Johor Robbers get away with ... Old Newspaper

Two robbers were left disappointed after they only escaped with a plastic bag filled with a newspaper and a water bottle.

The victim, a money changer, was about to open his shop in Taman Sentosa here at about 9am when he was approached by two men armed with guns.

The robbers snatched the plastic bag the victim was carrying before escaping in a blue Proton Wira.

The 50-year-old victim was relieved that the bag only contained his bank account book, a newspaper and a water bottle.

He was not harmed and has lodged a police report at Central police station.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Naked Man Superglued to Exercise Bike

A gang stripped a South African man before supergluing him to an exercise bicycle while they ransacked his house, according to a report Thursday.

SAPA news agency said the attackers, dressed in suits, hijacked a man in his 50s and forced him at gunpoint to take them to his home in Johannesburg.

"The victim was then forced to strip, after which he was superglued to the seat of an exercise bicycle, his hands were superglued, as were his feet and then his mouth was superglued shut," SAPA quoted Mark Stokoe, a spokesman for emergency services Netcare 911, as saying.

The man was rescued about three hours later when his partner arrived home, SAPA said.

South Africa is battling one of the world's highest crime rates which has prompted concerns that violence might mar the 2010 soccer World Cup, which the country is due to host.

A police spokesman could not immediately comment on the report. No one at Netcare 911 could be reached.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Paris Hilton to be Jailed!!

Paris Hilton will have a very unglamorous new address if prosecutors get their way: the Los Angeles County jail. The city attorney's office filed documents in Superior Court recommending the hotel heiress and TV star be jailed for 45 days for violating terms of her probation for an alcohol-related reckless driving conviction.

Prosecutors also want Hilton to stay away from alcohol for 90 days and wear a monitoring device that will chart whether she complies. And they are seeking to have her license suspended for an additional four months.

The recommendation will be reviewed by a judge when Hilton appears for a probation violation hearing on Friday. The judge can accept it or impose a different penalty. The maximum penalty is 90 days in jail.

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said Hilton is being treated the same as anyone else.

"Anyone who would have conducted themselves in a way that resulted in this set of facts, we would have made the same recommendation of 45 days in county jail, regardless of whether they were a celebrity or not," he said Thursday.

Delgadillo said he is requesting Hilton serve her time in the county jail, but where she is incarcerated is up to the judge. He said Hilton could request to be housed in a jail of her choice but if the judge grants that she would be required to pay the costs of her incarceration.

Hilton, 26, pleaded no contest in January to reckless driving stemming from a Sept. 7 arrest in Hollywood. Police said she appeared intoxicated and failed a field sobriety test. She had a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent, the level at which an adult driver is in violation of the law.

Hilton said she had only a single margarita at a charity event that evening but may have been "speeding a little bit" while on her way to get a hamburger.

A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is equivalent to a guilty plea for determining sentencing. She was sentenced to 36 months probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines.

Two other traffic stops are what landed Hilton back in court.

On Jan. 15 she was pulled over by California Highway Patrol. Officers informed Hilton she was driving on a suspended license and she signed a document acknowledging she was not to drive, according to court papers.

She then was stopped by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies on Feb. 27 and charged with violating her probation. Police said she was pulled over at about 11 p.m. after authorities saw the car speeding with its headlights off.

Hilton's spokesman, Elliot Mintz, said at the time she wasn't aware her license was suspended. A call Thursday to Mintz was not immediately returned.

Prosecutors say by signing the document after the first incident Hilton knew she was not to drive. They also note that as of April 17 she had yet to enroll in the required alcohol education program.

Hilton, heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune, first gained notoriety for her hard partying as a teen. She attracted worldwide attention when a sex tape she made with a boyfriend was released on the Internet.

She stars in the E! reality-TV series, "The Simple Life," now in its fifth season, with

Nicole Richie. She appeared in the 2005 film, "House of Wax" and recently finished filming "The Hottie and the Nottie." She also is a handbag designer and has a namesake perfume.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Employer beheads worker for not milking cows

An employer in eastern India beheaded one of his workers for failing to milk his cows, police said on Saturday.

