DAILY NEWS:

[MIKA27]

Shark slaughter a global catastrophe

THEIR bodies rotting on the floor of a Japanese dock, hundreds of sharks have been slaughtered for just one thing - their fins.

Moving slowly up and down the rows of the dead, Japanese workers on a dock in the Japanese city of Kesen-numa hack off the fins and put them in buckets.

From there, the grisly haul is sent by the tonne to cities such as Hong Kong and Shanghai on the Chinese mainland, where the "premium" meat is turned in to a delicacy, usually served as shark fin soup.

Chinese will pay higher prices for the fins - but much of this haul will go to destinations across Japan, a nation already internationally condemned for its controversial taste for whale meat.

The slaughter occurs on an industrial scale.

At the same time, the world's shark populations are decreasing at an increasingly faster rate.

For example, the population of the scalloped hammerhead shark alone is down 98 per cent, making them critically endangered in the world's oceans.

But still the lucrative trade carries on in all its bloody horror.

In the one photograph above alone, an estimated 75 tonnes of shark meat can be seen piled on the factory floor.

Many factory owners throw their doors open to tourists and seafood aficionados so they can watch the shocking spectacle.

At this factory, at least, the rest of the shark's body is also put to use for food and products.

Salmon shark heart sashimi is considered a local delicacy.

But much of the trade is also carried out on the open sea, far away from prying eyes.

There the practice is to simply hack the fin from the body - and discard the rest.

Photographer Alex Hofford was horrified when he visited this factory in the Japanese city of Kesen-numa.

The Briton had to wade through pools of blood to capture these disturbing images, which he described as "hellish".

The practice has been going on in Asia for several centuries - but new fishing technology means that sharks are being hauled in in greater numbers than ever before.

It is looking less and less likely that species such as the scalloped hammerhead can survive Japan's defiant stance on shark fin soup - and Asian demand for the product.

MIKA: Really, isn't there some World animal protection agency that should start stepping in and looking at Japans bad habbits in regard to whaling and now this shark issue? Any other country would have been crucified, I dont understand how they are getting away with all of this.

[MIKA27]

Prisoners flee from mannequin jail guard

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

TWO men convicted of armed robbery escaped from a prison in southeastern Argentina that was so understaffed it used mannequins to man its watchtowers, prison authorities admitted today.

"I admit we have a type of mannequin but in this sector there are cameras that enable us to observe all movements," said Daniel Verges, the director of prisons in Neuquen province.

The two inmates escaped on Saturday by climbing over a wall at Penal Unit No 11 in Neuquen.

The watchtower guarding the wall was manned by a makeshift doll nicknamed "Wilson," after the ball that kept a marooned Tom Hanks company in the movie Cast Away, prison officials said.

"We made a doll with a ball and a cap so that prisoners would see a shadow and think they were being guarded," the newspaper Rio ***** quoted a guard as saying.

The guard said only two of the prison's 15 watchtowers have real guards.

Local police chief, Juan Carlos Lepen, has acknowledged that broken cameras and burned-out television monitors have gone unrepaired at the prison for lack of funds.

[MIKA27]

Cheating German couple fall from window during sex session

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

A CHEATING couple who fell from an apartment window during a secret sex session suffered broken bones and head wounds.

The man and woman, who were not named, fell about five metres from the first floor apartment, in the German city of Lubeck, newsite Bild.Com reported.

The woman, who is married to another man, insisted the pair were not having sex, despite reports from neighbors who spotted the couple in action before their tumble.

“We weren’t having sex. We were just fooling around. I can’t remember the fall anymore,” the woman told the paper.

In a bizarre twist, the clumsy lovers were taken to the same hospital where the woman’s husband was recovering from his own fall - from a roof a few days earlier.

[MIKA27]

Chief to go as BP tries to rebuild image

THE embattled chief executive of BP, Tony Hayward, will collect a pay and pension package worth at least £11.8 million ($20.35 million) when he falls on his sword, it was reported overnight.

The oil giant is hoping that Tony Hayward’s departure will finally draw a line under its role in the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

The board of BP, which is battling to restore its reputation and stave off the threat of a takeover, is set to meet tonight, London time, to hammer out the precise timing and terms of Mr Hayward’s exit.

The news, which has been greeted with delight in the US, could be formally announced before the oil giant unveils on Tuesday what is expected to be the biggest quarterly loss in British corporate history, estimated at up to £8.4 billion, because of provisions related to the spill.

