DAILY NEWS:

[Habanakane21]

So this is what's happening in SoCal!!! This is what a call Vitamin-Water!!

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A Southern California man has been charged with ejaculating twice into the water bottle of a female co-worker.

Orange County prosecutors charged 31-year-old Michael Kevin Lallana with misdemeanor counts of releasing an offensive material in a public place and assault, with sentencing allegation for committing a crime for sexual gratification.

Lallana was arrested at his Fullerton home Tuesday and released on $500 bond pending arraignment Sept. 14. He's facing up to three years in jail if convicted and will be required to register as a sex offender.

Prosecutor Bobby Taghavi says Lallana deposited his semen on Jan. 14 and April 9 in the water bottle of a co-worker on her desk at the Northwestern Mutual Mortgage Co. They worked at the company's Newport Beach and Orange offices.

[MIKA27]

So this is what's happening in SoCal!!! This is what a call Vitamin-Water!!

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A Southern California man has been charged with ejaculating twice into the water bottle of a female co-worker.

Orange County prosecutors charged 31-year-old Michael Kevin Lallana with misdemeanor counts of releasing an offensive material in a public place and assault, with sentencing allegation for committing a crime for sexual gratification.

Lallana was arrested at his Fullerton home Tuesday and released on $500 bond pending arraignment Sept. 14. He's facing up to three years in jail if convicted and will be required to register as a sex offender.

Prosecutor Bobby Taghavi says Lallana deposited his semen on Jan. 14 and April 9 in the water bottle of a co-worker on her desk at the Northwestern Mutual Mortgage Co. They worked at the company's Newport Beach and Orange offices.

I wonder how they found about this?

[rusty]

Shark kills young father in Gracetown

GEORGIA LONEY AND GARY ADSHEAD, The West Australian

August 18, 2010, 2:50 am

A young father of two has died despite the frantic efforts of rescuers who tried in vain to save his life after he was savaged by a shark while surfing at Gracetown yesterday.

Nick Edwards, 31, was spotted face-down in the water, his right leg mauled, his wetsuit partly shredded and his surfboard snapped in two.

Gracetown man Rob Alder raised the alarm after seeing Mr Edwards' board floating on its own while checking out the surf with binoculars from his veranda.

"He was white and he'd washed up on the rocks, so he was unconscious," Mr Alder said.

"Craig (Gordon) had got him out of the water and we got him further up the beach, on my surfboard, and put my leg rope around his leg as a tourniquet and got the blood back in his face until the ambulance arrived."

Mr Gordon was the first person in the water and battled breaking waves to pull Mr Edwards from the surf.

Dunsborough Police Sgt Craig Anderson was full of praise for the rescuers.

"The effort of those guys this morning was outstanding," he said.

"Unfortunately, the nature of the injuries sustained were severe and obviously took the man's life in a short period of time."

Mr Edwards, a keen surfer, had two children, aged seven and two, and had been living in Busselton while working as a fly in, fly out mine employee at BHP's Leinster nickel operation.

"Two small children, so obviously those guys are going through some emotion, some severe pain," Sgt Anderson said. "You wouldn't wish this on anyone. To lose your Dad doing something he enjoys and loves."

A woman believed to be Mr Edwards’ wife Melissa answered the door at the family home yesterday but did not want to comment.

Mrs Edwards’ mother said the family had “just lost Nick” and asked they be given space to grieve.

A 15km stretch of the coast was immediately closed while the Department of Fisheries searched for the shark, most likely a great white.

None of the rescuers told police they say a shark or a fin, but one woman said she saw thrashing in the water.

In 1996, the communities of Gracetown and Margaret River were devastated when an overhanging cliff collapsed, killing five children and four adults during a surf carnival near where yesterday's attack happened.

Six years ago, surfer Brad Smith was taken by a shark in nearby waters.

[Ryan]

I was worried until the last line of this article. It's only scotch, burn away.

Irish scientist helps develop car fuel from whiskey by-products

18/08/2010 - 07:15:21

An Irish scientist has developed a biofuel made from whiskey by-products which can be used in ordinary cars.

Professor Martin Tangney from Macroom in Co Cork has been working with fellow scientists at Napier University in Scotland.

They have say the product - biobutanol - gives an estimated 30% more output power than ethanol.

The researchers were provided with samples from Diageo's Glenkinchie Distillery in East Lothian.

