Former owners sued over 'haunted' house

An Italian family are preparing to sue the previous owners of their house for not telling them it was haunted.

Gaetano Bastianelli, 57, and his wife Stefania paid £94,000 for the home in the Umbrian town of Spoleto in 2005.

"We considered it the deal of the century," said Mr Bastianelli, after the owners agreed to leave all the furniture and fittings, right down to the coffee cups.

The couple claim they were unaware the house had been built close to the disused Pozzi Ginori cemetery, or that an exorcism had been carried out there in the 1970s.

"The ghosts started their haunting on the first night," said Mr Bastianelli, a former long-distance lorry driver.

"I woke suddenly at around one or two in the morning. There was water seeping from under the bathroom door."

He claimed that by next morning, malevolent spirits had left "luminous green mould all over the walls".

After that things got worse. He said the sound of chains rattling had alarmed his 10-year-old daughter, and claimed that the lawnmower and his wife's car had spontaneously combusted.

Now Mr Bastianelli has engaged a lawyer, Antonio Francesconi, to sue the previous owners for failing to inform him that the house was haunted.

A local historian, Sergio Grifoni, confirmed that an exorcism had been performed on a girl in the house in 1977.

Source: Ananova

Man 'is five months pregnant'

A US man who used to be a woman is reportedly five months pregnant.

The Advocate magazine features a picture of Thomas Beatie with a man's beard and flat chest above his swollen stomach.

Mr Beatie, who was born a woman, describes himself as a "transgender male" in the piece which says his decision to have a child "has been met with discrimination and outright derision by health care professionals".

The article, entitled Labour of Love, appears in the most recent issue of the Los Angeles-based magazine for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender readers.

Mr Beatie says he went through a sex change but decided to have only chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy, stopping short of making any changes to the reproductive organs he was born with.

Mr Beatie is legally male and lives with his wife, Nancy, in Bend, Oregon. The couple, who have been together 10 years, wanted to have children.

Mrs Beatie was unable to conceive, so the couple decided Mr Beatie should try to carry a baby.

He stopped the hormone injections and his periods returned, he writes. After a year - and nine doctors - he was able to get pregnant using frozen donor sperm but the pregnancy was ectopic and required surgery.

But a second pregnancy was a success and the couple's daughter is due on 3 July, the article states.

Mr Beatie said: "How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am.

"To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child. I will be my daughter's father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family."

Source: Ananova

Nude portrait photo of Sarkozy's wife for auction

A nude portrait of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's wife Carla Bruni will go under the hammer in New York next month, according to auctioneers Christie's.

The 13 x 10 1/8 inch gelatin silver black and white photograph was taken in 1993, when Bruni was one of the world's top fashion models, and is being sold by art collector Gert Elfering.

It is expected to fetch $3,000 to $4,000 when it is sold in New York on April 10, according to the Christie's web site.

Sarkozy married Bruni, 40, in February after a whirlwind romance that began shortly after his divorce from his second wife Cecilia.

Their relationship has coincided with a sharp fall in Sarkozy's approval ratings which have tumbled as voters judged that the president's glitzy lifestyle jarred with his responsibilities and status as head of state.

Sarkozy and his new wife are due to pay a state visit to Britain this week during which they will be hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle.

Source: Reuters

ATM gives shoppers double-money windfall

A British cash machine became a big hit this week after it started paying out twice as much money as it should.

The ATM, outside a supermarket in they city of Hull in northern England, began spewing out double the money Tuesday afternoon and continued doing so for several hours, drawing a crowd of hundreds eager to cash in on the mistake.

Those requesting the maximum daily withdrawal of 300 pounds ($600) were being given 600 pounds and a receipt for 300.

"People were calling their mates up and telling them to get down there," the Hull Daily Mail quoted a passer-by as saying.

After several hours the machine finally ran out of money.

Payzone, a company that administers ATMs, would not comment in detail on the incident but said it appeared one of its machines had malfunctioned.

Police said those who had benefited could face charges but only if the operator complained.

Source: Reuters

Man too fat to stay in jail

A court in Sicily has ruled that an accused Mafioso can be put under house arrest because he is too fat for any Italian jail.