The 53-year-old executive, who has worked for BP for more than 28 years, will walk away with a pay and pension package worth a minimum of £11.8 million.

Mr Hayward, who was believed to have spent the weekend with his family near Sevenoaks in Kent, southeast England, will receive a one-off payoff equivalent to his annual salary, which stood at more than £1 million last year, plus a pension pot that was valued at £10.8 million at the start of the year.

It will ensure that he receives a salary worth £584,000 per year when he reaches 60 in seven years’ time.

Mr Hayward is not expected to receive his annual performance bonus for 2010; last year his bonus boosted his pay by more than £2 million.

He will also be giving up 546,000 share options and a maximum of two million shares in the company under a long-term incentive plan, now worth an estimated £8 million.

More than 40 percent has been wiped off the market value of BP, once Britain’s biggest company, since the disaster - from £125 billion to £75 billion.

It has had a devastating impact on the income paid to the estimated 18 million British investors who hold shares in BP, either directly or through pension funds.

Mr Hayward, who also owns shares in BP, will not quit immediately but is expected to remain with the company until September, when he will hand over the reins to Bob Dudley, his likely American successor.

Mr Hayward has agreed to leave to help to rebuild BP’s reputation in the wake of the April 20 disaster, which killed 11 workers and unleashed America’s worst oil spill.

His departure follows a string of gaffes after the accident, including saying “I want my life back,” and that the environmental impact of the spill would be “very, very modest.”

[MIKA27]

Teenager survives 16-storey fall

A NEW Zealand teenager has survived a 16-storey fall onto a concrete floor, but was expected to make a full recovery.

The 15-year-old was in a stable condition in an Auckland hospital with a broken wrist, broken rib, a gouged leg and internal injuries three days after the 50-metre plunge, which happened at 9.30pm (local time) on Thursday, the New Zealand Herald reported.

NZPA said it was believed he may have been playing on the balcony of his family's top floor apartment when he fell, crashing through the carpark's steel roof onto concrete.

Another tenant reportedly raised the alarm after the boy fell past his apartment, NZPA said.

MIKA: He better get a lotto ticket surviving that one. I've heard about people dying falling of their home rooftops. Very lucky indeed.

[MIKA27]

Brazilian tribesmen occupy power plant

Source: Ninemsn.com.au

Hundreds of Amazon tribesmen in warpaint have taken over a hydroelectric power plant in Brazil with 100 employees inside, demanding $US5.6 million ($A6.26 million) for the burial and hunting grounds they lost to the dam, media reports said.

Talks between some 300 members of at least six different Amazon tribes and the Aguas da Pedra power company broke down recently, triggering the takeover on Sunday of the Dardanelos power plant and 100 employees working there at the time, Globo News television said.

The protesters said they want to talk with the company and also with representatives of the energy and environmental ministries, as well as the National Indian Foundation (Funai) and Brazil's Environmental Institute.

In full warpaint, tribal leaders said they wanted $US5.6 million ($A6.26 million) dollars in compensation for cultural and social losses stemming from the destruction of an indigenous burial ground and a tract of hunting grounds since the hydroelectric dam went up nearly three years ago.

Funai coordinator Antonio Carlos Ferreira said the protest leaders believe the construction project lacked appropriate government oversight from the start.

The Dardanelos power plant is the first phase of the hydroelectric project Aguas de Pedra is scheduled to complete by January of next year in western Matto Grosso state, which includes part of Brazil's vast Amazon jungle.

The company is waiting for government approval for a series of community improvement programs it plans to implement in the area, company manager Paulo Rogerio Novaes told local news agency O Dia.

MIKA: The Jungle strikes back!

[MIKA27]

I remember (vaguely) when I had my 50m fall from the top of a waterfall in Northern NSW when I was 21, and hit the rocks at the side rather than the water. The young fella in the above story came out a little worse off than me.... I never did buy a lottery ticket after that! D'oh.

A 50 meter fall and you're still kicking!! glad to have you here. One can always buy a belated lottery ticket.

[Habanakane21]

Although I live in Los Angeles now I grew up in Washington State and went to college there too. I guess this woman was a daredevil and a risk taker.

A Bothell woman who died while base-jumping near Stevens Pass has been identified as Aude-Marianne Beretucchi, 32, of Bothell.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office said she died of blunt-force injuries when she fell 800 feet from Mount Baring off Highway 2.

