said of the Nobel Prize's impact, noting recent publicity and a mention in Bill Clinton's new book "Giving" prompted another surge in interest that has left Kiva seeking more borrowers to take all the available money.

Kiva works with dozens of microcredit groups who pick needy businesses -- from a Honduran woman selling cosmetics to a Cambodian weaving business or a Ghanaian car repair shop.

"We're providing an online platform for connecting the microfinancing people in the field with someone in Des Moines, Iowa, or someone in London," Shah told Reuters.

Shah said the average user funds four businesses on the Web site, putting $25 into each business and that about $11 million has been lent so far with no interest charged. He hopes to loan $100 million in the next three years.

The site has photographs and business plans from people seeking amounts that range from $75 to over $1,000. In a system that mirrors online stores, each microcredit firm is rated according to whether loans have defaulted in the past, how long it has been operating and the total amount of loans.

"If they're not reliable they're not able to raise more money," Shah said.

PHILANTHROPIC BOOM FOR RICH AND POOR

Jacqueline Novogratz, an ex-banker who founded the Acumen Fund in 2001 as "a venture capital fund for the poor," linked "new philanthropy" to the tech boom and the changing economy.

"Philanthropy has traditionally mirrored the economy in which it's functioning, so Rockefeller who created the first foundation mirrored the industrial revolution approach."

"What you saw even before the Nobel Prize was people starting to look at Silicon Valley and seeing whether there could be more innovative ways of using philanthropic resources for change," she told Reuters in an interview.

The Acumen Fund now has $20 million invested in East Africa, Pakistan and India in firms ranging from an ambulance service in Bombay to a mosquito net factory in Tanzania.

It operates at the other end of the scale from Kiva, investing money from the likes of Bill and Melinda Gates, the Rockefeller Foundation and companies including Nike and Coca-Cola . Its average investment is $600,000 and the fund hopes to invest another $100 million within five years.

Novogratz said Acumen seeks socially responsible businesses with potential to expand rapidly and become self-sustaining, targeting health care, housing, water and energy.

Among its projects, entrepreneur Satyan Mishra in Delhi set up drishtee.com, a franchise of village kiosks selling goods such as eyeglasses, books and agricultural products and services such as computer training and health advice.

"He's growing at a rate of three new kiosks a day and our goal is to get to 10,000 kiosks in the next couple of years," Novogratz said.

She said such loans were not intended to supplant traditional aid institutions, especially in post-conflict situations or after disasters.

In another project in India, Novogratz said a company was delivering cheap water to 160,000 people in 61 villages.

"When we first entered that field, the whole conversation in India was 'Is water a human right that should be given free to everyone or should you let the market deliver it?' And the point was 700 million people had no access," she said.

Research is now under way to see if the business model can be scaled up and made to work for the public sector.

Measurable results are the key for new philanthropists, she said. "We have over 200 individuals who give to Acumen. No one has ever said 'Is my name going on a building?"'

Small lenders are just as concerned with results, Shah said, noting that Kiva posts repayment histories online as well as journals by the business owners on how their loan was used.

"What's mind blowing for my Mom and her friends in Chicago is the fact that you're getting repaid, because you don't expect it when you give," Shah said.

And, he said, while the new philanthropy is closer to banking than charity, "You still get that warm fuzzy (feeling) of knowing that you're helping."

Camouflaged Fridge Chills, Hides Beer at the Office

2007-09-13T09:51:00.000-06:00

Yes, this fridge is nicely camouflaged as a photocopy paper box....just plug it in the office supply room and you're good to go!

robots will be the answer

2007-09-12T12:26:00.000-06:00

Japanese researchers hope Japanese researchers hope robots will be the answer to a question hanging over the country -- how to cope with an aging population and a declining labor force.

Neanderthal man cleaned his teeth, experts find

2007-09-12T12:20:00.000-06:00

The teeth have "grooves formed by the passage of a pointed object, which confirms the use of a small stick for cleaning the mouth," Paleontology Professor Juan Luis Asuarga told reporters, presenting an archaeological find in Madrid.

The fossils, unearthed in Pinilla del Valle, are the first human examples found in the Madrid region in 25 years, the regional government's culture department said.

Neanderthals were predecessors of modern humans who inhabited much of Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia from about 125,000 to 30,000 years ago.

"There are two (teeth), perfectly preserved, in which the wear and tear of a human of about 30 years old is perceptible," a government statement said.

Experts also found diverse animal fossils, including remains of hyenas, bears, deer and rhinoceroses.