Neighbors watched in horror as Upendra Yadav was dragged out of his house in Jharkhand state on Friday by his angry employer.

The employer's father and brother held Yadav down before he was beheaded with a sword, police said.

The employer has been charged with murder.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Postmen find poison snakes in express mail

Postal workers in a Brazilian border town knew there was something suspicious about the shipments from Argentina and were stunned to find scorpions and poisonous snakes in the express mail.

The contraband animals, which also included iguanas, tortoises and lizards, were discovered when the workers had the boxes X-rayed.

A spokesman for the federal police in Foz do Iguacu, the town on the border with Argentina and Paraguay where the incident occurred, said animals shipped into the country often end up in Europe "where they charge three, four, five times as much."

Television stations broadcast images of brightly colored tropical snakes coiled and stuffed into plastic containers, the kind typically used for take-away orders at the deli counter.

The contraband animals had crossed the border from Argentina and were being express-mailed to Brazilian cities, police officer Emerson Rodrigues told TV Globo.

Animals are trafficked in from several countries and often cross into Brazil from Argentina or Paraguay in the tri-border region near Foz do Iguacu, authorities said.

"Traffic also goes the other way, which is to say the animals come from Brazil and go to other countries, including to Europe," Rodrigues told Globo.

Police suspected the express mail case was linked to an international trafficking ring and were using the addresses on the boxes as leads.

Animal trafficking is common in South America, where the Amazon rain forest alone is estimated to hold some 15 percent of all plant and animal species on earth.

Foz do Iguacu is south of the Amazon at the edge of the Pantanal wetlands, which are famous for giant otters, alligators and various birds including storks and South America's endangered blue Hyacinth Macaw.

In Brazil, macaws and other parrots are among the most commonly trafficked animals. They are often found dead or dying in boxes and crates when trafficking rings are broken up.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Pirated DVDs showing Spiderman Man2 but labeled Spiderman3

Beijing: Chinese counterfeiters, determined to cash in on the hype of "Spider-Man 3," have taken piracy one step further, releasing faked copies of different movies in Spider-Man sleeves.

Sony Pictures Entertainment said on Tuesday DVDs in China reported to be pirated copies of widely anticipated "Spider-Man 3" were in fact copies of its predecessor, "Spider-Man 2."

On Thursday, street vendors were selling discs marked with "Spider-Man 3" packaging, featuring a picture of the hero crouching in a black spider suit, and crediting stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in Chinese.

A copy bought for 10 yuan -- a little over $1 -- came with the vendor's caveat that it was "not good quality."

When played in a DVD machine, the screen showed a 2001 television movie "Earth vs. The Spider" starring Dan Aykroyd as a detective investigating the case of a spider-like killer.

A copy obtained on Tuesday, with similar packaging and an anti-piracy warning on the back, would not play in a DVD machine.

Sony said in a statement that it had found no evidence of Spider-Man 3 DVDs on the streets in China or on the Internet, underscoring Hollywood's determination to fight Chinese counterfeiters, which they say costs them billions every year.

DVD shop vendors said it was still "too early" to obtain the fakes. The movie had its world premiere in Tokyo earlier this month, but will not be released in U.S. theatres until May 4.

"Wait a few days," said a worker at a DVD shop in Beijing's Sanlitun embassy district, who declined to leave her name.

"I'll have a good quality copy for you then," she said, before recommending a pirated copy of Martin Scorsese's "The Departed."

China has hit back at U.S. complaints to the World Trade Organization that it is not doing enough to tackle piracy, and has conducted stage-managed events in which police have crushed millions of DVD, music and software fakes in recent weeks.

Several DVD vendors said they had noted a crackdown.