She died when her parachute failed to open around noon Sunday, said Rick Hawkins, a spokesman with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office. She jumped ahead of her husband. He told authorities he heard a pop of her parachute, but didn't see her come out from behind a cliff.

The couple was base-jumping, which is the sport of using a parachute to jump from a fixed object, such as a building or a mountain. "Base" is an acronym for categories of objects from which participants jump: building, antenna, span and earth.

Mount Baring is a 6,000-foot mountain just northeast of the Skykomish River and Highway 2.

[MIKA27]

Aliens are Twittering us humans

SCIENTISTS believe aliens have been sending us Twitter-style messages for decades in a bid to make contact - we just haven't been checking their tweets.

While the messages wouldn't necessarily be restricted to 140 characters, a study suggest, ET is more likely to send out short, directed messages than continuous signals beamed in all directions.

"This approach is more like Twitter and less like War and Peace," Dr James Benford, a physicist and president of Microwave Sciences in the US, said.

His twin brother, Gregory, an astrophysicist at the University of California, said: "Whatever the life form, evolution selects for economy of resources.

"Transmitting signals across light years would require considerable resources."

The brothers claim scientists involved in America's Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, have been taking the wrong approach for five decades.

They said alien signals would not be blasted out in all directions but narrowly directed in the one-to-10 gigahertz broadband signal range and SETI's broad sweeping search of the galactic plane could leave many days when brief Twitter-like flashes of "here we are" from alien civilisations go undetected.

Meanwhile, it's been revealed more than 100 planets of a similar size to Earth have been found in just the past few weeks.

The discovery was made by space telescope Kepler, which has been scanning the skies for planets orbiting stars since it was launched in January last year.

Scientists now think there are likely to be around 100 million planets in the Milky Way that harbour the right conditions for life.

They also expect to be able to identify around 60 of these habitable Earth-like planets within the next two years.

[OZCUBAN]

Tourism WA slammed over Red Bull chop

The chief of WA's peak hotel body has lambasted Tourism WA, saying the agency had left the State dangerously exposed to the prospect of the Red Bull Air Race being cancelled.

After news this morning that the Perth foreshore event had been axed, Australian Hotels Association WA chief executive Brad Woods said Tourism WA had “put all its eggs in one basket” in attracting the air race.

“Hundreds of thousands of West Australians and people from Perth who went and enjoyed the event are now left with very little,” he told ABC radio.

“It’s nice to say we’ve got the truffle festival and we’ve got this particular art show but a couple of hundred people attending an event… does not replace an international, major event.

“The problem we have is that the Tourism WA board have put all their eggs in one basket and that basket – because they invested in an international event that no one has control over and they didn’t invest in locally grown WA events – are now left with no basket and the hands are empty.

“We are going to hear sugar coating all day. We’re are going to hear that everything is ok and that we’re going to be focusing on new events but we can’t tell you what they are because they’re secret.

“That’s because there aren’t any.”

This morning Tourism WA confirmed that it had been informed that all stages of the global event had been axed for 2011.

Chairwoman Kate Lamont said it was unclear if the event would resume after 2011.

The two-day event on the Swan River foreshore attracted 300,00 people last year.

Ms Lamont said she was very disappointed to see the showcase event go.

She said Tourism WA was already aggressively pursuing new, international events to replace the air race.

"The future is very bright on the major events front and I look forward to sharing some exciting developments in the near future which will bring to life Western Australia's Experience Extraordinary brand," she said.

"Attracting and establishing a diverse range of events is central to the work of Tourism WA and Eventscorp and WA's calendar will continue to develop and grow with more and more world class events being brought to Perth.

"The 2010 Eventscorp calendar includes world-class sporting events and spectacular arts and cultural events.

"Our ability to attract world-class events has been further demonstrated by another exclusive show to Perth, the Great Collections of the World: Peggy Guggenheim, which opens at the Art Gallery of Western Australian in September."

Ms Lamont said The Ashes test match between Australia and England in December would be an event not to be missed.

The race was first held in Perth in 2006 and transformed Langley Park into an "airport".

The event's profile was raised earlier this year when thousands of people watched on as a plane crashed into the Swan River.

A spokesman for Tourism Minister Elizabeth Constable was quick to distance the State Government from any implication in the decision, saying it was Red Bull who “pulled the plug”.

Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi OK said she was hopeful the race would eventually return to the city buy admitted its loss was a major disappointment.

“The event captured the imagination of West Australians and also attracted many visitors to the city,” she said.

“Perth was a popular location for the event and I have been told that by the organisers that we were one of their best-managed destinations.

“They were certainly impressed with the facilities in Perth.

“My understanding is that the decision not to stage the event was a result of a complete internal review within the organisation.

“Hopefully the event will return, but Perth has so much to offer for other prospective new major events as well.”

Oz

And they wonder why Perth gets its tag of dullsville,if we want to dabble in anything remotely touristy we should leave it to the Victorians they know how it is done

Cheers OZ

[MIKA27]

Tourism WA slammed over Red Bull chop

Oz

And they wonder why Perth gets its tag of dullsville,if we want to dabble in anything remotely touristy we should leave it to the Victorians they know how it is done

Cheers OZ

Exactly mate!

hence the reason why you're joining me at the 2011 Melbourne F1.

Shame about the RB Air race mate, I thought it suited the WA venue and pulled in loads of people. I myself was considering venturing up that way just for that alone.

[MIKA27]

Winston Churchill's teeth snapped up for $22,000 at auction

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

A PARTIAL set of dentures used by British wartime leader Winston Churchill - and described as the teeth that saved the world - sold at auction today for £15,200 ($22,000).

The upper dentures, one of several sets specially made for the former prime minister, were used to maintain his distinctively slurred speaking style.

They were bought by a British collector of Churchill memorabilia at an auction in England at three times the estimated price.

The dentures were unique because they were designed to be loose-fitting so that Mr Churchill could preserve the diction famous from World War II radio broadcasts, experts said.

"From childhood, Churchill had a very distinctive natural lisp; he had trouble with his S's," said Jane Hughes, of London's Hunterian Museum. "These are the teeth that saved the world."

The medical museum displays a duplicate set of Mr Churchill's dentures in a glass cabinet alongside other famous teeth - including dentures worn by Queen Caroline, the estranged wife of King George IV.

Ms Hughes said: "He wanted to maintain (the lisp) because he was already so well known for it. The dentures wouldn't quite connect with the top of the mouth, but that was on purpose."

The dentures were made by dental technician Derek Cudlipp, who produced three or four identical sets for Mr Churchill.

One set is believed be have been buried with the leader. The set at auction was sold by Mr Cudlipp's son.

The false teeth were made just around the start of the war, when Mr Churchill would have been about 65, Ms Hughes said.

The politician is famous for his rousing speeches to the British nation during the war, but his dental issues have been less well known.

Ms Hughes said Mr Churchill had many problems with his teeth as a child and probably lost some of them quite early. The leader valued so highly the skill of his dentist, Wilfred Fish, that he nominated him for a knighthood.

[bolivr]

Winston Churchill's teeth snapped up for $22,000 at auction

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

A PARTIAL set of dentures used by British wartime leader Winston Churchill - and described as the teeth that saved the world - sold at auction today for £15,200 ($22,000).

The upper dentures, one of several sets specially made for the former prime minister, were used to maintain his distinctively slurred speaking style.

They were bought by a British collector of Churchill memorabilia at an auction in England at three times the estimated price.

The dentures were unique because they were designed to be loose-fitting so that Mr Churchill could preserve the diction famous from World War II radio broadcasts, experts said.

"From childhood, Churchill had a very distinctive natural lisp; he had trouble with his S's," said Jane Hughes, of London's Hunterian Museum. "These are the teeth that saved the world."

The medical museum displays a duplicate set of Mr Churchill's dentures in a glass cabinet alongside other famous teeth - including dentures worn by Queen Caroline, the estranged wife of King George IV.

Ms Hughes said: "He wanted to maintain (the lisp) because he was already so well known for it. The dentures wouldn't quite connect with the top of the mouth, but that was on purpose."

The dentures were made by dental technician Derek Cudlipp, who produced three or four identical sets for Mr Churchill.

One set is believed be have been buried with the leader. The set at auction was sold by Mr Cudlipp's son.

The false teeth were made just around the start of the war, when Mr Churchill would have been about 65, Ms Hughes said.

The politician is famous for his rousing speeches to the British nation during the war, but his dental issues have been less well known.

Ms Hughes said Mr Churchill had many problems with his teeth as a child and probably lost some of them quite early. The leader valued so highly the skill of his dentist, Wilfred Fish, that he nominated him for a knighthood.

