Miss England gives up crown over brawl reports...

Reuters

Fri Nov 6, 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - Beauty pageant winner Miss England gave up her title on Friday after reports she had been involved in a nightclub brawl with another beauty queen.

Rachel Christie, niece of former British Olympic gold medal sprinter Linford Christie, was arrested earlier this week after allegedly getting into a fight with Miss Manchester, Sara Jones, at a club in the northern English city, newspapers reported.

Christie, who had become the first black winner of the title in July, was accused of punching Jones in a row over her boyfriend who appears on the TV show "Gladiators," the papers said.

"Due to the media attention following the allegations against her, Rachel Christie has now decided to withdraw from the Miss World competition and relinquish her Miss England crown," the pageant organizers said in a statement on the Miss England website.

"Rachel will concentrate on clearing her name and focus on training for the 2012 Olympics until this case is resolved."

Christie says she wants to emulate her uncle and win gold at the 2012 Olympics in London in the heptathlon.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

Giant snake capture was a hoax?

Thu Nov 5, 2009 MIAMI (Reuters) - A man who caught a 14-foot (4.2-meter) python in a Florida drain pipe was charged with perpetrating a hoax after wildlife officers discovered he owned the snake and put it in the pipe in order to stage the capture.

Justin Matthews, a professional animal trapper, later admitted that he had "staged the event to call attention to a growing problem of irresponsible pet ownership," the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said on Thursday.

Matthews was charged with misusing the 911 emergency system and maintaining captive wildlife in an unsafe manner.

He summoned news media to witness the snake's capture from the drain in the city of Bradenton in July, telling them that he was performing a public service because it threatened nearby school children. He said neighbors had reported seeing the large snake in the area over several months.
Matthews, 47, had actually bought the Burmese python from a licensed reptile dealer a month earlier and illegally let it go in the drain, then called 911 to request emergency help, wildlife investigators said.

Footage of the capture was widely televised in Florida, where Burmese pythons and other non-native snakes have bred rapidly in the Everglades after being released into the wild by pet owners. The snakes are considered a threat to native species, and the state has allowed hunters to trap them.

(Reporting by Jane Sutton, Editing by Sandra Maler)

Marilyn Monroe crypt auction fails again...

<---The crypt of Marilyn Monroe is pictured at the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park cemetery in Westwood, California August 17, 2009. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Mon Nov 2, 2009 "LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A second attempt to sell a crypt on top of Marilyn Monroe's final resting place has failed, with not a single bid received for the burial spot in a celebrity-filled Los Angeles cemetery.

Widow Elsie Poncher is trying to sell her husband's crypt to pay off the mortgage on her Beverly Hills home. On selling the crypt, Poncher had planned to move her husband, who died in 1986, to an adjacent crypt intended for her.

But a $4.6 million bid submitted through online auctioneer eBay Inc in August fell through when the unidentified bidder pulled out.

A second auction on eBay with a reserve price of $500,000 also failed, with a notice on the online trading website saying it had closed with no bids on the marble mausoleum where Monroe was laid to rest in 1962.

The crypt is located at the Westwood Village Memorial Park cemetery, home to celebrities including Dean Martin, James Coburn, Roy Orbison, Truman Capote, Natalie Wood, Carl Wilson, Minnie Riperton and recent arrival Farrah Fawcett.

The space next to Monroe's vault was sold in 1992 to the publisher of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner, for $75,000.

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Somerset | Blog sparks mass council walkout

BBC NEWS UK

Thursday, 29 October 2009. Councillors in a rural town have staged a mass walkout after becoming fed up with criticism from a blogger. Anthony Canvin began the walkout

Ex-vice chairman Anthony Canvin said 11 of Somerton Town Council's 15 members resigned at a meeting on Tuesday.

On his Muck&Brass blog Niall Connolly called members "jackasses" and said a leaflet was "like a Nazi call to arms".

However, Mr Connolly rejected the idea that the councillors had resigned as a result of his blog, having attended the meeting himself on Tuesday.

He added that he had been trying to "bring attention to the local problems in Somerton concerning Somerton Town Council."

The council will have to hold new elections as there are now too few councillors to make official decisions.

'Ethnic cleansing'

Mr Connolly began his blog in 2006.

In one entry, he writes that a council pamphlet entitled 'Good Citizens' and regarding voting rights "reads more like a Nazi call to arms or an invitation to ethnic cleansing."

In another, he complains "clown" councillors have ignored democracy and behave as though they had "only just discovered the word".

He goes on: "And now, as Somerton starts to find a voice, you bunch of jackasses start to whisper the 'D' word."

South Somerset District Council will have to arrange new elections.

In response to the resignations, businessman Mr Canvin, 61, said: "I'm not going to tolerate it when I'm working for the town.

"I started it. I said 'I've had enough' and handed in my resignation."