Here's another one to file under "duh"

2007-09-11T12:19:00.000-06:00

Here's another one to file under "duh": Women like technology, they just don't need it to be pink, 91% would prefer something sleek and sophisticated to something "feminine." Here's where I tell you that I visited the Apple store last week, in desperate need of a USB hub, and was talked out of buying one by the salesman. That's right: A salesman convinced me not to buy something. "You don't need one," he said. (Please be assured that I do and I am getting a really nice one online, where I don't have to explain myself.) Anyway, in addition, instead of pink, women would like technology that works. "If you wanted to design technology that would appeal to women, it needs to work flawlessly the first time out of the box and every time thereafter. They don't have time to faff around."

The Digi Makeover, Because it's Hard to Say You're Not Pretty Enough

2007-09-11T12:12:00.000-06:00

GirlTech, a company clearly run by mean little boys, has brought us The Digi Makeover. Basically it's like a cheap PDA, but instead of keeping track of appointments, it shows you how to be less ugly. All you have to do is snap a quick head shot with the included camera, and poof your ready to go. Now by utilizing the touchscreen you can choose from over 50 hairstyles and colors, or even add jewelry. Now just in case your daughter or her friends had any self esteem left, the Digi Makeover can also connect to your television for some big screen critiquing.

Student Makes Barbie an Electric Chair for Science Fair Project

2007-09-11T11:54:00.000-06:00

Middle school student Jessyratfink (not her real name) came up with an innovativ and utterly brazilliant project for her science fair: an electric chair for Barbie.

Weird little guy

2007-09-10T10:55:00.000-06:00

neo-Nazi detainee

2007-09-10T10:52:00.001-06:00

An Israeli detainee (C) suspected of belonging to a neo-Nazi cell leaves the court in Ramle, near Tel Aviv, September 9, 2007. Immigrants from the former Soviet Union formed a neo-Nazi cell in Israel that assaulted religious Jews and foreign workers and daubed swastikas in synagogues, police said on Sunday. (ISRAEL)

Bush shows gift of gaffe at APEC summit

2007-09-07T13:45:00.000-06:00

Even for someone as gaffe-prone as U.S. President George W. Bush, he was in rare form on Friday, confusing APEC with OPEC and transforming Australian troops into Austrians. Bush's tongue started slipping almost as soon as he started talking at a business forum on the eve of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney. "Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction," he told Prime Minister John Howard. "Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit." As the audience of several hundred people erupted in laughter, Bush corrected himself and joked, "He invited me to the OPEC summit next year." Australia has never been a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Later in his speech, Bush recounted how Howard had gone to visit "Austrian troops" last year in Iraq. There are, in fact, no Austrian troops there. But Australia has about 1,500 Australian military personnel in and around the country. Upon finishing his speech, Bush took the wrong way off-stage and, looking slightly perplexed, had to be re-directed by Howard to a centre-stage exit. But not before a veteran White House correspondent seized the opportunity to ask Bush whether there had been any new message in his speech. Apparently misunderstanding the question, he bristled and asked, "Haven't you been listening to my past speeches?" before turning away. Bush is no stranger to the occasional faux pas, and often jokes about his habit of mangling the English language. One of his highest-profile gaffes came in May when, at a welcoming ceremony for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, he nearly placed her in the 18th century. Then there was the famous incident at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg in 2006 when Bush, unaware he was on camera, greeted British Prime Minister Tony Blair with the words "Yo Blair." Bush's sometimes muddled syntax and mispronunciation of words like nuclear ("nukular") have long been fodder for late-night TV comedians. But aides say his folksy style has helped endear him to Middle America.

dude...

2007-09-06T13:45:00.000-06:00

A wakeboarder performs in a fountain in downtown Belgrade, Serbia, September 3, 2007.

sausage workshop ...barf..blah...image the smell!

2007-09-06T13:44:00.002-06:00

A labourer works at a sausage workshop at a pork-processing factory in Suining, southwest China's Sichuan province, September 4, 2007.

toy parts

2007-09-06T13:44:00.001-06:00

A laborer works on a production line at a toy factory in Panyu, south China's Guangdong province, September 4, 2007.

yucky cookie...eat it I dare you!

