Accidental millionaires in NZ escape with $2.3M

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A businessman and his girlfriend, whose bank accidentally handed them a $6.1 million credit line, have managed to flee the country with more than a third of the cash, the bank said Friday.

An international search is under way for the couple, who are believed to have gone on the run, possibly to Hong Kong or China, to avoid having to give the money back.

On Friday, a New Zealand woman told the TV3 network that the couple sought by police were her daughter Kara Yang and boyfriend Leo Gao, who were traveling with Yang's 7-year-old daughter, Leena.

Sue Hurring said that while the situation was "stupid, bizarre," her daughter was "honest."

"She has never pinched a thing in her life — probably as a little girl, yes — but she is so honest, so honest," she told the network.

The New Zealand Press Association also reported the names of the couple.

Police have not identified the pair. Detective Senior Sgt. David Harvey said Interpol was investigating in Hong Kong and was also working with officials in Beijing.

Westpac Bank said in a statement Friday that the couple, who ran a gas station in the North Island city of Rotorua, had a bank overdraft of New Zealand $100,000 ($61,000). On Thursday, the bank had mistakenly said the couple's overdraft was worth NZ$10,000.

But in formalizing this credit limit — meant for the gas station the couple ran — the bank accidentally opened a line of credit for NZ$10 million ($6.1 million), the statement said. Initial details from the bank indicated that money had actually been deposited into their account.

An account holder then tried to transfer about NZ$6.7 million ($4 million) out of the account, but the bank was able recover NZ$2.8 million ($1.7 million), the bank said. The statement did not specify how it got the money back.

"Westpac is continuing to vigorously pursue the outstanding amount," the bank said.

Companies Office records list Gao and another person not connected to the heist as owners of the gas station, which police said filed for bankruptcy protection this month.

Westpac says it considers the money to have been stolen but conceded it was human error at the bank that made the couple accidental millionaires.

Hurring, a hairdresser in the South Island town of Blenheim, pleaded Friday for her daughter to stop running.

"Just come home now; it will be OK," she told the TV3 network.
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Toddler buys earthmover in online auction

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A New Zealand mom made some online bids on toys before napping. Then her 3-year-old daughter took over and bought a bigger plaything than expected — a huge earth-moving digger for a cool $12,300.

Pipi Quinland made the winning 20,000 New Zealand dollar ($12,300) bid on the Kobelco digger with a few mouse clicks at the auction site TradeMe while her parents slept, the Rodney Times newspaper reported in northern New Zealand.

"The first I knew about it was when I came down and opened up the computer," said Pipi's mother, Sarah Quinlan.

"I saw an e-mail from TradeMe saying I had won an auction and another e-mail from the seller saying something like 'I think you'll love this digger,'" she was quoted as saying in the paper.

Quinlan said she had made auction bids on several toy sets and assumed she had bought a toy digger.

"It wasn't until I went back and reread the e-mails that I saw $20,000 — and got the shock of my life."

She immediately called the auction site and the seller to explain what happened.

TradeMe reimbursed the seller's costs for the auction and the digger was relisted.

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Nebraska boy, 6, takes wheel as dad passes out

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. – Police say a 6-year-old boy grabbed the wheel of their pickup after his dad passed out from low blood sugar and kept them from crashing until a North Platte police officer could bring the truck to a halt.

Tustin Mains was in the back seat with his 3-year-old brother when he noticed that his dad, Phillip Mains, slumped down on Sunday evening while they were driving home from a restaurant.

"I remember getting up to about the mall — that was about 6:45," Phillip Mains told The North Platte Telegraph. "The next thing I remember was waking up to the officer and paramedics, and it was 8:15."

Tustin hopped up from the back seat to his father's lap so he could steer and see out the windshield.

His dad's foot had slipped off the accelerator, but even at idle the Chevrolet Avalanche was going an estimated 10-15 mph.

Other drivers noticed the boy driving the truck. Some maneuvered their vehicles in front or behind the pickup and turned on their emergency blinkers.

Tustin remained at the wheel for several blocks, even turning around when he got into a neighborhood he didn't recognize.

He was then spotted by North Platte officer Roger Freeze.

