Oh, The Irony
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Italy Inmates Seek Death Penalty
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Freed Chinese Panda Dies In Wild
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2007/05/31 11:11:20 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2007/05/31 11:11:20 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Last edited by a moderator:
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President’s disappearing watch
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Last Updated: 3:14am BST 13/06/2007
Video: The disappearing watch
When George W Bush began shaking hands with enthusiastic well-wishers in Albania he was wearing a watch. When he stopped a few minutes and dozens of hearty welcomes later, he was not.
What happened to the watch became the subject of intense international speculation yesterday.
The Albanian media and websites, which carried video of the event in Fushe Kruje, 15 miles north of Tirana on Sunday, speculated that the best-protected man in the world had been fleeced.
Pictures show the president starting his walk along the crowd with the watch on his left wrist. In the next, a firm hand covers the relevant part of his arm, and in the last his wrist is bare and Mr Bush is gazing down as if searching for something.
Albania's police chief, perhaps sensitive to his compatriots' reputation for petty crime, moaned: "This is not true."
A White House spokesman explained: "The president put it in his pocket and it returned safely home." However, none of the footage shows the president removing his watch.
An Albanian bodyguard who accompanied Mr Bush said he had seen one of his US colleagues from the Secret Service bend down and pick up the watch. Neither explanation is likely to silence the conjecture.
If lost, the watch will not be hard to replace - it was a £25 Timex. It will be easy to trace however. It is inscribed "George W Bush, President, January 20, 2001".
http://tinyurl.com/yqdqqm
That'll teach him to go slumming it with the hoi-polloi!
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Last Updated: 3:14am BST 13/06/2007
Video: The disappearing watch
When George W Bush began shaking hands with enthusiastic well-wishers in Albania he was wearing a watch. When he stopped a few minutes and dozens of hearty welcomes later, he was not.
What happened to the watch became the subject of intense international speculation yesterday.
The Albanian media and websites, which carried video of the event in Fushe Kruje, 15 miles north of Tirana on Sunday, speculated that the best-protected man in the world had been fleeced.
Pictures show the president starting his walk along the crowd with the watch on his left wrist. In the next, a firm hand covers the relevant part of his arm, and in the last his wrist is bare and Mr Bush is gazing down as if searching for something.
Albania's police chief, perhaps sensitive to his compatriots' reputation for petty crime, moaned: "This is not true."
A White House spokesman explained: "The president put it in his pocket and it returned safely home." However, none of the footage shows the president removing his watch.
An Albanian bodyguard who accompanied Mr Bush said he had seen one of his US colleagues from the Secret Service bend down and pick up the watch. Neither explanation is likely to silence the conjecture.
If lost, the watch will not be hard to replace - it was a £25 Timex. It will be easy to trace however. It is inscribed "George W Bush, President, January 20, 2001".
http://tinyurl.com/yqdqqm
That'll teach him to go slumming it with the hoi-polloi!
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Maybe his time is up at last!
suburban wolf
Wolf in a Human Suit
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rynner said:
Somehow I can just hear Frank Oz...
"One Timex digital watch - broken"
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Trains for high-speed link handed over to the French
Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent
A fleet of high-speed trains built to connect cities in the Midlands and the North with Paris and Brussels has quietly been handed to France.
The 186mph (300km/h) trains, which cost the British taxpayer £180 million, will be used to carry French passengers between Paris and Lille. Rail groups condemned the decision, which they said exposed the contrast between France’s strong commitment to rail travel and Britain’s failure to back its statements of support with actual investment.
The opening in November of High Speed One, the fast line linking St Pancras station in London with the Channel Tunnel, would have provided an opportunity to start services from Birmingham to Paris, taking about three hours, and Manchester to Paris, taking a little over four.
A short distance north of St Pancras a branch line connects with the West Coast Main Line. This would have allowed trains from regional cities to bypass Central London en route to the Continent. British Rail built seven trains, each with 14 carriages and known as the “regional Eurostars”, to run these services.
Since rail privatisation a decade ago, the plans have been on hold and the trains have been stored in West London, apart from a short period on loan to GNER on the East Coast Main Line.
The Government claimed that there was not enough demand for direct trains from regional cities in Britain to the Continent. There are 20 flights a day from Birmingham and Manchester to Paris. If only half the passengers switched to rail, there would still be enough demand to fill two trains a day in each direction.
