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Florida man draws 60 years in Connecticut cannibalism case

Tyree Smit
© Ned GerardTyree Smith listens to testimony during his trial in Bridgeport Superior Court, in Bridgeport, Conn. on, July 8th, 2013. Superior Court judge John Kavanewsky ordered Smith committed to the state’s maximum security psychiatric hospital in Middletown for up to 60 years for the murder of Angel "Tun Tun" Gonzalez.
A Florida man who killed a vagrant with an ax and ate his brain and eyes has been committed to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital in Connecticut after being found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Tyree Lincoln Smith, 36, of Lynn Haven, Fla., was ordered committed Monday by a three-judge panel in Bridgeport Superior Court. The panel in July found him not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

Smith apologized for killing Angel Gonzalez, whose mutilated body was found in a vacant apartment in Bridgeport in January 2012, a month after he was hacked to death.

"I'm really sorry for what I did, that I couldn't be myself," Smith told the judges. "It really had nothing to do with the other person."

The apology surprised relatives of Gonzalez who were in the courtroom, the Connecticut Post reported.

Magic Wand

"Riddikulus!" Young Arizona 'exorcists' set out to save England from Harry Potter

Brynne Larson
© BBC ThreeYoung Arizona exorcist Brynne Larson
A trio of Arizona "exorcists" has ventured to England to fight what it describes as the endorsement of satanic elements in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series.

"Harry is using this magic for good," 18-year-old Brynne Larson explains in video posted by the Daily Mail on Monday. "So here we have the dangerous idea that you can use this magic for good or bad. When in reality, all magic is bad 'cause you're getting your power from Satan."

Cult

Sexual Predator: Ex-pastor Brent Girouex had sex with boys 'to help them with homosexual urges'

praying hands
© Unknown
An Iowa pastor has been arrested on 60 counts of suspicion of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist after several of his alleged victims came forward and revealed that he had sex with them when they were teenagers.

Brent Girouex claimed he had sex with the teenage boys because he was trying to help them gain "sexual purity" in the eyes of God, and that it was his duty "to help [them] with homosexual urges by praying while he had sexual contact with [them]."

Gold Bar

Peru gold mining poisons natives: Study

Peru Gold Mines
© PressTVBefore-and-after image showing the Madre de Dios region of the Amazon rainforest in Peru, with the left-hand side stripped by illegal gold mining.
New research shows informal gold mining in Peru's Amazon region has poisoned mainly the indigenous people who get most of their protein from fish.

The Carnegie Institution for Science published Monday a study showing that Peru's indigenous people living in the Madre de Dios region have the highest traces of mercury contamination among any other group.

About 76.5 percent of the people living in the region, both rural and urban areas, were found to have mercury levels more than five times the maximum acceptable levels and 2.3 times greater than those in non-indigenous communities, the report showed.

Moreover, the indigenous children had three times more mercury in their bodies than children from non-native communities.

Cowboy Hat

Shocking increase: U.K. police use of Tasers doubled since 2009

taser
© AFP Photo / Ethan MillerTaser International's X2 two-shot Taser.
The use of Taser guns by British police has more than doubled since 2009, sparking concerns among rights groups and the wider public about the device's potentially lethal outcome and its frequently improper use by under-trained police personnel.

According to numbers by the Office for National Statistic released on Tuesday, officers fired the weapon 3,500 in 2009, against more than 7,000 times in subsequent years.

Some critics see the device as a coercion tool abused by the police force, especially when used as a stun gun and thrust into a person's body with the intention of inflicting pain - the so-called 'drive-stun' tactic.

Info

Friday 13th one of the safest days on the roads

Traffic
© BreakingNews, Ireland
Motorists with a fear of Friday the 13th are being advised it is one of the safest days of the year to drive.

A new survey by Chill insurance, shows that claims from motor accidents are no more common on Friday the 13th, than on any other day of the week, or any other Friday in the year.

New research shows a 14% decrease in road accidents where Fridays fell on the 13th of the month.

According to Chill this suggests that fears about bad luck may actually have a positive impact on driving behaviour, making our roads safer.

The insurer released the results to ally the fears of those suffering from paraskevidekatriaphobia (a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th) ahead of next Friday.

Heart - Black

Sickening: 8-year-old Yemeni girl dies from internal injuries after marriage to man more than five times her age

child bride
© Unknown
An 8-year-old Yemeni girl who was forced to marry a man more than five times her age died from internal injuries sustained on her wedding night.

The girl, identified only as Rawan, died after suffering a tear to her genitals and severe bleeding. The girl's groom is believed to be over 40 years old.

Yemeni and Kuwaiti activists are asking police to arrest the groom and the girl's family to help send the message that the practice of marrying young girls to older men has to end.

Heart - Black

Racist Tip: Horror of Red Lobster waitress as she collects check from customer to see 'none ni**er' written in the tip section

  • Server was in the middle of her shift on Saturday afternoon when couple wrote insult on receipt
  • Young woman has put the jibe down to 'racists living in the Southern U.S.'
  • A few have questioned the authenticity of the taunt noting two different styles of handwriting
  • A server working at a Red Lobster restaurant in an affluent suburb of Nashville, Tennessee claims she was subjected to a racist jibe after customers allegedly left the words 'none ni**er' in the tip section of the check.

    Toni Christina Jenkins, who is 19, was in the middle of her shift at the seafood restaurant in Franklin and serving a couple of customers who racked up a $45 bill during their afternoon meal.

    When the time came to pay the check, Miss Jenkins, who is training to be a nurse, says she found the racist insult written on the couple's receipt.
    racist tip
    © facebookRacist tip: A server working at this Red Lobster restaurant in Franklin, Tennessee was subject to racists abuse in the tip section of the receipt

    Airplane

    Thai Airways Airbus 330 skids off runway in Bangkok, 14 injured

    Thai Airways staff cover up plane's logo after accident. Official says move was to protect airline's image after 14 people were hurt when plane skidded off the runway at Bangkok

    A Thai Airways plane carrying more than 280 people skidded off the runway while landing at Bangkok's main airport, injuring 14 passengers, according to the airline.

    After the accident, workers on a crane blacked out the Thai Airways logo on the tail and body of the aircraft, as part of an effort to protect its image, an official said.

    It was the second mishap in less than two weeks for Thailand's national carrier.

    Question

    Letter box appears on bridge in the middle of the Thames

    Letterbox
    © INSVillagers of Sonning-on-Thames, including Uri Geller, have been left puzzled as to how people could post letters or collect them from a letter box that has appeared on their bridge.
    The bright red letter box frontage appeared about a metre above water level on a parapet of the bridge, which crosses the river.

    Villagers of Sonning-on-Thames, including Uri Geller, have been left puzzled as to how people could post letters or collect them from the box which is impossible to reach on foot and liable to flooding.

    Mr Geller, who has lived in the Berkshire village for three decades, said: "I have never seen anything like this anywhere in the world, it's a new one on me."

    But Mr Geller said the village had been known to have its unusual stories.

    He added: "There are many sightings of a child ghost that walks on the bridge.