Global Oddities

Two convicted murderers put on corrections-officer uniforms and walked out of an Arkansas prison during a shift change, officials said Saturday as they searched for the men.
Jeffrey Grinder, 32, and Calvin Adams, 39, escaped Friday evening from the Cummins Unit prison in Grady more than three hours before officials realized they were missing, corrections department spokeswoman Dina Tyler said.

Both men were serving life sentences without the possibility of parole at the prison about 60 miles southeast of Little Rock.
The guard uniforms the inmates put on are made in the prison. Video surveillance shows the men put them on in the prison library after the 6 p.m. headcount and walked out of the prison during a shift change less than 20 minutes later, Tyler said.
Prison officials are investigating whether all policies and procedures were followed.

“Someone should have laid eyes on them. That’s one of the things we’re looking at: How exactly did they get out without someone challenging them?” Tyler said.
Grinder and Adams drove away in a maroon or burgundy colored, 4-door sedan that had been left for them. Officials realized the men were missing after coming up short during the 10 p.m. inmate headcount, Tyler said.
Grinder was convicted of capital murder in 2004, and Adams was convicted of capital murder in 1995. Both men have family in Arkansas and out of state.
“We think there’s probably a pretty good chance that they are not in Arkansas,” she said.
Corrections officials are trying to develop leads on where the men are and hoping someone will spot them. Anyone who sees the men should call the Arkansas state police or their local law enforcement, Tyler said.
Source: AP, May 30, 2009

Bubba Ludwig may only be 10 months old, but he has already successfully obtained a gun licence in the US state of Illinois.
Bubba’s father, Howard Ludwig, applied on his behalf after his grandfather gave him a shotgun as an heirloom.
Mr Ludwig said he had not expected to succeed, but he filled in the online form, paid $5 and the licence was his.
US gun laws are regularly the subject of fierce debate, renewed recently after April’s Virginia Tech killings.
Gunman Cho Seung-hui was able to exploit a loophole in Virginia state law and obtain weapons despite having a history of mental illness. The loophole was later closed.
The licence includes a picture of a toothless Bubba and a squiggle that represents his best attempt at a signature.

Illinois gun laws are said to be among the strictest in the US.
But Illinois State Police, who oversee the application process, said that they had followed the law in this case.
“Does a 10-month-old need a FOID card? No, but there are no restrictions under the act regarding age of applicants,” the Associated Press news agency quoted Lt Scott Compton as saying.
Mr Ludwig said Bubba’s gun would likely remain at his grandfather’s house until he was 14.
“I’m not about to approve any unsupervised hunting or trap shooting for Bubba,” he wrote in the Chicago daily.
“Still, I’m glad he was able to get his FOID card. It makes an adorable addition to his baby book.”

Source: BBC news online, May 29, 2009

It may not be immediately obvious to everyone, but one family are convinced they can see the face of Jesus on the lid of a jar of Marmite.
Claire Allen, 36, said she was the first to notice the image on the underside of the lid as she was putting the yeast spread on her son’s toast.
Her husband Gareth, 37, said he could not believe his eyes when he saw it.
Mr Allen, of Ystrad, Rhondda, said: “The kids are still eating it, but we kept the lid.”
He explained: “Claire saw it first and called her dad to come and take a photo of it.
“When I first looked at it I wasn’t sure, but when I moved it away from me it started coming out. I thought yeah, she’s right – that’s the image of Jesus.

Mrs Allen said her 14-year-old son Jamie had also remarked on the likeness.
She told the South Wales Echo: “Straight away Jamie said ‘that looks like God’, and my other boys (Robbie, four, and Tomas, 11) even said they could see a face.
“People might think I’m nuts, but I like to think it’s Jesus looking out for us.
“We’ve had a tough couple of months; my mum’s been really ill and it’s comforting to think that if he is there, he’s watching over us.”