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/irish-s...l#ixzz0wwsUfC7P

[CanuckSARTech]

LOL. Just don't touch the rum!

[MIKA27]

Indian man killed by exploding mobile phone

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

AN Indian man was killed when the Nokia cell phone he was using exploded in his face.

Gopal Gujjar, 23, was found dead yesterday with burns to his left ear, neck and shoulders, near a farm in Bandha village close to the city of Kota in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, The Times of India reported.

Mr Gujjar had apparently gone to the forest to graze cattle about noon and was believed to be talking on the phone when it exploded.

Police found pieces of the Nokia 1209 handset, a basic model released in August 2008, scattered nearby.

In January this year, a 27-year-old housewife in Andhra Pradesh, on the southeastern coast of India, was killed while talking to her husband on a charging phone.

MIKA; And people bag the iPhone4 for it's intermittent antenna issue. I think NOKIA may need to have a product recall?

[MIKA27]

Warner Bros suing Harry Popper condom company for copyright infringement

IT'S not every movie star who has a condom named after them.

But Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter has become a brand of condom in Switzerland and Warner Bros is unhappy.

The Swiss condom brand "Harry Popper" is reportedly being sued for copyright infringement by the studio.

Gawker.com details the hubbub with a broken-English quote from the Swiss newspaper quote: "For Warner Bros. is obvious: The sorcerer Harry Potter have a 'very positive image.' Condoms have no business there. Especially not now." According to Warner Bros. in November to plan the launch of the new Potter movie. Also a new video game is in preparation. The lawyer for Warner Bros. bluntly: 'The image of my client is in danger.' "

There is no denying the correlation between the latex protectors and the ever-so-popular wizard movie. If the name didn't do it for you, the illustration of a condom swinging a wand and wearing round-frame glasses will.

But more importantly, as E! Online states, is it smart to market condoms with "popper" in the name, anyway?

MIKA: "Harry Potter or Harry Popper" one thought comes to mind, "Loop hole"

[MIKA27]

British man Derrick Agyeman barred from returning to UK because too fat

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

A BRITISH man refused entry into the UK because he put on 31.8 kilograms (70 pounds) was considering taking legal action against border officials.

Border control authorities barred Derrick Agyeman, 37, from returning to the UK after he spent a weekend with friends in Amsterdam.

They said he was not the same person as in the one in his nine-year-old passport photograph because of differences in the thickness of the his ears and lips.

But the photograph was different because he gained 31.8kgs since it was taken.

Agyeman was forced to stay in Amsterdam for three months before he was allowed back in the country.

He lost an appeal in Britain's High Court this month over his treatment by the country's Foreign Office in the bungled case in August 2006.

Agyeman said, "I cry when I think about what happened to me."

The Foreign Office said it was unable to comment because Agyeman was considering an appeal.

[MIKA27]

Trapped miners in Chile alive after 17 days, but face four-month wait

CHILEAN President Sebastian Pinera says 33 miners are alive and contact has been established with them 17 days after a structural collapse trapped them below ground.

"All 33 of us are well inside the shelter," Mr Pinera said today, waving a message scribbled in red pencil that the trapped miners sent to rescuers on the surface through a shaft drilled 700 metres below the ground.

"This came out of the ground. It's a message from our miners telling us they are alive, that they are together," Pinera told reporters outside the mine, 800km north of Santiago.

The miners have been trapped since August 5 in the San Jose gold and copper mine near the northern city of Copiapo.

Until today there had been no word from them, and hopes for their survival were fading.

However, the chief engineer in charge of the rescue operation, Andres Sougarret, said it would take at least four months to reach them.

"I thank the miners for their bravery, for their courage in holding out more than two weeks in the depths of the mountain," Mr Pinera said.

"Now we must keep working. We have to enclose the shaft so we can send them water, food, lighting and communication" equipment.

"But the most important thing is already there: moral support. The miners know we're striving to rescue them," he said.

Despite Mr Pinera's optimistic scenario, Mr Sougarret warned that extracting the trapped miners from their deep hollow will take time and that a more powerful digging machine is needed to drill a shaft to the shelter where the miners are confined.

"A shaft 66 centimetres in diameter (will take) at least 120 days" to reach the miners, the engineer said.

MIKA: Wow, that's an enormous task ahead of them to wait for aid but what can one do but hope and hold out.