The Department for Transport has looked again at the possibility of running regional Eurostar services and is expected to include the idea as part of its long-term strategy for the railways being published this month. But the seven trains will be operating in France at least until the end of 2011. SNCF, the French rail operator, has also had a clause inserted in the contract allowing it to keep the trains for a further two years if it wishes.
Richard Pout, of the lobby group Railfuture, said: “It is scandalous that we are not using these trains ourselves . . . there is a sad irony in seeing trains paid for by British taxpayers going to France, where they understand the value of high-speed rail.
“With just a little more imagination they could give British people a much more environmentally friendly route to the Continent.”
A Eurostar train travelling between London and Paris emits a tenth of the carbon dioxide per passenger that an aircraft would on the same route.
A Eurostar spokesman defended the decision to lease the trains to France: “Like a car, it’s better to have these trains out running rather than sitting in a depot. I’m sure we can get them back if we want them.”
The number of passengers on Eurostar services between London and Paris or Brussels has risen by a third since 2003, from six million to eight million a year.
Eurostar refused to say how much SNCF was paying to lease the trains.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 033855.ece
Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent
A fleet of high-speed trains built to connect cities in the Midlands and the North with Paris and Brussels has quietly been handed to France.
The 186mph (300km/h) trains, which cost the British taxpayer £180 million, will be used to carry French passengers between Paris and Lille. Rail groups condemned the decision, which they said exposed the contrast between France’s strong commitment to rail travel and Britain’s failure to back its statements of support with actual investment.
The opening in November of High Speed One, the fast line linking St Pancras station in London with the Channel Tunnel, would have provided an opportunity to start services from Birmingham to Paris, taking about three hours, and Manchester to Paris, taking a little over four.
A short distance north of St Pancras a branch line connects with the West Coast Main Line. This would have allowed trains from regional cities to bypass Central London en route to the Continent. British Rail built seven trains, each with 14 carriages and known as the “regional Eurostars”, to run these services.
Since rail privatisation a decade ago, the plans have been on hold and the trains have been stored in West London, apart from a short period on loan to GNER on the East Coast Main Line.
The Government claimed that there was not enough demand for direct trains from regional cities in Britain to the Continent. There are 20 flights a day from Birmingham and Manchester to Paris. If only half the passengers switched to rail, there would still be enough demand to fill two trains a day in each direction.
The Department for Transport has looked again at the possibility of running regional Eurostar services and is expected to include the idea as part of its long-term strategy for the railways being published this month. But the seven trains will be operating in France at least until the end of 2011. SNCF, the French rail operator, has also had a clause inserted in the contract allowing it to keep the trains for a further two years if it wishes.
Richard Pout, of the lobby group Railfuture, said: “It is scandalous that we are not using these trains ourselves . . . there is a sad irony in seeing trains paid for by British taxpayers going to France, where they understand the value of high-speed rail.
“With just a little more imagination they could give British people a much more environmentally friendly route to the Continent.”
A Eurostar train travelling between London and Paris emits a tenth of the carbon dioxide per passenger that an aircraft would on the same route.
A Eurostar spokesman defended the decision to lease the trains to France: “Like a car, it’s better to have these trains out running rather than sitting in a depot. I’m sure we can get them back if we want them.”
The number of passengers on Eurostar services between London and Paris or Brussels has risen by a third since 2003, from six million to eight million a year.
Eurostar refused to say how much SNCF was paying to lease the trains.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 033855.ece
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Today I got the idea that I might have missed a dental appointment - I couldn't find the appointment card, and I didn't seem to have entered it into my computer diary.
Failing to get through by phone, I called in to the dentists after work...
It turns out the appointment is not till September - I'd said, when originally given it, that I'd not forget that date, as it is my daughter's birthday....
Doh!
Failing to get through by phone, I called in to the dentists after work...
It turns out the appointment is not till September - I'd said, when originally given it, that I'd not forget that date, as it is my daughter's birthday....
Doh!
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Man Finds Out Wife, Not Daughter, Having Affair
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Christian MP found with two prostitutes
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 2:02am BST 01/08/2007
An Italian politician whose party represents Christian values has been embroiled in a scandal involving two prostitutes, a hotel room and a large amount of cocaine.
Cosimo Mele, 50, a Christian Democrat UDC MP, was caught out when he had to call an ambulance to the hotel in Rome after one of the girls suffered breathing problems.
The property entrepreneur, whose wife is pregnant with their fourth child, has now resigned from his party.
The scandal's timing is sensitive since the UDC party has been calling for all MPs to take voluntary drugs tests.
