Thief caught in trap like a rat

Headline: Homeowner locks thief in shed
Origin of Clip: news.com.au 19.4.9
Caption: Thief caught in trap like a rat

A QUICK-THINKING homeowner caught a would-be thief by locking him in the garden shed.
The homeowner, from Alberton in Adelaide's western suburbs, went to investigate noises in his backyard just before midnight (CST) when he discovered a man inside his shed.

"The quick-thinking resident shut the shed door, locking the man inside and then called for help," a police spokeswoman said on Sunday.

"Neighbours responded and together they were able to detain the would-be thief until police arrived."

Police arrested and charged a 45-year-old male from Bedford Park with breaking into the shed and theft.

Headline: Children told 'cannabis is safer than alcohol'
Origin of Clip: Telegraph.co.uk 18.4.9
Caption: UK GOVERNMENT HELPLINE TELLS KIDS CANABIS, ECSTASY SAFE TO USE

Children calling the Government's drugs helpline are being told that cannabis is safer than alcohol and that ecstasy will not damage their health, an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has found.

Advisers manning the “Frank” helpline are informing callers they believed to be children as young as 13 that alcohol is a “much more powerful drug than cannabis” and that using the illegal drug recreationally is not harmful because it “doesn’t get you that high”.

Callers are also being told that taking ecstasy will not lead to long-term damage and that if they are in doubt, to “just take half a pill and if you are handling that OK, you can take the other half.”

They are even being told that they would be able to smoke a cannabis joint, on top of ecstasy, with no ill-effects.

Headline: Couple Married 67 Years Die Hours Apart
Origin of Clip: FOXNews.com 18.4.9
Caption: Sad, but somewhat comforting

TROY, Kan. — Residents of a northeast Kansas town are mourning the deaths just hours apart of an elderly couple who were married 67 years. Arnita Yingling died in her sleep early Saturday at the family's home in Troy. She was 93. Six hours later her 95-year-old husband, Lyle, died at a nursing home in the nearby town of Wathena.

Headline: Miss. Woman Gets Shot In Head, But Makes Tea
Origin of Clip: CBSnews.com 17.4.9
Caption: Always Time For a Cuppa

A Mississippi woman not only survived being shot in the head but made herself some tea afterward. Officials said the 47-year-old woman was still hospitalized on Friday after being wounded by her husband. He fatally shot himself. But the woman was expected to recover fully.

The sheriff of Jackson County, Miss., Mike Byrd, said the woman's husband shot her early Tuesday in a home. A witness called sheriff's deputies, who arrived to find the woman talking and coherent.

The sheriff said she made herself some tea and offered a deputy something to drink before being rushed to the hospital..

Headline: School: Ohio Teacher Took Students To Strip Club
Origin of Clip: CBSnews.com 17.4.9
Caption: Class Trip to Strip Club

A school spokesman said a southwest Ohio teacher has resigned after acknowledging she accompanied four female students to a male strip club. Butler Tech school district spokesman Bill Solazzo said the 47-year-old teacher resigned Thursday.

He said the teacher told Edgewood High School administrators that the students, all cheerleaders, asked her to take them to the bar in February.

The teacher told school officials in an e-mail that she got permission from the parents of the 17- and 18-year-olds to bring them to the club.

Headline: Colo. Woman, 20, Accused Of Taping Dog To Fridge
Origin of Clip: CBSnews.com 17.4.9
Caption: Taping Dog Caper

Police say a Colorado woman wrapped her boyfriend's dog in packing tape and stuck the animal upside down to a refrigerator because he wouldn't get rid of it.

Abby Toll was arrested Tuesday after police say she got into a fight with her boyfriend. She was charged with felony cruelty, drug possession and other counts and is free on $12,500 bond. She has declined to comment.

Toll's 21-year-old boyfriend, Bryan Beck, faces lesser charges including a misdemeanor cruelty count.

Police say Toll, 20, used packing tape to bind the legs, snout and tail of Beck's dog..

Headline: War veteran, 87, survives two days in ravine after 250ft fall
Origin of Clip: Telegraph.co.uk 17.4.9
Caption: Amazing Survival

A Second World War veteran used his Army experience to survive after he fell down an embankment and was trapped in a ravine for two days without food and water. Daniel Currie, 87, who suffered a broken elbow and shoulder in the fall, curled up into a ball and covered himself with leaves when night fell and temperatures dropped to 3C (37F).