Freeze maneuvered his car near enough that he could stop, get out and run up to the pickup. The driver's side window was down, so Freeze reached in, grabbed the gearshift and rammed it into park.

North Platte Police Chief Martin Gutschenritter praised his officer and young Tustin.

"I will be issuing him a departmental citation for his quick, professional action on this case. That is also a very special young man. He was able to take quick action when his dad was incapacitated, and we are very proud of him, too," Gutschenritter said.

Tustin's dad was grateful to Freeze as well.

"To chase down a moving vehicle and get it stopped the way he did took a lot of nerve, and if it weren't for him, things could have turned out much worse."

For a kindergartner, Tustin did a pretty good job of driving. The pickup sustained only a minor scrape when it brushed a piece of a bridge as Tustin turned to head back into town.

When he saw his dad "fall asleep," Tustin said, he got scared, then got another fright when officer Freeze appeared at the driver's window.

But when Freeze brought the pickup to an abrupt halt?

"I was just happy," Tustin said.

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Blown-away Chihuahua reunited with owners

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Michigan — Tinker Bell has been reunited with her owners after a 70-mph (113-kph) gust of wind picked up the six-pound (2.7-kilogram) Chihuahua and tossed her out of sight.

Dorothy and Lavern Utley credit a pet psychic for guiding them on Monday to a wooded area nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where 8-month-old Tinker Bell had been last seen. The brown long-haired dog was dirty and hungry but otherwise OK.

The Utleys, of Rochester, had set up an outdoor display Saturday at a flea market in Waterford Township, 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. Tinker Bell was standing on their platform trailer when she was swept away.

Dorothy Utley told The Detroit News that her cherished pet "just went wild" upon seeing her.

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Foul-smelling man linked to money laundering

EUGENE, Ore. – Authorities said a man accused of money laundering was tripped up because he could have used a little cleansing himself.

Court records show that during his trips to a Eugene bank a man drew attention to himself because of a foul odor, possibly linked to fertilizer. A teller vomited. Customers complained. Authorities investigated.

After an Internal Revenue Service investigation into a drug operation involving high-potency marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms, a federal grand jury indicted the man.

He does not face drug charges, but he is accused of laundering cash in dozens of transactions totaling nearly $500,000 in 2007 and 2008.

Court records show he pleaded guilty in 1999 to manufacturing and delivering a controlled substance.
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Sneezing fit causes driver to crash into Ore. home

SALEM, Ore. – Add sneezing while driving to the list of potential safety hazards. Authorities said a sneezing fit caused 25-year-old Ramon Stephen Ayala to lose control of his vehicle Saturday and hit a home.

Marion County Sheriff's Office Cmdr. Kevin Schultz said Ayala sneezed as he headed toward an intersection around 1 a.m.

When he stopped sneezing, he had run a stop sign and tried to hit the brakes. But it was too late. Ayala's 2001 Volkswagen Jetta crashed into a corner of a house.

Schultz said a shower wall and bathtub were damaged, but no injuries were reported and Ayala was not cited.
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Church in 'great sex' sermons may get booted

MELBOURNE, Fla. – A church giving sermons about sex may have to find a new home. Brevard Public School District's risk-management department has threatened to boot New Hope Church out of Sherwood Elementary because of a worship series titled "Great Sex for You."

Church leaders mailed 25,000 fliers, asking residents "Is Your Sex Life A Bore?" The three-week program kicked off inside the school auditorium. Pastor Bruce Cadle had said the Christian church has been "shamefully silent" on the taboo topic.

Mark Langdorf, the director of risk management, says the mailers generated complaints, were not appropriate for elementary school children and shouldn't be used to advertise the sermon in the school.

Langdorf says the church's lease contract is under review.
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Swiss heartland voters ban nude hiking in Alps

APPENZELL, Switzerland – Voters in the heart of the Swiss Alps on Sunday passed legislation banning naked hiking after dozens of mostly German nudists started rambling through their picturesque region.

By a show of hands citizens of the tiny canton (state) of Appenzell Inner Rhodes voted overwhelmingly at their traditional open-air annual assembly to impose a 200 Swiss franc ($176) fine on violators.

Only a scattering of people on Sunday opposed the ban on the back-to-nature activity that took off last autumn when naked hikers — primarily Germans — started showing up in eastern Switzerland.

