"Deceivers" can be purchased online in a downloadable (Kindle edition) version...

My first book "Deceivers" can now also be purchased in a downloadable (Kindle edition) version from amazon.com. Just click on the following link:
http://www.amazon.com/DECEIVERS-ebook/dp/B0042ET47K/ref=sr_1_66?ie=UTF8&m=AH9CGK6QR37LL&s=digital-text&qid=1284464166&sr=1-66

My first published book: "Deceivers" is now available for purchase online. Just click on the link:

http://www.pustakmahal.com/book/book/bid,,9553A/isbn:9788122311457/index.html

Baby boomers: 4 sisters, 4 births, 4 days

Four American sisters from one family have each given birth within four days.

That's four sisters, four babies, four days.

The same obstetrician delivered the babies of three of the sisters — 27-year-old Lilian Sepulveda, 29-year-old Saby Pazos and 24-year-old Leslie Pazos — in the same suburban Chicago hospital on Friday (August 6th) and Saturday (August 7th).

A fourth sister, Heidi Lopez, gave birth on Monday (August 9th)in California.

Family members say the women didn't plan the timing. Obstetrician Dr. Jean Alexandre, who delivered the three babies in suburban Chicago, calls the births "very unusual but wonderful at the same time."

Molly Gaus, a spokeswoman for Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill., said Saby Pazos and Leslie Pazos both delivered their babies naturally on Friday. Saby gave birth to a 7-pound, 8-ounce boy named Abel Brian, and a couple of hours later Leslie had a 7-pound, 1-ounce girl, Ashley Mishell.

Sepulveda had a scheduled Caesarean section on Saturday morning. She gave birth to an 8-pound, 3-ounce daughter named Emily Marie.

Lopez, who had to have an emergency C-section on Monday in California, delivered a baby boy named Jonathan. "It was unplanned that it would happen that early," Gaus said.

Australian man survives 12,700-volt shock

An electric pole surveyor in Australia had a miraculous escape when he suffered only partial burns on being hit by a power surge of 12,700 volts.

The 35-year-old unidentified man suffered partial burns to about 20 percent of his body and was shifted to a hospital in Brisbane.

"It's believed the patient from Rockhampton was a surveyor and had pulled over on the side of the road," Herald Sun quoted an official as saying.

"He had taken a pole, and it accidentally hit an overhead power line sending 12,700 volts through him."

Man hides 140,000 pounds in aunt's grave

A Briton hid 140,000 pounds in his aunt's grave to dodge tax sleuths, but the cache was uncovered after the tax inspectors were tipped-off.

The man buried the money so as to fool the Inland Revenue. He planned to leave the cash there for 20 years before digging it up. The 20 year period is the time limit for tax investigations, The Sun reported last Monday.

Tax inspectors got a wind off the devious plan and sought permission from a priest to dig up the grave and recovered their 50,000 pounds share from the businessman.

The country's top taxman Dave Hartnett said: "Tax evasion isn't a victimless crime. We all pay extra to compensate for the money cheats steal from the country. But we're getting better at catching cheats. It's not worth the risk."

Now, build your satellite and put it into orbit for $8K

A US company has taken the "do-it-yourself" concept to a completely new level - the firm is selling kits to build and fly small satellites for as much as 8,000 dollars.

Randa and Roderick Milliron, a Mojave, Calif.-based couple, are the brains behind the program they've named TubeSat. The duo have been developing a bare-bones, low-cost rocket system for the last 14 years.

The first of four suborbital test flights is slated for August and there are customers for those as well.

"The acceptance and enthusiasm has been overwhelming," Discovery News quoted Randa Milliron, chief executive of Interorbital Systems, as saying.

The customers include hobbyists and universities, including the Naval Postgraduate School in California, Morehead State University in Kentucky, and the University of Sydney in Australia.

"There's been a massive number of shelved experiments, caused by a dearth of low-cost launch systems. This is an opportunity for the academic community to fly affordably," Milliron said.

Interorbital's rocket, the Neptune, will place up to 32 TubeSats and 10 slightly larger off-the-shelf spacecraft called CubeSats into orbit about 192 miles above Earth.

Launches will take place from the island of 'Eua, located in the Kingdom of Tonga, in the South Pacific.

Dr Tathagat Tulsi, 22, becomes Professor Tulsi at IIT Bombay

He completed high school at the age of 9, had a B.Sc at 10, an M.Sc in Physics at 12, and a PhD in Quantum Computing from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, at 21. In 2003, Time named him among the world's seven most gifted youngsters. Now, at age 22, Patna-born prodigy Tathagat Avtar Tulsi has become possibly the youngest assistant professor at IIT.

Tulsi will teach Physics at IIT Bombay from July 19, having chosen the institute over Waterloo University, Canada, and the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER), Bhopal, both of which had offered him jobs.

"I turned down Waterloo despite an impressive pay package because I do not want to go abroad now," Tulsi told The Indian Express over the phone from Patna. "My dream is to set up a lab focused on quantum computation in India, and one day help develop a largescale quantum computation-based supercomputer. IIT Bombay offers me these possibilities."

IIT Bombay confirmed that Tulsi is set to join its faculty. In an appointment letter sent on June 30, IIT Bombay Director Prof Devang V Khakar informed Tulsi that the institute's Board of Governors was pleased to offer him assistant professorship on contract at the Department of Physics.

Hailed early as a wonder boy, Tulsi suffered humiliation in August 2001 when a delegation of scientists taken by the Department of Science & Technology to Lindau in Germany for an interaction with Nobel laureates, suggested that he was a "fake prodigy" who had "mugged up" jargon which he spouted unthinkingly.

A hurt Tulsi went into a shell for several years. He returned to news this February after he became the youngest holder of a PhD in India.

"Back then it hurt a lot. But I have put the humiliation behind me, and now feel that I have achieved something. I am very happy to join an IIT as faculty. I am looking forward to teaching and research," Tulsi said.

'Veiled' shock: Bride turns out to be a boy

If marriages are made in heaven, Gangaram Tewari must be wondering whether his was designed in hell. This 30-plus small-time electrician from Gauri Shankerpurwa hamlet in Bahraich in the province of Uttar Pradesh, was ‘fraudulently’ married to someone other than his fiancee. Worse: this “someone” turned out to be a teenaged boy in disguise of a bride.

Tewari now has lodged an police complaint against the match-making couple who brought the two sides together for tying the nuptial knot and charged Rs 30,000 for it. Police have arrested the “bride” boy who admitted to have been married away similarly at least 18 times in the past. A manhunt is on for the other members of the gang.

Tewari’s hopes to get his Rs 30,000 back now rest with god. Ram Bharose, the superintendent of police, Bahraich, says that police teams were now on the lookout for the gang. “This is one of its kind case that I have come across in my entire service till date,” says the SP, talking to Times Of India.

It all started in March last when, fed up with the loneliness in his life, Gangaram Tewari finally decided to get a life-partner. Looking for a bride, his family bumped into a match-maker couple — Dheeraj Tewari and his wife of Ramgaon locality in the city — who assured them a compatible match for Rs 30,000 as their fee. The couple offered a number of proposals for Tewari. Finally, the family shortlisted one — Sunita, daughter of late Sukhai Yadav, hailing from a tiny hamlet of Barabanki district near uttar Pradesh's capital city, Lucknow.

Aliens have been visiting Earth for decades: Canadian expert

Accusing world famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking of spreading misinformation about threats from aliens, former Canadian defence minister Paul Hellyer claimed on Sunday that extraterrestrials have actually been visiting earth for decades.

Rather than harm mankind, he said, their (aliens') spaceships have provided us information for triggering today's microchip and IT revolution on our planet.

Hawking has recently warned humanity against contacting aliens. 'If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans,' the British astrophysicist has said.

According to Hawking, if human beings tried to contact aliens, they could invade us and take away our most important resources. 'If they (aliens) wanted to use our solar system, for some super project, our complaints would be like an ant colony protesting the laying of a parking lot,' Hawking has said in a new documentary.

Hawking has also said that though most extraterrestrial life could be only in the form of small animals, but there could also be 'nomads, looking to conquer and colonize other planets'. Taking issue with Hawking Sunday, the former Canadian defence minister, who himself is an expert on the subject and has has been speaking about aliens for years, said aliens have already visited earth and contributed to our technological advancement.

Hellyer told the Canadian Press that 'the reality is that they (aliens) have been visiting earth for decades and probably millennia and have contributed considerably to our knowledge.' He said our computer screens have their origins in alien spaceships. 'Microchips, for example, fiber-optics, they are just two of the many things that allegedly - and probably for real - came from crashed vehicles,' the Canadian said.

Blaming Hawking for scaring mankind about aliens, he said, 'He (Hawking) is indulging in some pretty scary talk there that I would have hoped would not come from someone with such an established stature. I think it is really sad that a scientist of his repute would contribute to what I would consider more misinformation about a vast and very important subject.'

Fighter jets chasing 'UFO' captured on video

A mystery cameraman in England has filmed two fighter jets whizzing over the M5, chasing, what looked like a UFO, on Saturday, April 10th.

The 30-second clip is believed to have been taken from a West Midlands service station car park.

"This is one of the best videos I've seen. It could be a new drone - that might explain the military jets," the Sun quoted expert Nick Pope, who probed UFO sightings for the Ministry of Defence.

"But you don't normally test-fly secret projects in daylight. Alternatively, this could be the real thing - a UFO in our airspace and military aircraft scrambled to intercept, probably due to it being tracked on radar," he added.

The Ministry of Defence did not comment on the alleged sighting, but confirmed it would scramble jets to meet an air threat.

"We are not aware of any reports of unidentified aircraft near the M5," said West Midlands Police.