The great-grandfather was taking one of his regular walks through woodland when he lost his footing on a narrow path and fell 250ft down the steep slope.

Headline: Eccentric Man Found Guilty Of Ketchup Bottle Theft
Origin of Clip: FOXNews.com 17.4.9
Caption: The Ketchup Caper

An Orange County jury has convicted an eccentric former school board trustee known for espousing conspiracy theories of stealing a bottle of ketchup from a college dining area. The jury found Steve Rocco guilty of misdemeanor petty theft on Thursday after less than a day of deliberation.

Prosecutors accused Rocco of stealing a 14-ounce bottle of ketchup from a Chapman University dining area last year.

Headline: Mass. Driving Instructor Allegedly Drunk During Lesson
Origin of Clip: FOXNews.com 16.4.9
Caption: An ironic lesson in drinking while driving

NEWBURYPORT, Massachusetts — A driving instructor who police say was drunk while giving someone a driving lesson can stay out of jail but will lose his license for a year.

Daniel Winsky, 53, of Salem was convicted Thursday of operating under the influence while giving a lesson from the passenger seat of a car. He was sentenced to 18 months probation but won't be a licensed driver for one year.

Winsky was not behind the wheel during the December 2007 lesson, but prosecutors say he was in control of the passenger side brakes in the specially-fitted car and also moved the wheel during the lesson.

Headline: Maid 'poisoned' food with menstrual blood
Origin of Clip: news.com.au 16.4.9
Caption: This will make you puke

AN Indonesian maid has appeared in a Hong Kong court accused of adding menstrual blood to her employer's food in an effort to improve their stormy relationship.
Indra Ningsih, aged 26, mixed the blood in a pot of vegetables in the belief that the recipe would help ease her difficult work environment, The Standard newspaper reported.
In some southeast Asian cultures, menstrual blood is thought to have special powers, the paper added.
The maid has been charged with one count of "administering poison or other destructive or noxious substances with intent to injure'' and has not yet entered a plea.
The report cited a prosecution statement that said Ms Ningsih's ingredient had been discovered after her female employer, surnamed Mok, peered through the kitchen door and saw the helper acting suspiciously.
She entered the kitchen and found the accused throwing something into the rubbish bin.
When she checked the pot, she found a suspicious substance mixed with the vegetables and water, the English-language daily said.
Ms Mok later discovered a used sanitary napkin in the bin and called the police.

Headline: Mom Drops $15G on Surgery to Look Like Daughter
Origin of Clip: FOXnews.com 16.4.9
Caption: Mom Becomes Sexy Daughter

At first glance it is hard to tell British mother and daughter Janet and Jane Cunliffe apart. But it is not due to genetics. Mom Janet, 50, has spent almost $15,000 on plastic surgery in an attempt to look identical to her 28-year-old daughter, The Daily Mail reported.

"Seeing how attractive Jane is made me want to get my looks back," Janet told the Mail. "Now instead of mum and daughter we look more like twins. I had good genes and good skin, but I needed a helping hand to make me feel better about myself."

Last September she flew to Croatia to have plastic surgery on her nose and eyes. She also got breast implants and had her lips plumped.

After she added blonde hair extensions she said men would mistake her and Jane for sisters.

Headline: Teen Stabbed to Death by Woman in Wheelchair
Origin of Clip: FOXnews.com 16.4.9
Caption: How?

Los Angeles police say a 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death by a woman in a wheelchair possibly twice her age after the pair got into a fight over a man.

Officer Karen Rayner says officers recieved several reports of the incident Wednesday afternoon on a street in South Los Angeles.

Rayner says "it sounds like it was a donnybrook of a lot of people fighting."

The victim was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead

Headline: Man Allegedly Stabs Brother Over Pork And Beans
Origin of Clip: CBSnews.com 16.4.9
Caption: NO BEANS ABOUT IT

A sheriff's deputy said a 54-year-old man stabbed his 63-year-old brother during an argument in their kitchen over a can of pork and beans. Sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Chadwick said the suspect was booked Tuesday on one count of aggravated battery.

Chadwick said the brother was treated at a medical center for stab wounds in his left arm and shoulder blade.