2007-09-06T13:43:00.000-06:00

Jibachi senbei, or a digger wasp rice cracker, is held at a factory in Omachi town 200 km (124 miles) northwest of Tokyo September 4, 2007. A Japanese fan club for wasps has added the insects to rice crackers, saying the result adds a waspish scent to the traditional fare.

three-legged duckling

2007-09-06T13:42:00.002-06:00

A man watches a three-legged duckling at a farm in Tancheng county, east China's Shandong province September 4, 2007. Experts told local media that a gene mutation contributed to the aberrance.

two-headed Greek turtle

2007-09-06T13:42:00.001-06:00

A two-headed Greek turtle named Janus eats some salad leaves at the Natural History Museum in Geneva September 5, 2007. Janus, named after the Roman god with two heads, officially celebrated its 10th birthday on Wednesday.

Leech invasion makes residents see red

2007-09-06T13:37:00.001-06:00

Long confined to the mountains, Japanese leeches are invading residential areas, causing swelling, itching and general discomfort with their blood-thirsty ways. Yamabiru, or land leeches, have become a problem in 29 of Japan's 47 prefectures, according to the Institute for Environmental Culture, a private research facility in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo. The little suckers are riding into towns and villages, hitching lifts on deer and boar whose numbers have grown due to re-forestation and dwindling rural populations. Once there, the leeches, which measure in at about 1.5 cms before a meal, take to feasting on warm human flesh. "Yamabiru will climb into people's socks and stay for about an hour, growing five to 10 times in size. Unlike with water leeches, people don't immediately realize they've been bitten. Only later when they see their blood-soaked feet, do they realize what has happened," said Shigekazu Tani, the institute's director. "The real problem is that the bleeding won't stop and the affected area swells up and really itches," he added. The best way to deal with the tiny vampires? "We can cut down trees and mow long grass to dissuade wild animals from coming too close, and create sunny habitats that are inhospitable to leeches. We can also spread pesticides that kill the leeches," Tani said. "Or we can just tough it out."

Woman fired for talking back to her boss

2007-09-06T13:36:00.000-06:00

A Chinese woman is suing her former employer after falling victim to the company policy of firing staff who contradict their boss three times, local media reported on Thursday. HWA-1 Enterprise Co Ltd, a light industrial manufacturer based in China's southeastern port city of Xiamen, sacked a woman surnamed Ni for refusing to pay fines she incurred for talking back to superiors, Xinhua news agency said, citing a local newspaper. The company's policy held that a "first contradiction of superiors" would incur a fine of 30 yuan ($4), a second would incur 100 yuan, and a third would warrant dismissal, the agency said. Ni incurred a 30 yuan fine after taking umbrage with her factory supervisor for reprimanding her for not filling in a form. "The factory head told me that, according to company rules, no matter whether management is right or wrong, employees are not allowed to contradict them and must obey," Xinhua quoted Ni as saying. Ni was then threatened with a 100 yuan fine for refusing to pay the first fine, and was sacked after she threatened to report her supervisor to the company's human resource's department. The factory's supervisor, surnamed Cao, said it was his legal right to sack Ni. "The company can terminate the contract of employees who seriously breach labor discipline or the company's rules," Xinhua quoted Cao as saying.

Strand of "Che" Guevara's hair to be auctioned off

2007-09-05T09:11:00.001-06:00

A former CIA operative who says he helped hunt down Ernesto "Che" Guevara and bury him in Bolivia 40 years ago now hopes to make a killing from the famed Argentine revolutionary's hair. Gustavo Villoldo, 71, a Cuban exile who says he was a major player in Guevara's capture in the Bolivian jungle, plans to auction off a strand of Guevara's hair and other items, kept in a scrapbook since the joint CIA-Bolivian army mission ended in Guevara's death in 1967. "I'm doing it for history's sake and to have closure. This is a very unique piece," Villoldo said of his scrapbook. "Guevara is, I would say, the world's leading recognized figure," he said. "To me the clipping of his hair, psychologically for me, for myself, meant that I was cutting off one of the symbols of the revolution, the long hair." Guevara, a leading figure of the Cuban Revolution often seen as rivaling Fidel Castro, has been regarded as a martyred hero of radicalism by generations of leftists. Villoldo said he expected the scrapbook -- which includes a map used to track down Guevara and photographs of his body -- to fetch as much as $7 million when it hits the auction block in Texas on October 25.

Airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god

2007-09-05T09:09:00.000-06:00

Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said Tuesday. Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due the problem. The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said. "The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," said Raju K.C., a senior airline official, without explaining what the problem had been. Local media last week blamed the company's woes on an electrical fault. The carrier runs international flights to five cities in Asia. It is common in Nepal to sacrifice animals like goats and buffaloes to appease different Hindu deities.