What, no cigar?

[MIKA27]

Massive ice chunk kills girl, 11, on summer hike in Washington state

Source: thedailynews.com.au

AN 11-year-old girl was killed after being hit by a piece of ice the size of a Volkswagen bus during a hike with her family in Washington state.

The Seattle Times said the girl's mother was also injured when the ice fell on them near the Big Four ice caves in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, located 33km east of Granite Falls, Washington.

Officials said the ice broke off as the pair stood in a field adjacent to the caves yesterday.

They were on a hike with other family members at the time.

"It was just a tragic accident," Lieutenant Jeff Brand of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said.

"The family did nothing wrong."

The girl died at the scene after about two hours of CPR. The mother suffered a minor injury to her leg.

The Big Four mountain is about 1870m high.

On its north flank, debris piles form from avalanches and are able to remain there year round because of the continuous shade provided by the mountain.

During the northern summer, snow-melt streams flow beneath the debris piles and cause caves to be formed in the ice.

[MIKA27]

Eight killed as Chinese man goes on rampage in bulldozer

AT LEAST eight people were killed and 20 injured as a Chinese bulldozer driver went on a rampage in his vehicle today.

Li Xianliang, 38, a driver at the Hongyun Coal Depot in China's northern Hebei Province, embarked on his afternoon killing spree after arguing with a client then killing him, the Shanghai Daily said.

According to the Yanzhao Metropolis Daily, Li was driving erratically at the coal yard - and a Yuanshi government spokesman told Xinhua that Mr Li had been drinking.

He damaged several vehicles and buildings at the coal yard in Nanzuo Township before driving the bulldozer on to a nearby highway, smashing into dozens of vehicles including four coal trucks and a minibus as well as cars and motorcycles. He even rammed into roadside shops and houses.

Mr Li then drove to a local township and targeted crowds in the market before he was arrested.

Mr Li's rampage follows a similar incident in February this year in neighbouring Tianjin Municipality that left 10 people dead and 11 injured.

In the Tianjin incident, Zhang Yimin drove a bus into pedestrians and cyclists as he tried to escape from police after stabbing a co-worker.

There were also a number of stabbing rampages in China this year, with 17 people killed - including 15 children - and more than 80 injured in the attacks.

[MIKA27]

Red faces as blue movie accidentally screened in Indonesian parliament

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

A PORNOGRAPHIC movie was broadcast on the Indonesian parliament's internal information service today, shocking journalists and lawmakers who rely on the screens for updates on political events.

Images apparently taken from the internet filled the screens used by reporters, political staffers and visitors for about 15 minutes before security guards managed to shut it off, reporters said.

It was not clear how the images appeared on the screens, but House Speaker Marzuki Alie said whoever was responsible would be punished.

"Whoever hacked the screens is insolent and will be reported to the authorities," he warned.

The incident was sure to embarrass President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who recently backed calls for stricter controls on the internet following a national scandal over an online celebrity sex clip.

[MIKA27]

Girl catches 4 million mosquitos in one month

A Taiwanese girl has taken a sizeable bite out of Taiwan's mosquito population, and won a 3,000 US dollar cash prize, by catching around 4 million of the bloodsuckers in just one month.

Huang Yu-yen, from southern Taiwan's Yunlin county, beat 72 rivals with a catch weighing in at more than 1.5 kilogrammes (3lbs 5oz), competition organisers Imbictus International, a company that makes insect traps, said.

The haul was more than double that of her nearest rival.

The company has sent an application to Guinness World Records asking that Huang be recognised as the world's leading killer of the pest.

Mosquitoes have been a major public health hazard in Taiwan, especially as carriers of malaria until its official eradication on the island in 1965. They are still responsible for the spread of dengue fever.

[MIKA27]

Russia declares emergency

President Dmitry Medvedev has declared a state of emergency in seven Russian regions over the worst wildfires in a generation as the death toll rose to 40.

Amid unusual public criticism that the authorities were slow to react to the spreading fires last week, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered regional governors at an urgent meeting to present a detailed reconstruction plan.

Medvedev declared the emergency in seven regions in European Russia - Mairi El, Mordovia, Vladimir, Voronezh, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan.

The decree allows the authorities to restrict public access to areas where their presence could pose a fire hazard, and to call on the armed forces to put out and prevent fires, according to a summary posted on the Kremlin website.