The cantonal government recommended the ban after citizens objected to encountering walkers wearing nothing but hiking boots and socks.

"The reactions of the population have shown that such appearances over a large area are perceived as thoroughly disturbing and irritating," the government said in a statement.

A similar legal move is expected in neighboring Appenzell Outer Rhodes with legislation being prepared against "this shameless behavior."

German Web sites promoting the activity describe it as "a special experience of nature, free and healthy" and said nude walking in the Alps has roots in antiquity.

The verdant Appenzell region has been regarded as a favorite, with trails the nudists regarded as off the beaten path.

The German sites also promote walks in France and in regions of Germany, where public nudity has roots going back to the 18th century through a movement that has come to be called "Free Body Culture." Nudism in more conservative areas of Switzerland is less common.

A similar legal move is expected in neighboring Appenzell Outer Rhodes. The nationalist Swiss People's Party has advised the cantonal parliament it is preparing legislation against "this shameless behavior."
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Chinese cyclist's subway quest leads to autobahn

BERLIN – German police say a Chinese cyclist's search for a Munich subway station ended with him pedaling for kilometers (miles) down the autobahn – oblivious to his mistake.

A patrol stopped the 26-year-old student on the A99 highway Saturday evening. He said he was at the end of an 80-kilometer (50-mile) ride from Augsburg.

A traffic police statement Sunday says he told officers he wanted to finish his journey by subway — so he followed blue signs with a "U," which mark subway stations in Germany.

Unfortunately, similar blue signs also mark diversions – "Umleitungen" in German – and they led him to the autobahn. Police say he was unaware of his mistake.

The man was fined €10 ($13) for illegal highway use and sent on his way with a map.
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One-eyed, 3-legged gator found on Florida beach

SEACREST BEACH, Fla. – It sounds more like something out of a freak show: a one-eyed, 3-legged alligator. The gator was captured Thursday morning in Seacrest Beach by Walton County officials. The animal was less than five feet long and had somehow found its way to the beach.

A family visiting from Chicago called it the perfect day at the beach. They learned how to tell apart an alligator from a crocodile.

The rare gator was taken to a safe location and returned without harm to the wild.
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Shark dumped on Aussie newspaper's doorstep

SYDNEY – Journalists have a lot to be nervous about lately: layoffs, furloughs, newspaper closures. But reporters at an Australian paper may have received the scariest threat of the day when a live shark was left on their doorstep.

Police said the two-foot creature was spotted early Wednesday by a man who was leaving a McDonald's restaurant next door to the offices of The Standard in the small Victoria state town of Warrnambool.

When police arrived, the animal — believed to be a relatively harmless Port Jackson shark — was still breathing, Warrnambool police Sgt. Tom Revell said Thursday.

So officers borrowed a bucket of water from McDonald's, placed the shark inside it and drove to a nearby pier, where they released the creature back into the ocean.

But why would someone dump a shark outside the newspaper?

"We've got no idea why," Revell said.

Nor does the newspaper's chief of staff, Glen Bernoth, who learned of the bizarre incident in a middle-of-the-night phone call from a friend who'd heard about it on his police scanner.

"Naturally, I assumed it was like some sort of prank or something, but I'd been asleep for a couple hours," Bernoth said with a laugh Thursday.

There are a couple of theories on the motive: Some readers were angered by a photograph the newspaper recently ran on its front page featuring a man who caught a large reef shark. Those upset by the photo didn't believe the creature should have been caught.

Another possibility, Bernoth says, is that the offering is somehow related to the local football club — named the Sharks.

"But that's just a stab in the dark," he said. "At the moment, we're sitting tight desperately hoping something will be revealed."
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Woman's underwire bra deflects bullet in Detroit

DETROIT – The metal underwire in a Detroit woman's bra was credited with deflecting a bullet fired at her during a break-in at a neighbor's home.

Detroit police Officer Leon Rahmaan said the 57-year-old woman apparently looked out her window Tuesday when one of three men fired the shot.

He said the slug smashed through her window pane before hitting the bra's underwire. It did not penetrate her skin.

Police said she may have gone to the window after a burglar alarm at the house next door sounded. Her neighbor was not at home at the time.

