Reuters
Thu Jun 24, 2010 ROUEN France (Reuters) - A French convict who killed his cellmate and ate his lung was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday.
Nicolas Cocaign and Thierry Baudry had a fight when Cocaign asked Baudry to wash his hands after he had used the toilet during the night of January 2, 2007. Cocaign strangled Baudry and cut open his chest with a razor blade.
Thinking it was the heart, Cocaign then ripped out a piece of Baudry's lung and ate part of it raw before cooking the rest.
"What I did, I liked doing," said Cocaign, 37, who has a shaved head and whose face is covered in tattoos.
He will have to serve at least 20 years of his sentence.
Aware of his impulses, Cocaign had requested psychiatric help in 1998 and asked to be placed in isolation in 2006.
"It's exceptional to see a psychologically disturbed person say: I have to be treated," said defense lawyer Fabien Picchiottino, noting the "failure of the psychiatric, penitentiary and social system."
(Reporting by Marc Parrad; Writing by Sophie Taylor)
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Trapped drunk driver opens another beer as awaits rescue...
Reuters
AUCKLAND Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:01pm AUCKLAND (Reuters) - A drunk driver trapped after overturning his car cracked open another can of beer while he waited for emergency crews to rescue him, a New Zealand court was told.
Paul Nigel Sneddon, 47, pleaded guilty to careless driving and drunken driving after being nearly three times over the legal alcohol limit in a district court in the city of Palmerston North, the Dominion Post newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Police found Sneddon, a former baker, trapped in his overturned Ford Laser on June 1, drinking a can of beer after he failed to take a corner properly and crashed through a wooden barrier, flipping his vehicle.
Defense lawyer Peter Young said that when Sneddon found he could not open the doors, "he had nothing else to do at that point, so he had another beer."
When asked by police how much he had consumed, Sneddon replied: "Plenty, I've been drinking for four days straight."
Sneddon, who is estranged from his wife, told the Wellington- based newspaper that he went on a drinking binge after losing his job at a bakery on the same day that he heard his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Judge Gregory Ross fined him NZ$1,100 (US$780) and disqualified him from driving for 10 months. It was his first offence.
(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Gyles Beckford)
AUCKLAND Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:01pm AUCKLAND (Reuters) - A drunk driver trapped after overturning his car cracked open another can of beer while he waited for emergency crews to rescue him, a New Zealand court was told.
Paul Nigel Sneddon, 47, pleaded guilty to careless driving and drunken driving after being nearly three times over the legal alcohol limit in a district court in the city of Palmerston North, the Dominion Post newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Police found Sneddon, a former baker, trapped in his overturned Ford Laser on June 1, drinking a can of beer after he failed to take a corner properly and crashed through a wooden barrier, flipping his vehicle.
Defense lawyer Peter Young said that when Sneddon found he could not open the doors, "he had nothing else to do at that point, so he had another beer."
When asked by police how much he had consumed, Sneddon replied: "Plenty, I've been drinking for four days straight."
Sneddon, who is estranged from his wife, told the Wellington- based newspaper that he went on a drinking binge after losing his job at a bakery on the same day that he heard his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Judge Gregory Ross fined him NZ$1,100 (US$780) and disqualified him from driving for 10 months. It was his first offence.
(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Gyles Beckford)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Kissing politician wins underwear from fans | Reuters
LIMA Tue Jun 22, 2010. Joran Van der Sloot confesses to killing Peru woman Zevallos, a candidate for mayor in the province of Maynas, has made a tradition of giving fans, watches or soccer balls at his rallies in exchange for women's kisses. By Terry Wade
In the past few days, some supporters have taken off their underpants and tossed them to him during rallies for his progressive party, 1000 Movimiento Integracion Loretana.
Zevallos has downplayed any resemblance to Tom Jones, the Welsh crooner who for years was showered with women's panties while performing at pop music concerts.
Commentators in Peru's capital of Lima, 990 miles from Maynas, said the underwear throwing was proof that politics in the Andean country had reached a new low.
"It was spontaneous, I didn't ask for them, but then I saw a pair of yellow ones, and then another woman threw another pair at me," Zevallos said.
He said he cannot be blamed for having zealous supporters.
"I don't know if this will stop, it's really crazy here right now. The people love me," Zevallos said.
(Additional reporting by Enrique Mandujano; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
In the past few days, some supporters have taken off their underpants and tossed them to him during rallies for his progressive party, 1000 Movimiento Integracion Loretana.