Day of pranks: Flying car fix, flavoured newspaper

Flying car mechanics, flavoured newspaper pages and Labour Party election posters depicting the prime minister as a thug were among April Fool's Day jokes awaiting Britons in their papers on Thursday.

The Daily Mail reported that the Automobile Association, which deals with emergency callouts to car breakdowns, had equipped its staff with jet-packs to fly over gridlocked traffic to reach stranded motorists faster.

Meanwhile, the Sun proudly declared it had succeeded in creating "the world's first flavoured page" - next to a blank, white square which contained the instruction: "Lick here".

In an elaborate mock-up, the Guardian said Labour Party would portray Gordon Brown as one willing to take on David Cameron in "a bare-knuckle fistfight for the future of UK".

Woman sues US zoo over splashing dolphins

A woman is suing a Chicago-area zoo for a 2008 fall near a dolphin exhibit, accusing zookeepers of encouraging the mammals to splash water and then failing to protect spectators from wet surfaces, local media reported.

In her suit filed early last week, Allecyn Edwards said she was injured while walking near an exhibit at Brookfield Zoo, where a group of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins were performing, media said.

Officials "recklessly and willfully trained and encouraged the dolphins to throw water at the spectators in the stands, making the floor wet and slippery," but failed to post warning signs or lay down protective mats or strips, the suit said, according to the reports.

Edwards is demanding more than $50,000 for lost wages, medical expenses and emotional trauma from the Chicago Zoological Society and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, which operate the zoo in Chicago's southwest suburbs. The suit was filed in Illinois' Circuit Court of Cook County.

Miss Singapore World resigns after lingerie fraud

Beauty queen Miss Singapore World has given up her crown after it emerged that she had stolen credit cards to go on a shopping spree for lingerie.

Ris Low had come under public pressure to be stripped of her 2009 title, after local media reported she stole seven credit cards last year while working at a medical clinic, buying goods worth about S$8,000 ($5,662) including gold anklets and phones.

Organizers of the pageant ERM World Marketing said she had resigned Tuesday of her own accord. She will no longer represent Singapore at the Miss World finals to be held in South Africa in December, but her replacement has not yet been decided.

Japan's new first lady says she rode in a spaceship

Japan's next prime minister might be nicknamed "the alien," but it's his wife who claims to have had a close encounter with another world.

"While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus," Miyuki Hatoyama, the wife of premier-in-waiting Yukio Hatoyama, wrote in a book published last year.

Lottery jackpot lands Canadian in jail

A Canadian man who won $44.4 million in a lottery in Toronto last Monday, landed in jail rather than enjoy wild parties after winning the jackpot.

Barry Shell, 45, who lives in the Indian-dominant city of Brampton on the outskirts of Toronto, was handcuffed immediately after he pocketed the cheque for the windfall.

The reason: he had an arrest warrant pending against him since 2003 for failing to appear in court to face charges of theft and illegal property.

Police swung into action as the man was posing for photographs after accepting the cheque for $4,377,298 (more than Rs.13 crore) at the provincial Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG) headquarters here.

Police told him of the pending arrest warrant. A shell-shocked Shell was handcuffed and put behind bars.

He was produced in court to face charges of contempt for failing to appear before it, theft of $5,000 and possessing illegal property.

Under the strict lottery laws in Toronto, a jackpot winner is thoroughly investigated before he or she is handed over the cheque to prevent misuse of the newly acquired wealth.

The lottery body has posted a warning on its web site urging people to 'play responsibly'.

Among other things, it warns them against spending more money than they can afford, borrowing money to buy tickets, neglecting family and owning money to family, friends and credit cards.

Rui Brum from the lottery body told the local media that "any flags that are raised are immediately forwarded to the Ontario Provincial Police Bureau attached to the AGCO (the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario) for further investigation".

A press release by the lottery body quoted Shell as saying, "I went to the store and checked my ticket on the self-serve ticket checker.

"As soon as I saw how much I had won, I grabbed a pen and signed my ticket."

The next moment he was in handcuffs.

Mouse builds nest in Oregon ATM with USD 20 bills

A mouse in USA found inside an automatic teller machine -- along with a nest it had built with chewed-up USD 20 bills -- gave an Oregon gas station employee the surprise of her life.

The mouse, discovered on August 6th, had thoroughly torn up two bills and damaged another 14 to line his nest. Employee Millie Taylor says she screamed and slammed the machine's door shut.

The bank replaced all the money that wasn't extensively damaged, and the ATM has continued to work just fine. The mouse also got a reprieve: He was evicted from his nest but set free outside the station.

Other workers at the Gem Stop Chevron in La Grande in eastern Oregon say they're mystified about how the mouse got inside the machine.

Woman marries 7 times in 45 days

A 25-year-old Egyptian waitress, supposedly ‘addicted to men’ and who had allegedly married seven times in 45 days has been arrested by the police in Hurghada on charges of polygamy.

Working in a tourist resort the waitress allegedly developed sexual relationships with young men. Sexual relationships out of wedlock are prohibited by law in Egypt. However, she used to write an unofficial marriage agreement before any new relationship.

The waitress met a young contractor in the cafe who soon fell for her and proposed.

A few days into the marriage, her new husband, Ramadan discovered one of the unofficial marriage agreements dating a few days before they got married. When confronted, she reportedly confessed she was ‘addicted to men’ and had married seven times in 45 days. Two of the marriages were only ten hours apart. She also confessed she was pregnant.

The husband filed an official complaint against his wife and the police detained her on charges of forgery, fornication and polygamy.

Spelling gaffe turns city into 'unwiped bottom'

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper faced embarrassing moments when his office issued a press release mis-spelling the name of a provincial capital he was visiting. But it was no ordinary mistake. It was a gaffe which turned the name of the city into 'unwiped bottom'.

This happened during Harper's visit to the country's Arctic territory of Nunavat.

He was in the provincial capital of Iqaluit to announce development projects when the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) issued the press release with Iqaluit spelt as Iqualuit.

The error left the residents flabbergasted.

Because the extra 'u' changed the meaning of the city to unwiped bottom.

"It means people with unwiped bums," Sandra Inutiq of the office of the Languages Commissioner of Nunavut was quoted as saying.

"It's not exactly a nice term," she said.

The Prime Minister's office apologised for the gaffe, calling it a human error that might teach Canadians an important lesson about spelling mistakes, agency reports said.

"Hopefully this unfortunate typo, which we have corrected, will inform the greater public that there is no (extra) 'u' in Iqaluit," PMO spokesman Dimitri Soudas was quoted as saying.

Major Canadian media outlets also misspelt Iqaluit as Iqualuit.

Evolution 'driving women to become more beautiful'

Here's some good news for the ladies: a group of scientists has claimed that evolution is driving women to become ever more beautiful.

While men remain as aesthetically unappealing as their caveman ancestors, the boffins added.

According to a series of studies of physical attractiveness and its links to reproductive success in humans, researchers found that pretty women have more children than their plainer counterparts and that a higher proportion of those children are female. Those daughters, once adult, also tend to be attractive and so repeat the pattern.

In the research, Markus Jokela, a researcher at the University of Helsinki, found beautiful women had up to 16 percent more children than their plainer counterparts.

To reach the conclusion, Jokela used data gathered in America, in which 1,244 women and 997 men were followed through four decades of life, reports "The Times" of London.

Attractiveness was rated on the basis of photographs taken during the study, which also collected data on the number of children they had.

Scottish man sets new world record by running 259 ft with body set on fire

LONDON: A Scottish man slammed the previous world record of running 227ft with body set on fire by sprinting 259 ft.

Keith Malcolm, from Aberdeen, succeeded in his second attempt to break the record after he fell 40ft short of the record in his previous attempt in May.

The amateur stuntman, who now lives in Widley near Portsmouth, Hants, wore eight layers of protective clothing, including four layers of fireproof undergarments, a Formula One fireproof jacket and three overalls to avoid any harm.

He protected his head with three fire hoods and a helmet apart from coating himself in special protective "stunt gel" to save himself from flames that approximately reached 1000 degree Celsius.

"It was absolutely awesome. I managed it in 17 seconds and was running flat-out. I really did not want to hang around," the Telegraph quoted Malcolm as saying.

"There wasn't much left of the jacket at the end. To be honest, the heat I felt was what you would expect if you were wearing all those clothes and a helmet in hot weather and trying to run.

However, team of experts from Hampshire Fire and Rescue were at hand in case any accident had occurred.

The new world record was set at the Alton and North East Hampshire Agricultural Show, which aimed at raising money for Cancer Research.

A temple, where devotees offer liquor to deity

This temple in India's province of Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district doesn't have an idol or a priest and devotees don't make floral offering. They offer liquor to the deity -- a saint who lived in the area around 150 years ago and was said to enjoy his drink in the evening and had a knack of clairvoyance and curing people.

Welcome to the Khabees Baba temple situated in a forest area near Sardana town in Sitapur district, some 80 km from the provincial capital of Lucknow, where devotees offer liquor to the deity.

According to locals, the temple was built around 150 years ago in memory of a saint named Khabees Baba, who devoted his life worshipping Lord Shiva in Sitapur.

"It is believed that Khabees Baba died in the Sandana forest while worshipping Lord Shiva. So, in order to pay homage to their guru, Baba's disciples constructed the temple at the place where he died," Shyam Babu Saini, a teacher and resident of Sardana, said.

The temple is popular not only amongst the locals in Sitapur; devotees from different parts of Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere too visit the temple.

"Though devotees visit the temple round-the-year, they throng here in large numbers during the month of Ashadh of the Hindu calendar, especially on the occasion of Guru Poornima," said Saini.

Locals say Khabees Baba was fond of liquor and whatever he used to say under its influence proved to be true.