[OZCUBAN]

Trapped miners in Chile alive after 17 days, but face four-month wait

CHILEAN President Sebastian Pinera says 33 miners are alive and contact has been established with them 17 days after a structural collapse trapped them below ground.

"All 33 of us are well inside the shelter," Mr Pinera said today, waving a message scribbled in red pencil that the trapped miners sent to rescuers on the surface through a shaft drilled 700 metres below the ground.

"This came out of the ground. It's a message from our miners telling us they are alive, that they are together," Pinera told reporters outside the mine, 800km north of Santiago.

The miners have been trapped since August 5 in the San Jose gold and copper mine near the northern city of Copiapo.

Until today there had been no word from them, and hopes for their survival were fading.

However, the chief engineer in charge of the rescue operation, Andres Sougarret, said it would take at least four months to reach them.

"I thank the miners for their bravery, for their courage in holding out more than two weeks in the depths of the mountain," Mr Pinera said.

"Now we must keep working. We have to enclose the shaft so we can send them water, food, lighting and communication" equipment.

"But the most important thing is already there: moral support. The miners know we're striving to rescue them," he said.

Despite Mr Pinera's optimistic scenario, Mr Sougarret warned that extracting the trapped miners from their deep hollow will take time and that a more powerful digging machine is needed to drill a shaft to the shelter where the miners are confined.

"A shaft 66 centimetres in diameter (will take) at least 120 days" to reach the miners, the engineer said.

MIKA: Wow, that's an enormous task ahead of them to wait for aid but what can one do but hope and hold out.

Wow what an amazing story Mika ,lets hope they can get them out a bit earlier ,but more importantly lets hope that these guys are mentally strong ,they are going to need it.

It would seem that they have all followed procedure and in the sign of trouble have made it to the shelter,may be this story deserves a thread of its own so we can keep updated on their situation

Cheers OZ

[rckymtn22]

Bears prowling pot fields could face death

51 minutes ago

By Tamsyn Burgmann, The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER - The plight of a docile, playful group of black bears discovered prowling fields of pot when police raided a southern Interior British Columbia grow-op has grown to global growl.

Learning they could face death, more than 800 people across Canada and as far as China and Australia signed an online petition over the weekend to "Save Bears Found in Drug Bust."

Its creator, a Calgary woman who simply calls herself an animal lover, isn't beating around the bush about why she's taken up the cause.

"I felt in my heart and mind that the B.C. government was looking at the cheapest way out," Doreen McCrindle, 42, said in an interview. "And that was basically trying to execute the bears."

Upwards of 15 bears of all ages were found in late July happily roaming a sprawling, 28-hectare wooded property in the community of Christina Lake, their tummies full of human-provided dog food.

Mounties tiptoed around the animals while executing a search warrant and arrested two adults in their 40s, who calmly shooed one bear from the basement during the seizure.

Now the fate of the creatures is in the hands of the provincial Environment Ministry, which says if the animals can't learn to find food in the wild now the treats are gone, they'll have to be exterminated.

"It's going to be left up to the bears, hopefully, to move on and go back to their more natural lifestyle," said conservation officer Dave Webster.

"There's good potential some of those bears won't be able to do it, just because they've been dependant on this site for so long for food. Once we identify those animals then we're going to have to decide what to do from there."

Webster said it's not as easy as moving the bears elsewhere because they've never learned to survive on their own.

"Most likely that's a death sentence for those bears as well," he said.

Other bears defending their territory would likely push them out or kill them, sending them fleeing back to human sources of food.

"And that's going to create another problem," Webster said, adding ministry policy is against moving animals into captivity.

But hundreds of people are ringing bear bells to ward off the death knell.

"Why should the bears pay with their lives??? They weren't growing or selling drugs," wrote petition signatory Michelle Bafik-vehslage, from Texas.

Glenn Ingram from Alberta, signed: "Don't condemn the couple, put them to work growing medicinal marijuana and operating a black bear sanctuary."

McCrindle insists there are better options.

"Right now they're not a nuisance, they're not travelling off the site and I think they have a really good chance of making it with our help," she said.

Else Poulsen, who's worked for the Calgary zoo and recently published the book "Smiling Bears," suggests the province could install temporary feeding stations to help ween the bears back to their natural food sites.