Mr Mele said: "I did nothing other than go to dinner with a friend who introduced me to this girl. Since it was late, she came to bed with me. How many politicians go to bed with young girls?"
He said he had nothing to do with the other girl who had "taken drugs or something else". She felt ill and he had called reception.
He added: "So politicians in the UDC do not make love? Of course I recognise Christian values. But what has that got to do with going with a prostitute? It is a personal matter.
"This affair has nothing to do with family values. I cannot be branded a bad father and a bad husband simply because after five or six days away from home an occasion presented itself."
http://tinyurl.com/2rxhox
You couldn't make it up!
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Last Updated: 2:02am BST 01/08/2007
An Italian politician whose party represents Christian values has been embroiled in a scandal involving two prostitutes, a hotel room and a large amount of cocaine.
Cosimo Mele, 50, a Christian Democrat UDC MP, was caught out when he had to call an ambulance to the hotel in Rome after one of the girls suffered breathing problems.
The property entrepreneur, whose wife is pregnant with their fourth child, has now resigned from his party.
The scandal's timing is sensitive since the UDC party has been calling for all MPs to take voluntary drugs tests.
Mr Mele said: "I did nothing other than go to dinner with a friend who introduced me to this girl. Since it was late, she came to bed with me. How many politicians go to bed with young girls?"
He said he had nothing to do with the other girl who had "taken drugs or something else". She felt ill and he had called reception.
He added: "So politicians in the UDC do not make love? Of course I recognise Christian values. But what has that got to do with going with a prostitute? It is a personal matter.
"This affair has nothing to do with family values. I cannot be branded a bad father and a bad husband simply because after five or six days away from home an occasion presented itself."
http://tinyurl.com/2rxhox
You couldn't make it up!
or 
A
Anonymous
Guest
escargot1 said:
Been there before I see! Rest assured ALL my kitchen utensils are in pristine conditon (although they're expensive to repair!).
Analogue Boy
Bar 6
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So how do I join this new...er Christian Values Party then?
A
Anonymous
Guest
You're half way there mate!
We just need you to sign a few little forms!
It won't take long!
We just need you to sign a few little forms!
It won't take long!
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- 54,631
Farmer gets lost in his crop maze
A farmer has told of how he became lost in his own maize maze.
Paul Barkes, 47, reached a dead end while mowing the paths through the maze at Thorpe Farm Country Park and Falconry Centre, near Barnard Castle.
He spent several minutes trying to find his way out of the five-acre maze before being forced to drive over his carefully tended crop.
Mr Brakes said his experience had prompted him to make the attraction easier for visitors.
He said: "I knew roughly where I was but I'd agreed to take my daughter to a party and I was running out of time to find my way out.
Tricky maze
"I was in a bit of a panic that she would miss the event so I was forced to cut myself another exit.
"I'd already had feedback suggesting the maze was tricky to negotiate before I became lost myself.
"Next year, I think I will make it a bit easier."
The "Chicken Run" maize maze runs until the crop is harvested in late autumn.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/6931344.stm
A farmer has told of how he became lost in his own maize maze.
Paul Barkes, 47, reached a dead end while mowing the paths through the maze at Thorpe Farm Country Park and Falconry Centre, near Barnard Castle.
He spent several minutes trying to find his way out of the five-acre maze before being forced to drive over his carefully tended crop.
Mr Brakes said his experience had prompted him to make the attraction easier for visitors.
He said: "I knew roughly where I was but I'd agreed to take my daughter to a party and I was running out of time to find my way out.
Tricky maze
"I was in a bit of a panic that she would miss the event so I was forced to cut myself another exit.
"I'd already had feedback suggesting the maze was tricky to negotiate before I became lost myself.
"Next year, I think I will make it a bit easier."
The "Chicken Run" maize maze runs until the crop is harvested in late autumn.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/6931344.stm
At least his maze wasn't GM, neither is the food served in the monsanto works cafe.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/article ... e_6401.cfm :lol: :lol:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/article ... e_6401.cfm :lol: :lol:
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Crime author charged with murder after the police read his perfect plot
Roger Boyes in Berlin
An author leafing through a newspaper comes across tantalising details of a murder so grisly that he becomes obsessed, and imagines the events into a novel. Or a murderer, so self-satisfied with the brilliance of his perfect crime, pens an account to pass off as fiction and enshrine it in literary history.
Where reality ends and fiction begins in the stomach-turning novel Amok is the central task before the jury in Poland’s trial of the decade. Four years after he published his bloody bestseller, Krystian Bala has found himself on trial for the same torture and murder that he detailed in his novel.