The suspects drove away after the shooting.

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Record try reaps 217K texts, $26K phone bill

PHILADELPHIA – Their thumbs sure must be sore. Two central Pennsylvania friends spent most of March in a text-messaging record attempt, exchanging a thumbs-flying total of 217,000. For one of the two, that meant an inches-thick itemized bill for $26,000.

Nick Andes, 29, and Doug Klinger, 30, were relying on their unlimited text messaging plans to get them through the escapade, so Andes didn't expect such a big bill.

"It came in a box that cost $27.55 to send to me," he said Tuesday. He said he "panicked" and called T-Mobile, which told The Associated Press it had credited his account and was investigating the charges.

The two Lancaster-area residents have been practically nonstop texters for about a decade since they attended Berks Technical Institute together.

That led Andes to search for the largest monthly text message total he could find posted online: 182,000 sent in 2005 by Deepak Sharma in India.

Andes and Klinger were able to set up their phones to send multiple messages. During a February test run they found they could send 6,000 or 7,000 messages on some days, prompting the March messaging marathon.

"Most were either short phrases or one word, 'LOL' or 'Hello,' things like that, with tons and tons of repeats," said Andes, reached by phone.

Andes sent more than 140,000 messages, and Klinger sent more than 70,000 to end the month with a total of just over 217,000, he said.

A spokesman for Guinness World Records didn't immediately return messages asking whether it would be certified as a record.

April came as a relief to Andes' wife, Julie, who had found his phone tied up with texting when she tried to call him on lunch breaks.

"She was tired of it the first few days into it," Andes said.
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Cereal box typo sends callers to phone sex line

HALFWAY, Md. – An Oregon company has ordered new packaging for its Peace Cereal after a typo on the box sent callers to a phone sex line instead of the cereal maker's 800 number.

Instead of reaching Golden Temple of Oregon, callers were greeted by a recorded voice asking, "Do you love sex? ... Isn't that why you called?"

Spokeswoman Elissa Brown said Eugene, Ore.-based Golden Temple ordered new packaging when the mistake was discovered in December and new boxes have been shipping out for weeks.

However, 13 varieties of the cereal were on shelves Wednesday at one Halfway, Md., grocery store, including seven varieties in boxes bearing the incorrect telephone number
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Cat on NY TV news truck's roof becomes the story

MINEOLA, N.Y. – A stray cat seeking a warm spot to nap made headlines when Long Island police rescued it from a television news truck's rooftop satellite dish.

WCBS-TV reporter Jennifer McLogan says drivers were honking their horns and waving as her truck traveled Wednesday along a parkway to a Mineola (mi-nee-OH'-luh) press conference about an arrest in a string of burglaries. She waved back.

A motorist finally called to McLogan that a cat was on the truck's roof.

Nassau County police Detective Sgt. Anthony Repalone says he thought it was "an April Fools' joke" when the TV crew interrupted his press conference to report a feline in need of assistance.

Officers freed the black-and-white cat by dismantling a panel of the satellite dish.

The media-shy cat fled without comment.
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Man cries after attempt to rob liquor store fails

TRENTON, N.J. – Police say a 19-year-old who tried to rob a liquor store sat down and cried after 76-year-old owner locked him in the store.

The man was accused of trying to rob Sykes Liquor Store in Trenton Monday night. Police said the owner, who was behind the counter, triggered the lock after the man grabbed a bottle of Hennessy cognac and bolted for the door.

The man then allegedly pulled out a handgun and demanded to be released. But the owner said he saw that the gun was a fake, refused to unlock the door and called police.

Police said the suspect threw away the gun, slumped to the floor and was crying when officers arrived to arrest him.
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Even cops are not spared by high-tech fraudsters

TUGUEGARAO, Philippines – Even the police are not spared by fraudsters proliferating across the Philippine archipelago.

Reports on Wednesday said the police in the northern city of Tuguegarao have sent out an alert against an individual or group claiming to be from the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and trying to defraud not just residents and employees of various government offices but also members of the city police.

Authorities said the chief of the Provincial Budget and Treasury Office of Cagayan province have complained that someone, who introduces himself as an attorney Roy Principe and an employee of DILG, has sent a SMS or text messages announcing an upcoming conference.