Moped Thief

Headline:Moped thief busted at petrol station
Origin of Clip: news.com.au 31.3.9
Caption: Moped Thief

A MAN who stole a moped and rode it more than 340km on Sunday was only caught after he refused to pay $4.49 for petrol.

Police allege a 29-year-old man stole the moped from Townsville, North Queensland before setting off on his 348km trip, which was also subject to several calls from motorists complaining to police about a slow motorbike on the Bruce Highway.

Innisfail police Inspector David Tucker said the moped's would have struggled over the Cardwell Range.

"It would have been a slow journey up that hill," he said. "Motorists were complaining about a slow motorbike beforehand and shortly after that this call came in from the petrol station."

Headline: Burglars break into house, steal bear
Origin of Clip: news.com.au 31.3.9
Caption: Thieves nabbed stuffed bear of the real kind

POLICE are hunting a full-sized, stuffed brown bear stolen at the weekend.
Somebody smashed a window and forced open a door to steal the $5000, 1.5m tall stuffed bear from from the home in nothern Adelaide suburb of Wingfield.

The theft is believed to have occured between 8pm on Friday and 5pm Saturday.

Headline: Pimp Paid Teen Prostitute With Chicken Nuggets
Origin of Clip: FOXNews.com 30.3.9
Caption: Nothing Like Cheap Pimp

A 27-year-old Australian man who pimped a 16-year-old girl so he and his girlfriend could afford their apartment, would pay the schoolgirl with chicken nuggets, the Australian Associated Press reported.

Ronald Vikash Gander used the $4,500 the teen made for having sex with five middle-aged men in June of last year to pay the weekly $1,050 rent on his Brisbane apartment, the Brisbane District Court was told.

Gander and his 16-year-old girlfriend would pay the teen with an occasional box of chicken nuggets, the AAP reported.

"The girl was used as if she was a piece of meat ... and your conduct can properly be described as that of a sleaze merchant," Judge Marshall Irwin told Gander.

Headline: Cops Stop Neighbors Trying to Save Family From Fire
Origin of Clip: FOXNews.com 30.3.9
Caption: Sad Most Cops Would Risk Their Lives to Save Someone

A pregnant British woman, her husband and their 3-year-old son were killed in a house fire early Sunday as police who arrived before the fire brigade prevented neighbors from trying to save them.

“Please save my kids," the woman screamed from a bedroom window and neighbors tried to help but were beaten back by flames and were told by police not to attempt a rescue.

By the time firefighters got into the house in Doncaster, Michelle Colly, 25, her husband, Mark, 29, and son, Louis, 3, were dead. Their daughter, Sophie, 5, was taken to hospital and believed to be critically ill.

Headline: Mad cow expert may have died from disease
Origin of Clip: CNN.com 29.3.9
Caption: How Ironic

A Spanish pathologist who specialized in a human strain of mad cow disease died Saturday, and officials suspect the disease played a role in his death, officials said.

The doctor was head of the anatomy pathology section at the University Hospital Principe de Asturias in Alcala de Henares, outside of Madrid, according to the Madrid regional government's health office. He died Saturday night, at the hospital where he worked, officials said. The doctor's name was not released at the request of his family.

Headline: Driver Begs Cops To Shoot Him After 130 Mph Chase
Origin of Clip: CBSnews.com 28.3.9
Caption: Just Shoot Me

A police chase that exceeded speeds of more than 130 mph ended when the driver crashed and begged officers to shoot him. Police used a stun gun Friday morning on the man, who faces charges of driving under the influence, fleeing and eluding, aggravated assault by motor vehicle and resisting arrest.

Police say an officer tried to stop the man on Ga. 400 for speeding about 1:45 a.m., but he sped away in his Mercedes C230. He left Ga. 400, went westbound in the eastbound lanes of Old Milton Parkway, forcing oncoming drivers off the highway. He sideswiped a police car, lost control and slammed into a tree.

I'm forever chewing bubble gum

Headline: Conn. Man Chewing On Charges Of Stealing Gum
Clip from: CBSnews.com
Date of clip: 6.3.9
Caption: I'm forever chewing bubble gum

Police in Connecticut have arrested a man with a several-pack-a-day habit _ of Orbit gum.

Twenty-one-year-old Kenneth McManus of Stratford has been charged with stealing hundreds of packs of the chewing gum.