Amok, Mr Bala claims, was inspired by news reports of the murder of a Polish businessman, whose mutilated body was fished out of the Oder river in the town of Wroclaw, close to the German border in southwest Poland, in December 2000. Police identified the dead man as Dariusz J, the owner of a small advertising agency. His death had been a grim one. His body bore the marks of torture, his limbs were distended. His hands were bound and tied to a noose around his neck.
Initial inquiries showed that he was well liked, successful and solvent. With no motive or suspect, the police were stumped. The case was broadcast on Poland’s version of the BBC television programme Crimewatch but it produced no serious leads — only some strange e-mails sent from internet cafés in Indonesia and South Korea, describing the murder as “the perfect crime”.
Five years later, police received an anonymous call. They were told to take a look at the book Amok, published in 2003, three years after the killing. Chief Inspector Jacek Wroblewski was shocked by what he found in the pages. The book contained intimate details of the murder that could be known only to police — or the killer. Further investigations revealed that the victim was an acquaintance of Mr Bala’s estranged wife.
Mr Bala was arrested and, according to him, hooded, beaten and insulted during a day of interrogation. “They seemed to know the book by heart,” he told outraged supporters later. “They quoted pieces from it that they found offensive and asked me about even the smallest detail. The police were treating the book as if it was a literal autobiography rather than a piece of fiction.”
Mr Bala told police that he had collated the available details from press reports and imagined the missing parts, which happened to be the grisliest. Mr Wroblewski was not convinced, but after three days Mr Bala was released from Wroclaw jail when police, who denied illtreating the writer, conceded that the evidence was slim.
The mockery that the inspector suffered from the Polish press only increased his resolve. The first break for the police came when they discovered that Mr Bala, a highly experienced diver, was on a diving trip to South Korea and Indonesia at the time that the e-mails were sent. Then they discovered that he had sold a mobile phone four days after the body of Dariusz J was discovered. It was the same model that the victim was known to have owned, but that police had never found.
Mr Bala offered to take a lie-detector test to prove his innocence and passed. When the transcripts were read out in court, the judge was struck by the very long pauses taken by Mr Bala before answering, a technique that may allow a suspect to mask the physical signs of lying.
“My view is that Bala was using the breathing techniques that he had learnt as a diver,” the inspector told the court.
During the trial, which has now been adjourned, Mr Bala has managed to answer almost every nugget of evidence against him. The case, his lawyer says, is largely circumstantial — “like the plot of a novel”. Mr Bala’s former wife told the court that he was an obsessive, wanting to control her friendships even after their divorce.
Whether that will be enough to demonstrate that Mr Bala had the motive to commit murder, write a novel about it and then tip off the police remains to be seen. The literary riddle will probably outlive the courtroom judgment.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 224874.ece
:?
Roger Boyes in Berlin
An author leafing through a newspaper comes across tantalising details of a murder so grisly that he becomes obsessed, and imagines the events into a novel. Or a murderer, so self-satisfied with the brilliance of his perfect crime, pens an account to pass off as fiction and enshrine it in literary history.
Where reality ends and fiction begins in the stomach-turning novel Amok is the central task before the jury in Poland’s trial of the decade. Four years after he published his bloody bestseller, Krystian Bala has found himself on trial for the same torture and murder that he detailed in his novel.
Amok, Mr Bala claims, was inspired by news reports of the murder of a Polish businessman, whose mutilated body was fished out of the Oder river in the town of Wroclaw, close to the German border in southwest Poland, in December 2000. Police identified the dead man as Dariusz J, the owner of a small advertising agency. His death had been a grim one. His body bore the marks of torture, his limbs were distended. His hands were bound and tied to a noose around his neck.
Initial inquiries showed that he was well liked, successful and solvent. With no motive or suspect, the police were stumped. The case was broadcast on Poland’s version of the BBC television programme Crimewatch but it produced no serious leads — only some strange e-mails sent from internet cafés in Indonesia and South Korea, describing the murder as “the perfect crime”.
Five years later, police received an anonymous call. They were told to take a look at the book Amok, published in 2003, three years after the killing. Chief Inspector Jacek Wroblewski was shocked by what he found in the pages. The book contained intimate details of the murder that could be known only to police — or the killer. Further investigations revealed that the victim was an acquaintance of Mr Bala’s estranged wife.
Mr Bala was arrested and, according to him, hooded, beaten and insulted during a day of interrogation. “They seemed to know the book by heart,” he told outraged supporters later. “They quoted pieces from it that they found offensive and asked me about even the smallest detail. The police were treating the book as if it was a literal autobiography rather than a piece of fiction.”