The message sender reportedly asks for a prepaid load for his or her mobile phone before sending the conference details.

Supt. Felix Dayag, Tuguegarao police chief, said his office has received several complaints from residents and other government offices of the same racket.

Dayag admitted that he himself received a similar text message about a conference of all chiefs-of-police in the province. Tuguegarao is the capital of Cagayan, one of the biggest provinces in the Philippines.

He said he was suspicious at first owing to the message sender’s unknown identity and when he checked the conference venue, which was supposed to be at the provincial capitol, it has not been booked at all.

Dayag said he did not send any prepaid load to the suspicious number.

A verification at the DILG central office showed that there is no lawyer or employee named Roy Principe in their roster of employees.

Police said mobile phone users should report to authorities any suspicious text messages coming from unknown numbers so that they can immediately conduct an investigation on the matter.
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Warning sought for burger the size of your head

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The West Michigan Whitecaps say they have no plans to put a warning label on an enormous new hamburger they're selling this season — despite a vegan advocacy group's request to do just that.

Susan Levin, a staff dietitian for the Washington-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, sent a letter to the Grand Rapids minor-league team on Tuesday. She's asking that the 4,800-calorie burger be labeled a "dietary disaster" that increases the risk of cancer and heart disease.

The 4-pound, $20 burger features five beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and liberal doses of salsa and corn chips — all on an 8-inch bun.

Whitecaps spokesman Mickey Graham says the burger is a gimmick that's being promoted as a very unhealthy menu item.
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Pigeons fly cell phones into Brazilian prison

SAO PAULO — Inmates have devised an innovative way to smuggle in cell phones into a prison farm in Brazil: carrier pigeons.

Guards at the Danilio Pinheiro prison near the southeastern city of Sorocaba noticed a pigeon resting on an electric wire with a small cloth bag tied to one of its legs last week.

"The guards nabbed the bird after luring it down with some food and discovered components of a small cell phone inside the bag," police investigator Celso Soramiglio said Tuesday.

One day later, another pigeon was spotted dragging a similar bag inside the prison's exercise yard. Inside the bag was the cell phone's charger, Soramiglio said.

The birds were apparently bred and raised inside the prison, smuggled out, outfitted with the cell phone parts and then released to fly back.

"Pigeons instinctively fly back home, always," the investigator said.

Soramiglio said that police have not discovered who raised the pigeons nor the name of the inmate who was going to receive the cell phone, but that he hoped the telephone carrier would provide the information.

"Some of them are members of organized crime groups that use cell phones to talk to family and friends and to give and receive orders for criminal actions outside and inside prisons," Soramiglio said.

He did not want to elaborate further until investigations conclude.

In 2006, Sao Paulo's notorious First Capital Command used cell phones to coordinate a wave of assaults on police, banks and buses that left more than 200 people dead in South America's largest city.

The gang's leaders are based in prisons, and use smuggled cell phones to plan and execute drug deals, kidnappings and bank robberies
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LA County to ban cussing for a week

LOS ANGELES – Pay no attention to that eerie silence in the nation's most populous county this week; it will simply be the sound of 10 million people not cussing.

At least that's the result McKay Hatch is hoping for once his campaign to clear the air is recognized by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

On Tuesday, the board is scheduled to issue a proclamation by Supervisor Michael Antonovich making the first week in March No Cussing Week.

That would mean no blue language from the Mojave desert, where it gets hot as $&# in the summer, to the Pacific Ocean, where on a winter's day it can get colder and nastier than %$#!

Not that 15-year-old Hatch expects complete compliance. When his No Cussing Club meets at South Pasadena High School on Wednesdays it's not unusual for a nonmember to throw open the door and fire off a torrent of four-letter words. He's also been the target of organized harassment by pro-cussers.

And Antonovich's county motion carries no penalties.

"But it's a good reminder for all of us, not just young people but everybody, to be respectful to one another and watch the words we use," said the supervisor's spokesman, Tony Bell.

The county isn't the first entity to try to put the lid on swearing. Hatch's hometown of South Pasadena declared itself a cuss-free zone for a week last March, and two years ago a high school in Canada threatened to suspend repeat cussers.

Hatch has lofty goals.