"Remember that any tossed away match can lead to an irreparable disaster. That is the way things are," said Medvedev in a televised address.

"Our main task today is to help the victims return to normal life."

Putin also raised the possibility of calling in volunteers to reinforce the firefighters.

"Everyone and all our equipment are working to the limit... If necessary, we could mobilise volunteers and personnel from businesses," he said.

The health ministry said on Monday 40 people had died in the fires, raising the toll from 34.

The worst hit region has been Nizhny Novgorod with 19 deaths, but raging fires have also claimed lives in the Voronezh, Lipetsk, Moscow and Ryazan regions.

At least 1875 houses have been destroyed in fires, leaving more than 2000 people homeless, the regional development ministry said on Sunday, with about 128,000 hectares of land on fire.

On Monday alone, Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said wildfires in the southern Lipetsk region destroyed 50 homes after strong winds sent flames ripping through a village.

The emergencies ministry said it had 155,000 people and more than 25,000 pieces of equipment on hand to fight what Medvedev has described as a once-in-a-generation catastrophe.

But the authorities have insisted they have the situation under control.

"Out of 1200 fires, 620 have been extinguished, leaving 580" still burning, said Shoigu.

The Nizhny Novgorod branch of the emergency services said the fires were no longer spreading from the countryside to inhabited areas and the threat to towns and villages had been lifted.

Moscow itself was again blanketed on Monday in a heavy smog generated from peat fires burning in the countryside, with the city centre permeated by a smell of smoke and the tops of skyscrapers invisible in the early morning.

Shoigu lashed out at residents for creating the conditions for fires with barbecues and camp fires during their weekend leisure activities.

"People need to understand... all the rules if they go into the forest. Our coming week of work depends on how they spent their days off."

Putin, who has led the response to the disaster and visited some of the affected areas, issued stern instructions at a meeting with governors of the worst hit regions.

"I want plans of reconstruction for every region, every district, every house," he said. "I want a list of all the injured signed by you -- the governors."

The strongman, rarely criticised in Russia, found himself harangued by angry victims of the fires when he visited the Nizhny Novgorod region and later slammed local officials for their slack response.

A country notorious for its bitterly cold winters, Russia is enduring its severest heatwave for decades which has seen all-time temperature records tumble throughout July.

Forecasters have warned there is no chance of the heatwave relenting for the moment, with temperatures of between 35-42 degrees celsius expected in Moscow and central Russia over the next days.

MIKA: All the very best to our Russian friends. I hope you are all well?

[Kangaroo495]

They say that an hour of breathing in the air here is like smoking a packet of cigarettes. Actually reminds me a lot of Melbourne during bushfire season, with the smoke engulfing the city, burning smell etc. Except the fires around Moscow are not from bush but from peat bogs, so it really stinks!

The weather is truly an anomaly though. It's like being stuck in a raging inferno. And most people don't have air conditioning, as it bloody snowing here 9 months a year and summers are luke-warm at best (i.e. no point investing in a/c systems). Sweltering.

[MIKA27]

Man nearly killed as eel swims in bottom

06:00 AEST Wed Aug 4 20105 hours 42 minutes agoBy ninemsn staff

A Chinese fishmonger almost died after an eel swam into his bottom.

Li Chang was sitting on the edge of a tank at a warehouse in Guangzhou in southern China when he fell back into a container of live eels, The Sun newspaper reports.

The 43-year-old said he was horrified when he felt one swim up his trousers and into his anus.

He said he was too embarrassed to tell anyone what had happened and continued working.

But colleagues called emergency services after he collapsed.

Doctors performed a five hour surgery to remove the creature and repair the severe internal injuries caused by it moving around.

"The eel had badly injured the patient," a hospital spokesman was quoted as saying.

"If he had not arrived when he did he would have died.

"We expect he will make a full recovery though."

How did this guy just keep working???

There's lots of jokes I can think of, but I'll leave it to everyone else to provide some good comments on this one.....

Maybe he liked it?

I mean, many people like live animals... Look at Richard Gere, wasn't he busted with a hamster!?

[MIKA27]

Sergei Zhmaryov allegedly gouged his grandmother's eyes out before eating her

A UKRANIAN computer programmer has been accused of gouging his grandmother's eyeballs before eating her alive.