Mr Bala told police that he had collated the available details from press reports and imagined the missing parts, which happened to be the grisliest. Mr Wroblewski was not convinced, but after three days Mr Bala was released from Wroclaw jail when police, who denied illtreating the writer, conceded that the evidence was slim.
The mockery that the inspector suffered from the Polish press only increased his resolve. The first break for the police came when they discovered that Mr Bala, a highly experienced diver, was on a diving trip to South Korea and Indonesia at the time that the e-mails were sent. Then they discovered that he had sold a mobile phone four days after the body of Dariusz J was discovered. It was the same model that the victim was known to have owned, but that police had never found.
Mr Bala offered to take a lie-detector test to prove his innocence and passed. When the transcripts were read out in court, the judge was struck by the very long pauses taken by Mr Bala before answering, a technique that may allow a suspect to mask the physical signs of lying.
“My view is that Bala was using the breathing techniques that he had learnt as a diver,” the inspector told the court.
During the trial, which has now been adjourned, Mr Bala has managed to answer almost every nugget of evidence against him. The case, his lawyer says, is largely circumstantial — “like the plot of a novel”. Mr Bala’s former wife told the court that he was an obsessive, wanting to control her friendships even after their divorce.
Whether that will be enough to demonstrate that Mr Bala had the motive to commit murder, write a novel about it and then tip off the police remains to be seen. The literary riddle will probably outlive the courtroom judgment.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 224874.ece
:?
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- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
LIGHT FINGERS AT WORK IN THE POLICE STATION
ANDY GREENWOOD CHIEF REPORTER
11:00 - 10 August 2007
Property and cash to a value of nearly £5,000 was stolen last year - from Devon and Cornwall Police. However, only two of the 11 thefts from police stations and force cars were solved. :shock: Officers did detect the most valuable theft - a £3,000 engine management system which was stolen in Exeter last June.
They also charged one suspect after a mobile phone, wallet containing £400 in cash and keys belonging to a member of the public were taken from Heavitree Road Police Station in Exeter.
But criminals did get away with £500-worth of copper belonging to the force as well as a new digital Airwave radio. One police officer lost £200 in cash while a further £260 was stolen from a civilian member of police staff.
A thief also escaped with a £30 pair of binoculars, a £30 torch and a waterproof jacket worth £100 owned by a police officer in Cornwall. A mini-motorcycle, worth £40, was also stolen during 2006, as was a £100 bicycle, belonging to a member of police staff.
The figures were revealed by the force after a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The same questions were posed to all 43 police forces in England and Wales which revealed that property and money totalling £175,000 had been stolen from police premises and vehicles.
Digital cameras, body armour, handcuffs, helmets and phones were among the items taken. A £10,000 Dorset police car was taken while another valued at £8,000 was taken from Northumbria police.
Derbyshire police reported £50,000 in cash taken from their Alfreton station, though a suspect has been charged.
Meanwhile, one officer lost a fridge from Dunstable station, Bedfordshire, and a George Foreman grill was stolen from a police station in Middlesbrough.
Property stolen from stations belonging to officers and staff included bicycles, MP3 players, DVDs, cash and phones.
Just a third of the thefts were solved while seven forces failed to detect a single theft from their premises.
Sixteen forces were unable to supply figures, meaning the overall total is likely to be far higher.
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "Devon and Cornwall have a large number of police stations across a large area and not all of those buildings are as modern as we would like.
"Many of those police stations are only manned during the day when the public expects people to be there.
"All of our staff are vigilant and because we take security seriously crimes relating to police premises are much lower than for comparable organisations."
He also said there was "a balance to be struck" between being open to the public and ensuring security.
The spokesman added: "We invite all members of society into police stations and they are not designed to be fortresses, we want them to be as welcoming as possible."
http://tinyurl.com/263tka
ANDY GREENWOOD CHIEF REPORTER
11:00 - 10 August 2007
Property and cash to a value of nearly £5,000 was stolen last year - from Devon and Cornwall Police. However, only two of the 11 thefts from police stations and force cars were solved. :shock: Officers did detect the most valuable theft - a £3,000 engine management system which was stolen in Exeter last June.
They also charged one suspect after a mobile phone, wallet containing £400 in cash and keys belonging to a member of the public were taken from Heavitree Road Police Station in Exeter.