Math prodigy, 9, says university too easy

2007-09-05T09:06:00.000-06:00

A nine-year-old mathematics prodigy has become Hong Kong's youngest undergraduate, waltzing through his first day at university saying classes were too easy. March Boedihardjo, an Indonesian-Chinese boy resident in Hong Kong, was accepted by Hong Kong's Baptist University to study for a master's degree after gaining straight As in entrance A-level exams usually taken at 17 or 18. "It was too easy," Boedihardjo told reporters after attending a convocation ceremony in a pint-sized black-gown and his first day of classes Tuesday, adding that he'd already learnt the subject matter a year or two ago. The university has designed a five-year program for the child, but it has stirred controversy among some education experts who say he might experience stunted personal and social development as a result.

Adulterers beware - or pay the price

2007-09-05T09:05:00.000-06:00

Married Colombians engaged in passionate extra-curricular activities may soon have to think twice about their philandering ways if a senator's proposed legislation punishing adultery gets the green light. Sen. Edgar Espindola said he has proposed a law that would impose fines and enforced community service as punishment for adulterers in an effort to protect family values and shield children from broken homes. "I believe a lot of my companions are going to support this initiative," Espindola said on Tuesday. "This project should motivate Colombians to reflect on the importance of the marriage, the home and the importance of family." He said aggrieved parties could take complaints and evidence such as photographs to local family judges, who would decide to impose fines of up to 20 minimum monthly salaries -- around $4,000 -- and obligatory welfare service. Spouses forgiven by partners would escape punishment. Some local radio commentators joked the proposal would get short shrift in Colombia's Congress because lawmakers were likely to want to hide their own indiscretions in the mostly Roman Catholic country.

Corrupt official plagiarizes trial apology

2007-09-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

Music, books and Hollywood films... China can now add testimonies of regret by corrupt officials to its exhaustive list of copyright violations. Zhang Shaocang, former Communist Party chief of state-owned power company Anhui Province Energy Group Co Ltd, wept as he read a four-page "letter of apology" during his corruption trial at a court in Fuyang, Anhui, according to a Procuratorial Daily report reproduced in Wednesday's Beijing News. But Zhang's sentiments were later found to be strikingly similar to those of Zhu Fuzhong, a disgraced former party chief of Tongan village in southwestern Sichuan province, whose apology letter was printed in the Procuratorial Daily less than two weeks before. "Before working, I never gave much thought to money and regarded achievement as the starting point and end result of my work," the paper quoted both of the letters as saying. "I gradually lost my bearings and the scope of my position," Zhang said at his trial, an exact copy of Fu's own wording. Apart from using whole sentences word for word, Zhang also -- more craftily -- made "slight changes" in other areas. The Procuratorial Daily, the official paper of China's top prosecutions office, is distributed as reading material at many "supervision venues," the paper said, referring to the often secret locations where Communist Party officials are held for questioning. It was possible that Zhang, while being investigated for charges of bribe-taking, had drawn inspiration from Zhu's apology in the hope of gaining leniency from the court, the paper said. "Because of this, Zhang's apology was dismissed as 'show-boating,'" the paper said.

Woman lived with dead aunt for year

2007-09-05T08:52:00.001-06:00

An Austrian woman lived with the mummified remains of her aunt for a year, Vienna police said Wednesday. Officers found the corpse of the 96-year-old aunt under a blanket on a bed after ignoring the 51-year-old niece's claim that her aunt was sleeping and should not be disturbed, a police statement said. A preliminary inquiry had determined that the niece, who was taken to a psychiatric hospital for examination, may have covered up the death for financial reasons, it added. Austrian news agency APA quoted police investigator Gerald Hoebart as saying possible theft was being looked into since the younger woman appeared to have lived off her aunt's pension since the death and used her cashpoint card to withdraw money. An autopsy was planned to check whether any foul play was involved in the death, believed to have happened in August 2006.

Truth stranger than fiction as author jailed

2007-09-05T08:49:00.000-06:00

A Polish crime writer has been jailed for 25 years after authorities found he had committed a murder that had been described in one of his thrillers, officials said Wednesday. In his 2003 book "Amok," Krystian Bala described in detail the brutal murder of a Polish businessman. Police found that the fictional crime had similarities with a case in 2000 when a body was fished out of the river Oder in the town of Wroclaw, near the German border. Prosecutors said Bala had humiliated, tortured, starved and later killed his victim, who had a love affair with the writer's wife. "The court has sentenced Krystian B. to 25 years in prison for the murder of his ex-wife's lover," said a spokesman for the court in Wroclaw. Bala told authorities that he had taken details of the case from press reports and made up other aspects of the story.