"The bears are extremely motivated to put weight on right now, so it should be quite easy to move them to other feeding sites, away from the grow-op," she said, explaining the animals are in hyper-feeding mode because hibernation season is approaching.

Moving the bears to a sanctuary isn't a realistic plan, Poulsen agreed, adding the B.C. government does have some "progressive" projects in the works testing out rehabilitation for grizzly bears.

Webster said ministry biologists and veterinarians are currently pondering the "highest opportunity for the bears to succeed.

"But at the end of the day, these bears are going to have to look after themselves."

Every year the ministry destroys hundreds to thousands of bears because they've become acclimatized to humans and then stir up trouble, Webster said.

All parties agreed that had the people not fed the bears in the first place, the sticky situation would have been avoided.

According to RCMP, it's not clear if the people accused of feeding the bears — and now facing drug charges — were using them to guard their illegal cash crop or simply liked them as pets.

They're also being investigated for violations under the provincial Wildlife Act, including feeding and leaving attractants out for dangerous wildlife.

The property in question has been cited for issues related to feeding wildlife in the past, Webster said. He's even heard the locals refer to a woman at the house as "the bear lady."

[MIKA27]

Hijack ends in horror as police storm bus after nine die in hostage tragedy

A HOSTAGE situation ended in tragedy last night after a disgruntled policeman stormed a tourist bus and opened fire on passengers.

Police shot the gunman dead after he opened fire on tourists, killing eight.

"As we know, the incident tragically ended in the deaths of eight innocent civilians," President Benigno Aquino said in a statement after meeting police officials to discuss the crisis.

The toll was also confirmed by the secretary general of the Philippine National Red Cross, Gwendolyn Pang, who said the bodies were at four different hospitals around Manila. She said seven survivors were being treated for injuries.

The tourists were all from Hong Kong and the death toll was also confirmed by the Hong Kong Government.

A total of 22 Hong Kong tourists and three Filipinos were aboard the bus when Rolando Mendoza, a highly decorated former senior police inspector, seized the vehicle in the heart of the Philippine capital and demanded that he be reinstated to his job.

He released nine people during police negotiations, including children and two Filipinos, as the bus was parked at Rizal Park, a popular tourist destination just a few blocks from police headquarters.

Negotiations with Mendoza, who was armed with an M-16 assault rifle, broke down after nightfall.

Police said he was shot dead by a sniper after he used his captives as "human shields" in the final moments of the 12-hour standoff.

"I shot two Chinese. I will finish them all if they do not stop," Mendoza told a local radio station as the police assault was about to get underway.

"I can see a lot of SWAT (special weapons and tactics police) coming in. I know they will kill me. They should all leave because anytime I will do the same here."

The Filipino bus driver jumped out of a window and escaped moments before police stormed the vehicle, with his escape and the rest of the crisis broadcast live on television.

Another four hostages were seen scrambling out of the bus after the siege ended.

"He used the tourists as human shields. But he panicked and retreated to the front of the bus. He was then met with a valley of gunfire," the assault team's leader, Superintendent Nelson Yabut, told reporters after the drama.

"One of our snipers managed to shoot him in the head."

The bodies of four of the tourists were taken to the Manila Doctor's Hospital, where a fifth victim was in critical condition, said Faith Gaerlan, the facility's emergency medicine chief.

Two other hospitals reported receiving three dead victims, according to their emergency medical staff.

Mendoza, 55, was honored by police chiefs in 1986 as one of the top 10 officers in the country.

But he was discharged in 2008 for his alleged involvement in drug-related crimes and extortion.

[MIKA27]

Mummified WWI soldier found in glacier

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

THE mummified body of a WWI serviceman was being examined today after it was discovered in a melting glacier in the Italian Alps.

A local man discovered the remains, believed to be of of an Italian soldier who died nearly a hundred years ago.

The discovery in Trentino-Alto Adige confirms a trend of warming in the Alps, with melting glaciers recently revealing ancient treasures as well as explosives, ammunition and the bodies of troops.

Dino De Bernadin, who discovered the remains, searches the mountains near Belluno for military relics as a hobby.

“At first I saw a pile of rags and did not pay much attention. But I am a curious type, so I went closer to have a better look," he said. "I hacked at the ice with my pick, and a boot worn by Alpine troops emerged. Only then did I realise it was the skeleton of a soldier.”

The remains of the soldier, who has not been identified, still bore scraps of WWI uniform, including leggings. The bones had been shattered, perhaps by a mine or a grenade.

The skeleton were taken to a nearby military base for examination and further excavations have been ordered in the area in case the remains of other soldiers lie buried just beneath the receding ice.

[MIKA27]

Chile miners told of months-long wait

OFFICIALS today have finally told a desperate group of trapped miners that they could be stuck in their collapsed mine for months before being rescued.

"We were able to tell them... they would not be rescued before the Fiestas Patrias (Chile's September 18 Independence Day celebrations), and that we hoped to get them out before Christmas," Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.

He said the 33 men, trapped 700 metres below ground, took the information calmly, but he warned "a period of depression, anguish and severe malaise" could ensue.

Officials had been hiding the bleak information from the miners since they were discovered alive on Sunday in a shelter in the San Jose gold and copper mine more than two weeks after an August 5 collapse.

They feared the psychological impact it would have when the men contemplated the long ordeal ahead of them in a hot, dank shelter with their only lifeline a tiny hole to the surface providing sustenance, water and communication.

The news was delivered as the Government prepared a special program to help the miners cope mentally and physically with their prolonged captivity.

A priority of the plan was to get all the miners thin enough to squeeze through a narrow shaft about to be dug for their escape.

The tunnel, which could take four months to excavate, would measure just 66 centimetres in diameter when it was complete - roughly the size of a mountain bicycle wheel.

Officials said they were careful in the way they presented the situation to the men, especially after they made a desperate plea late yesterday for early rescue.

"We are waiting for all of Chile to do everything to get us out of this hell," group leader Luis Urzua told Chilean President Sebastian Pinera late through an intercom cable dropped to them.

"Mr President, we need you to be strong and to rescue us as soon as possible. Don't abandon us."

Mr Pinera vowed: "You won't be left alone, nor have you been alone a single moment."

At the time he avoided mentioning engineers' estimates that a hydraulic bore about to be used to dig the escape shaft would need 120 days to complete the task.

The President later told reporters he was determined the men "will be with us for Christmas and New Year".

Family members holding a vigil on the surface used an eight-centimetre wide drill hole to the men to send written notes to buoy the men's spirits.

The men, though famished, were in good physical condition, having survived on meagre rations and water trickling into their refuge before being found.

Mr Manalich said the first stage of the preparation plan calls for the miners to receive "nutritional recuperation" and occupational therapy.

They had been sent chocolate-and raspberry-flavoured milkshakes, which would be followed by solid food in around four days when their metabolisms could cope, he said.

The US space agency NASA has said it was willing to help sustain the men, based on its long experience with keeping astronauts healthy during long, isolated missions.

Examinations of their urine, blood pressure and body temperatures would soon be carried out, and they had been told to split their living area - which included a tunnel around 1.5 kilometres long - into three zones: one for sleeping, one for working, and one for bodily waste. Tiny lamps would illuminate the space.

"Then they will start a daily exercise routine," Mr Manalich said.

"The psychological program includes singing, games involving movement, card games, pencils and anything that they can use," the minister said.

[MIKA27]

Castro warns Chavez of nuclear war

VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez met for five hours with Fidel Castro behind closed doors on Wednesday, and state television said they discussed the former Cuban leader's warnings about impending nuclear war.

Castro has been using his written opinion columns to warn for months that the US and Israel will launch a nuclear attack on Iran and that Washington could also target North Korea - predicting Armageddon-like devastation and fighting.

The state TV broadcast on Wednesday night also said Mr Chavez expressed satisfaction at Castro's "magnificent" health.

Venezuela's socialist leader later met with President Raul Castro before leaving Cuba.

There was no immediate video or photos of either encounter.

Mr Chavez is a close ally of Fidel Castro and visited him frequently during the four years he disappeared from public view following emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006.

Wednesday was the first time, however, that Mr Chavez had visited since Castro began making a string of public appearances in recent weeks.

[MIKA27]

Man burns house after mum dumps toys

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

A JAPANESE man has admitted to burning down his family home after his mother threw away some of his favourite robot toys from the "Gundam" animation series.

Yoshifumi Takabe, aged 30 and living with his mother, said he had become suicidal after she dumped some of the robots, of which he had enough to fill 300 boxes stacked to the ceiling, the Sports Nippon reported.