But criminals did get away with £500-worth of copper belonging to the force as well as a new digital Airwave radio. One police officer lost £200 in cash while a further £260 was stolen from a civilian member of police staff.
A thief also escaped with a £30 pair of binoculars, a £30 torch and a waterproof jacket worth £100 owned by a police officer in Cornwall. A mini-motorcycle, worth £40, was also stolen during 2006, as was a £100 bicycle, belonging to a member of police staff.
The figures were revealed by the force after a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The same questions were posed to all 43 police forces in England and Wales which revealed that property and money totalling £175,000 had been stolen from police premises and vehicles.
Digital cameras, body armour, handcuffs, helmets and phones were among the items taken. A £10,000 Dorset police car was taken while another valued at £8,000 was taken from Northumbria police.
Derbyshire police reported £50,000 in cash taken from their Alfreton station, though a suspect has been charged.
Meanwhile, one officer lost a fridge from Dunstable station, Bedfordshire, and a George Foreman grill was stolen from a police station in Middlesbrough.
Property stolen from stations belonging to officers and staff included bicycles, MP3 players, DVDs, cash and phones.
Just a third of the thefts were solved while seven forces failed to detect a single theft from their premises.
Sixteen forces were unable to supply figures, meaning the overall total is likely to be far higher.
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "Devon and Cornwall have a large number of police stations across a large area and not all of those buildings are as modern as we would like.
"Many of those police stations are only manned during the day when the public expects people to be there.
"All of our staff are vigilant and because we take security seriously crimes relating to police premises are much lower than for comparable organisations."
He also said there was "a balance to be struck" between being open to the public and ensuring security.
The spokesman added: "We invite all members of society into police stations and they are not designed to be fortresses, we want them to be as welcoming as possible."
http://tinyurl.com/263tka
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
Reed it and weep: Scots lose out in bagpipes contest
MURDO MACLEOD
([email protected])
SCOTTISH pipe bands have been beaten at home at their own game.
For the first time since the turn of the millennium, no Scots band made it into the top three of the World Pipe Band Championships.
In first place were the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band from Northern Ireland, who came out top in both the March, Strathspey and Reel and the Medley sections of the contest.
Second place in the coveted competition went to the Simon Fraser University band from Vancouver in British Columbia. Another Canadian pipe band, the Scottish Lion 78th Fraser Highlanders, came in third.
The highest-placed Scots were the House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead band in fourth place, followed by Strathclyde Police in fifth.
While non-Scottish bands frequently win or get a top-ranking position in 'The Worlds', which is regarded as the premier international contest in bagpiping, it is highly unusual for no Scottish band to be in the top three.
The contest featured more than 200 bands and 8,000 pipers and drummers from across the world, who were gathered at Glasgow Green to brave the damp weather.
For observers, the most exotic competitors are the colourfully dressed Pakistani competitors, although the main competition is fought out between Scottish, Northern Irish and Canadian pipers.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1268762007
MURDO MACLEOD
([email protected])
SCOTTISH pipe bands have been beaten at home at their own game.
For the first time since the turn of the millennium, no Scots band made it into the top three of the World Pipe Band Championships.
In first place were the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band from Northern Ireland, who came out top in both the March, Strathspey and Reel and the Medley sections of the contest.
Second place in the coveted competition went to the Simon Fraser University band from Vancouver in British Columbia. Another Canadian pipe band, the Scottish Lion 78th Fraser Highlanders, came in third.
The highest-placed Scots were the House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead band in fourth place, followed by Strathclyde Police in fifth.
While non-Scottish bands frequently win or get a top-ranking position in 'The Worlds', which is regarded as the premier international contest in bagpiping, it is highly unusual for no Scottish band to be in the top three.
The contest featured more than 200 bands and 8,000 pipers and drummers from across the world, who were gathered at Glasgow Green to brave the damp weather.
For observers, the most exotic competitors are the colourfully dressed Pakistani competitors, although the main competition is fought out between Scottish, Northern Irish and Canadian pipers.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1268762007
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- Aug 7, 2001
- Messages
- 54,631
TORRENT THE ABANDONED OTTER AFRAID OF WATER
11:00 - 15 August 2007
Orphaned otter Torrent has had his fair share of problems to overcome in recent weeks but staff at an animal hospital are now helping him tackle an unusual phobia - a fear of water.The four-month-old otter was discovered exhausted and all alone in North Devon five weeks ago, before being rushed to Secret World Wildlife Rescue Centre in Highbridge, North Somerset, to recuperate.