"We have been told by our ancestors that a large number of people used to meet Khabees Baba Monday evenings, when he used to get drunk," said Praveen Kumar, 65, a resident of the Roti Godam area of Sitapur. He visits the temple often.

"People, especially those with chronic health problems, used to come to Khabees Baba. An inebriated Baba used to bless them and their health problems used to be cured," he added.

The small temple has no idol inside, instead there is a raised platform on which rests two slipper-shaped structures that are taken to symbolise the feet of the saint, locals say.

Devotees coming to the temple offer liquor on these clay structures, while a small portion of liquor around the symbolic feet is collected and distributed as prasad (offering) among the devotees.

There is no priest in the temple and the locals themselves take care of its maintenance, taking turns to do so.

Man seeks ride from detective after heist

Authorities in Michigan, US say a parolee who robbed a bank in Saginaw was caught when he tried to hitch a ride from an undercover police detective.

Mark E. White was arraigned on July 10th on charges that include bank robbery and making a false bomb threat. He is being held at the Saginaw County Jail on $755,000 bond. It was not clear whether White had an attorney. Police did not immediately return a message seeking comment July 11th.

Authorities tell The Saginaw News that White flagged down Saginaw Township Detective Scott Jackson on July 8th after the bank robbery a few blocks away.

White was paroled on June 16 after serving time for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and violating an earlier parole.

Woman survives being shot in head, makes tea

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, USA: A woman who was shot in the head last month not only survived but made herself tea and offered an astonished deputy something to drink.

Tammy Sexton, 47, remained hospitalized three days after being wounded by her husband, who killed himself after he shot his wife. She has now fully recovered.

"There's no way she should be alive other than a miracle from God," said Sheriff Mike Byrd of Jackson County, Mississippi.

Byrd said deputies were looking for Sexton's husband, Donald Ray Sexton, earlier in that last week of April to give him a document ordering him to stay away from his wife. Court records show he was put on probation for six months on April 9 for domestic violence.

He showed up at their home in rural Jackson County in Southeast Mississippi about 12:10am on Tuesday and confronted his wife as a relative ran next door to call police, the sheriff said.

"She was at her bed, and he shot her right in the head," Byrd said. "Then he went out on the back porch and shot himself."

The slug from a .380-caliber handgun struck Tammy Sexton squarely in the forehead, passed through her skull and exited through the back of her head, Byrd said. A deputy arrived within minutes and was greeted by the woman.

"When the officer got there she said, 'What's going on?' She was holding a rag on her head and talking. She was conscious, but she was confused about what had happened," he said. "She had made herself some tea and offered the officer something to drink."

Byrd said the bullet apparently passed through the lobes of the woman's brain without causing major damage. She was rushed to a Mobile hospital by a helicopter.

While such cases may be rare, medical journals confirm people have been shot in the head with little or no lasting injury.

"It's bizarre. You just don't hear of something like this. Somebody gets shot in the head and they're dead," Byrd said.

Two-timing US woman has twins from 2 men

An American mother was left dumbstruck after she found out that she had incredibly conceived her twin sons from two different fathers.

Mia of Dallas, Texas, gave birth to babies Justin and Jordan, now 11-months-old, just seven minutes apart and undertook a paternity test after finding the two looking very unalike. The 20-year-old faced a jaw dropping moment after tests showed that there was a 99.999% chance that the boys did not have the same father.

Mia confessed to having cheated on partner James Harrison with another lover at the time she conceived. Stunned medics told her different eggs were fertilised by each man within a very short time of each other — a million-to-one condition, which made the twins, in reality, half-brothers.

Mia further revealed that her partner James had decided to raise both the kids as his own despite her affair.

Mia is about to become a mum again, but this time she has assured that there was “no question” that James was the father.

Dead man gets re-elected as mayor

ST. LOUIS, USA: Voters in the small northeastern Missouri town of Winfield re-elected their mayor for a fourth term on last month, about a month after his death.

Ballots had already been printed and absentee voting had already begun when Harry Stonebraker died of a heart attack at age 69 on March 11. He won easily in the April 13 general election with 206 votes, or 90 percent. Alderman Bernie Panther got the other 23 votes.

The election recalled Missouri's 2000 US Senate race, when Democrat Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash just weeks before the November election, but still defeated incumbent Republican John Ashcroft.

Carnahan's wife, Jean, was eventually appointed to the Senate seat until a special election in 2002, when she was defeated by Republican Jim Talent.

Lincoln County Clerk Elaine Luck said she wasn't surprised by Stonebraker's win, noting he was a popular mayor who helped lead the community of 1,500 through the devastating 2008 flood, when a levee breach caused by a burrowing muskrat damaged about 100 homes.

``I figured he'd win because he seemed to get even more popular after he died, just like Carnahan,'' Luck said.

Luck said Aldermen would appoint a mayor to serve until a special election in April 2010 to pick a mayor for the remainder of the two-year term.

Stonebraker was a lifelong resident of the Winfield area and a retired construction superintendent. He had nearly completed his third two-year term as mayor.

Winfield is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of St. Louis.

The curious case of a missing cow

CHENNAI, India: Two persons claiming ownership of a cow, a broken horn as the common identification mark and a confused police force. This case had all the makings of a mystery, till science stepped in. An inspection by a veterinarian confirmed the approximate time when the horn broke and the cow was handed over to the claimant who got the time right.

It all started with Savari Ammal (55), who sells milk for a living at Kumaran Nagar, complaining to the Avadi police that one of her cows had gone missing in July 2008. After a gap of about eight months, she found the cow on March 16, 2009. But soon a person called Adi Kesavan came to her, claiming that the cow belonged to him.

Savari Ammal had, in her complaint to the police, said that the cow was pregnant when it went missing and that one of its horns was broken. When Kesavan insisted that she return “his” cow, he was asked for any identification mark on his cow. “A broken horn,” came the reply, putting the police in a spot. The only difference in his version was that the horn had broken two months ago, while Ammal said her cow’s horn had broken nearly a year ago.

Doctors of the Government Veterinary College in Vepery were surprised when some policemen — with a cow sporting only one horn, in tow — came to them in the last week of March. The doctors were asked to determine when the horn had broken off.

“Looking at the growth of the outer layer (corium) of the horn (which continues to grow), they found that it had broken about a couple of months ago,” said Avadi inspector Kannan. The cow was handed over to Kesavan, but Savari Ammal, not willing to give up her claim on the animal, has approached the suburban police commissioner.

Inmate arrested trying to get back in jail

WOODBINE, US: Authorities say they arrested an escaped jail inmate trying to sneak back into the lockup with cigarettes allegedly stolen from a nearby store.

Sheriff Tommy Gregory said on Saturday that 25-year-old Harry Jackson had opened a door to the exercise yard and climbed the outer fence.

Deputies found a jail door unlocked early on Saturday and were looking for the inmate. They spotted Jackson trying to come back in and found 14 packs of cigarettes they believe were stolen from a convenience store about a block away.

Jackson faces new charges of breaking out of jail and burglary. He was already in jail in Camden County in far southeast Georgia for charges including possession of a controlled substance and violating probation.

100-year-old eats 30 bars of chocolate a week!

It is often said that eating too much of chocolate is bad, but for Peggy Griffiths, it certainly seems to have worked out well.

Griffiths has turned 100 and is still scoffing thirty bars of chocolate a week.

Peggy, of Abbotsham, Devon, England, has munched her way through an estimated 70,000 Cadbury's Dairy Milk bars that would weigh four tons.

She owned her own sweet shop in the 1930s - until it closed down after she ate all of the profits.

"When I was young I could buy a bar of chocolate with my pocket money. It only cost tuppence and tasted exactly like it does now," the Sun quoted Peggy, as saying.

Her daughter Eileen Osborne said: "When mum was a little girl, her mother told her that sweets were bad for you but chocolate was good. She absolutely loves it. She's a chocoholic and her diet agrees with her."

'Frog marriage' to please rain gods in Nepal

Some Nepalese farmers have found a novel way to please their rain gods who have been shying for long by arranging 'frog marriage' to seek their blessings, as the 'croak' of the amphibians mark the arrival of the monsoon.

Suffering from lack of rain for more than eight months farmers of central Nepal have arranged frogs' marriage.

The residents of Gairi village in Dolakha district, 140 km east of Kathmandu, conducted marriage ceremony of frogs as per Hindu rituals amidst hundreds of onlookers.

The locals brought a groom frog from Siple stream while the bride was brought to the ceremony from Chukepani stream, according to a Kathmandu Post news report published on March 18th.

The two amphibians couple were later married in the ceremony held on a plate at local Nageshwori Kalikasthan temple as prayers shouted to congratulate them.

To perform the wedding rituals, the locals had invited seven priests on the occasion. Each family of the village contributed Rs 20 in order to organise the wedding feast.

One of the locals recalled that they witnessed rainfall after performing similar rituals five years back. After the hours of ceremony the newly wed couple were let go in a nearby stream, with the hope that they might communicate to the rain god about the locals' plight due to the drought.

Shortly after the rituals ended there was a strong gale followed by a brief drizzle, according to a local woman. However, there was not sufficient rain so that the worry of the local farmers is overcome.

Man claims he was canned for too much 'waist'

PONTIAC, Mich: A 61-year-old man has sued his former employer, claiming he was fired from a $75,000-a-year salesman's job because of his waistline. But the employer says Patrick J. Ronayne was let go because of his performance, not his weight. The Detroit News reported on March 19th that Ronayne's lawsuit seeks more than $25,000 from Winston Golf and Winston Manufacturing. It claims weight and age discrimination.

The lawsuit claims he was let go with a statement "he was not a `flat belly'" and was replaced by a thinner person. Ronayne is listed in state records as 5 feet 11 inches tall and 225 pounds.