Zevallos has downplayed any resemblance to Tom Jones, the Welsh crooner who for years was showered with women's panties while performing at pop music concerts.
Commentators in Peru's capital of Lima, 990 miles from Maynas, said the underwear throwing was proof that politics in the Andean country had reached a new low.
"It was spontaneous, I didn't ask for them, but then I saw a pair of yellow ones, and then another woman threw another pair at me," Zevallos said.
He said he cannot be blamed for having zealous supporters.
"I don't know if this will stop, it's really crazy here right now. The people love me," Zevallos said.
(Additional reporting by Enrique Mandujano; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Woman striving to be world's heaviest ...
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Girls of 12 working in 'young red light area', say police in New Zealand
NZ Herald News By Josh Gale
Girls as young as 12 are selling themselves for sex in downtown Auckland. Life South Police are worried by a spike in underage prostitution in Auckland's CBD, with girls as young as 12 selling themselves for sex.
Senior Constable Mark Riddell of the Auckland central police Youth Action Team said in the last six weeks, a police operation code-named City Door had identified at least 13 girls aged under 16 who were "active prostitutes".
Many of them work from City Road, which runs between Queen Street and Symonds Street. Senior Constable Riddell calls the street a "young red light area".
In the last two weeks, Senior Constable Riddell and his team have taken five underage girls off the streets and put them in to the custody of Child, Youth and Family. But Riddell said many of these girls escape CYF and go straight back on the street.
"Kids will run away on the same night we pick them up," he said. "On some occasions, they've got back to the city before we've got back out on the road."
One of the girls, who started working as a prostitute when she was 12 and had never been to high school, said she had been picked up by a car full of men and raped only days earlier.
Police placed the girl in the care of CYF, but Senior Constable Riddell said she ran away soon after.
He said CYF has only about 100 beds in secure custody across New Zealand. These are prioritised for those at risk of suicide, so the girls he dealt with often missed out.
Debbie Baker, the manager of Streetreach, a group supporting street sex workers, said she knew of at least 12 girls between 11 and 15 "out there selling themselves for sex" in the central city.
"Young meat earns a lot of money," said Ms Baker. "Underage prostitution has always been a problem, but there is an increase. We're seeing more and more young girls out there."
Ms Baker said she knew of a 12-year-old West Auckland girl who was recruited by a gang outside her school to sell cannabis.
After spending the drug money, the girl was forced into prostitution to pay her debt to the gang and she shared the extra earnings from her work with her family.
"Her parents knew exactly what she was doing."
Ms Baker said she believed the police were under-resourced and CYF was unable to deal with the problem.
Girls as young as 12 are selling themselves for sex in downtown Auckland. Life South Police are worried by a spike in underage prostitution in Auckland's CBD, with girls as young as 12 selling themselves for sex.
Senior Constable Mark Riddell of the Auckland central police Youth Action Team said in the last six weeks, a police operation code-named City Door had identified at least 13 girls aged under 16 who were "active prostitutes".
Many of them work from City Road, which runs between Queen Street and Symonds Street. Senior Constable Riddell calls the street a "young red light area".
In the last two weeks, Senior Constable Riddell and his team have taken five underage girls off the streets and put them in to the custody of Child, Youth and Family. But Riddell said many of these girls escape CYF and go straight back on the street.
"Kids will run away on the same night we pick them up," he said. "On some occasions, they've got back to the city before we've got back out on the road."
One of the girls, who started working as a prostitute when she was 12 and had never been to high school, said she had been picked up by a car full of men and raped only days earlier.
Police placed the girl in the care of CYF, but Senior Constable Riddell said she ran away soon after.
He said CYF has only about 100 beds in secure custody across New Zealand. These are prioritised for those at risk of suicide, so the girls he dealt with often missed out.
Debbie Baker, the manager of Streetreach, a group supporting street sex workers, said she knew of at least 12 girls between 11 and 15 "out there selling themselves for sex" in the central city.
"Young meat earns a lot of money," said Ms Baker. "Underage prostitution has always been a problem, but there is an increase. We're seeing more and more young girls out there."
Ms Baker said she knew of a 12-year-old West Auckland girl who was recruited by a gang outside her school to sell cannabis.
After spending the drug money, the girl was forced into prostitution to pay her debt to the gang and she shared the extra earnings from her work with her family.
"Her parents knew exactly what she was doing."