At first, he seemed to be making good progress with a healthy appetite for trout and a playful personality. But it was not long before centre manager Pauline Kidner realised that Torrent was fighting a very basic instinct and struggling to keep his head above water.
Mrs Kidner said: "We called him Torrent because he had been through all the very bad storms we had a few weeks ago. He was found on his own with no mum or family in sight.
"He has been doing really well but unfortunately he is having problems with water and can't swim. At this age, you would expect him to be swimming on his own but he doesn't want to.
"Torrent is playful in that way but when he goes in the bath, he just wants to lie on his back instead of swimming.
"It is quite unusual for an otter of his age to be like this."
At first, staff had thought a problem with the youngster's fur or even an old injury might be preventing him from getting in at the deep end, but medical checks have given him the all-clear.
Mrs Kidner now hopes that finding a friend for Torrent could give him the confidence to take the plunge. She said: "We are hoping another otter will come in, because they are sociable animals. It might help him if he's got a playmate.
"We'll see how it goes but if he's still the same we might have to send him to a specialist otter sanctuary."
http://tinyurl.com/2ags8m
11:00 - 15 August 2007
Orphaned otter Torrent has had his fair share of problems to overcome in recent weeks but staff at an animal hospital are now helping him tackle an unusual phobia - a fear of water.The four-month-old otter was discovered exhausted and all alone in North Devon five weeks ago, before being rushed to Secret World Wildlife Rescue Centre in Highbridge, North Somerset, to recuperate.
At first, he seemed to be making good progress with a healthy appetite for trout and a playful personality. But it was not long before centre manager Pauline Kidner realised that Torrent was fighting a very basic instinct and struggling to keep his head above water.
Mrs Kidner said: "We called him Torrent because he had been through all the very bad storms we had a few weeks ago. He was found on his own with no mum or family in sight.
"He has been doing really well but unfortunately he is having problems with water and can't swim. At this age, you would expect him to be swimming on his own but he doesn't want to.
"Torrent is playful in that way but when he goes in the bath, he just wants to lie on his back instead of swimming.
"It is quite unusual for an otter of his age to be like this."
At first, staff had thought a problem with the youngster's fur or even an old injury might be preventing him from getting in at the deep end, but medical checks have given him the all-clear.
Mrs Kidner now hopes that finding a friend for Torrent could give him the confidence to take the plunge. She said: "We are hoping another otter will come in, because they are sociable animals. It might help him if he's got a playmate.
"We'll see how it goes but if he's still the same we might have to send him to a specialist otter sanctuary."
http://tinyurl.com/2ags8m
JamesWhitehead
Piffle Prospector
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- Aug 2, 2001
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- 14,223
I can't find this story online right now but heard it on the You & Yours programme - a source usually of unintentional humour only.
I think they said Southwark Fire Brigade had erected a purpose-built structure for training them to fight fires realistically. The costs escalated madly to over five million pounds.
When they finally got to use it, it burned down!
Oh, the contactors somehow escaped liability. :furious:
I think they said Southwark Fire Brigade had erected a purpose-built structure for training them to fight fires realistically. The costs escalated madly to over five million pounds.
When they finally got to use it, it burned down!
Oh, the contactors somehow escaped liability. :furious:
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- Aug 10, 2005
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- 11,990
Let's hope the contractors don't have any Health and Safety Problems, or fires (for that matter), in the near future.JamesWhitehead said:
Analogue Boy
Bar 6
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If a Fire Station pole can be banned under health and safety regulations, how can pole dancers continue doing their job legally?
They even come down them upside down*
*from what I've heard.
They even come down them upside down*
*from what I've heard.
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- Aug 7, 2001
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- 54,631
rynner said:
Polish author jailed over killing he used as plot
Ian Traynor in Warsaw
Thursday September 6, 2007
The Guardian
A Polish pulp fiction writer was sentenced to 25 years in jail yesterday for his role in a grisly case of abduction, torture and murder, a crime that he then used for the plot of a bestselling thriller.
In a remarkable case that has gripped Poland for months, Krystian Bala, a writer of blood-curdling fiction, was found guilty of orchestrating the murder seven years ago of a Wroclaw businessman, Dariusz Janiszewski, in a crime of passion brought on by the suspicion that the victim was sleeping with his ex-wife.
In the novel, the villain gets away with kidnapping, mutilating and murdering a young woman.
In real life, however, Bala got his comeuppance, even though it was seven years after the disappearance of the advertising executive whose murder confounded detectives until they read the book.