Sergei Zhmaryov, 26, allegedly carved 60-year-old Lydia's face with a shard of broken mirror while she was still conscious, The Sun reports.

It is believed the man cut out his grandmother's tongue out to stop her cries for help, then ate it.

He also allegedly cut off her lips and ears. The woman died at the scene as a result of her injuries.

"All this time she was conscious and tried to escape, screaming," a police source told The Sun.

Authorities believe it may have been a ritualistic killing by Mr Zhmaryov, who was known by neighbours as a religious zealot.

Police found Mr Zhmaryov dressed only in his underpants, holding a cross and chanting prayers. Officers apparently had to fill a room with gas to sedate the man before his arrest.

Police chief Olga Kondrashova from Simferopol, Ukraine could only confirm a 26-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder.

"I can add that this murder was committed with particular cruelty," she said.

Mr Zhmaryov could face a murder charge and up to 20 years in prison.

MIKA: There are some sick bastards out there...

[MIKA27]

Brazilian soccer star charged with murder

PROSECUTORS have charged Brazilian footballer Bruno with ordering the murder of an ex-lover who allegedly was trying to prove he was the father of her young son.

Prosecutor Gustavo Fantini filed charges in the state court in Minas Gerais against Bruno Souza and eight others.

Among those also charged in the case are Bruno's wife, Dayanne Souza, and another woman whom police say is the player's lover.

Bruno was the goalkeeper and captain of Brazil's most popular football team, Flamengo, and helped lead the team to a national championship last year.

He allegedly ordered the kidnapping and killing of 25-year-old Eliza Samudio. She has been missing since June and her body has yet to be found.

Police say the player arranged for Samudio to be kidnapped in June in Rio de Janeiro and driven 450km north to a rural property he owns in Minas Gerais state, where police say the woman was imprisoned, beaten and finally strangled to death by a former policeman and friend of Bruno's, Marcos Aparecido dos Santos.

Police allege that her body was then cut up and fed to dogs. No remains have been located.

Police have said that when Samudio was pregnant last year, she alleged that Bruno and others had kidnapped her and tried to force her to take medication that would abort her unborn child.

Police in Rio de Janeiro affirmed that Samudio lodged a criminal complaint against Bruno last October in connection with the alleged incident, but that no charges were brought.

Calls to Bruno's lawyer went unanswered.

[MIKA27]

UFO X-File banned over mass panic fears

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

A 'near miss' between a passenger plane and a UFO in the UK is included in a number of secret files released by the British government.

The close encounter was officially reported by the flight crew of a Boeing 737 at Manchester Airport back in January 1995.

The pilot and first officer of the plane described seeing a large grey object fly so close past the plane it made them duck.

It's one of a number of Ministry of Defence files documenting alleged UFO sightings which have finally been made public.

British wartime prime minister Winston Churchill banned the reporting for 50 years of an alleged UFO incident because of fears it could create mass panic, the newly unclassified documents reveal.

The claim came from a scientist who said his grandfather was one of Churchill's bodyguards.

According to the documents, details of the coverup emerged when the man wrote to the government in 1999 seeking to find out more about the incident.

He described how his grandfather, who served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the war, was present when Churchill and U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower discussed how to deal with the UFO encounter.

The man, who is not named in the files, said Churchill was reported to have exclaimed, "This event should be immediately classified since it would create mass panic amongst the general population - and destroy one's belief in the church."

The incident allegedly involved an RAF reconnaissance plane returning from a mission in France or Germany toward the end of the war.

It was over or near the English coastline when it was allegedly suddenly intercepted by a strange metallic object that matched the aircraft's course and speed for a time before accelerating away and disappearing.

The X-files also reveal a lengthy history of reported close encounters over the years.

In one incident, a gambler approached the Defense Department for help after a local gambling parlor refused to pay out on his 100-1 bet that aliens would land on Earth before the end of the 20th century.

And an alien spaceship "20 times the size of a football field" is among the string of bizarre UFO sightings.

The huge craft was reported to the military after it was seen hovering above Manchester airport in January 1995. In another report, a black U-shaped object was seen from Edinburgh travelling above a Scottish river without disturbing the water on October 9, 1995.

During the Cold War, RAF jets were scrambled 200 times a year to investigate UFOs picked up on radar. But this fell to zero after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Nick Pope, a former Ministry of Defence expert who worked on the official UFO files, told London paper The Sun, "Whatever you believe about UFOs, there's some fascinating material in these real life X-Files."