"Next year I want to try to get California to have a cuss-free week. And then, who knows, maybe worldwide," said the 10th grader, who believes if people treat each other with more civility they can better work together to solve bigger problems.

He said his campaign began to form about the time he hit seventh grade when he noticed his friends beginning to swear, something his family didn't allow.

He formed the No Cussing Club and invited others to join. Soon the group had a Web site, bright orange T-shirts, a hip hop theme song and inquiries from all over from people interested in joining. He estimates 20,000 people have formed similar clubs.

"It's not about forcing anyone to stop, just to bring awareness," he says of the movement. "If you can do a week without cussing, maybe you can do two weeks. And then maybe a month."
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US woman with 2 wombs delivers twin daughters

MARQUETTE, Michigan — A Michigan woman with two wombs has given birth to twin daughters — one from each uterus.

The Mining Journal and WLUC-TV report that Sarah Reinfelder's two healthy babies were delivered seven weeks premature Thursday by Caesarean section at Marquette General Hospital in the Upper Peninsula.

The 21-year-old Sault Ste. Marie woman has a condition known as uterus didelphys, and doctors say such twin births are rare. The uteri are different sizes, with the larger twin born from the larger uterus.

Dr. Connie Hedmark and Dr. Breanna Pond first delivered Kaylin Joy, then Valerie Marie, the larger twin by one pound (450 grams). Kaylin Joy weighed 3 pounds, 15 ounces (1.78 kilograms).

Neonatologist Julie Frei says she expects that the twins, who do not have fully developed lung function, likely will be hospitalized for three or four weeks.
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Ferdinand Marcos has more 'friends' than Nixon, Evita in Facebook

NEW YORK — The ghost of Marcos past is back and is haunting Filipinos all over the world in a very in-your-face way: Facebook.

“My hero," gushes Facebook user May.

Everything about the profile of Ferdinand E. Marcos is factual. But nowhere on his wall is anything he had written. Instead, the posts – now in the hundreds -- praise his greatness as president. There are some stray comments that are critical and some downright profane, but they are outnumbered by the superlatives.

The way it works is that Marcos appears to be another Facebook user. His profile identifies his status as being married to Imelda Remedios Visitacion Romualdez-Marcos, his birthday as September 11, 1917, his hometown as Ilocos Norte, and his education as the University of the Philippines College of law ‘39.

“You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s (sic) gone," writes Rhea. Luke, whose friends include Aiza Seguerra, writes: “No one can beat what this great man did to improve the country."

And from Abigail: “Despite the dictatorship, one of the best presidents in the Philippines. His brilliance created an impact not just in our country but in the international arena. Most of the republic acts are still under his regime... :) Love the brain of this guy!"

No surprises there. The Palo Alto, California, social networking website counts the most powerful men in the world, such as Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela, among its more than 175 million users – dead or alive.

An average user has 120 friends, but not Marcos who has 4,152; a drop in the bucket compared with Obama’s 5,548,940.

In fact, Jose Rizal is only slightly popular with 6,808 supporters. But at least FEM has more followers than Lenin (3,579), Richard Nixon (3,687), and Evita (1,557).

That Marcos loyalists are regrouping via the Internet is not the news. Anyone can be on Facebook and for whatever reason, including peeking at young boys in skivvies or sharing recipes for homemade bombs.

Any Facebook user can host pages for anyone, including famous dead people, like FEM. And he has two pages of photographs, including one with Ninoy Aquino of their younger selves captioned: “Marcos ‘37 and Aquino’50/ Resilient and deep-rooted brotherhood that transcends beliefs and ideologies/ Men of Unimpeachable character/ Upsilonians."

File that under: Hmm.

If social media guru Jesse Stay is correct, Facebook allows a user to “track social demographics." That’s what the Marcos fansite appears to be doing.

Many of the supporters are in their 20s and 30s – too young to have lived through the horrors of the Marcos Dictatorship – and they’re from all over the world. Not one of the recent posts recounts the crushing poverty, the military tortures, the crony corruption, and the Imeldific extravagance. Let’s take shoes.

The Marcos dictatorship came crashing down in 1986 when a people power uprising chased the family and their cronies out of Malacañang.