Source: BBC news online: May 28, 2009

A zookeeper has been mauled to death by a white tiger in front of horrified tourists at a wildlife park in
The animal fatally mauled the man while he was cleaning an enclosure in Whangarei’s Zion Wildlife Park on North Island.
Despite the efforts of a second keeper and a rapid response from other wildlife park staff, the tiger would not let the park worker go.
He died at the scene.
Police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said the keeper had suffered serious injuries to his abdomen and lower legs.
The tiger was later destroyed by wildlife park staff.
Victim Support officers were called to the scene to help distressed park employees and visitors, including eight foreign tourists who witnessed the attack.
The park, located near the northern city of Whangarei, has 42 rare lions and tigers.
They are kept in large wire-cage enclosures, which include trees and grassy areas.
In February, park employee Demetri Price required surgery after he was attacked by a white tiger.
Scottish teenager Lisa Baxter was left scarred last year after she put her hands through a hole in the fence and was bitten by a white lion.
Authorities are investigating the latest incident.
Source: Sky news online, May 27, 2009

Frank and Anita Milford, who live together in a nursing home in Plymouth, Devon, exchanged vows on 26 May, 1928.

Frank is 101 and Anita will be 101 next month. In February they will break the record to become the longest married couple in Britain.

They say they still have little arguments, but will always have a kiss and cuddle before they go to bed.

The pair, who said there was no “magic secret” to a happy marriage, met at a YMCA dance in the St Budeaux area of Plymouth in 1926 and were married two years later at Torpoint register office.

Mr Milford worked at Devonport dockyard until his retirement at the age of 60.

The couple stayed in Plymouth throughout World War II.

During the Blitz they narrowly escaped two bombs, including one which fell on their house.

They have two children, five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Their 74-year-old son, also called Frank, said the main secret of his parents’ wedded bliss was simply being happy with each other.

“They’ve enjoyed themselves, enjoyed their lives very much but they’ve been always very content with their lot,” he said.

Source: BBC news online, May 26, 2009

Two New Zealanders whose bank mistakenly deposited $6.1 million into their account took some of the money and ran, police said.
Authorities launched an international search for the couple, who operated a gas station in the northern city of Rotorua, and their Westpac Bank said Thursday it considered the money stolen.

The two applied to Westpac for a $6,000 overdraft, but 1,000 times that amount was paid into their account. The two then withdrew some of the money and disappeared, Detective Senior Sgt. David Harvey said.

Westpac conceded human error was responsible for making the couple accidental millionaires. Authorities did not release their identities.

Harvey said Interpol has been contacted for help, suggesting they may have fled abroad with the cash.

“We are currently conducting an investigation into the individuals that may have been involved in the withdrawal of that money,” Harvey said.

Westpac spokesman Craig Dowling said the bank had recovered some of the money but declined to give further details.

The bank said in a statement it was “pursuing vigorous criminal and civil action to recover the sum of money stolen.”

Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown said it is generally considered a criminal offense for people to spend money accidentally deposited into a bank account if they are aware that the cash is not theirs.

In her 15 years as ombudsman, Brown said she had been involved in 10 to 20 similar cases.

Source: AP, May 25, 2009

Embattled former President Roh Moo-hyun — a reformist shamed by a corruption scandal that tarnished his image as a “clean” politician — jumped to his death while hiking in the mountains behind his rural home in South Korea, his lawyer said. He was 62.
Roh was hiking in Bongha village when he threw himself off a steep cliff around 6:40 a.m. Saturday, lawyer Moon Jae-in told reporters in the southern city of Busan. He said Roh left a suicide note.
The former president of South Korea, Roh Moo-Hyun, committed suicide by jumping off a cliff while hiking behind his house, according to Roh’s attorney.
“Too many people are suffering because of me,” he wrote, according to South Korean media.
Roh was taken to Busan National University Hospital, where he was declared dead several hours later.
A self-taught lawyer who lifted himself out of poverty to reach the nation’s highest office, Roh prided himself on his clean record in a country with a long history of corruption. He served as president from 2003 to 2008.
But he and his family have been ensnared in recent weeks in a burgeoning bribery scandal.
The suicide — the first by a South Korean president — stunned the nation. South Koreans nationwide huddled around TV screens watching news broadcasts.
“I was utterly shocked,” said Chun Soon-im, 63, of Seoul. “They say ‘hate the sin but not the sinner,’ and that’s how I feel. The investigation must continue and we must get to the truth, but I cannot help feeling sorry for the man and those left behind.”
Last month, state prosecutors questioned Roh for some 13 hours about allegations that he accepted more than $6 million in bribes from a South Korean businessman while in office — accusations that deeply shamed him.
“I have no face to show to the people. I am sorry for disappointing you,” an emotional Roh said April 30 before speaking to prosecutors.