The businesses are part of Auburn Hills-based 3Sixty Group LLC. Spokesman Garrett Morelock calls the claim "absurd." He says Ronayne wasn't a good salesman.

Girl on bottle goes topless as you guzzle

A former rock band drummer and two mates have taken on the Australian beer market with a unique world first marketing concept for their new beer.

The label is Skinny Blonde, a low-carb beer that is thriving on the current popularity of Australia’s new crop of ‘healthy’ beers. But there is another reason it is popular: the Skinny Blonde bottle features a 1950s-style pin-up called Daisy whose red bikini disappears as the beer level drops and the bottle warms up, thanks to the modern ink technology used on the labels.

The savvy marketing ploy was born three years ago when 34-year-old Hamish Rosser and his mates — actor Richie Harkham, 29, and artist Jarrod Taylor, 33 — decided to act on a “drunken idea that actually worked”. “We had the idea of a pin-up girl, we thought everyone uses women in their advertising campaigns so why not put it on a bottle?” Rosser, the drummer in the Australian band The Vines, told the Times, London.

“So we had this idea of the disappearing bikini and researched into disappearing ink. Then we did a few trial runs and when we realised it worked we were stoked, we were over the moon.”

The trio, who lived within streets of each other in Bondi, formed the company Brother’s Ink and began experimental home brewing in Taylor’s laundry with the aim of producing a Japanese-style dry “session beer” three years ago. “We wanted to make a beer that you can have several of rather than ales which you have one or two then you move on,” Rosser, who has a degree in chemical engineering, said.

After some years with The Vines, an Australian garage rock band who burst on to the international scene before singer Craig Nicholls’ health issues put them on hiatus last year, Rosser said expanding Skinny Blonde was now his top priority.

Yesterday was Priti and my nineteenth wedding anniversary...

Got a wish? Offer a clock to Ghari Baba...

Courtesy IANS:

Nandshri Chawkri (Gujarat, India) - At the shrine of Hazratwala Pir here, one can find hundreds of clocks hanging at any given time - all offerings made by pilgrims after their wishes came true.

People from all communities have been coming to pray at the shrine of the Pir, widely known as Ghari Baba (the "Clock Holy Man"), for more than a century.

'This mazaar (mausoleum) is more than 100 years old. Individuals offer clocks to the Baba once their wishes are fulfilled on time. This has been the tradition here. These clocks indicate the right time of wish fulfilment,' Haribhai Patel, one of the trustees, told IANS.

Situated on National Highway 8 between Ahmedabad and Vadodara, the shrine attracts attention because clocks of all shapes and sizes adorn its walls.

'Around four to five clocks are offered to the baba every day,' Patel said.

Patel and other workers of the mazaar, about 100 km from Ahmedabad, are happy that the shrine is frequented by Hindus and Muslims alike.

'There is no distinction of caste and creed here. Anyone can come and offer flowers and clocks to the Baba,' said Patel, a Hindu himself.

The trust gets funds for maintaining the shrine from donations made by devotees and from the annual festival held in December. Abdul Fahim, 48, has been visiting the shrine for the last eight years. A truck driver by profession, he has come all the way from West Bengal to offer a clock to the Baba.

'My wish was fulfilled by Baba and that's why I'm here to offer him a clock,' Fahim said.

Khalid, a Vadodara resident, had also come to pray at Ghari Baba's mazaar.

The 30-year-old said he has been coming to the shrine since childhood.

But a worker at the shrine said: 'Majority of the people visiting this place are Hindus.'

Asked what they did with the hundreds of clocks given by devotees, Patel said: 'We give away these clocks to schools. But they have to come with a letter from the school authority.'

Wishing you a very happy Holi...

Best wishes on the occasion of the Festival of Colours. Have a great day!

Celebrity Second Acts

Courtesy: Forbes.com

Working 65-hour weeks at a shoe factory in Maine, Ray LaMontagne never envisioned a second life as a famed musician. The assembly line worker never particularly liked music; never played a musical instrument. Until one morning when his radio alarm clock woke him at 4 a.m. to the tune of Stephen Stills' "Tree Top Flyer."

LaMontagne took the day off to hunt the song down at his local record store--where he spent the entire day engrossed in Stills' album. Soon, he was trading in his VW bus for an acoustic guitar and teaching himself to play the whole album. He took a crack at Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Otis Redding and eventually his own songs. At 30, he quit his day job to plunge into music full time. The result? The shy, former factory worker from Maine now has a deal with RCA Records, three studio albums, over a million records sold and a reputation as one of the most talented singer-songwriters of a generation.

When the author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote "There are no second acts in American lives," he was wrong. Second acts are not only possible, but some of America's biggest celebrities owe their fame to them.

Take character actor Dennis Farina. There's a reason he played such a convincing detective on Law & Order: He studied the role for 18 years on the Chicago police force--first as cop, then as detective.

Farina never even considered an acting career until he started working overtime as police-consultant to director Michael Mann. In 1981, Mann asked Farina, then 37, to play a small part in his film Thief. Soon, Farina was moonlighting in local theater productions. Five years later, he was taking small roles in Mann's Crime Story series and a role as mobster on Mann's other show Miami Vice. That led to countless similar roles in action films, including Midnight Run, Get Shorty and Snatch.

The luckiest role Harrison Ford ever landed was a job as a cabinet maker. For 15 years, Ford toiled as a carpenter--working as a stagehand for The Doors, building sound studios for Sergio Mendes and making cabinets for George Lucas, then a lesser-known producer. Then, like something out of a movie, Lucas offered his carpenter a tiny role in the film American Graffiti. Later, as Lucas gained notoriety--and needed a larger office--he hired Ford to do the construction work. One day in the office, Lucas asked Ford to read lines for absent actors on his new film, Star Wars. The impromptu performance won over Stephen Spielberg, who offered Ford the lead role. Star Wars became the highest-grossing film in history, and Ford began a long second act in Hollywood.

Sometimes stars can earn themselves not just a second, but also a third act. Long before California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger became the "Governator," he was a well-established bodybuilder. On switching to acting, he has said, "I was told by agents and casting people that my body was 'too weird,' that I had a funny accent and that my name was too long. You name it, and they told me I had to change it." His third act in politics seemed even more improbable, but Schwarzenegger managed to win California's 2006 recall election and re-election in 2008. With his term limit up in 2010, the Arnold "will be back"--doing what exactly, though, is hard to predict.

The most recent Hollywood second act probably belongs to actor Mickey Rourke, whose Oscar-nominated performance in The Wrestler-- after some 15 years off-screen--is widely regarded as the year's greatest comeback. But acting has always been a second act for Rourke, whose first love was boxing. As a kid in Miami, Rourke boxed at the same gym that Muhammad Ali trained. At 17, he fought Luis Rodriguez, then the top-ranked middleweight in the world. By the time a concussion forced Rourke from the ring in 1971, he'd won 20 boxing matches--17 by knockout. Only later, on hiatus from boxing, did Rourke catch the acting bug, after stepping in for an actor in a friend's play.

In The Wrestler, Rourke plays Randy "The Ram" Robinson, an older wrestler groping for his comeback. The comparisons to his own life are clear and show audiences that sometimes the best comebacks aren't comebacks at all. They're second acts.

Woman's record-length fingernails broken in crash

A woman residing in USA's Salt Lake City who was in the Guinness Book of World Records for her long fingernails has had them broken off in a car accident. Lee Redmond sustained serious but non-life threatening injuries in the February 10 accident.

Redmond was the current Guinness record holder, with nails that hadn't been cut since 1979. Her nails measured a total of more than 28 feet long in 2008, with the longest nail on her right thumb at 2 feet, 11 inches, according to the Guinness Web site.

Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Don Hutson said she was ejected from an SUV in the crash and taken to the hospital in serious condition.

Redmond has been featured on TV in episodes of "Guinness Book of World Records" and "Ripley's Believe It or Not."

Each day's V-Day for Malaysia's 'odd couple'

KUALA LUMPUR: Each day of the last three years has been Valentine's Day for a Malaysian couple — she is aged 106 years while her husband is just 37.

When Muhammad Noor Che Musa and Wok Kundor tied the knot over three years ago, nobody gave their marriage much of a chance.

Now, the couple, who reside in Kampung Tok Bak near Kuala Terrenganu, have surprised many by staying happily married and proving that love conquers all, the New Straits Times said today.

The couple admitted they were not too familiar with Valentine's Day but said if it meant a day for professing love for one another, then every day of the past three years has been Valentine's for them.

Asked how it had all begun, Noor said it was certainly not love at first sight. What started as friendship developed into "something stronger" and eventually led to marriage.

54-year-old Japanese caught impersonating his 20-year-old son to take an exam

TOKYO: A 54-year-old Japanese was caught impersonating his 20-year-old son to take an exam, even getting a perm to make himself look younger, an official said on Wednesday (January 14th).

The father, who runs a medication distribution company, sat a test for a licence to handle over-the-counter drugs so that his son could work with him, said an official in Nara prefecture in western Japan.

An examiner noticed that the man looked unusually old, said local government official Masaaki Nakamori.

"A 20-year-old and a 54-year-old are aged differently. But he looked like the photo on the exam admission card," Nakamori said.

The father, whose name was not released, earned his own license last year, taking the exam with a photo showing him with straight hair and glasses.

"This time, he curled his hair and did not wear his glasses," Nakamori said.

The man put his face down intently near the desk as he took the exam, he said.

"When the test monitor approached him, he admitted it and apologised. He said, from the application process to actual testing, he did it all himself without telling his son," Nakamori said.

Shoplifter gets run over twice by her getaway car

CAPE CORAL, FLORIDA: Authorities are looking for a shoplifter who was run over twice by her getaway car after stealing $1,200 worth of designer purses from a Cape Coral store.