Ms Baker said she believed the police were under-resourced and CYF was unable to deal with the problem.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Bahraini sex shop thrives in conservative Gulf...
Reuters
Tue Jun 8, 2010 MANAMA (Reuters) - Where does one buy lingerie, sex toys and ointments designed to enhance female sexual pleasure in a Gulf region which frowns on open displays of sexuality?
From a lady in a traditional headscarf of course.
Khadija Ahmed's sex shop has survived against all odds and some particularly intense scrutiny from customs officials since it opened in Bahrain in 2008.
Ahmed's shop, a rare sight in the region, sells a wide range of lingerie, creams to delay male orgasm and sex toys out of the tiny Khadija Fashion House south of Manama, or through her website (www.khadijamall.com) to customers across the region.
A modestly dressed Ahmed in a traditional flowing black abaya and headscarf told Reuters that most of the items she sells are already available in Bahrain's fashion shops and pharmacies anyway and that she shuns some products to avoid stirring public anger.
"I don't sell vibrators for example, as this is against Islam," she said, adding that her faith banned the replication or display of sensitive parts of the body. However, other toys such as vibration rings were fine, she said.
Ahmed said she has not encountered much trouble with the public in Bahrain once she replaced lingerie in her display window with short dresses after complaints from neighbors and a nearby mosque.
Discussing and displaying sex in public is a taboo in most Middle Eastern countries, but Islamic scholars have also said that sex toys are legitimate if used by married couples.
Bahrain is considered one of the more liberal countries in the Gulf, allowing the sale of alcohol in bars and designated shops. Saudis, Qataris and Kuwaitis flock to the island kingdom each weekend to enjoy its nightlife.
Ahmed's most recent challenge is an ongoing legal case over a complaint by a customs official. She often has trouble getting her shipments cleared through customs and once ran into a spot of trouble when an official refused to clear a shipment of massage tools and vibration rings.
"These are closed-minded people....or maybe they're just jealous," she said.
Ahmed, who says she is not aware of any similar shop in the region, says she has many customers from the United Arab Emirates and in deeply conservative Saudi Arabia.
"Sometimes I personally go there with my brother to deliver, but only orders above 150 Bahraini dinars ($398)," she said.
She is now considering opening branches in Dubai, Lebanon and in one of Bahrain's shopping malls, as her store has grown too small to display all of her products on shelves.
(Reporting by Frederik Richter; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Paul Casciato)
Tue Jun 8, 2010 MANAMA (Reuters) - Where does one buy lingerie, sex toys and ointments designed to enhance female sexual pleasure in a Gulf region which frowns on open displays of sexuality?
From a lady in a traditional headscarf of course.
Khadija Ahmed's sex shop has survived against all odds and some particularly intense scrutiny from customs officials since it opened in Bahrain in 2008.
Ahmed's shop, a rare sight in the region, sells a wide range of lingerie, creams to delay male orgasm and sex toys out of the tiny Khadija Fashion House south of Manama, or through her website (www.khadijamall.com) to customers across the region.
A modestly dressed Ahmed in a traditional flowing black abaya and headscarf told Reuters that most of the items she sells are already available in Bahrain's fashion shops and pharmacies anyway and that she shuns some products to avoid stirring public anger.
"I don't sell vibrators for example, as this is against Islam," she said, adding that her faith banned the replication or display of sensitive parts of the body. However, other toys such as vibration rings were fine, she said.
Ahmed said she has not encountered much trouble with the public in Bahrain once she replaced lingerie in her display window with short dresses after complaints from neighbors and a nearby mosque.
Discussing and displaying sex in public is a taboo in most Middle Eastern countries, but Islamic scholars have also said that sex toys are legitimate if used by married couples.
Bahrain is considered one of the more liberal countries in the Gulf, allowing the sale of alcohol in bars and designated shops. Saudis, Qataris and Kuwaitis flock to the island kingdom each weekend to enjoy its nightlife.
Ahmed's most recent challenge is an ongoing legal case over a complaint by a customs official. She often has trouble getting her shipments cleared through customs and once ran into a spot of trouble when an official refused to clear a shipment of massage tools and vibration rings.
"These are closed-minded people....or maybe they're just jealous," she said.
Ahmed, who says she is not aware of any similar shop in the region, says she has many customers from the United Arab Emirates and in deeply conservative Saudi Arabia.
"Sometimes I personally go there with my brother to deliver, but only orders above 150 Bahraini dinars ($398)," she said.