Starbucks to source coffee from China

2007-09-04T09:19:00.000-06:00

Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's biggest coffee-shop chain, said it planned to source coffee from China for the first time as it expands in a country with more than 5,000 years of tea-drinking culture. Starbucks has been working with coffee farmers in China's southwestern Yunnan province to help them meet sourcing standards and has sent coffee shipments to the United States for testing, Starbucks China President Wang Jinlong said at the Reuters China Century Summit on Tuesday. "China does produce some quality coffee," Wang said at the summit, held at the Reuters office in Shanghai. He added that sourcing coffee from China would start "very soon, maybe in a couple of years". Some analysts say import tariffs as high as 20 to 60 percent are the reason why companies such as Starbucks are considering sourcing coffee from China. However, Starbucks' Shanghai-based spokeswoman, Caren Li, said the aim was to add new flavors, not to avoid tariffs.

Dog days in New York

2007-09-04T09:16:00.000-06:00

If behavior therapists, designer outfits and gourmet food aren't enough to keep pampered pooches happy, owners can now try swimming lessons. The class for puppies is one of the latest ways New Yorkers are pleasing their pets in a city famed for owners indulging their dogs. "We teach them how to swim, how to get in the pool," said Stacy Alldredge, whose Manhattan dog spa houses the swim classes and pool, complete with built-in dog steps. "It's about becoming socialized." Salty learned to swim by wearing a life jacket and having his paw held, but now he shows off his aquatic skills by constantly leaping into a pool. Four months after his first lesson, the miniature schnauzer is the envy of his classmates, who excitedly bark and sniff the water but don't dare jump in without the instructor's help. While some New Yorkers worry about whether their pet is sporting the latest fashions, other owners want their dogs exercised and healthy, said Alldredge. "If you think that getting your dog to do fun things, giving them a great diet and making sure they are happy is spoiling them, that is wrong," said Alldredge, a canine nutritionist and behavioral consultant. At a recent class, owners paid about $15 to let a swim therapist hold their puppy and encourage it to swim solo to the pool's edge. Several owners soothingly willed their puppies into the water or shouted "good girl!" upon a successful swim. Other pooches just wanted to make friends in the class that began last year. But don't dogs instinctively know how to swim? "That's a myth. Dogs don't naturally know how to swim, although some dogs do," said Alldredge, citing breeds such as labradors or golden retrievers." Other breeds "feel awkward" and need help, she said. "The Dog Run" facility she runs also offers swim hydrotherapy and massage for aging or injured dogs. Salty's owner, Valerie Cortes, said it was all part of growing up. "I mean, only in New York, but man, thank God. He loves it!"

"Lion" roars spook residents, spark hunt

2007-09-04T09:13:00.001-06:00

Roars from an unidentified feline have scared residents of a mountainous Caracas suburb and triggered a hunt for the capture of what neighbors are convinced is a lion. But Venezuelan authorities, who have scoured the woods on horseback where the bellowing comes from, could only confirm the presence of some type of feline after finding the carcasses of small animals including a half-eaten armadillo. "One of the people that saw this animal talks about a lion," said Juan Fernandez, mayor of the affected Las Salias municipality, in an interview with local radio Monday. "We cannot say if (the animal) is a lion, a tiger, a puma or a little spotted cat," he said. Venezuelan jungles and mountains are teeming with exotic fauna but encounters with dangerous wild animals are rare around the South American nation's crowded capital that is typically clogged with noisy traffic. Local media reported two lions had escaped years ago from a nearby zoo, but Fernandez said the institution has denied any of the predators were missing.

Fashion war on taxi slobs

2007-09-04T09:00:00.000-06:00

Malaysia is cracking down on shabbily dressed taxi-drivers, fining them for not tucking in their shirts or for wearing shoes of the wrong color. Malaysia's lowly paid tax-drivers are supposed to wear white shirts, dark trousers and black shoes, but in reality passengers are happy if they can just persuade them to use the meter. But the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board is out to make a fashion statement, the Star newspaper said Monday, quoting its chairman as saying drivers had to present a professional image. Taxi-drivers have been fined 100-300 ringgit ($29-$86) -- or up to three days' average wages -- for wearing an off-white shirt or getting behind the wheel without socks, angering the drivers and reducing one of them to tears, the paper added. "I actually saw a taxi-driver crying over having to pay a fine of 200 ringgit when I was at the (licensing board's) office recently," Abdul Jalil Maarof, president of the Klang Valley Taxi Owners Association, told the Star.