A T.J. Maxx security guard told police she saw a woman stuff six designer Dooney & Bourke purses into her pants Tuesday (January 13th) morning and walk out of the store. The guard said she was confronting the woman when a car pulled up.

A report said the shoplifter tried to get into the vehicle but fell out and was run over by the car. She then got up and jumped onto the hood of the car. As the car was driving away, the report said the woman fell off and was run over again. On her third attempt, she finally made it into the vehicle.

Police are using the car's license plate and a check the woman dropped to track her down.

Police use tobacco spit to nab burglar

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 December 19 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.

Stilwell police detective Chad Smith said he was investigating the burglary of an insurance company in September when he noticed a tobacco stain on papers in the ransacked office.

"None of the ladies that worked there chewed tobacco," Smith said. "You could tell that the stains were from the suspect."

Smith said he sent a sample of the spit to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for testing. Detectives in Tahlequah who were investigating Shoopman as a possible suspect in a string of burglaries obtained a warrant to get a DNA sample from him.

The sample linked him to at least five burglaries in which the suspect also left behind tobacco spit, Robertson said. Shoopman was released on bail before the DNA match was obtained.
The evidence helps build a strong case for prosecutors, said Shannon Otteson, assistant district attorney in Adair County.

"Eyewitness testimony is unreliable at best. Even video tape surveillance is sometimes grainy. But this is pretty good," Otteson said. "Through this guy's bad habit, we could possibly solve several different burglaries."

Oklahoma officials hoped to have Shoopman extradited from California soon to face charges, said Otteson.

A telephone message left on December 24 with Shoopman's attorney in Muskogee was not immediately returned.

Man held for stealing his own van

A Detroit motorist was stopped and handcuffed by police on suspicion of stealing what turned out to be his own van.

Bloomfield Township Police Chief Kirt Bowden said he witnessed the traffic stop on Monday from his office window and worried something was amiss when he noticed the van wasn't new and the driver appeared to be in his 70s.

WJBK-TV in Detroit reported the motorist recently had spotted the van he reported stolen and was told by Detroit police he could take it back.

Bowden said it appears the van still was listed as stolen in the Law Enforcement Information Network when the man was stopped by his officers about 15 miles northwest of Detroit.

A Detroit police spokesman said the department is looking into the incident.

Eatery makes you pay for food you waste

Your mother may have told you to clean your plate. Well, now one local restaurant is taking that a step further. They’re charging customers for food they don’t finish.

At Hayashi Ya restaurant in New York, it's all you can eat for $26.95, unless your eyes are bigger than your stomach and then — like the sign says - it will cost you 3% extra.

The manager said he implemented the extra cost two years ago to help with the restaurant’s bottom line.

Most bizarre complaints witnessed by travel agents

Travel agents are known for arranging proper traveling for people, but the complaints attended by them will make us witness the funny or
may be the sad side of their work.

Travel specialists from around the world have now compiled a list of the most bizarre complaints by travelers, who can go to any extent to get compensation.

One travel agent received a complaint from a tourist at a top African game lodge overlooking a waterhole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant and complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel "inadequate".

Another wacky complaint had a group of UFO-believers, who were holding a conference at a Novotel hotel, express their fears of being infiltrated by aliens because the locks on the meeting room doors had not been changed.

There was also a complaint filed by a guest at a Novotel in Australia who complained his soup was too thick and strong. He was inadvertently slurping the gravy at the time.

Another Aussie hotel was told by a football star that his hotel room overlooking Sydney's Manly beach was unsuitable because the sound of the sea kept him awake.

Other complaints included a panic-stricken dumb woman who called reception and angrily protested that she was locked in her room. Staff later discovered that the woman, who had never stayed in a hotel before, had read the "do not disturb" sign on the inside doorknob and assumed she should not open it.

According to one British travel company's survey, some travelers complained of not enjoying going away on holiday because foreigners "didn't want to speak English".

World record for stripping down to your underpants

More than a hundred people achieved a world record on November 13 by stripping down to their underpants in London's St Pancras station.

The 116 participants at St Pancras International Station, London, took the record for the largest gathering of people in only their underpants, reports Times Online.

The act was done to mark Guinness World Records Day, and the event was organised by Pants to Poverty.

Other record attempts included an effort in Fulwood, Lancashire, to make the world's largest cup of tea, complete with the biggest tea bag.

In Belfast, there was a precarious bid to set the record for the most people to run in high-heels.

World record sandwich? Iranians eat evidence...

Workers prepare the sandwich:

Iran failed on Friday to register what it said would be the world's largest sandwich in the Guinness book of World Records after people rushed forward and began eating it -- before it was measured.

Event organizers had planned to stuff the 1,500-meter-long sandwich with 700 kg of ostrich meat and 700 kg of chicken, and display it in a park in the capital Tehran.

But as the sandwich was being measured, chaos ensued. The giant snack was gone in minutes, a Reuters witness said, leaving the three Guinness representatives present with a dilemma.

One of the event's organizers said video footage of the sandwich would be sent to Guinness officials.

"We still think the sandwich will be recorded in the Guinness book because of all the evidence and footage that we will send them," Parvin Shariati said.

Man offers Lamborghini as part of deal to sell 1.1million pounds home

Room with a view no longer applies to home sellers, as a businessman who hopes to sell off his 1.1million-pound home offers to throw in his Lamborghini as part of the deal.

Internet tycoon Rick Hill, 30, hopes that his 152,000-pound car will attract prospective buyers, and help him sell off his luxurious six-bedroom house.

"It is a bit of a novelty but I am offering the ultimate lifestyle package. It's a dream home," the Daily Star quoted him as saying.

"I want to retire and am looking for a simpler life. I feel I have been there and done it with the big house and the cars.

"It is time to move on and let someone else enjoy them," he said.

The house in Hockley, near Southend, Essex, has a pool, gym and games rooms, conservatory and two bathrooms.

Big bums and felony don't mix!

A man in Germany prevented a bank from being looted by the same woman robber for the second time when he recognised her enormous bottom, and called the police.

Police officials in Norf have revealed that Sandra Meiser had fled with 28,000 dollars when she robbed the bank for the first time.

Witnesses at the time had suggested that the armed raider was a woman with "very large" backside, they say.

According to them, a 61-year-old man saw the same bottom as they stood in a queue at the same branch weeks later.

"He called the police and they arrested her and found her ski mask and handgun in her jacket. He said he recognised her bottom straight away - he'd never forget something that big," the Daily Telegraph quoted a worker as saying.

Meiser is facing up to 10 years in jail on robbery and firearms charges, while the witness has landed a 10,000-dollar reward.

Meet the toy-mad Brit who has a collection of two million Lego bricks!

A toy-mad Briton has the biggest-ever private collection of Lego toys - containing over two million bricks.

Darren Smith, 32, started collecting the colourful building blocks aged five when he was given a set by his parents as a Christmas present.

His childhood love for Lego has turned into an incredible collection of more than 2,000,000 bricks.

Smith has broken the previous British record held by Phil Traviss, 50, from Yarm in North Yorkshire, who has 500,000 pieces at his home.

Darren of Exeter, Devon and a data analyst by profession said that his favourites Lego figures are the Star Wars characters - particularly C3PO and Darth Vadar.

"I love all Lego but I'm obsessed with the Star Wars stuff. To this day my favourite piece is a gold C3PO limited edition which I keep in a safe place," Telegraph quoted Darren, as saying.

His collection includes over 2,000 sets of pirates, police, cowboys, astronauts, Vikings and super heroes such as Indiana Jones, Spiderman and Batman.

He also has Lego cars, bikes, helicopters, trains, dinosaurs, robots, fire stations, footballers, aliens, Harry Potter and farm animals.

Darren keeps his 50,000 pounds collection in his three-bed home, that fills large garage and a specially converted loft.

"'I love Lego - the colours and the shapes are timeless. Some people might think it's sad but everyone wants to see the collection," he said.

Darren received his first set in 1981 but admits he only went public with his huge collection aged 27 when he joined a club for AFOLs - adult fans of Lego.

"When I was five my parents gave a me a Lego town and I loved it straight away. I was fascinated. As I got older I used to be a bit coy about it but when I turned 27, I joined the Brickish Association, which is a club for adults.

"It was great because I realised I wasn't the only adult in the country who was mad about Lego," he added.

Darren said that he has spent up to 50,000 pounds on Lego but he keeps the cost of his hobby down by scouring jumble and car boot sales for cheap sets.

As well as individual characters and bricks he now builds large models including a 5ft Lego Winnie the Pooh and a 3ft Piglet.

He has started to display many of his creations at exhibitions across the country and is currently working on a major show to be held in Swindon, Wilts.

Gypsy predicted Brit couple's 4mln Pounds lottery win!

A British couple in England have clinched an over four-million-pound lottery win following the prediction by a gypsy.

Gary and Ann Henry of Coronation, near Bishop Auckland, said that an old lady claiming to be a gypsy had come to their roadside burger bar, and predicted the imminent win.

"It was about two weeks ago and it was a horrible wet day. This little old lady, who looked as though she was aged in her 70s came into the bar. She told me some things about my family that were spot on. She also said I was going to have a win on the lottery," the Telegraph quoted Ann, 50, as saying.

"She said she could see the number four but didn't know how many noughts were after it. She said it was maybe 4,000 pounds. She said she was a true gypsy and that she would be back in the area around Christmas time to see if it had come true.

"She said a lot of people claim to be gypsies but that she really was. I do believe in things like this but I didn't really think much of it. We always play the lottery anyway, it wasn't as if I rushed out to buy a ticket," Ann added.

The win, however, turned out to be bitter sweet for the couple, for Henry's brother Jeff Smith lost his life to liver cancer on the same day as they won the lottery.