Salvatore Ferranti, who weighs 462 pounds, was allowed to go home after spending six months in four Italian prisons, his lawyer told Reuters, confirming a local newspaper report.

Guards at the first two prisons said they constantly needed to help Ferranti, 36, get dressed and undressed, move about and go to the bathroom.

Guards at other prisons said there was no bed big enough for him, that he could not get through the bathroom door, and that they would be at a loss if he had to be taken to a hospital in an emergency.

Ferranti was accused of being a member of the Mafia clan once headed by Salvatore Lo Piccolo, the "boss of bosses" arrested last November.

Lawyer Raffaele Bonsignore filed a motion with a court in Palermo to release him under house arrest because he suffered from "grave obesity," calling it "a pathology incompatible with prison."

Source: Reuters

Reader returns loaned book after 100 years

A Finnish library-goer apparently thought 'better late than never' and quietly returned a book on loan for more than 100 years to a library in Vantaa, in southern Finland.

The library had long since lost track of the loan but welcomed back to its collections the bound copy of a 1902 volume of Vartija, an active religious monthly periodical at the time.

"We are unclear when exactly it was borrowed and who returned it. There weren't any documents with it," librarian Minna Saastamoinen told Reuters.

"There is an old note attached to the book which says there is a fine of 10 pennies a week for late returns," she added.

The library sticker inside the cover, and the old-fashioned handwriting on it, showed the book was last officially loaned out at the beginning of the last century, she said.

Finland is known for a comprehensive library network with more than 900 libraries for its 5.3 million inhabitants. In 2006, each Finn on average visited a library 11 times and borrowed nearly 20 books.

The periodical was borrowed such a long time ago that the Korso branch of the Vantaa library, where the tome was finally handed in, did not even exist when the book was borrowed.

Source: Reuters

Plans for 'doomsday ark' on the moon

Plans are being made for the first experiments to pave the way for a "doomsday ark" on the moon.

The ark would contain DNA, embryos and all the essentials of life and civilisation, to be activated should Earth be devastated by a giant asteroid, a climate flip or nuclear holocaust.

The information bank would provide survivors on Earth with a remote-access toolkit to rebuild the human race, said Bernard Foing, the executive director of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG).


A basic version of the ark would contain hard discs holding DNA sequences and instructions for metal smelting and planting crops. It would be buried in a vault just under the lunar surface, where it would be tended by robots.

Transmitters would send the data to heavily protected receivers on Earth in the event of a catastrophe. If no receivers survived, the ark would continue transmitting the information until new ones could be built.

The vault could later be extended to include natural material such as microbes, animal embryos and plant seeds, as well as cultural relics such as surplus museum items.

As a first step to discovering whether living organisms could survive in the vault, European Space Agency (ESA) scientists are hoping to experiment with bacterial ecosystems and plants within the next decade, says Dr Foing, who is also the lead scientist for the ESA's SMART-1 lunar mission.

The first flowers - tulips or arabidopsis, a plant widely used in research - could be grown in 2012 or 2015. Tulips are ideal because they can be frozen, transported long distances and grown with little nourishment. Combined with algae, an enclosed artificial atmosphere and chemically enhanced lunar soil, they could form the basis of an ecosystem.

"Eventually, it will be necessary to have a kind of Noah's ark there, a diversity of species from the biosphere," added Dr Foing.

The scientists envisage placing the first experimental databank on the moon no later than 2020 and it could have a lifespan of 30 years. The full archive would be launched by 2035.

The databank would need to be buried under rock to protect it from the extreme temperatures, radiation and vacuum on the moon. It would be run partly on solar power.

The information would be held in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish and would be linked by transmitter to 4,000 "Earth repositories" that would provide shelter, food and water for survivors.

Dr Foing says that although there is no evidence that an asteroid is currently on a collision course with Earth, craters on Earth and the moon "indicate that asteroid strikes have occurred often" over the lifetime of the solar system.

"The damage to the Earth's environment from a large impact can be catastrophic, with fatal consequences for life. It is widely believed that the dinosaurs went extinct because of such an impact event 65 million years ago. "

"But to develop a true Noah's Ark, we eventually would need to bring people to the moon. Only humans could do all the things necessary to successfully operate a genetic laboratory.

