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Real-life vampire addicted to blood, doctors claim

Vampire
© Margaaret M. Stewart | shutterstock
In a chilling case report, doctors in Turkey have described what they claim to be a real-life vampire with multiple personalities and an addiction to drinking blood.

The 23-year-old married man apparently started out slicing his own arms, chest and belly with razor blades, letting the blood drip into a cup so he could drink it. But when he experienced compulsions to drink blood "as urgent as breathing," he started turning to other sources, the doctors said.

The man, whose name and hometown were not revealed in the report, was arrested several times after stabbing and biting others to collect and drink their blood. He apparently even got his father to get him bags of the ghastly drink from blood banks, according to the report announced today (Feb. 8) by the Journal of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. The case study was published last fall.

The doctors said they found traumatic events in the man's life leading up to his two-year bloodsucking phase. His four-month-old daughter became ill and died, he witnessed the murder of his uncle, and he saw another violent killing in which "one of his friends cut off the victim's head and penis," the report said.

Magnify

Hong Kong customs discover 2,600 live snakes in boxes marked as fruit

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© AFP Photo
Hong Kong customs authorities investigating a shipment from Thailand marked as fruit were shocked to discover the consignment instead contained 2,600 live snakes, officials said Friday.

Customs intercepted the air cargo shipment of 2,400 common rat snakes and 200 cobras on Tuesday and returned them on Thursday, a government spokeswoman said, just days before the start of the Year of the Snake in the Chinese horoscope.

Bad Guys

Malaysian jailed over major seizure of tiger parts

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© AFP Photo
Activists Friday slammed a two-year jail term handed to a Malaysian man over the country's biggest seizure of illegally trafficked tiger parts as too short and a "demoralising finale" to the case.

Eight tiger skins, and 22 tiger skulls and bones were discovered at the home of Nor Shahrizam Nasir in northern Malaysia in February last year, as well as nine pieces of African elephant ivory.

A district court in northern Kedah state found Nor Shahrizam guilty Thursday of illegal possession of tiger parts and ivory and he was ordered to serve 24 months in jail, said TRAFFIC, a group that monitors wildlife smuggling.

Malaysian court or wildlife officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Cell Phone

Sri Lanka phone-smuggling prisoner betrayed by ringing butt

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© AFP Photo
A Sri Lankan prisoner who tried to hide his mobile phone during a search of his cell was caught out when guards heard ring tones from his rear-end, a hospital official said on Friday.

The 58-year-old convict had to be admitted to the national hospital in Colombo where doctors later retrieved the handset from his rectum.

Eye 1

No psych assessment for accused in Vancouver apartment stabbing, despite "mental breakdown"

Jerome Bonneric
© Facebook/CTV BCJerome Bonneric is pictured in this undated photo.
Vancouver, Canada - Moving slowly and looking dazed with his right arm still in a cast, Jerome Bonneric, accused in last week's West End stabbing spree, made his second appearance in Vancouver Provincial Court this week.

The psychiatric assessment request his lawyer had said he expected from Crown prosecutors Thursday morning did not come, and Judge William Kitchen did not order one.

"It was a terrible mental breakdown," said Bonneric's lawyer Robert Bellows, who was also not seeking a psychiatric assessment for his client. "It was absolutely out of character for him."

Bellows suggested earlier in the week that his client has serious mental health issues, adding that he was at St. Paul's Hospital shortly before the attack.

Bonneric, 33, has spoken by phone with his parents in France, Bellows said, and four friends attended his court appearance, accompanied by the French deputy consul.

"He has lots of friends who care for him and love him," Bellows said. "He's still extremely despondent and extremely sad about what's happened."

Heart - Black

Bullying attack leaves Pennsylvania boy in coma

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© Good Morning America/ABC News
A Pennsylvania boy is currently in a medically induced coma after a schoolyard fight with classmates who he and his family claims were bullying him.

Sixth-grader Baily O'Neil, an honors student, of Darby Township, Pa., was involved in a fight four weeks ago at the Darby Township School. He was struck several times in the face by another student; the blow fractured his nose and he fell to the ground.