Husband Gary, 47, a Lib Dem councillor with Wear Valley District Council, said: "There were mixed emotions because just that morning Jeff died. We felt a little bit guilty that we wanted to celebrate in the circumstances."

He revealed: "The main thing I want to do with the money is to build my own house. We will both be cutting back on working and one of my sons and one of Ann's will look after the snack bar."

The Lady's manor in Britain that was turned into a brothel!

A Brit couple, claiming to help people with sex life 'problems', secretly ran a porn club at their cottage on an aristocrat's estate.

The film starred Louise Loder, 30, having sex with a variety of men and she ran the Cleopatra Club with partner Stephen Warr, 51 - charging members a monthly rate.

They also fitted out the cottage with a pole-dancing stage and cubicles.

Now, Lady Charlotte Townshend is asking the tenants to leave after learning orgies were filmed in the cottage.

Managers of the 15,000-acre Melbury Estate in Dorset have got a court order to evict the couple and their two kids.

"Lady Charlotte thinks we're disgusting. But we did nothing illegal. She's a snob," the Sun quoted Louise, as saying.

Hotel guest slapped with 5,700 pounds bill for 27-hour sex hotline chat!

A London hotel guest raked up a whopping bill of 5,700 pounds - after spending 27 hours on a premium sex hotline.

Anthony M, 22, however, could not pay his bill after checking out of the hotel.

According to the police, he is the same man wanted in Hannover since February, where he checked into a local hotel and "forgot" to pay the bill upon leaving.

However, Anthony, from Leverkusen, said he couldn't keep track of time while on phone.

"I was sitting in my hotel at night and suddenly became horny, so I called a sex hotline. I did not keep track of time, it was like a movie. I just kept going," the Sun quoted him, as saying.

And after the hotel workers came to know about the horrific bill, they came to Anthony's door seeking an explanation.

"They said I have good stamina," he explained proudly.

Later, he was also quizzed by police, but Anthony's lawyer Burkhard Benecken blamed the hotel.

"The hotel exhibited substantial negligence. If you do not limit guests from accessing high-cost sex hotlines, then you are being careless and should be responsible for any damages," he said.

Meet the world's meanest boyfriend!

A German man was so tight-fisted that he left his girlfriend to cool her heels in the prison, just because he didn't want to pay a fine of just 390 dollars.

Magdalena Czerwinska called beau Max Schuster for help when she was sentenced to 15 days in prison for theft and had pay a fine to walk free.

But, Schuster refused to pay the measly sum saying he would rather save the 390 dollars for himself.

"He said he didn't feel like coming to pay the fine and so she is still stuck in jail," News.com.au quoted a police spokesman in Wanne-Eickel, as saying.

The spokesman added: "People are very worried in the current economic climate and they have to make whatever savings they can. He saw not paying the fine as a simple saving."

11month baby girl helps unconscious mum by answering cell phone!

Eleven-month-old British baby girl Amelia Boyle might not be old enough understand what cellular phones are meant for, but she recently helped raise the alarm that her mother had collapsed unconscious by using a mobile.

Millie, as the baby is lovingly called, picked up the ringing mobile and answered the call when her mother Elizabeth, 20, fainted in the hall of their home.

The dialler was Millie's grandmother Linda Wright, who knew that the baby was not allowed to play with the cell phone.

She immediately understood that something wrong might have happened with Elizabeth, who has a history of fainting and fitting, and dialled 999.

Elizabeth woke up in her home in Braintree, Essex, to hear police and ambulance crews at her door.

Though she told the police that had not called them, the officers broke down the door to get in and help.

A few minutes later three paramedics arrived to examine her, but she did not need hospital treatment.

"I went upstairs to get Millie some clothes. I came downstairs again and I was going to get her dressed up as normal. She was crawling around playing with some toys when I suddenly fainted between the hallway and the living room blocking the stairway," the Telegraph quoted Elizabeth as saying.

"My mum phoned me back on the home phone and when she didn't get through, she tried on the mobile, then the home phone again.

"I am so lucky to have Millie.

"Millie does not seem to be fazed by it. She must have watched me open the phone - she is not usually allowed to play with it because she tends to stick it in her mouth.

"She is a very clever little girl. I was proud of her anyway but now she is even more special," she added.

Her mother said: "If Millie hadn't answered the phone, I wouldn't have known what had happened."

Indian woman, 55, delivers quadruplets

A 55-year-old Indian woman, who conceived through artificial insemination in her country, has delivered two-months premature quadruplets in Italy.

The woman, who has lived in Suzzara in Italy for 15 years, has given birth to four boys last week in the Italian city of Mantua, "La Gazzetta di Mantova" newspaper reported last week.

The babies were weighing between 750 and 980 grammes and are in incubators at the hospital but are doing well, the report said.

"We have been waiting for this moment for 15 years," the babies' 38-year-old father Pabla Maghar Singh, who is a metal worker, said.

"We are really very happy," he said. The babies have been named Manav, Manmeet, Roshan and Radveer.

The doctors of the hospital, where the babies were delivered, said the last case of this kind in their hospital goes back about thirty years ago.

Dog guards owner's body for six weeks

A German shepherd dog stayed by the body of its owner for six weeks after he committed suicide in remote grasslands in Colorado, The Denver Post has reported.

The loyal dog, named Cash, survived by eating mice and rabbits, and apart from being dehydrated and skinny, was found to be in good shape, the report has said.

The dog, still guarding her owner Jake Baysinger, 25, was found last Sunday by a rancher checking his cattle. Baysinger went missing June 28 and is now believed to have shot himself in the head the day he left.

The report quoted investigators as saying that the dog probably kept coyotes from eating her owner's body.

"She's been such a good dog. I knew that if she was there, she was doing her best to take care of Jake," said Baysinger's wife, Sara Baysinger.

The family credits Cash for helping authorities find the missing man and helping to bring closure to the family.

"At least we know it's over now. We'd been looking for my husband for six weeks, and this isn't how we wanted it to end, at least we can close this," Sara Baysinger said.

"It was a relief to know that there's an end and that we still have a part of Jake."

Man faces jail for having sex with sleeping wife!

London, Aug 5 (ANI): A Brit man has been arrested for having sex with his wife - while she was asleep.

The 28-year-old was taken into custody after his wife claimed that she had woken 30 times in the past year to find him making love, reports the Sun.

The wife has accused him of taking advantage of the fact that she is a very heavy sleeper.

She told the cops that she confronted her husband several times, telling him that she felt like she was being raped.

The man has reportedly admitted having sex and taking nude photos of her while she slept in Fort Collins, Colorado. (ANI)

English 'Lord' puts life up for sale on eBay

An eccentric British millionaire has put his entire life up for sale on the Internet - including his title of Lord of the Manor of Warleigh - in the hope of converting his assets into cash.

David Piper, a hotelier who made headlines six years ago after advertising for a wife to become his "lady of the manor", wants to sell his west of England existence on the auction site eBay and move to London to be closer to his children.

He is selling two hotels, two Bentleys, a collection of paintings and his title of Lord of the Manor - which he bought along with a large estate for one million pounds ($2 million).

"This sale is brought about as the present lord has been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer," the advertisement for the sale explains.

"For sale as a whole or in part... can include David, the existing eccentric lord of the manor, physically as well to a suitable purchaser."

Piper, who is well known in his hometown of Plymouth for his antics, is hoping to raise up to 4 million pounds, although he estimates that the total value of the estates was as much as 6 million before property prices fell.

More than 100 bids have been received so far, with the current offer standing at 1.3 million pounds. Bidding closes on August 11.

Piper's move follows that of Ian Usher, a British-born man living in Perth, Australia who earlier this year auctioned off all his worldly goods, including his home. He ended up raising much less than he had hoped - barely making $380,000.

Piper's attempt six years ago to find a bride ended in minor disaster.

More than 2,000 young women answered his advertisement in the International Herald Tribune newspaper and he chose a 32-year-old American divorcee to try out to be his lady. She arrived with her two young children, but fled the manor after only a few days, unable to go through with the union.

As part of his new venture, Piper said he was offering to introduce whoever purchased his life to some of the women whose applications he turned down.

Cat's yowling saves owner from fire

INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI: A 97-year-old woman says her cat's early morning yowling saved her from a house fire.

Grace George, of Independence, said her cat Boo Boo's yowling from an open bedroom window early morning on July 30th woke her up from a sound sleep.

``I got so aggravated,'' George said. ``I didn't know why she was doing that.''

George picked up the black and gold brindle, a stray she had taken in about 15 years earlier, and felt her way through the dark house until she reached the kitchen.

It was just 4 a.m., and she wanted more sleep. So she started to put the cat outside.

Then she smelled smoke. ``I knew I had to get out of the house,'' said George, seated Thursday on a sofa in her daughter's house, just down the block.

George ran toward the street in the rain, and flagged down the third car she saw.

``Thank God it was a lady,'' she said. ``All I had on was bikini underwear and a tank top.''

Firefighters got Boo Boo out of the house safely and administered oxygen.

For now, George and her heroic cat are staying with George's daughter.

George told her daughter, ``I'm going to get her a special treat, a can of salmon. That's $2.''

``No,'' Patty Young said. ``It's up to five.'' The Independence Fire Department believes lightning caused the fire.

Israeli parents forget daughter at airport...

An Israeli couple going on a European vacation remembered to take their duty-free shopping and their 18 suitcases, but forgot their 3-year-old daughter at the airport, police said on August 4.

The couple and their five children were late for a charter flight to Paris on Sunday and made a mad dash to the gate. In the confusion, their daughter got lost.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a policeman found her wandering in the duty-free area at Ben-Gurion airport, Israel's bustling main international air portal. He said the officer alerted airline staff, but the flight had already taken off.