Source: AP, May 23, 2009

A burglar had to call Dutch police to free him after finding himself trapped in an attempt to break into a school in Amsterdam, police said Wednesday.
The 26-year-old “got into the school through the roof and a small window” on Tuesday night, police spokesman Ebe van der Land told AFP.
“He was unable to leave the same way and found himself trapped in an inner court, his exit blocked by a high gate.
“He said he did not have the strength left to scale the gate, and so called the police.”
Officers freed the man before locking him up.
Source: AFP, May 20, 2009

Ready to flex their pecs and strike a pose, bodybuilders at the Belgian championships scattered when doping officials showed up.
After a spate of positive doping tests in recent years in Belgium, the event had been moved across the Dutch border to Vlissingen for the weekend competition.

“They must have felt safe out there,” doping official Hans Cooman told the Associated Press on Monday.

But Cooman and two colleagues got the necessary papers to check the tournament in the Netherlands. And when they identified themselves just before the event — with the 20 bodybuilders weighing in and preparing themselves — the testers drew quite a response.

The bodybuilders got up and left, preferring to quit rather than submit to doping tests. Some grabbed their gear and headed straight out the door.

“They must have been flabbergasted,” Cooman said.

Bodybuilders usually take months to prepare for such championships, yet the sight of controllers was too much for them.

“I have never seen anything like it and hope never to see anything like it again,” Cooman said.

Bodybuilding has a long history of doping, and Cooman said this latest flap “didn’t do its reputation any good.”

Last year, 22 of 29 tests were positive, either for steroids or for refusing testing, a failure rate of a staggering 75%.

“This was the first time though we turned up in the Netherlands,” Cooman said.

Minutes before the start of the championships, before even one gleaming pose was on display, organizers had no option but to tell a few hundred fans that had come to the Arsenaal theater that there was not point in staying.

Now Cooman and his colleagues will report the case to the disciplinary committee, which will have to decide whether the bodybuilders can be punished because they refused to be tested.

A man who refused to give his name at the NABBA Belgium bodybuilding federation could not explain why the competitors had suddenly rushed off and would not discuss the matter.

Source: AP, May 18, 2009

Canadian musician Gonzales broke the world record on Monday for the longest-ever solo concert after he succeeded in playing the piano for a grueling 27 hours 3 minutes and 44 seconds.

The 37-year-old musician stole the title from Guinness record-holder Prasanna Gudi of India who made history by playing raga for 26 hours and 12 minutes in December.
Gonzales took the stage at midnight on Sunday at a small theatre in Paris’ trendy Montmartre, seated at his upright piano next to a large digital clock tracking his marathon performance.
For the near-continuous concert, Gonzales chose 300 musical pieces from Gershwin’s “Summertime” to Britney Spears’ “Hit Me Baby One More Time”, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” and “Eye of the Tiger” from the film Rocky III.
Under Guinness rules, he was allowed a 15-minute break after each three-hour set and a 30-second pause in between songs.
There were also a few costume changes during the performance, from jeans and a t-shirt to blue-and-white striped pyjamas.
Born Jason Beck in Montreal, Gonzales lives in Paris and co-produced Feist’s 2007 hit album “The Reminder”. His sixth album “Soft Power” was released last year.
Fans were able to follow his feat on .www.gonzpiration.com
Source: AFP, May 17, 2009