In fairness, the Marvos Wall is not all praises. Negative comments make their way every once in a while.

One of them, Theterm, writes: “I will say he was fine at first until greed got the best of him. Viva Ninoy Aquino!"

Raymund says it short and raw: “This guy is an a--hole."

Disagree with them? Why don’t you sign up for Facebook to connect with Ferdinand E. Marcos?
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SoCal robbery suspect tries to become a cop

CHULA VISTA, Calif. – Authorities in California say a man wanted for a store robbery was arrested when he showed up to take a test to become a police officer.

Chula Vista police spokesman Bernard Gonzales said investigators had identified Romeo Montillano as a suspect in a Dec. 8 robbery at a Kmart.

Gonzales says investigators learned that Montillano had signed up for the February Police Department entrance exam.

The 40-year-old man was arrested Wednesday when he arrived to take the test.

Gonzales said that when Montillano was taken into custody he asked if he would still be able to take the exam.

Police said Montillano was arrested for investigation of robbery, making criminal threats and grand theft. He remained in jail Saturday in lieu of $110,000 bail.
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Florida woman calls 911 3 times over McNuggets

FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Authorities say a Florida woman called 911 three times after McDonald's employees told her they were out of McNuggets. A police report said 27-year-old Fort Pierce resident Latreasa L. Goodman told authorities she paid for a 10-piece last week but was later informed the restaurant had run out.

She says she was refused a refund and told all sales were final. A cashier told police she offered Goodman a larger portion of different food for the same price, but Goodman became irate.

Police say Goodman was cited on a misuse of 911 charge. A current phone listing for Goodman couldn't be found.

A McDonald's spokesman says Goodman should have been given a refund, and she's being sent a gift card for a free meal.
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US man who put cat in bong says it calmed cat

OMAHA, Nebraska — A Nebraska man says he stuffed his girlfriend's cat into a makeshift marijuana pipe because he was trying to calm the cat down and it seemed to work previously.

Acea Schomaker said Tuesday that he never intended to hurt the cat, Shadow.

He says he didn't want to discipline the cat by swatting or squirting water at it, and didn't want to take it to an animal shelter because he feared it would be euthanized.

Schomaker says he put the cat in the pipe three times over the last week and it made the cat "act like a stoned person."

He says he knows now that what he did was wrong.

The unemployed 20-year-old and his girlfriend were each ticketed for misdemeanor animal cruelty.

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US man stuffs cat in marijuana pipe

OMAHA, Nebraska — A man who tried to calm down his cat by stuffing her into a homemade marijuana pipe faces cruelty charges — and catcalls from animal lovers.

Sheriff's deputies responding to a domestic disturbance call Sunday alleged they saw 20-year-old Acea Schomaker smoking marijuana through a piece of garden hose attached to a duct-taped, plastic glass box in which the cat had been stuffed.

"This cat was just dazed," Sgt. Andy Stebbing said. "She was on the front seat of the cop car, wrapped in a blanket, and never moved all the way to the humane society."

Schomaker told deputies 6-month-old Shadow was hyper and he was trying to calm her down. The contraption she had been stuffed inside was 12 inches (30 centimeters) by 6 inches (15 centimeters). Shadow was timid but in good condition Monday at the Capital Humane Society, executive director Bob Downey said.

"What the human mind doesn't invent, huh?" Downey said.

Schomaker, who was released from jail after paying a $400 fine on the arrest warrant, faces drug and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. He did not immediately respond to phone messages left Monday seeking comment.
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3/3/09: Math fans to observe Square Root Day

REDWOOD CITY, California — Dust off the slide rules and recharge the calculators. Square Root Day is upon us.

The math-buffs' holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine).

"These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day — and poof — they're gone," said Ron Gordon, a Redwood City teacher who started a contest meant to get people excited about the event.

The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event.

Gordon's daughter even set up a Facebook page — one of a half-dozen or so dedicated to the holiday — and hundreds of people had signed up with plans to celebrate in some way. Celebrations are as varied: Some cut root vegetables into squares, others make food in the shape of a square root symbol.

The last such day was five years ago, Feb. 2, 2004, which coincided with Groundhog Day. The next is seven years away, on April 4, 2016.
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Iraq shoe hurler sculpture removed

BAGHDAD – Iraqi police have taken apart a sculpture honoring the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at former President George W. Bush.