Israeli media said the parents were an ultra-Orthodox Jewish couple but did not give their names.

Rosenfeld said the parents were unaware they had boarded the aircraft with only four children instead of five until they were informed by cabin staff after 40 minutes in the air.

The child, accompanied by an airline staffer, took the next flight to Paris where she was safely reunited with her parents.

Rosenfeld said police would question the couple when they return from vacation, on suspicion of parental negligence.

Naked war breaks out between Germany and Poland

Decades after the Second World War, the Germans and Poles are at war again. This time, it's a “naked” battle.

A resort shared by Germany and Poland has sparked a row between citizens of the two countries after Polish sunbathers objected to Germans stripping off on the famous Usedom beach.

While Germans love nothing more than letting it all hang out in the sunshine, it's the opposite for the Poles who prefer to cover up and keep their modesty.

According to leading German website BILD.com , the liberal Germans are outraged by their Polish neighbours and their conservative ways. They have vowed to hang on to their freedom by simply refusing to cover up any of their white bits.

“It's a nudist beach. It's terrible that the Poles come overdressed and stare,” British newspaper Daily Star quoted 44-year-old German Elke Bernholz as telling the popular portal.

Added fellow German Ines Mller: “You feel like an ape in a zoo. The Poles come with their binoculars, stare and swear.”

But, Poles think that the proud Germans have no shame. “It's horrible. We would never bathe naked. We are Catholic,” said 28-year-old Anja, a resident of Poland.

However, authorities hope to put an end to the saucy war by displaying signs in both languages clearly explaining which areas are naked and which are not.

Love candles set hotel ablaze

A Taiwanese man's show of love for his girlfriend backfired, well, literally, after an arrangement of candles reading I Love You started a blaze in a hotel.

The couple found their room aflame when they walked in 40 minutes after the man called Lin had set the candles alight, according to local media reports.

"Lin was arrested later and brought to trial," the China Post newspaper said. He was charged with endangering public safety.

Lin, a frozen-food deliveryman, agreed to pay the suburban Taipei hotel T$120,000 ($35,400) for damage caused by the blaze on May 31, media reported.

A county prosecutor later suspended the indictment in exchange for an apology letter and a donation of T$30,000 to a family and children fund, media and a county spokesman said.

Japanese woman wins over thief with tea

A Japanese woman and her six-month-old baby escaped unhurt from a knife-wielding thief this week after the mother calmed him down with a cup of tea and a chat.

The 30-year-old Tokyo woman was walking along a corridor in her apartment building with her daughter on Monday when a man brandishing a knife demanded money, a newspaper report said.

When the housewife told him she had none, the man barged into her apartment.

Hoping to calm him, the woman made the thief a cup of tea, whereupon he put his knife away and began a 20-minute monologue about his life.

The woman then gave the man 10,000 yen ($93.34) and ran outside to call the police from a pay phone, the report said.

Police rushed to the scene, but the thief had fled and is still being sought.

Woman passes driving test after 27 years and 450 lessons

A 62-year-old woman has finally passed her driving test - 27 years after her first lesson.

Teresa Clarke, of Wroxham, Norfolk, UK, spent 15,000 pound in fees, had 450 hours of tuition from 20 instructors and failed 12 previous tests and cancelled a further 35 and had 50 mock exams.

She had her first lesson in 1981 shortly before American president Ronald Reagan was shot and Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer.

However, Clarke was lucky for the 13th time, thanks to the help of her stepson, who runs a driving school, she finally was allowed to ditch her L-plates last month.

"It took a long time for it to sink in when I was told I had passed. I was so happy I kissed the woman instructor," the Telegraph quoted her, as saying.

Clarke, a former shop assistant who is 5ft tall and has to sit on a cushion to reach the steering wheel, has admitted that she was a hopeless learner because she found it very difficult to concentrate for long period of time.

She was such a disaster that many instructors refused to carry on teaching her after a few lessons - either too scared or too frustrated to continue.

However, then Richard Minkler, her stepson from her first marriage, stepped in and offered her his best instructor.

She was given 56 hours instruction in a two week intensive course and told to give up coffee and tea to aid her concentration.

"I was little upset after I failed my first couple of tests - but I never really got disheartened," she said.

"I was very persistent and I always knew I would pass one day. Now my dream has come true and I am just delighted.

"I used to fail my tests on all sorts of different things although my main problem was my lack of concentration.

"I used to have at least three cups of strong Italian coffee every day and when I stopped it really improved my driving by helping me to concentrate."

"My previous one three years ago ended up refusing to teach me anymore after I failed my test with him.

"He just said, 'I am awfully sorry, but you are no good. You will never pass'. His comments upset me and I am delighted to have proved him wrong," she added.

A gathering of Elizabeths

The world's most famous Elizabeth didn't show, but about 400 others did.

The northern Illinois community of Elizabeth tried, on June 28, to set a world record for the largest Gathering of Elizabeths. Women with Elizabeth in any part of their name were allowed in; one participant has Elizabeth as a last name.

The event drew women from more than 20 US states. Those participating had to show a copy of a birth certificate or driver's license.

"We did invite Queen Elizabeth II, but she politely declined," said Susan Gordy, who helped organize the event.

Elizabeth Taylor was also invited but did not reply, Gordy said. The event was designed to celebrate the community and honor famous Elizabeths, including one of the women for whom the community of about 700 people was named.

In 1832, Elizabeth Armstrong, one of at least three Elizabeths living in the Apple River Fort settlement, played a prominent role in defending the community during an attack in the Black Hawk War, a battle between Native Americans and settlers for land in the area, according to Gordy, who works at the Apple River Fort Historic Site.

Armstrong and the other Elizabeths were praised for their courage and honored in the naming of the town, Gordy said.

Gordy said the community plans to submit an application to Guinness World Records.

Laughing over comedy show lands man in jail

A man who fell off the sofa while laughing too hard at a comedian on TV had to spend a night naked in a cell.

Chris Cocker from Blackburn, Australia, laughed so hard while watching a BBC TV's Have I Got News For You that he fell off the sofa, but the thud vexed a neighbour, who in turn called the police.

"I fell off the settee in hysterics and hit the floor and got myself up and started carrying on watching the telly and the next thing I know there was a knock on the door," Brisbane Times quoted Cocker, as telling BBC.

It was the police, but Mr Cocker was not happy to see them and refused to co-operate.

"The bit where I lost it the most was when I shut the door and the policeman had stuck his foot in the doorway and was refusing to let me shut my own front door," he added.

The police was forced to pepper-sprayed Cocker, bundled him into a police van and take him to a police station where he said he was stripped naked and made to spend a night in a jail cell

However, Lancashire Police said the officers used the pepper spray after fearing for their safety when Mr Cocker became aggressive.

Friday 13th safer than an average Friday

Unlucky for some?

Dutch statisticians have established that Friday 13th, a date regarded in many countries as inauspicious, is actually safer than an average Friday.

A study published on Thursday by the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) showed that fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays. “I find it hard to believe that it is because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home, but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th,” CVS statistician Alex Hoen said.

In the last two years, Dutch insurers received reports of an average 7,800 traffic accidents each Friday, the CVS study said. But the average figure when the 13th fell on a Friday was just 7,500.

Vandals taught a lesson...with verse

Call it poetic justice: More than two dozen young people who broke into Robert Frost's former home for a beer party and trashed the place are being required to take classes in his poetry as part of their punishment.

Using ‘The Road Not Taken' and another poem as jumping-off points, Frost biographer Jay Parini hopes to show the vandals error of their ways — and redemptive power of poetry.

"I guess I was thinking that if these teens had a better understanding of who Robert Frost was and his contribution to our society, that they would be more respectful of other people's property in the future and would also learn something from the experience," said prosecutor John Quinn.

The vandalism occurred at the Homer Noble farm in Ripton, Vermont, US, where Frost spent more than 20 summers before his death in 1963. Now owned by Middlebury College, the unheated farmhouse on a dead-end road is used occasionally by the college and is open in the warmer months.

On December 28, a 17-year-old former Middlebury College employee decided to hold a party and gave a friend $100 to buy beer. Word spread. Up to 50 people descended on the farm, the revelry turning destructive after a chair broke and someone threw it into the fireplace.

When it was over, windows, antique furniture and china had been broken, fire extinguishers discharged, and carpeting soiled with vomit and urine. Empty beer cans and drug paraphernalia were left behind. The damage was put at $10,600.

Twenty-eight people were charged, mostly with trespassing. About 25 entered pleas — or were accepted into a program to wipe their records clean — provided they underwent the Frost instruction.

Chinese cabbie helps thief rob own home...

A Chinese cabbie unwittingly became the getaway car driver for a thief who robbed his own home.

Shen, of Huainan city, picked up the passenger at a bus stop at around 3 am and helped him load the things he was carrying into the boot of the cab.

That was when he noticed the man also had in his possession a fish without a tail - just like the one waiting in the freezer at Shen's home, reports the Daily Telegraph.

"I noticed he had a fish without a tail, and I thought how much it looked like the fish in my freezer at home. But then I laughed at myself for even having the thought," he said.

He put it down to freaky coincidence.

However, when he returned home, he was not prepared for the sight waiting for him.

He revealed that he had found his house broken into and his possessions - including the tail-less fish - missing.

Police later arrested a 56-year-old man who faces charges of burglary and theft.

A homeless woman sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year...

A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.

Police found the 58-year-old woman on Thursday, May 29th, hiding in the top compartment of the man's closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said yesterday.

The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.

One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.

"We searched the house ... checking everywhere someone could possibly hide," Itakura said. "When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side."

The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.

She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman "neat and clean."

Thief crawls through mail flap

A thief broke into the headquarters of Austria's ruling political party last month by wriggling through a post flap in the front door.