A motion was then proposed that members leave due to "impossible working conditions", leading to 11 resignations with another walking out in sympathy, and one more on holiday.

That left just two councillors remaining, not enough for the one third quorum required.

Russian road roulette?

Reuters

Thu Oct 29, 2009 SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian prosecutors are investigating a new gambling game in which drivers defy death by speeding through red lights for bets of up to 5,000 euros ($7,400), the chief prosecutor's office said Thursday.

Known as 'Russian road roulette', the driver must jump red lights at busy intersections at high speed and not crash into any other cars or pedestrians, according to local media reports. Onlookers also gamble on the result.

Prosecutors launched their investigation after media reported the new game had been held at night at busy crossroads in Sofia since the summer.

In June, two people died after a motorcyclist crashed into an onlooker at a similar rally on Sofia's ring road.

"Every time we receive a signal for such an unregulated race, we send patrols," Commissioner Vanio Stoevski, head of the Sofia Road Police, told Reuters. Since the deaths in June, police have monitored roads where such races are typically held.

Local media report that participants in the 'Russian road roulette' are informed via text messages of the venue for that particular night -- depending on the presence of police.

(Reporting by Irina Ivanova; editing by Erik Kirschbaum)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

Jews who survived wartime Europe have more cancer | Health | Reuters

Health Reuters

Mon Oct 26, 2009 Stephen Hursting and Michele Forman, U.S. researchers at the University of Texas who wrote a commentary to accompany the Israeli findings, said European Jews exposed to the Holocaust would have faced a host of debilitating factors besides starvation.

"These multifaceted stressful conditions were very different than the experimental conditions characteristic of the majority of the published caloric restriction studies in animal models," Hursting and Forman wrote.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

Well here's your problem right here, sir.. | Oddly Enough | Reuters

Reuters

Tue Oct 27, 2009 OSLO (Reuters) - A man was caught by Norwegian customs carrying a tarantula in his bag, and a further 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos taped to his body, media reported Monday.

The 22-year-old Norwegian was stopped in a routine check by Kristiansand customs after arriving on a ferry from Denmark, newspaper Faedrelandsvennen reported.

Customs found the tarantula, before deciding to give him a full body search that revealed 14 stockings -- one for each snake -- taped around his torso, top selling tabloid VG said.

Reptile smuggling is not uncommon in Norway, which prohibits people holding many reptile species as pets, but office manager Helge Breilid at Kristiansand customs was quoted by VG as saying customs officers had been "horrified" by Sunday's catch.

"Customs officers quickly realized the man was smuggling animals, because his whole body was in constant motion," Breilid told VG.

When the man dropped his pants, the officers found 10 cans taped to his legs, each containing a lizard, he said.

The man was still being held by police Monday, Kristiansand police attorney Johann Martin Kile told VG, adding he would be released upon agreeing to pay a 12,500 Norwegian crowns ($2,256) fine.

The reptiles were handed over to a security firm until Norwegian authorities decide what to do with them, Breilid said.

(Reporting by Richard Solem)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

Microsoft launches Windows 7 | Technology | Reuters

Technology Reuters

<---Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and the Microsoft television commercial star Kylie, the young girl who makes an instant slideshow, take the stage at Windows 7's Launch Party in New York, October 22, 2009. By Shannon Stapleton

Thu Oct 22, 2009. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp launched Windows 7 on Thursday in its most important release for more than a decade, aiming to win back customers after the disappointing Vista and strengthen its grip on the PC market.

The world's largest software company, which powers more than 90 percent of personal computers, has received good reviews for the new operating system, which it hopes will grab back the impetus in new technology from rivals Apple Inc and Google Inc.

"It's the first really significant release of Windows in a decade," analyst Brendan Barnicle of Pacific Crest Securities told Reuters Television. "Given the missteps around Vista, people really questioned Microsoft's relevancy in the technology space. So this is a critical first step for Microsoft regaining that credibility."

The new system -- which is faster, less cluttered and has new touch-screen features -- comes almost three years after the launch of Vista, whose complexity frustrated many home users and turned off business customers.

The success of Windows -- which accounts for more than half of Microsoft's profit -- is crucial for Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to revive the company's image as the world's most important software firm.

"I have to say I'm chomping at the bit," Ballmer told an audience of Microsoft customers and partners in Toronto on Wednesday, adding that he is ready to make sales calls himself on Windows 7.

Sales won't immediately impact the bottom line of Microsoft, which is expected to post a lower quarterly profit on Friday.

CHEAPER THAN VISTA

Microsoft is charging $199.99 for the Home Premium version of Windows 7, or $119.99 for users seeking to upgrade from older versions of the operating system -- well below comparable prices for Vista.

It also has a range of offers in conjunction with retailer Best Buy and PC makers such as Dell Inc and Acer Inc.