"On Earth we are already investigating several activities such as genetic sequencing, cloning, and stem cell research. Our lunar scientists could adapt that technology - cultivating cells, storing them, and doing experiments to ensure that embryology works on the moon."

Construction of the ark was discussed last month by William Burrough and Jim Burke at a symposium on "Space Solutions to Earth's Global Challenges" at the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France.

Source

Firefighters are testing a VTOL private car

A video was posted on YouTube with Russian firefighters testing a VTOL private car. What a waste of water...

Russian Soldier Drives Tank, Buys Vodka and Crashes House

It's been reported by Reuters that a Russian tank "Tunguska" crashed through a villager's house after the crew stopped to buy more vodka at a nearby shop.

Footage from a mobile phone camera showed the tank hitting a corner of the house and a laughing, and apparently drunk, driver awkwardly trying to clamber aboard with two bottles of vodka.

"Get him out of the tank," screamed a woman in the village in the Urals.

The army promised Friday to pay compensation and said the tank must have been broken and fallen behind a column heading to a test site for exercises. Earlier it said the vehicle slid on melting ice.

"Of course, there were violations but the crew acted in good faith to catch up with its unit," said Colonel Konstantin Lazutkin, spokesman for Russia's Volga-Urals Military District.

"Thank God, they didn't shoot," the house owner said on the video.

Here is this video shot with mobile phone:

Man takes car on 2,000 mile test drive

An Australian who took a new car on a 3,200 km (1,988 mile) six-day test drive from the city to the outback has been arrested, police said on Thursday.

The 30-year-old convinced a car dealer in the southeastern city of Melbourne to lend him a A$40,000 ($37,000) Honda Accord sedan last Friday and drove the equivalent of London to Istanbul before he was arrested near the town of Tennant Creek, deep in the outback of the Northern Territory.

"He drove from Melbourne to Adelaide to Alice Springs," Tennant Creek police Constable James Gray-Spence told Reuters.

He said the man was arrested without incident at a road block on his way north to Darwin after he failed to pay for fuel at a hamlet.

The test drive was the longest known to Australian police and topped a 500km theft on New Zealand's South Island in 2006.

"I think we've topped that with the 3,000 km mark," Gray-Spence said.

Melbourne car yard owner Ian McKenzie said the man would have had to have been in the car all day, every day to reach Tennant Creek.

"He seemed a legitimate gentleman. He stood at the desk right in front of a camera. He wasn't afraid of being photographed or videoed," McKenzie told the Herald Sun newspaper.

The man was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of property and will appear in court on Thursday.

Source: Reuters

No swearing in South Pasadena this week

What the @$%#? This community on the edge of Los Angeles has become a cuss-free zone.

So if you're headed to South Pasadena this week, be sure to turn down the volume on that Snoop Dogg CD, and, if the little old lady from Pasadena cuts you off in traffic, don't even think about flipping her the bird.

Not that police will slap cuffs on you and haul your sorry, er, butt off to jail in light of the proclamation passed Wednesday by the City Council. But you could be shamed into better behavior by the unsettling glares of residents who take their reputation for civility seriously.

"That's one of the purposes of this," Mayor Michael Cacciotti said of his city's proclamation designating the first week of March as No Cussing Week. "It provides us a reminder to be more civil, to elevate the level of discourse."

The proclamation will be in effect until Friday, and then the first week of every March hereafter.

South Pasadena, a tranquil city of tree-shaded cottages at the base of a mountain range eight miles north of downtown Los Angeles, isn't the first to try to rein in potty mouths. Earlier this year, the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles, Mo., proposed banning swearing in bars. Last year, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons called for an industrywide ban on racially and sexually charged epithets.

But what's different about the latest push to stop saying in public the words that Jane Fonda and Diane Keaton recently discovered we still can't say on television is that it was proposed by a 14-year-old boy.

"My mom and dad always taught me good morals, good values, and not cussing was one of them," said McKay Hatch, the founder of South Pasadena High School's No Cussing Club, during a recent break between study hall and tennis practice.