His parents brought their son, who had a concussion, to the A.I. DuPont hospital in Wilmington, Del., where he was treated and released. But his father saw that something wasn't quite right with their son when they returned home.

"He was sleeping. He was moody. He wasn't himself. He was angry a little bit. He wasn't really eating," Bailey's father Rob told ABC Affiliate WPVI-TV.

Just a few days later, Bailey started having violent seizures and needed to be hospitalized again. The seizures were so bad that doctors at A.I. DuPont were forced to put Bailey in a medically induced coma nearly two weeks ago.

Black Cat 2

James Cromwell, babe actor, arrested over cat torture protest

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Cromwell, 73, was released from jail on Thursday afternoon
Oscar-nominated actor James Cromwell has been arrested at an American university over a cat torture protest.

The Babe actor was held for disorderly behaviour after protesting at the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents meeting on Thursday.

Cromwell, 73, and an animal rights group activist held signs showing a cat with metal implanted in its head at a UW-Madison laboratory.

They were released from jail on Thursday afternoon.

The director of the university's Research Animal Resources Centre said government agriculture officials have found their claims to be false.

Horse

Findus beef lasagne meals 100% horsemeat

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Firms are ordered to test their beef products, as the Food Standards Agency warns criminal activity may be behind contaminations.

Tests on Findus beef lasagne have revealed that some of the ready meals were made entirely from horsemeat.

Findus analysed 18 of its beef lasagne products and found 11 meals contained between 60% and 100% horsemeat, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said.

There is no evidence to suggest the horsemeat found in the Findus beef lasagne is a food safety risk, the FSA said.

However, the agency has ordered urgent tests on the lasagne for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone. Meat from animals treated with "bute" is not allowed to enter the food chain in Britain as it may pose a risk to human health.

All food companies have been told to test their beef products, with the FSA saying it was "highly likely" that criminal activity was to blame for the contamination.

Stormtrooper

Women delivering newspapers in Torrance shot in manhunt for ex-cop

police shot two women
© Unknown
Two women who were shot by Los Angeles police in Torrance early Thursday during a massive manhunt for an ex-LAPD officer were delivering newspapers, sources said.

The women, shot in the 19500 block of Redbeam Avenue, were taken to area hospitals, Torrance police Lt. Devin Chase said. They were not identified. One was shot in the hand and the other in the back, according to Jesse Escochea, who captured video of the victims being treated.

It was not immediately known what newspapers the women were delivering. After the shooting, the blue pickup was riddled with bullet holes and what appeared to be newspapers lay in the street alongside.

Pistol

Thought crimes: What's really behind the punishment for fake guns in schools

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© babble.com
In the latest episode of Ban Fake Guns, we have a boy suspended from school in Florence, Arizona, for carrying, yes, a picture of a gun on his computer. Screen saver. This is surely a sign of complete mental breakdown by school officials. And yet one more reason to home school.

Steve Watson, writing at infowars, runs down the recent litany of fake gun crimes at schools across America, resulting in student suspensions, suspension hearings, and actual school lockdowns:
  • Transparent toy gun. South Carolina.
  • Gun built from lego bricks. Massachusetts.
  • Two kids talking about a nerf gun. New York.
  • An actual nerf gun. New York.
  • A pink bubble gun. Pennsylvania.
  • A paper gun. Pennsylvania.
  • Pointing a finger and saying "pow." Maryland.
  • Playing cops and robbers with fingers. Maryland.
  • Making a gun "hand gesture." Oklahoma.
Should we assume that because cops and school officials can't stop real crimes, they're settling for stopping fake crimes?

Can you hear the typical response to these school suspensions and lockdowns? "Well, everybody in the community is on edge these days, after Sandy Hook."

That remark garners a "Mmm, well, sure."

Then, the follow-up: "It's unfortunate that school officials and police MAY HAVE overreacted. Suspension from school is PROBABLY too much. These kids need some form of LESSER DISCIPLINE, and, of course, EDUCATION about the dangers of guns."

And there you have it. It's a sleight-of-hand trick. Go completely overboard with an officially certified insane action (suspension, lockdown), and people will ask for something slightly less insane instead.