The burglar squeezed through the 35x35cm hole early on April 17th and stole laptops, mobile phones, notebooks and cash before crawling out, Catherina Straub, spokeswoman for the Social Democrats, said. "It is such a tiny door for post and newspapers, he must have obviously been extremely small," she said, adding that the culprit had not been caught.

She said it was unlikely the robbery was politically motivated and that the data stolen was not sensitive.

Nagging really does wonders on men

Women who think that they are wasting their time and energy nagging their husbands should reassess their opinion, for a new study has found that nagging does work on men.

The study by US researchers found that the mental fatigue generated by a continuous stream of questions or orders leaves men susceptible to persuasion.

In other words, the researchers say, it leaves most males too tired to oppose.

In one experiment, the researchers tried to convince a group of students to sanction one month's summer holiday rather than three.

Half the students came to the study fresh, while the other half given a mentally-draining task ahead of time were more willing to sacrifice two months of holiday, the researchers found.

The team says that other tips to win over your man include not wavering when making your pitch ums and ahs sound less convincing not giving too many choices and meeting face to face.

Moreover, flattery and mirroring the body language of the person being persuaded also helps in convincing the person.

"Avoid engaging in argument or doing battle with sales people when your mental batteries are low. Or, if you are trying to be persuasive, strike when your target is low on mental energy," New Scientist quoted the researchers, as saying.

Drivers fined for slow-drive

China opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge last week aiming to cut travel time between two major ports, but hundreds of drivers have been fined already for, unexpectedly, driving too slow to enjoy the view.

The 36-km (22.4 miles) structure spans Hangzhou Bay in the booming province of Zhejiang, designed to slash travel time between its port city of Ningbo and the financial hub Shanghai from four hours to two and a half.

But since its opening on May 1, police have fined more than 300 drivers, most for driving too slowly or illegal parking on the emergency lanes while enjoying the ocean view and taking photos, local media reported on Monday.

"I just wanted to drive a bit slowly and enjoy the sea breeze. Is that wrong?" Zhejiang's official news portal (www.zjol.com.cn) quoted an unnamed driver as complaining.

Long lines of cars carrying whole families eager to see the bridge and sea vista have caused serious traffic problems and led to a series of accidents, the news portal said.

300-pound jail inmate complains being ill-fed

BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS: An inmate awaiting trial on a murder charge is suing the county, complaining he has lost more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms) because of the jailhouse menu.

Broderick Lloyd Laswell says he isn't happy that he's down to 308 pounds (140 kilograms) after eight months in the Benton County jail. He has filed a federal lawsuit complaining the jail doesn't provide inmates with enough food.

According to the suit, Laswell weighed 413 pounds (187 kilograms) when he was jailed in September. Police say he and a co-defendant fatally beat and stabbed a man, then set his home on fire.

"On several occasions I have started to do some exercising and my vision went blurry and I felt like I was going to pass out," Laswell wrote in his complaint. "About an hour after each meal my stomach starts to hurt and growl. I feel hungry again."

But Laswell then goes on to complain that he undertakes little vigorous activity.

"If we are in a small pod all day (and) do next to nothing for physical exercise, we should not lose weight," the suit says. "The only reason we lost weight in here is because we are literally being starved to death."

The suit also asks that the county be ordered to serve hot meals. The jail has served only cold food for years.

The meals, provided through Aramark Correctional Institution Services, average 3,000 calories a day, jail Capt. Hunter Petray told The Morning News of northwest Arkansas for a story last week.

A typical Western diet consists of 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day. Laswell's suit was filed without a lawyer in US District Court in Fayetteville.

When diamonds become girls' worst friends

Diamonds may be forever. But what's a girl to do when she gets dumped or divorced and those rings, necklaces and love gifts lose their emotional sparkle?

Help is just a click away on new Web sites that provide an outlet for selling jewelry from past relationships, sharing break-up stories and helping broken hearts heal.

"You go through a divorce. What do you do with that ring? Maybe you have a child you can pass it on to. Maybe you don't. It just sits there," said Marie Perry of Los Angeles, who with her stepdaughter Megahn Perry runs such a website.

"We wanted to create a platform in the community where people can get in contact with others with similar needs," Perry told. Three months after its launch with the slogan "You Don't Want It. He Can't Have It Back," the Web site has 3,000 registered users and more than 600 postings of rings, bracelets and earrings for sale -- all with a personal tale attached.

"Studs from a Dud," rites one woman, selling a pair of cubic zirconia earrings given to her three years ago. Six months later, she says, the boyfriend dumped her over the phone -- while she was recovering from brain surgery.

"Oops," writes another, selling a white gold wedding band. "Hey, Mom and Dad, remember that time I got married really young? Sorry about that. I can't pay you back for the wedding, but I'll split whatever I get for these with you. Deal?"

"We wanted to keep the tone fun and tongue in cheek. There are some bitter women but most stories are really light-hearted although a few are about people who have been in an abusive situation. But now they are ready to move on," said Perry.

The idea was born when Megahn Perry, a Los Angeles actress and writer, was looking for a safe, reliable place to sell a wedding set after an amicable divorce and realised others might have boyfriend jewelry languishing in drawers or with attendant memories that make them too painful to wear.

The local pawn shop proved an unattractive option. So she teamed up with her stepmother Marie, researched the market and found a gap in it. New Orleans students, Allison Wasserman and Elizabeth Rothbeind, set up a similar venture in April after a teary afternoon sorting out photographs, jewelry and other mementos of an ex-boyfriend.

With the motto "Don't Get Mad - Break Even," it offers independent appraisals of jewelry, matches buyers with sellers, and provides a social network.

Although aimed at women, the Web sites welcome men. "Some men thought it was going to be another male-bashing site but that's not what we're trying to do," said Perry. But she admits the "He Can't Have It Back" slogan has rankled some who believe jewelry should be returned to the giver.

"Etiquette says that if the engagement is broken off, you should absolutely give the ring back. But sometimes the man says no, and sometimes it depends on circumstances," she said.

As one woman posting a diamond ring for $3,500 wrote: "Beautiful ring came with the wrong man. Decided to sell to regain the money that I spent finishing payments on the ring that my ex didn't."

US woman uploads divorce rant to YouTube...

YouTube sure has entered people's lives in a 'big' way - a woman has uploaded her divorce rant to the video-sharing website, making it the world's first YouTube divorce writ to millions of people.

The video, by New York's sometime actor and playwright Tricia Walsh-Smith, 52, has attracted 2.9 million viewers and offers to appear on US TV shows such as Today and The View.

The video, in which Walsh-Smith shows tearful ranting about her sexless marriage to a man 24 years her senior, attracted more than 7000 comments on YouTube, which were almost all scathing.

Many comments criticize her as a narcissistic gold-digger who has given her husband ample grounds for divorce.

Her emotional and tearful six-minute rant was apparently recorded in a fit of pique in an attempt to humiliate her estranged husband, Broadway producer Philip Smith.

"We never had sex. He said it was because he had high blood pressure," News.com.au quoted her, as stating.

"Then last year I found Viagra, porn movies and condoms," she added.

She complains bitterly that her husband plans to leave his 64 million dollars fortune to his adult daughters and that he wants to evict her from their nine-room Manhattan apartment.

"I am an idiot, I am the biggest f...ing idiot in the world," she cried.

Walsh-Smith found "a girl with a camera" in the phone book and taped the YouTube monologue after being served with an eviction notice.

"I decided that if I was going to go down, I'd go down screaming," she said.

Cross-dressing maids add spice to Tokyo cafes

"Welcome home, Master," a group of French maids sings out, bowing deeply to a customer entering their maid cafe.

This could be any of the dozens of maid cafes dotting Tokyo's Akihabara district, where geeks engage in role-play with girls dressed as French maids. But don't be fooled by the frilly pinafores: all of the maids here are men.

In this novelty-hungry market catering to Japan's free-spending computer and comic book fans, cafe owners are coming up with ever more exotic formulas to satisfy booming demand.

"I do this for a change since I have an ordinary job," Miyuu Kurusu, one of the cross-dressing maids working at the cafe, said. "I love talking to people, enjoy wearing cute costumes and get a kick out of it when people tell me I'm pretty."

It all started when the manager of "Hibari Tei" cafe, named after a bird, asked a few cross-dressing men to fill in for women working at a different maid cafe. To his surprise, no customer found out they were being served by a male waiter.

Maid cafes generally do not offer sexual services. Customers order typical cafe fare as coffee, tea and sandwiches, served by girlish maids.

Maid cafes first emerged in Akihabara some six years ago. They have grown into a booming business and are a core part of the Japanese "otaku" or "nerd" industry believed to be worth nearly $2 billion.

A jumbo 'brake'

Need to halt an unruly elephant. Apply the 'brake'.

That's what a smalltown innovator in Kerala province of India has come out with: a metallic 'brake' to halt unruly elephants, which the mahout (elephant keeper) can apply sitting atop the jumbo to stop the animal from running amok.

Bhaskaran, who designed the elephantine brake, claims that the device could rein in even the mightiest of tuskers but elephant experts are sceptical of its efficacy.

The device consists of an iron lock to be put on the forelimbs of the animal with a cable linked to it which can be used as a lever by the mahout when necessary.

The device will not be a hitch for the jumbos to move freely in normal circumstances, Bhaskaran claimed.

A furniture shop supervisor in Vadakkancherry, Kerala, Bhasksaran said he was prompted to work on the device following reports of increasing cases of elephant violence in Kerala, especially during the temple festival season in summer.

Though he had written to India's Ahmedabad-based National Innovation Foundation about his invention, he was asked to first get the device approved by recognised veterinarians in the state.

On contacting some vets, they found some flaws in the device, which Bhaskaran is now trying to improve to make it suitable for all types of jumbos.