The killing of Janiszewski was one of the most gruesome cases to come before a Polish court in years, with the "Murder, He Wrote" sub-plot unfolding in the district court in Wroclaw and keeping the country spellbound.
Janiszewski, said to have been having an affair with Bala's ex-wife, was scooped out of the river Oder near Wroclaw in south-west Poland by fishermen in December 2000, four weeks after going missing.
The police tests revealed that he was stripped almost naked and tortured. His wrists had been bound behind his back and tied to a noose around his neck before he was dumped in the river.
The police had little to go on. Within six months, Commissar Jacek Wroblewski, leading the investigation, dropped the case. It remained closed for five years despite the publication in 2003 of the potboiler Amok, by Bala, a gory tale about a bunch of bored sadists, with the narrator, Chris, recounting the murder of a young woman. The details of the murder matched those of Janiszewski almost exactly.
Bala, who used the first name Chris on his frequent jaunts abroad, was arrested in 2005 after Commissar Wroblewski received a tip-off about the "perfect crime" and was advised to read the thriller. But Bala was released after three days for insufficient evidence, despite the commissar's conviction that he had his villain. When further evidence came to light, Bala was re-arrested. The case against him, however, remained circumstantial.
Police uncovered evidence that Bala had known the dead man, had telephoned him around the time of his disappearance and had then sold the dead man's mobile phone on the internet within days of the murder.
When Poland's television equivalent of Crimewatch aired details of the case in an attempt to generate fresh police leads, the programme's website received messages from various places in the far east, places that Bala, a keen scuba diver, was discovered to have been visiting at the time of the messages.
All along, Bala protested his innocence, insisting that he derived the details for the Amok thriller from media reports of the Janiszewski murder.
Sentencing Bala to 25 years' jail yesterday, Judge Lidia Hojenska admitted that he could not be found directly guilty of carrying out the murder. But the evidence sufficed to find him guilty of planning and orchestrating the crime. "The evidence gathered gives sufficient basis to say that Krystian Bala committed the crime of leading the killing of Dariusz Janiszewski," she said.
The court heard expert and witness evidence that Bala was a control freak, eager to show off his intelligence, "pathologically jealous" and inclined to sadism. "He was pathologically jealous of his wife," said Judge Hojenska. "He could not allow his estranged wife to have ties with another man."
His lawyer said yesterday that Bala would appeal against the verdict and sentence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international ... 99,00.html
GNC
King-Sized Canary
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The above could just as easily have fit into the World's Dumbest Criminals thread. We're lucky he was arrogant enough to base a book around his crime, but are there any other cases of murderous authors? And did they do the same as Mr Bala?
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Thatcher thrilled by Brown praise
David Cracknell
BARONESS THATCHER, the Conservative former prime minister, was basking in Gordon Brown’s flattery last week, saying she was “delighted” with the compliment he bestowed when he described her as a “conviction politician”.
The prime minister used his first news conference since the summer break to lavish praise on Thatcher in an attempt to embarrass his Tory opponent, David Cameron.
Brown said: “I think Lady Thatcher saw the need for change . . . I also admire the fact she is a conviction politician. I am a conviction politician like her.”
His remarks came on the day that Michael Ancram, the former Tory party chairman, accused Cameron of “trashing” Thatcherism and shortly after it was revealed that one of the party’s treasurers resigned.
Yesterday Thatcher’s spokesman said that she was pleased with the comments. “She was delighted to have such flattery, as she always is from any source,” the spokesman said. “It is nice to have someone say such things about you.”
The spokesman added that Thatcher had not spoken to Ancram for some time but “his views are his views”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 414691.ece
David Cracknell
BARONESS THATCHER, the Conservative former prime minister, was basking in Gordon Brown’s flattery last week, saying she was “delighted” with the compliment he bestowed when he described her as a “conviction politician”.
The prime minister used his first news conference since the summer break to lavish praise on Thatcher in an attempt to embarrass his Tory opponent, David Cameron.
Brown said: “I think Lady Thatcher saw the need for change . . . I also admire the fact she is a conviction politician. I am a conviction politician like her.”
His remarks came on the day that Michael Ancram, the former Tory party chairman, accused Cameron of “trashing” Thatcherism and shortly after it was revealed that one of the party’s treasurers resigned.
Yesterday Thatcher’s spokesman said that she was pleased with the comments. “She was delighted to have such flattery, as she always is from any source,” the spokesman said. “It is nice to have someone say such things about you.”
The spokesman added that Thatcher had not spoken to Ancram for some time but “his views are his views”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 414691.ece