For the first time, shoppers will be able to buy PCs loaded with the software direct from a branded Microsoft store, with the first of a planned chain set to open on Thursday in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The U.S. holiday season will soon reveal whether consumer PC sales get a kick from Windows 7, but success with corporations -- the key to Microsoft's financial power -- won't be clear until next year, analysts say.

"Come June of next year, we are going to get the real indication of the business-to-business marketplace," said Mark Simons, chief executive of the U.S. arm of Toshiba Corp, the world's No. 5 PC maker, on Wednesday.

Early indications are that companies are getting ready to switch to Windows 7.

"People like it," said Michael Capone, chief information officer for payroll services firm ADP, pointing out its quick start-up time and good user interface.

"There is a line outside my door from people wanting to get into the pilot program," said Capone, at a technology conference in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday.
His company typically waits at least 18 months to begin broad deployment of a new version of Windows, said Capone, but this time he could be more aggressive.

"In the surveys that we've done about half the CIOs (chief information officers) indicated that they would just use Windows 7 on existing PCs as opposed to replace the entire hardware," said Barnicle. "That would be very positive for Microsoft but maybe not so positive for the PC manufacturers."

SHARES UP

Good reviews, and a surge in technology stocks across the board, have lifted Microsoft shares about 80 percent since March. They hit their highest level in just over a year on Wednesday, closing at $26.58 on Nasdaq.

"This is a better operating system -- it does the job," said Lance Ulanoff, editor-in-chief of PCMag.com. "They've certainly got it a lot more right than they did with Vista."

A range of new PCs incorporating the software in all shapes and sizes from Hewlett-Packard Co, Dell and others are set to be unveiled on Thursday, in the hope of reigniting consumer spending before the holiday shopping season.

Global PC sales rose 2.3 percent in the third quarter compared to a year ago, according to research firm IDC, after two quarters of declines.

Market-watchers are betting on further recovery of computer sales next year, as the economy improves and businesses replace old machines, but opinion is divided on how strong the impact of Windows 7 will be.

"What's going to be really interesting is whether this spurs a hardware replacement cycle or it's just a Windows replacement cycle," said Barnicle, who estimates that more than 820 million PCs across the world run Windows.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Additional reporting by Jim Finkle, Wojtek Dabrowski, Bobbi Rebell and Gabriel Madway; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Richard Chang)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.

Man staged nearly 100 car crashes in cash scam...

Wed Oct 21, 2009 ; LONDON (Reuters) - A Briton who cost the insurance industry some 1.6 million pounds by staging almost 100 car crashes as part of a scam to win fraudulent payouts, was jailed for 4-1/2 years on Wednesday.

Mohammed Patel, 24, charged 500 pounds a time to stage accidents which enabled fraudsters to claim an average of 17,000 pounds from their insurers.

Police said he staged at least 92 crashes between 2005 and 2008, each time persuading the other driver to believe they were at fault.

The plot was uncovered after workers in an office block by the main A34 road in Cheadle, near Manchester, became suspicious about a regular number of crashes taking place at a nearby roundabout.

AXA insurance, one of the firms caught up in the scam, investigated and contacted police. Detectives found that Patel deliberately caused crashes for his clients by braking suddenly so the vehicle behind could not avoid a collision.

The claimants then demanded compensation from the victim's insurance firm for personal injury, legal fees, courtesy cars, and often with the damage to the cars fabricated.

Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court heard that fraudsters were able to claim
on average 17,000 pounds from insurance firms for each of the crashes Patel caused, the Press Association reported.

Patel himself raked in around 46,000 pounds for his role, and from his earnings he treated his girlfriend to gifts, two luxury cars and foreign holidays, police said.

"Patel was prepared to put lives in danger to make money," said Sergeant Mark Beales.
"This abuse of the insurance claims system has implications for all law-abiding road users."

Patel, from Bolton, admitted 17 charges including conspiracy to defraud, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.

Another 24 co-conspirators are also due to be sentenced for their role in the scam.

"The cost of insurance fraud adds on average 44 pounds to every policyholder's insurance premium annually," said John Beadle, chairman of the Insurance Fraud Bureau.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

Cheating husbands should be whipped?

Reuters

Wed Oct 21, 2009. BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Reuters) - Most Bruneians want husbands who cheat on their wives to be whipped, according to a recent survey in the Muslim-majority country.

The survey, conducted by website brudirect (www.brudirect.com), found 76 percent of 272 respondents said men should be whipped for having affairs while only 55 percent said unfaithful wives should receive the same punishment.

"The result of the survey is an indication of the pent-up feelings that women harbor against irresponsible men," an unnamed social worker from Brunei was quoted as saying on the website.

The oil-rich state of Brunei, located on Borneo Island, has a population of almost 400,000 of which 66 percent are Muslim.

(Reporting by David Chance, editing by Sugita Katyal)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserve