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Smiley

Cops Arrest Man Who Sought Help Removing Handcuffs


Cape Cod Times
Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:45 UTC
Barbel
© Barnstable Police DepartmentAllahmanamjad Barbel, 21, was arrested on outstanding warrants yesterday after he went to the Barnstable police station to seek help removing handcuffs.
Barnstable, Massachusetts - It was a good news-bad news sort of day for Allahmanamjad Barbel when he showed up at the Barnstable police station at 2 p.m. yesterday with police-issue handcuffs dangling from one wrist.

The 21-year-old told police that he had just come from a child's birthday party in Hyannis, where his younger sister sneaked up behind him and slipped the cuffs onto one wrist. Then they discovered no one in the house had a key to the cuffs, and no amount of pulling, pushing or trying to cut through the Smith and Wesson police-issue handcuffs was going to free him, Barnstable police Sgt. Sean Sweeney said.

So Barbel stopped by the police station and asked for a key. There he encountered suspicious police officers.
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Mr. Potato

California: Caped Man Steals from Adult Store


United Press International
Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:00 UTC
A California man wore a red cape and American flag hat with sequins and carried a wooden sword when he robbed an adult store, police say.

David William Hadeen of Sacramento was arrested near L'Amour Shoppe, The Sacramento Bee reported. Police said he was still in costume, although he had dropped the sword on the ground.

A clerk at the store said a caped man walked in Sunday afternoon and grabbed one of its products with a price of about $200. He waved the sword at the clerk.
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Coffee

'Stallion of the south' to greet travellers

Arifa Akbar
The Independent
Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:15 UTC
sculpture white stallion
© AFP/Getty ImagesA computer image of the sculpture, which will tower over the landscape in Swanscombe, Kent

A monumental sculpture of a white stallion looming 50-metres high was yesterday picked to be one of the first sights to greet Eurostar passengers as they travel into London from mainland Europe.

Mark Wallinger's giant sculpture, which has been described as the "Stallion of the south" and is set to overshadow Antony Gormley's 20-metre Angel of the North in Gateshead, will be erected in Kent on the site of a former chalk pit.

At 33 times life-size, and costing £2m, it will be the country's most ambitious piece of public art, and when constructed will overlook Ebbsfleet Valley as well as the international train station and adjacent A2 road. The sculpture is expected to be seen by up to 60 million people a year.
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Cheeseburger

Jeremy Clarkson apologises for calling Gordon Brown 'a one-eyed idiot'

Oliver Luft - Deborah Summers
The Guardian
Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:21 UTC
Jeremy Clarkson - Top Gear_01
Jeremy Clarkson: made comments on Gordon Brown to the Australian press
Jeremy Clarkson: made comments on Gordon Brown to the Australian press

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has apologised for calling the prime minister, Gordon Brown, a "one-eyed Scottish idiot" after a barrage of criticism from politicians and disability groups.

The BBC star, who is currently in Australia on tour, said in a statement: "In the heat of the moment I made a remark about the prime minister's personal appearance for which, upon reflection, I apologise."

Earlier, Clarkson had compared Brown to Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, after Rudd had just addressed the country on the global financial crisis.

"It's the first time I've ever seen a world leader [Rudd] admit we really are in deep shit," Clarkson was reported as saying in the Australian newspaper.
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Control Panel

Secularist group buying billboards to honor Darwin


Associated Press
Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:31 UTC
Charles Darwin
© Henry Guttmann, Getty ImagesBritish naturalist Charles Darwin. Original Artwork: Woodbury type by Lock & Whitfield.

Grand Junction, Colorado - A secularist group is observing the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin with billboards that urge people to "Evolve Beyond Belief."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation placed "Praise Darwin" billboards in Grand Junction; Dayton, Tenn.; Dover, Pa.; and Whitehall, Ohio.

They feature stained-glass designs and a picture of the evolutionary theorist born on Feb. 12, 1809.

The Tennessee and Pennsylvania towns had landmark court cases about the teaching of evolution.

In Grand Junction, the foundation has complained about prayers in county meetings. The organization has battled Whitehall over nativity displays.
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Mr. Potato

How the Kremlin Caved in Over Girl's Guinea Pig

Aidan Radnedge
Metro
Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:58 UTC
Russian Guinea Pig
© UnknownWhat a Russian Guinea Pig may look like.
Pigs were used by George Orwell to satirise Stalin's Soviet state in Animal Farm - but guinea pigs are just as controversial in modern Russia.

13-year-old girl has felt the wrath of the Kremlin for having the audacity to ask the Russian president for a new pet. Nastya Ivliyeva wrote to Dmitry Medvedev's website asking for a guinea pig to go with her existing one.

As soon as local officials found out about the request they went to the girl's school where she was called to the headmaster's office and ticked off so badly that she burst into tears.
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Cow

Injured Deer Stumbles Into Ohio Vet Clinic


The Associated Press
Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:50 UTC
No appointment needed: injured deer stumbles into Ohio pet shop with veterinary clinic.

Workers at an Ohio pet shop are used to worried pet owners bringing their animals in to be treated in the store's clinic.

But an unaccompanied visit Saturday by a deer to the PetSmart in Rossfield was a first for the store.

Manager Trudi Urie says the wounded doe was hanging out behind the store and then ran through an open door into a stockroom.
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Smiley

Ohio Teen Charged with Billing School for $37K of Candy


The Associated Press
Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:00 UTC
Police: Sweet scam sours when Ohio teen caught billing High School for $37,000 worth of candy.

Police say an Ohio teenager tried to pull off a sweet deal by ordering more than $37,000 of candy online and charging the bill to his former high school.

Police say the 18-year-old used a Middletown High School purchasing number to place orders for thousands of lollipops and candy bars from Michigan-based The Goodies Factory. It wasn't clear how he accessed the number.

The candy company became suspicious, contacted the school and was told by detectives to send an empty box.
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Snowman

Twitter suspends fake Dalai Lama account


The Sydney Morning Herald - Agence France-Presse
Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:40 UTC
US micro-blogging service Twitter has suspended an account said to have been set up the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama saying it had been created by an impersonator.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, in an email to AFP on Monday, said "the account was suspended because it violated our Terms of Use regarding impersonation".

The account - twitter.com/ohhdl - was created on Saturday and attracted nearly 20,000 followers in just two days, a phenomenal rate of growth.
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Smiley

'Miracle baby' survives after 20 minutes underwater


The Sydney Morning Herald - Australia Associated Press
Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:34 UTC
A two-year-old girl who spent 20 minutes under water after falling into a swimming pool has stunned British doctors by making a full recovery in hospital.

Oluchi Nwaubani was playing at a friend's house when she fell into the pool and sank to the bottom.

The toddler spent 20 minutes under water before she was found and rushed to hospital, where doctors gave her just a two per cent chance of survival.

Her parents, from Petts Wood in south London, were told that if she survived she would not be able to move, speak or eat properly.

But after three months of treatment in hospital, Oluchi has made a full recovery.
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