"Business has been slow recently," said a shop assistant, surnamed Hong. "There have been too many checks... Maybe there will only be legitimate copies soon," she said.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Hugh Grant arrested on assault charge

Hugh Grant has been arrested for allegedly throwing a container of baked beans at a photographer, London police said.

The Metropolitan Police don't identify suspects who haven't been charged, but said a 46-year-old man was arrested Wednesday night on suspicion of assault and released on bail. No charges have been filed, police said.

Grant's lawyers weren't immediately available for comment.

Photographer Ian Whittaker told the Daily Star tabloid that Grant had kicked him and shouted abuse before hurling the beans at him Tuesday morning.

The newspaper ran photos Wednesday showing the actor holding a plastic tub over his head.

Grant's screen credits include "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Notting Hill" and "About a Boy."

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

India may Arrest Richard Gere over Kiss with Shilpa Shetty

A court issued arrest warrants for Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on Thursday for kissing at a public function, news reports said.

Judge Dinesh Gupta issued the warrants in the northwestern city of Jaipur after a citizen there filed a complaint charging that the public display of affection — which he called an "an obscene act" — offended local sensibilities, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Last week, Gupta subpoenaed television footage of the event.

Such cases against celebrities — often filed by publicity seekers — are common in conservative India. They add to a backlog of legal cases that has nearly crippled the country's judicial system.

Gere left India shortly after the kissing incident and it was not immediately clear how the warrant would affect him.

Gere is a frequent visitor to India, promoting health issues and the cause of Tibetan exiles. The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has his headquarters in the north Indian town of Dharmsala.

Under Indian law a person convicted of public obscenity faces up to three months in prison, a fine, or both.

Last week, crowds in several Indian cities burned effigies of the 57-year-old star of "An Officer and a Gentleman," "American Gigolo" and "Pretty Woman" after he embraced Shetty and kissed her several times on her cheeks during an HIV/AIDS awareness event in the Indian capital.

Photographs of the clinch were then splashed across front pages in India — where public displays of affection are largely taboo.

The event's organizer, Parmeshwar Godrej, called the controversy a distraction from more important issues.

"It has detracted from and undermined the value and success of the event, which was concerned with creating AIDS awareness and promoting AIDS prevention among truck drivers," CNN-IBN quoted her as saying.

Shetty, 31, has said the embrace was not obscene and that the media should instead focus on HIV/AIDS awareness.

"I understand this is his culture, not ours. But this was not such a big thing or so obscene for people to overreact in such manner," she told PTI last week.

"I understand people's sentiments, but I don't want a foreigner to take bad memories from here," PTI quoted her as saying.

Shetty, already well-known in India, became an international star after her appearance on the British reality show "Celebrity Big Brother" — another controversial public appearance. A fellow contestant, Jade Goody, sparked international headlines by making allegedly racist comments to Shetty. Mobs took to the streets of India to denounce Goody, and Shetty went on to win the competition.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

New meaning to Body Bag

Body of Woman found in Suitcase

The body of a woman was found stuffed in a suitcase floating on a river in Segambut here on Saturday.

A passer-by who was walking at Kampung Sungai Segambut retrieved the bag at about 5.30pm.

Sentul OCPD Asst Comm K. Kumaran said the first thing the man saw when he opened the bag was the face of a dead woman.

“He immediately called the police.

“The woman was in a brown and white striped t-shirt and a pair of shorts,” he said at the Police and Society programme at Wangsa Maju here.

“Her legs were tied up with a rope,” he said, adding that the yet-to-be-identified woman had shoulder-length hair.

Forensics police, who arrived at the scene later, confirmed that she had been dead for at least 48 hours.

The woman, who had been smothered, had numerous injuries, including a broken backbone and swelling on her head and neck.

Police also found two pillows in the bag, one of which was believed to have been used to suffocate the woman.

Clothes believed to be the woman’s were also found in the green bag.