Fairfield police say McManus turned himself in Thursday. He is accused of stealing 175 packs of gum worth more than $500 from a Shaw's supermarket in Fairfield in January.

Police say he also faces larceny charges of stealing $200 worth of gum from the Shaw's in Stratford and $75 worth of gum from a CVS store in Bridgeport.

Headline: Cops Find Bags Of Heroin In Pregnant Woman's Pants
Clip from: CBSnews.com
Date of clip: 5.3.9
Caption: A bun in the What?

Police arrested a 31-year-old pregnant woman who had 73 bags of heroin stashed in the waistband of her pants. Police said the woman was a passenger in a car stopped by officers on Wednesday because they believed it had illegal window tint.

Headline: Nurse buys sex aid for teenager
Clip from: news.com.au
Date of clip: 5.3.9
Caption: a strange position to be in

A COMMUNITY nurse bought an artificial vagina for a sexually frustrated disabled teenager.

Stephanie Courts made the revelation at a Royal College of Nursing conference in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

She obtained the vibrating sex aid after the 15-year-old patient, who was severely disabled, became distressed at not being able to satisfy his sexual urges.

Ms Courts said the case highlighted a serious issue, the lack of national guidelines for dealing with the sexual needs of physically disabled adolescents.

Her team in Worcestershire eventually drew up its own sexual health policy for the local Primary Care Trust.

The nurses addressed the problem after consulting the 15-year-old boy’s parents.

Ms Courts said the team dealt “professionally with a potentially embarrassing and legally difficult situation”, Nursing Standard magazine reported.

But national guidelines were still needed for nurses finding themselves in similar situations.

Headline: Excommunications After Raped 9-Year-Old's Abortion
Clip from: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 5.3.9
Caption: Religious Irony

RIO DE JANEIRO — A Roman Catholic archbishop says the abortion of twins carried by a 9-year-old girl who allegedly was raped by her stepfather means excommunication for the girl's mother and her doctors.

Despite the nature of the case, the church had to hold its line against abortion, Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho said in an interview aired Thursday by Globo television.

"The law of God is higher than any human laws," he said. "When a human law — that is, a law enacted by human legislators — is against the law of God, that law has no value. The adults who approved, who carried out this abortion have incurred excommunication."

Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao rebuked the archbishop, saying, "I'm shocked by two facts: by what happened to the girl and by the position of the archbishop, who in saying he defends life puts another at risk."

Abortion is generally illegal in Brazil, which is home to more Catholics than any other nation. But the procedure is allowed when the mother's life is in danger, when the fetus has no chance of survival or in rape cases where the woman has not passed her 20th week of pregnancy.

Headline: Woman Bites Off Boyfriend's Tongue During Kiss
Clip from: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 5.3.9
Caption: No Baby, No Tongue

British woman deliberately bit off her boyfriend's tongue during a kiss after complaining she wanted a baby and wasn't getting pregnant, the BBC reported.

Tracey Davis, 40, and her boyfriend were celebrating his 45th birthday when she got upset and he tried to comfort her.
While Mark Coghill was moving closer to her, she asked him to kiss her.

"He did so and within a few seconds, she bit down hard on his tongue." prosecutor Julian Smith said, according to the BBC . Obviously this caused him pain, he pulled back, and the tongue had come clean off in her mouth. She had the piece of tongue in her mouth, he saw her take it from her mouth, and it fell to the floor."

Coghill says the incident has left him struggling to speak, unable to distinguish between foods and no longer able to work.

Headline: Atlanta Woman Finds 'Mammal Bone' in Blue M&M
Clip from: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 5.3.9
Caption: No bones about it

An Atlanta woman has a bone to pick with the candy company Mars after she took a bite into her peanut M&M and says she discovered what a local biologist says is a vertebra from a small mammal.

J. Paulette Potts, who works for an advertising and public relations firm in downtown Atlanta, told FOXNews.com that last Friday she discovered the object encased inside a blue peanut M&M.

When her "teeth wouldn't go through it," Potts said she washed the chocolate off of the approximately inch-long object in the office sink and saw it certainly wasn't a peanut, an act FOXNews.com confirmed with several of her colleagues.