The blaze on August 9 last year completely destroyed their two-story wooden house in Kasai, Hyogo prefecture, but no one was injured.

"The Gundam figures are like the partners I spend my life with," he reportedly said after pleading guilty at western Kobe's District Court. "I wanted to die with them in a fire if they were to be thrown out."

The Mobile Suit Gundam series, based on an animation TV series which started in the late 1970s, is about space wars fought by gigantic robots.

[MIKA27]

Motorcyclist Michael Wiles fined after nabbed carrying a barbecue on freeway

A MOTORCYCLIST who was photographed on a freeway with a barbecue strapped to his body has hit a snag.

A magistrate has described Michael Wiles' behaviour as ridiculous and fined him $800 for careless riding.

Mr Wiles, 29, has pleaded guilty to the charge.

The court heard the rider was heading home on the Eastern Freeway in January 2008, when he was spotted carrying a barbecue that had been put out for hard waste collection.

He was effectively “wearing” the barbecue in order to carry it home, and his vision was partly obscured by a steel grate.

Police investigated the bizarre incident after the Herald Sun published a photo of Mr Wiles was taken by a passing motorist.

Mr Wiles' barrister Paul McClure told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that his client's excuse was “lack of thought processes'' and poverty.

“He was financially a bit under the pump.

“It turned out the barbecue was a dud and did not work and that's probably why it was at the side of the road,'' he said.

“This is stupid behaviour and nobody should do it.''

Mr McClure said that Mr Wiles suffered ridicule from friends and work mates when his identity was revealed in a follow-up article and he was approached by Barbeques Galore to do an ad.

But he refused to glorify his behaviour and instead used the media to promote a road safety message.

Magistrate Lionel Winton-Smith said he couldn't recall seeing anything like it in his years on the bench.

“I'm trying to think of a word to describe it,'' he said.

“Ridiculous?'' said Mr McClure.

“Ridiculous, that will do,'' said the magistrate.

Mr Winton-Smith said it could have been much worse and Mr Wiles was lucky not to be facing a culpable driving charge if someone had been killed by his action.

However, the magistrate said it was presumably a spur of the moment decision and he downgraded the charge from dangerous to careless driving.

Mr Wiles also lost his licence for a month.

[MIKA27]

Chilean miners get a minute each to talk to loved ones

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

"To hear his voice was a balm to my heart," said Jessica Chille after speaking to her husband, Dario Segovia.

Limited to a minute per miner, wives, mothers and fathers lined up yesterday for their first person-to-person conversations since an August 5 cave-in blocked the miners' exit from the San Jose mine.

"I didn't break down until I told him, 'Ciao, my little boy, we will see each other'," said Alicia Campos, after speaking to son Daniel Herrero. "His voice is the same. He's not good but not so bad either."

The conversations were morale boosters for the miners, who must wait three to four months to be rescued.

Until now, they've only been able to communicate with written messages and video images relayed through narrow probe holes.

Engineers finished assembling a powerful Australian-designed drill to bore through more than 700m of rock and earth to the miners.

A delay in the arrival of a missing part set back the schedule by several hours but "drilling will begin [today]," Mining Minister Laurence Goldborne said yesterday.

The 30-tonne machine will first bore a hole 35cm in diameter, and enlarge it with a reamer to 66cm.

Under optimal conditions, the Strata 950 drill is capable of advancing 20m a day.

The miners will have to aid their own escape by clearing the tons of rock that will fall as the rescue hole is drilled.

Thousands of tons of crushed rock will fall into the mine shaft area near the trapped men.

Failure to keep the bottom clear of debris could quickly plug the hole, delaying a rescue that officials said could extend to Christmas.

Images of the miners aired on local television. Some have developed fungal infections and body sores from the hot, dank conditions.

But they are preparing to move to a cooler, drier area 300m deeper into the mine.

[MIKA27]

Stupid mistake by couple who break into house, strip naked and film themselves having sex

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

A COUPLE broke into a house, stripped naked before filming themselves having sex.

But when they heard someone, the couple fled in a panic, leaving the camera showing them having sex.

The criminal pair had sex on camera at a rural home in Washington state, when someone arrived to collect the mail while the homeowner was away, according to broadcaster KXRO-AM.

The naked couple fled, but left behind their camera with the incriminating footage.