There was no indication that the woman, believed to be in her 30s, had been raped.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Crook wins damages for injury during theft

A Canadian man who admitted shoplifting C$106 in razor blades has been awarded C$12,000 ($10,645) for injuries he suffered when he was tackled by store security guards.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge said that just because Daniel Baines admitted the store had a right to arrest him in the 2004 incident, it did not mean he lacked credibility as a witness about being beaten while being apprehended.

"Listening to Mr Baines testify, I found him to be remarkably forthright. He did not minimize or deny circumstances that might seem embarrassing or harmful to his case," Justice William Ehrcke said in a ruling published this week.

Baines, who represented himself, said employees of the supermarket in a Vancouver suburb used unreasonable force when he struggled during his capture. Baines lost a tooth in the incident, and said he now has trouble speaking.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Border cops recover 1,000 stolen wedding gowns

U.S. border police found 1,000 wedding gowns stolen from a cancer charity and crammed into a truck trying to get into Mexico, federal authorities said on Tuesday.

The donated dresses were on their way to Los Angeles to a fundraiser for the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation in November when they were stolen in Scottsdale, Arizona, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said.

Inspectors in southern Arizona recovered the dresses late last week when they inspected a tractor trailer that had been denied entry to Nogales, Mexico, by Mexican customs officials.

Police discovered the gowns, which have an estimated value of $3 million, and arrested the driver. It was not immediately clear if the driver was a U.S. or Mexican citizen.

Fran Hansen, co-founder and national director of the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation, thanked the border inspectors for recovering the missing frocks.

"When the call came in, I felt blessed beyond my wildest dreams," Hansen said. "I'd been praying for that moment for the past several months."

The charity receives donated wedding gowns, which it then resells, using the proceeds to grant wishes of women diagnosed with terminal breast cancer.

Wishes fulfilled by the charity include trips to Disneyland, ocean cruises, and funding reunions for separated family members, sources at the charity said.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Trawler Seized with 220 Rare Turtles

Malaysian marine police have seized a trawler carrying about 220 rare sea turtles and arrested 17 Chinese men for poaching, their second such seizure this week, a police chief said Thursday.

In the two seizures, both involving chases through Malaysian waters, almost 300 turtles were recovered. Most were dead, caught for use in making Chinese medicines. Their shells and skins are also used to make fashion accessories.

"We chased them for about half an hour," said Assistant Commissioner Mohd Sueb, head of marine police for Sabah state, referring to the second seizure Wednesday.

"They refused to stop their engine so we were alongside and we jumped over and managed to stop the engine."

Armed police, acting on tip-offs, intercepted both trawlers in waters off Sabah, Borneo island, Mohd Sueb said by phone. The turtles were mostly green turtles and hawksbills, both listed as endangered by the Swiss-based World Conservation Union.

Only 20 of the roughly 220 seized Wednesday were still alive, Mohd Sueb said. Of the 78 turtles recovered in the first seizure Monday, only five were alive, a local newspaper said. All the turtles were handed over to Malaysia's fisheries department.

Nineteen men were arrested in Monday's seizure.

Under Malaysia's fisheries law, the skippers of the trawlers face a maximum fine of 1 million ringgit ($289,000) and the crew could each be fined up to 100,000 ringgit.

Asked if police suspected any more turtle poachers were still trawling waters off Sabah, Mohd Sueb said: "So far, no news. It depends on the intelligence that we get."

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Ribena's Response to the Lack-Of Vitamin C case

You may have heard recently some Ribena drinks in Australia and New Zealand have been found to contain less Vitamin C than stated on pack. The case came about because the method we had used for testing Australian and New Zealand products was not sensitive enough to measure the natural break down in Vitamin C that occurs over time while this type of product is on shelf.

First things first: we wanted to reassure you this isn’t the case in the UK. Ribena contains the levels of Vitamin C as stated on our packaging and we’re still committed to producing the same quality refreshment that’s been enjoyed in the UK for the last 70 years. During that time we've worked with three generations of blackcurrant growers to create the unique Ribena taste we know our consumers love.