"Most of these sightings turned out to be misidentifications of things like aircraft lights or meteors, but a small proportion could not be explained."

[rckymtn22]

Careful betting on love in Cuba

By JOE WARMINGTON, QMI Agency

Nick Mastrangelo, 63, and his wife Dagnery Tita Abreu, 38. (Photo courtesy of Nick Mastrangelo)

Nicola Mastrangelo knows what its like to gamble in Cuba and lose.

He bet on love, a game on the communist island where the house often wins.

In his case, after betting the farm, he actually lost a house he built for his Queen of Hearts.

Fidel Castro may have banned Batista’s casinos in 1960 but there is still high risk gambling going on, especially if you decide to put money on any Cuban deal.

The deck is stacked.

Cody LeCompte’s family found out the pitfalls of this in renting a car.

They are $30,000 in debt after officials forced the teen to stay in Cuba while they — nudge, nudge, wink, wink — investigated.

Unless there is one more Cuban card trick up their sleeve, his nightmare should come to an end tonight as he is set to fly home Friday.

However Mastrangelo’s nightmare continues.

“I feel for the kid because I know how it is to get a bad deal in Cuba,” says Mastrangelo, a well known, well-liked, happy-go-lucky Woodbridge coffee truck operator. “They say with that car accident, they were investigating a crime. I wish sometimes they would investigate some of their own people.”

So far, his wager cost him $40,000 in life savings on a relationship with a now 38-year-old woman named Dagnery Tita Abreu. In Cuba, that could end up as a sucker’s bet.

“I really fell for her,” he says of a woman he met in the village of Santa Marta, near Veradero, in 2001 and married in 2004. “I wanted her to feel like a queen.”

He worked hard at that.

First there was a $6,000 beach wedding, then the purchase of land, the hiring of tradesmen, the hunt for building materials and eventually a state-of-the-art house with a custom kitchen and bathroom.

The problem is you can’t officially own property in Cuba.

And you certainly can’t put your name on it if you are not from there.

But in Cuba anything can be done for a price — the old Havana Hustle.

In this case, it was the Santa Marta Shuffle.

“I was given building permits and I was told since she was my wife, it was my house,” says Mastrangelo, who was admittedly naive.

Divorced 25 years, lonely and enjoying the company of an attractive woman 25 years his junior, he fell into the tropical trap so many others have, hook line and sinker.

Mastrangelo is a gullible but lovable type, the kind of guy who will do anything for you.

He did lots for the love of his life.

He built the house, moved her in and started making plans for her come here.

Missing her in 2007, Mastrangelo jumped on a plane to surprise her.

In Cuba, a surprise can often lead to exactly that.

“I caught her with a Cuban guy,” he says. “I understand I should have known better but I really trusted her.”

To add insult to injury, the guy was living with Mastrangelo’s wife in the house he built.

She is certainly able to tell her side of the story if she chooses but Mastrangelo doesn’t hate her as much as he feels violated. “I am over it now but I took it pretty hard at the time,” he says.

Duped and full of understandable Veradero Vengeance, he set out to change the game and win some of his losses back.

But the game was rigged.

He hired local lawyers, sought help from the Canadian consulate and Cuban government authorities. He wanted her out of his house.

“Sorry, no can do,” was always the answer.

The house is in her name and she still lives there.

He divorced her in 2008 and tried to get some of the money out of his house with no luck.

“I have been offered $300 for the house,” laughs Mastrangelo. “In the end it’s my own fault and a lesson was learned.”

His buddies tease him.

“I was thinking with my heart,” he says.

For Mastrangelo, the issue now is trying to prevent it from happening to someone else.

Keep your eyes wide open, he says.

There are many good Cuban people and many solid marriages, but there are many trap doors, too.

Heck, the Latin-love-two-step is practically an industry down there. They look not only for the naive but the kind.

And it’s not just men. Women have been duped by Cuban men too and same goes for same-sex relationship-frauds.

Truth is if you go even the slightest bit off track in Cuba, you could find yourself in a real jackpot.

As Mastrangelo and Cody experienced, when you’re playing the Cuban shell game, it’s a real risky roll of the dice.

[MIKA27]

Fantastic posts Bster!!!! .

Burnt genitals, midgets swallowed by hippos, AWESOME!!!

Sure beats all the morbid news stories I seem to post mostly coming from Russia for some reason....