Grays Harbor County sheriff's Chief Deputy Dave Pimentel said that deputies who checked the video recognised the couple from previous contacts.

The woman was arrested for investigation of burglary, while an arrest warrant has been issued for her accomplice.

[MIKA27]

Ghost train ghost hunter killed by train

Source: thedailytelegraph.com.au

A MAN who was with a dozen people looking for a legendary "ghost train" was hit by a locomotive and killed yesterday.

The group gathered on the 119th anniversary of the Bostian Bridge train wreck in North carolina , an accident that has sparked well-known ghost stories, according to the local news channel.

But they did not hear the eastbound Norfolk Southern train barreling toward them until it rounded a nearby bend.

Christopher Kaiser, 29, was struck by the train and killed at about 3:00 am, Iredell County Sherriff Phil Redmond told WCNC.

Several incident reports alleged that Kaiser pushed a woman out of the train’s path before he was hit. She was seriously injured and airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center.

The ghost hunters were apparently caught on a trestle near the site of the old Bostian Bridge, and all but Kaiser were able to run to safety.

Deputies reportedly found his body under the trestle at the bottom of a steep ravine.

"They say on the anniversary that it replays in front of you or you hear the accident or you hear the train wrecking," a witness told WCNC.

Other versions of the story include ghost sightings of a railroad worker, one of the 22 killed in the 1891 wreck.

MIKA: You can add this guy to the list of ghosts.....

[MIKA27]

MEANWHILE IN AUSTRALIA:

Croc as big as a truck:

A MONSTER 6.5m crocodile had to be killed by locals in a remote Northern Territory Aborigine community because it was killing their cattle.

Jeida Francis, 23, said the croc was caught in Manangoora, an outstation 56km east of Borroloola.

"It was massive. There were three huge ones out there. One of them is still out there at the moment.

"It took two LandCruisers to pull it out. They have one croc that is still out there. He should be getting to this size by now."

[Fuzz AI]

MEANWHILE IN AUSTRALIA:

That's a lot of boots and belts!

[CanuckSARTech]

Holy crap, Batman! That's crazy huge! And here's to the tenacity of little girls - she's just right up to it, like "Ooooh, nasty ugly!"

That is one big, fat, mean son-o'-a-***** - I would be terrified to face that thing down without my shotgun or fully loaded Sig in my hand. And even with, I'd still be crapping myself silly.

Man. I'm just in awe. Thanks Mika - cool post.

[MIKA27]

World's shortest man is just 70cm tall

A COLOMBIAN measuring just over two feet tall has been officially recognised as the world's shortest living man by the Guinness World Records.

Edward Nino Hernandez, measuring 70cm (27in), is slightly taller than a piece of carry-on luggage and weighs 10kg (22lbs).

"He hasn't grown since he was two years old," his mother Noemi Hernandez told Sky News.

The previous titleholder was China's He Pingping, who was 4cm (1.5in) taller than the Colombian and died on March 13.

"I feel happy because I'm unique," Nino, 24, said in a recent interview but added that "it bothers me that people are (always) touching me and picking me up.”

According to his mother, doctors could not explain why her son is so small. "They never gave us a diagnosis," she said.

Nino comes from Bosa, a mostly poor district of southern Bogota, and loves to dance, dreams of owning a car and wants to see the world.

The record holder also said he has an 18-year-old girlfriend named Fanny, who measures less than 5ft tall.

Nino does suffer from some health problems including cataracts in both of his eyes that blur his vision and require surgery.

His mother said: "He doesn't see well. He isn't able to read."

Nino also had to repeat several years of school before dropping out.

The world's shortest man has earned some cash dancing at department stores and is now acting in a film in which he plays a pint-sized drug thug.

[Fuzz AI]

Asteroids to whiz past Earth today - NASA

NASA says two small asteroids discovered just days ago will zip harmlessly past Earth on today, a double flyby that should be visible through a telescope.

The asteroids were discovered on Sunday by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona.

The Minor Planet Centre in Massachusetts, which tracks asteroids and comets, determined there was no chance of an Earth collision.

Asteroid 2010 RX30, thought to be 10 to 20 metres long, will pass within 248,000km of Earth shortly before 8pm (AEST) today.

The second one, dubbed 2010 RF12, will fly by about 11 hours later at a distance of about 79,000km.

NASA says the second one is 6-14 metres long.