We also wanted to let you know that people who consume Ribena are obviously our number one concern. It was never our intention to mislead consumers in Australia and New Zealand and we're really sorry this has happened. We’ve moved to a new method of testing Vitamin C levels in those countries and we’re also developing a new recipe for our drinks in Australia and New Zealand to ensure Vitamin C levels are maintained over shelf life.

If you have any questions then give us a bell on 0800 096 3666.

The Ribena Consumer Careline Team (UK)

Related Post

• Ribena Exposed - Contains No Vitamin C & Sued $217,000

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Live Snakes & Human Foetus as Valentine Gifts?

A spurned doctor is believed to be behind the “gifts” of live snakes and dead human foetus to a 22-year-old undergraduate in Bayan Lepas here.

State CID chief Senior Asst Comm (II) Datuk Abdul Samah Mat said yesterday that police would be calling up the doctor, in his 30s, soon on the matter.

“Ten police reports ranging from intimidation, arson and child abandonment have been lodged against the doctor by the victim since February.

“We are now focusing on the doctor as it is not easy to obtain a human foetus. It would need someone with a medical background to do something like this,” he said when contacted.

SAC Abdul Samah said a post mortem showed that the male human foetus was between four and five months old but its race could not be determined.

On the numerous vulgar SMS messages allegedly received by the victim’s father, K. Krishnasamy, SAC Abdul Samah said police had identified the service provider and was now tracing the registered owner.

On Sunday, K. Puvaneswary received a dead foetus wrapped in a red plastic bag. The “gift” was placed on her elder sister’s car parked outside the house.

On Valentine’s Day, she received two live snakes in a parcel, which had
a note wishing her “Happy Valentine From Someone Who Cares.”

Her elder sister, Dhanalakshmi, 27, said that in other previous incidents her car was badly scratched while her father’s was splashed with paint. Burning paper had also been thrown into her house, damaging the kitchen, she added.

“My family’s nightmare began about three months ago after Puvaneswary rejected the advances of a doctor who was married,” she said.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Burglar Makes his Bed and Sleeps In It

A Beijing worker who broke into luxury villas to steal property and get a good night's sleep has been jailed for a year, state media reported Tuesday.

The court heard that Ye, a migrant worker, broke into five villas "out of curiosity," took showers, tried on clothes and slept in beds -- even when the householders were at home, the Shanghai Daily said.

When Ye found a woman sleeping in the house on his third break-in, he took a carton of milk from the fridge and went to bed on a separate floor, the paper said.

"The woman went to work the next morning, but Ye stayed on. She returned in the evening. When she was on the first floor, Ye went to the second floor, and vice versa," the paper said.

Ye was eventually caught at his fifth villa when the owner came home at 2 a.m. and called the police, having found a bathed and clean-shirted man watching his TV, the paper said


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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

New Type of Crocodile Belt

A Palestinian woman wearing a strangely bulging robe was caught at the Gaza-Egypt border trying to smuggle three baby crocodiles strapped to her waist, an official said Monday.

The reptiles, their jaws tied shut, were apparently bound for a Gaza zoo, said Maria Telleria, a spokeswoman for European observers who run the Rafah crossing.

"She looked strangely fat," Telleria said, explaining why the woman was ordered by a policewoman to submit to a search as she tried to enter Gaza from Egypt Thursday.

Surprised by the three crocodiles, the policewoman screamed, other guards raced to the scene and the reptiles were eventually turned over to authorities on the Egyptian side of the border, Telleria said by telephone.

"Two months ago, we had people who tried to cross with baby lions in their suitcases, and we have had many incidents in which travelers attempted to smuggle in exotic birds," the spokeswoman said.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Ribena Exposed - Contains No Vitamin C & Sued $217,000

It is a household name which has become one of the world's best-known fruit drinks and is enjoyed by children in 22 countries across the globe.

But it took only two school pupils to tackle the might of the makers of Ribena in a court case which ended in the company being fined almost £80,000 for misleading advertising.

The case came to court in New Zealand after students Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo challenged claims over levels of vitamin C in the blackcurrant drink.