Headline: Psychopaths threatening businesses
Clip from: news.com.au
Date of clip: 4.3.9
Caption: Corporate psychopaths are out there

AUSTRALIAN businesses under pressure have been warned to be on the lookout for corporate psychopaths within their ranks........
"Businesses should be vigilant at any time but particularly now when companies are so vulnerable," ........ Mr Blaik, of Brisbane-based human resources firm Onetest, said psychopaths were believed to have contributed to some high-profile company collapses in recent years.

Psychopaths' main failings were that they did not show honesty, modesty and trustworthiness; did not experience emotions such as love, empathy and guilt; exhibited impulsive behaviour; and led anti-social lifestyles.........psychopaths were believed to make up 1 per cent of the general population but about 3 per cent of the corporate world. They actually exhibit characteristics highly valued by the business world because their lack of empathy and conscience can be seen as an ability to make tough decisions, and they don't seem to experience stress."

Gross

Headline: Police Use Tobacco Spit To Nab Burglary Suspect
From: CBSnews.com
Date of clip: 25.12.8
Caption: Gross

A trail of tobacco spit has led investigators to a suspect in at least five burglaries across eastern Oklahoma, police said.
Randy Lee Shoopman Jr., 33, was charged with 11 counts of second-degree burglary after a sample of his DNA matched that taken from expectorant left behind at the scene of several burglaries in Oklahoma, said officer Brad Robertson, a spokesman for the Tahlequah police department.
Shoopman was taken into custody Friday in Merced, Calif., on an unrelated stolen property charge, Robertson said.
Investigators also said Shoopman may be involved in break-ins at businesses across eastern Oklahoma and in Missouri.

Headline: Christmas rings in with massive pub brawl
From: news.com.au
Date of clip: 25.12.8
Caption: So much for Merry Christmas

CHRISTMAS has kicked off with a massive brawl outside a hotel in Sydney.

Police say at least 60 drunken people were involved in the fight at the Greystanes Inn at Greystanes in Sydney's west at about 11.30pm (AEST) yesterday.

Twelve police cars were on the scene at Merrylands Road, along with Polair and the police dog squad.

It is believed no one was injured during the brawl and staff voluntarily shut the pub.

Inquiries are continuing into how the fight started but police said no arrests were made.

Headline: Man Arrested at Airport With Gift-Wrapped Mummies
From: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 24.12.8
Caption: Hi Mummy

An Australian teacher who allegedly stuffed his luggage with 2,000-year old animal mummies and religious figurines wrapped as gifts was arrested Wednesday and charged with smuggling antiquities, an Egyptian airport security official said.

The 61-year teacher was heading to Thailand when a security official became suspicious of the wrapped figurines that were placed amid souvenir ceramic pots in his suitcase.
When security officials opened the case, they found two mummies of a cat and an ibis, a long-beaked bird, both dating back to 300 B.C. The confiscated collection also included 19 figurines of the revered ancient Egyptian gods of Horus and Thoth, wrapped as gifts.

Headline: Woman Survives 3 Days Buried in Snow Drift
From: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 24.12.8
Caption: Miracle

Donna Molnar, 55, set off from home in Ancaster, Ontario, on Friday but her car got stuck in a field of snow drifts.
The vehicle was found a day later, abandoned by the side of a road, Sky News reported.
By this time, fears for her survival were mounting and it was not until Monday, when police officer Ray Lau was trudging through almost knee-high snow, that his dog Ace picked up the woman's scent.
Officer Lau was stunned to find Molnar still breathing. Molnar was wearing a simple winter jacket and she had been buried in snow just a few hundred yards from where her car had been found.

Headline: Cat 'fell 34 storeys and survived'
From: CBSnews.com
Date of clip: 24.12.8
Caption: This cat landed on his paws

A CAT fell 34 floors from a Gold Coast penthouse and survived to see out the rest of his eight lives, its owner says.
Voodoo the seven-year-old manx has always had an affinity for heights and enjoys living life on the edge.
His owner Sheree Washington said he often teetered on the edge of the balcony, much to her horror, The Gold Coast Bulletin reports.
She and her husband Wayne first noticed Voodoo was missing about 9pm on Monday, after the couple had finished dinner.
"We searched high and low several times and he was nowhere to be found," said Mr Washington.
Yesterday morning, she made the journey downstairs, expecting to find her beloved cat's body at the base of the high rise.
Instead, she found Voodoo with nothing more than a few scratches.