"I've cussed before, I'm not gonna lie to you," Hatch quickly added. "But I try not to cuss any more."

He was in junior high school when he became fed up with all the blue language around him.

He understood why his friends use foul language: "They just want to fit in like everybody else and they don't know how. They figure if they cuss maybe it's an easy way to do that."

But it wasn't for him.

"I finally told my friends, `I don't cuss.' And I said, `If you want to hang out with me, you don't cuss.'"

It took a couple of years, but enough friends finally came around that Hatch formed a 50-member club, handed out fliers and called the group's first meeting, held June 1.

Nine months later, the No Cussing Club has a Web site, claims a membership of 10,000 and boasts chapters in several states and countries. Hatch considers his greatest achievement, though, to be getting his hometown of 25,000 to become a cuss-free zone.

Cacciotti, the mayor, isn't surprised that South Pasadena started the movement. He noted that the city broke off from its much bigger neighbor 120 years ago when residents unhappy with the saloon trade in downtown Pasadena voted 85-25 to go their own way.

By midweek, however, it was unclear just how many people in South Pasadena knew about the no-cussing edict.

A clerk behind the counter at Buster's Ice Cream & Coffee Shop just laughed and said, "That sounds pretty funny."

David Salcedo, who manages High Life Burgers, a popular hangout near the high school, hadn't heard of it either.

But, come to think of it, he said, the language among the after-school crowd has been pretty clean lately. The biggest problem these days, Salcedo said, is kids talking too loudly.

"But they're good kids," he added. "They just eat their chili fries and go home."

For his part, Hatch hopes his No Cussing Club will lead to cuss-free zones in other cities. He believes it could be a quality-of-life issue, and that there may be less violence if people behave better.

"You have to start with the little things," he said.

Source: AP

Man threatens wife with Voodoo killing

PORT ST. LUCIE — Investigators arrested a local man after his wife said he hit her and threatened to kill her, her children and family with Voodoo and a gun, according to a police report released Wednesday.

The 31-year-old victim, who recently moved here from Haiti, is a “strong believer of the Voodoo religion” and told police her husband, Nerlet Bellot, 34, is “more than capable of casting a Voodoo curse on her and her family and is terrified of that notion and its consequences.”

Arrested Monday, Bellot, of the 2400 block of Southeast Wald Street, faces charges including battery, hindering communication with 911 and assault in connection with the incidents.

The victim told police that early Monday she and her husband argued. She said her husband hit her in the head and abdomen, knocking her to the ground. When she said she was calling 911 on her cell phone, he threw the phone down, which broke it.

Their 8-year-old son tried to stop Bellot, and Bellot then said he'd kill his wife and her children and family “with a gun as well as with Voodoo.”

“She stated that if he went to jail that his family in Haiti would do his bidding,” the report states. “She fears for her safety primarily from the Voodoo.”

Because the victim was so scared of the Voodoo curse, police charged Bellot with assault, said Officer Robert Vega, police spokesman.

Bellot denied striking his wife, breaking the phone, or threatening to kill her with Voodoo or a firearm.

Sopurce: TCPalm

Human Evolution - Stop Following Me You F***ing Freaks!!!

I need a day off - so shoot me

A 21-year-old US man reportedly asked his friend to shoot him so he could skip work.

Sheriff's detectives say Daniel Kuch, of Pasco, Washington state, took a bullet in the shoulder to avoid taking a drug test at work.

Mr Kuch claimed he'd been the victim of a drive-by shooting while jogging with a friend, reports the Daily Telegraph.

But his story unravelled when detectives were called to the medical centre where Mr Kuch sought treatment for his bullet wound.

Detectives told KONA radio that Mr Kuch later acknowledged that he asked his friend to shoot him so he could get some time off work and avoid the drug test.

Pasco detective Jason Nunez said: "It's extremely concerning that someone would come up with a story like this. It presents such a serious situation, when someone makes up a false story just to help themselves."

Mr Kuch is expected to be charged with false reporting, while his friend has been arrested for reckless endangerment.

Police declined to say where he worked or if he still had a job.

Source: Ananova

F-15 is flyable with one wing

Israel pilot Zivi Nedivi safely landed his F-15 after losing a wing in mid-air collision