She is now considering opening branches in Dubai, Lebanon and in one of Bahrain's shopping malls, as her store has grown too small to display all of her products on shelves.
(Reporting by Frederik Richter; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Paul Casciato)
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Obese Sydney bird sent to birdy bootcamp...
Reuters Credit: Reuters/Tim Wimborne
SYDNEY Mon. May 31 2010.(Reuters) - An Australian kookaburra bird is undergoing personal training after growing too fat to fly because she ate too many sausages.
The kookaburra got into trouble with her weight when residents at a Sydney park began feeding her sausages at barbecues.
The porky kookaburra weighed in at 565 grams (1.2 pounds), nearly 40 percent heavier than a normal adult bird, rendering her so unfit she couldn't fly.
"Out in the wild she'd eat a whole small animal such as a mouse or skink, but butcher's sausages are just too much of a good thing," said Gemma Watkinson, Sydney's Taronga Zoo wildlife hospital nurse.
A Sydney resident brought the bird to the zoo after spotting dogs chasing her along the ground.
"The kookaburra's been down at the rehabilitation aviary for a couple of weeks on a special 'lite n'easy' diet designed by our bird keeper," said Watkinson.
Following a rigorous exercise regime up to three times a day with a personal trainer, the kookaburra is winning her battle of the bulge, but still a little more weight to shed before being ready to be returned to her native habitat.
"We've fitted the temporary home out like a 'bird gym'," said Watkinson.
(Reporting by Pauline Askin, Editing by Michael Perry)
SYDNEY Mon. May 31 2010.(Reuters) - An Australian kookaburra bird is undergoing personal training after growing too fat to fly because she ate too many sausages.The kookaburra got into trouble with her weight when residents at a Sydney park began feeding her sausages at barbecues.
The porky kookaburra weighed in at 565 grams (1.2 pounds), nearly 40 percent heavier than a normal adult bird, rendering her so unfit she couldn't fly.
"Out in the wild she'd eat a whole small animal such as a mouse or skink, but butcher's sausages are just too much of a good thing," said Gemma Watkinson, Sydney's Taronga Zoo wildlife hospital nurse.
A Sydney resident brought the bird to the zoo after spotting dogs chasing her along the ground.
"The kookaburra's been down at the rehabilitation aviary for a couple of weeks on a special 'lite n'easy' diet designed by our bird keeper," said Watkinson.
Following a rigorous exercise regime up to three times a day with a personal trainer, the kookaburra is winning her battle of the bulge, but still a little more weight to shed before being ready to be returned to her native habitat.
"We've fitted the temporary home out like a 'bird gym'," said Watkinson.
(Reporting by Pauline Askin, Editing by Michael Perry)
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Americans prefer drugs for depression: survey...
Health survey Reuters
<---Assorted pills are seen in a file photo illustration. Credit: Reuters/Jacky Naegelen
WASHINGTON (Reuters)Tue Jun 1, 2010 - Americans prefer drugs to talk therapy for depression, with nearly 80 percent taking a pill for the condition, Consumer Reports said on Tuesday.
The most popular class of drugs remain the so-called SSRIs such as Prozac, the group found. People found newer, pricier antidepressants less desirable because of side-effects.
Patients benefited just as much from therapy -- almost any kind of therapy, the consumer group found in its survey of 1,500 readers.
Those surveyed said they improved just as much after seven or more sessions of talk therapy as if they took drugs and it did not matter if the therapist was a psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker.
Nearly 80 percent of people who had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety were prescribed antidepressants.
Patients were happiest with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, a class that includes Eli Lilly and Co's Prozac or its generic equivalent fluoxetine;, Pfizer Inc's Zoloft or sertraline, and Celexa or citalopram and Lexapro o escitalopram from Forest Laboratories Inc.
People complained of more side-effects from serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors or SNRIs, a newer, often more expensive class of antidepressants, the survey found.
These include venlafaxine, made by Pfizer-owned Wyeth under the Effexor brand name and Lilly's duloxetine, sold as Cymbalta.
The survey found a range of side-effects, but the most common one -- loss of sexual interest or ability -- was less common than in past surveys, the consumer group said.
U.S.Health
<---Assorted pills are seen in a file photo illustration. Credit: Reuters/Jacky NaegelenWASHINGTON (Reuters)Tue Jun 1, 2010 - Americans prefer drugs to talk therapy for depression, with nearly 80 percent taking a pill for the condition, Consumer Reports said on Tuesday.