The sculpture's base at an orphanage in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit was demolished by policemen.

The sofa-sized copper-colored shoe itself had become a plaything for local children by Sunday.

The sculpture was unveiled last week but Iraqi police demanded it be removed because they said the state-run orphanage site could not be used for works with a political bias.

Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi threw his shoes during a Dec. 14 news conference in Baghdad.

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Grandma: Octuplets mom obsessed with having kids

LOS ANGELES – The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week conceived all 14 of her children through in vitro fertilization, is not married and has been obsessed with having children since she was a teenager, her mother said.

Angela Suleman told The Associated Press she was not supportive when her daughter, Nadya Suleman, decided to have more embryos implanted last year.

"It can't go on any longer," she said in a phone interview Friday. "She's got six children and no husband. I was brought up the traditional way. I firmly believe in marriage. But she didn't want to get married."

Nadya Suleman, 33, gave birth Monday in nearby Bellflower. She was expected to remain in the hospital for at least a few more days, and her newborns for at least a month.

A spokeswoman at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center said the babies were were progressing daily, with all eight breathing unassisted and being tube-fed.

While her daughter recovers, Angela Suleman is taking care of the other six children, ages 2 through 7, at the family home in Whittier, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

She said she warned her daughter that when she gets home from the hospital, "I'm going to be gone." read more...

Lawyer: US cop who killed man pulled wrong gun

OAKLAND, California — The transit officer who shot and killed an unarmed man may have mistakenly pulled his service pistol instead of a stun gun, according to documents filed by his lawyer Friday.

Attorney Michael Rains made the argument in urging a judge to grant bail for 27-year-old Johannes Mehserle. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson later set bail at $3 million.

Jacobson said he set the high amount in part because he considered Mehserle a flight risk after the former officer fled to Nevada during the initial investigation.

It was not immediately clear if Mehserle would be able to post bail.

Mehserle has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder in the death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was killed early New Year's Day. Cell phone videos of the incident, widely viewed on the Internet, showed the officer standing over Grant as he was lying facedown on an Oakland train platform and firing one shot into the man's back.

Grant died of the gunshot wound to his torso. read more...

Bollywood promoter sentenced in bank fraud scam

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — A well-known Bollywood promoter and film producer from northern Virginia was sentenced to seven years in prison Friday for one of the largest bank fraud scams in the state's history.

Vijay K. Taneja, 48, of Fairfax, Virginia, was also ordered to pay $33 million in restitution to the four banks he swindled in a complicated mortgage fraud scheme.

Taneja pleaded guilty in November in US District Court in Alexandria to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

While US District Court Judge Claude Hilton could have imposed a higher sentence, he accepted the recommended .

Prosecutor Stephen Learned said Taneja's fraud — in which four banks lost a combined $33 million — was the largest bank fraud scheme prosecuted at the courthouse in at least 20 years.

"It's a very significant sentence," Learned said of the seven years.

Taneja owned his own mortgage loan business since 1990, focusing on the South Asian community. He was better known in northern Virginia's large Indian community, though, as a concert promoter and producer of Bollywood films. He also donated large amounts to Hindu temples in the region. read more...

Make that 14: Octuplet mom already had 6 kids

WHITTIER, California — How in the world does a woman with six children get a fertility doctor to help her have more — eight more?

An ethical debate erupted Friday after it was learned that the Southern California woman who gave birth to octuplets this week had six children already.

Large multiple births "are presented on TV shows as a 'Brady Bunch' moment. They're not," fumed Arthur Caplan, bioethics chairman at the University of Pennsylvania. He noted the serious and sometimes lethal complications and crushing medical costs that often come with high-multiple births.

But Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, who has fertility clinics in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, countered: "Who am I to say that six is the limit? There are people who like to have big families."

Kaiser Permanente announced the mega-delivery Monday, with delighted doctors saying they had initially expected seven babies and were surprised when the cesarean section yielded an eighth.

Multiple births this big are considered impossible without fertility treatment, but the doctors who delivered the babies would not say whether the 33-year-old woman had used fertility drugs or had embryos implanted in her womb. read more...