The most popular class of drugs remain the so-called SSRIs such as Prozac, the group found. People found newer, pricier antidepressants less desirable because of side-effects.
Patients benefited just as much from therapy -- almost any kind of therapy, the consumer group found in its survey of 1,500 readers.
Those surveyed said they improved just as much after seven or more sessions of talk therapy as if they took drugs and it did not matter if the therapist was a psychiatrist, psychologist or social worker.
Nearly 80 percent of people who had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety were prescribed antidepressants.
Patients were happiest with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, a class that includes Eli Lilly and Co's Prozac or its generic equivalent fluoxetine;, Pfizer Inc's Zoloft or sertraline, and Celexa or citalopram and Lexapro o escitalopram from Forest Laboratories Inc.
People complained of more side-effects from serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors or SNRIs, a newer, often more expensive class of antidepressants, the survey found.
These include venlafaxine, made by Pfizer-owned Wyeth under the Effexor brand name and Lilly's duloxetine, sold as Cymbalta.
The survey found a range of side-effects, but the most common one -- loss of sexual interest or ability -- was less common than in past surveys, the consumer group said.
U.S.Health
Lottery winner escapes father's murder plot?
Reuters
Tue,June 1, 2010 BRASILIA (Reuters) - The winner of a $16 million lottery jackpot in Brazil escaped his own father's plot to kill him after police caught two contract killers supposedly hired to carry out his murder, local media reported on Friday.
Police informed Fabio de Barros of the plan by his father, Francisco, to have him killed in order to keep the winnings the two had fought over since Fabio won the prize in 2006, O Globo TV and the Agencia Estado reported.
A legal battle began after Francisco, 60, refused to hand over the winnings Fabio had deposited in his account. They had not spoken for about three years, Fabio's lawyer said.
Francisco was arrested in Cuiaba in western Brazil on Wednesday. Agencia Estado said police learned of the murder plot during monitoring of phone conversations between the two men accused of working as guns-for-hire.
(Reporting by Peter Murphy; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Tue,June 1, 2010 BRASILIA (Reuters) - The winner of a $16 million lottery jackpot in Brazil escaped his own father's plot to kill him after police caught two contract killers supposedly hired to carry out his murder, local media reported on Friday.
Police informed Fabio de Barros of the plan by his father, Francisco, to have him killed in order to keep the winnings the two had fought over since Fabio won the prize in 2006, O Globo TV and the Agencia Estado reported.
A legal battle began after Francisco, 60, refused to hand over the winnings Fabio had deposited in his account. They had not spoken for about three years, Fabio's lawyer said.
Francisco was arrested in Cuiaba in western Brazil on Wednesday. Agencia Estado said police learned of the murder plot during monitoring of phone conversations between the two men accused of working as guns-for-hire.
(Reporting by Peter Murphy; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Thief steals trailer -- with two owners inside | Reuters
Reuters
Thu, May 27 2010 CANBERRA (Reuters) - A thief who stole a car with a trailer attached got away with more than he bargained for -- as the two owners were in the back.
Australian police said the couple, aged in their 60s, were picking up a new trailer from a dealer in the Adelaide suburb of Blair Athol on Monday around noon.
While a sales manager was showing the couple some of the features of their new purchase, a thief jumped into their car as the keys had been left in the ignition and drove away.
"The sales manager managed to jump from the caravan as it was driven away. The suspect then crashed into another car...and drove away from the scene at speed, over kerbs, with the terrified couple still in the caravan," police said in a statement.
The thief abandoned the car and trailer several streets away before running off, leaving the unharmed couple behind but taking their digital camera with him.
(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Michael Perry)
Thu, May 27 2010 CANBERRA (Reuters) - A thief who stole a car with a trailer attached got away with more than he bargained for -- as the two owners were in the back.
Australian police said the couple, aged in their 60s, were picking up a new trailer from a dealer in the Adelaide suburb of Blair Athol on Monday around noon.
While a sales manager was showing the couple some of the features of their new purchase, a thief jumped into their car as the keys had been left in the ignition and drove away.
"The sales manager managed to jump from the caravan as it was driven away. The suspect then crashed into another car...and drove away from the scene at speed, over kerbs, with the terrified couple still in the caravan," police said in a statement.
The thief abandoned the car and trailer several streets away before running off, leaving the unharmed couple behind but taking their digital camera with him.
(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Michael Perry)
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