Ribena is sold as a healthy drink by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), with advertisements stating that it has more vitamin C than orange juice.

But when the then 14-year-old classmates tested the syrup-based drink as part of a science project in 2004, they discovered that it contained almost no trace of vitamin C.

A lawsuit was filed by the Commerce Commission, the national consumer watchdog, and yesterday GSK admitted 15 charges of misleading advertising between 2002 and 2006.

The company was fined 217,000 New Zealand dollars (£80,000) and was ordered to run corrective adverts and post a message on its website.

Ms Devathasan, who was with Ms Suo in court, said the pair felt "quite proud".

She added: "If we hadn't done that science test three years ago, Ribena could have been promoted as vitamin C full for ever. We're just blown away that anything we could have started as a consumer could have blown up into something so huge."

Adverts in New Zealand claimed that Ready to Drink Ribena had 7mg of the vitamin per 100ml. The high school students found that the drink had almost no trace of vitamin C.

The Commerce Commission said that the company's behaviour was a massive breach of trust with the public.

GSK told the court that it had not deliberately set out to mislead consumers but that the fault lay with its testing methods.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Movie Pirates spraying Chemicals on DVDs to deter Dogs

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Movie pirates are spraying chemicals on their bootleg DVDs to confuse two U.S.-loaned dogs who this month helped Malaysian authorities sniff out nearly 1 million illegal discs, an official said Monday.

The two female Labradors have been trained to detect polycarbonate chemicals used in manufacturing discs. But officials received a tip-off that bootleggers are using chemical sprays to throw Lucky and Flo off the scent, said Fahmi Kassim, the Domestic Trade Ministry's enforcement chief in southern Johor state.

"The pirates are believed to be desperate because the dogs were so successful," Fahmi told The Associated Press.

Ministry authorities last week said the dogs were moved to a safe house after a source informed them that DVD and CD pirates were offering a bounty to anyone who could kill the dogs, which are on loan for at least a month from the Motion Picture Association of America.

The dogs, which began sniffing out disc shipments at Malaysia's main airport on March 13, won acclaim when they traveled south to Johor, helping officials uncover 1 million pirated DVDs, CDs and computer game discs worth $2.8 million in an office complex on March 19.

Fahmi declined to say whether Lucky and Flo were still in Johor, citing security reasons. However, the dogs have not taken part in any raids in Johor since last week's effort, he said.

The large seizure has not crippled pirates, Fahmi said, noting that authorities in Johor, which borders Singapore, found several retail outlets selling pirated discs over the weekend.

"We believe the pirates wanted to show off their strength, to show that they managed to reorganize and reopen their business even after we confiscated so many discs," Fahmi said.

Malaysia is among the world's main producers and exporters of pirated discs, the U.S. government and the MPAA have said. According to the Malaysian government, 5 million discs were seized in more than 2,000 raids nationwide last year, and 780 people were arrested.

The MPAA says Lucky and Flo's work in this Southeast Asian country is the first time authorities anywhere in the world have used dogs to detect contraband discs. Malaysian officials have said they will consider training their own canines to perform similar tasks.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

3 Thieves snatch US $12,000 in Underwear

Three brazen New Jersey shoplifters made off with nearly $12,000 in women's underwear by stuffing the goods into bags designed to foil anti-theft equipment at a Victoria's Secret store while the shop was open for business, police said.

Surveillance cameras captured two men and one woman jamming undergarments into large bags and walking past customers and staff into the Newport Center Mall in Jersey City.

Police said the thieves took over $6,900 in panties and more than $4,900 in bras. Victoria's Secret bras retail from $30 to over $50. Panties cost between $5 and $20, according to the company's website.

No arrests have been made since the crime was reported Tuesday night, said Lt. Edgar Martinez, spokesman for the Jersey City police department.

"This isn't something we've seen before. It's a lot of underwear to take," said Martinez.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Priceless Metalwork Stolen from Penang Church

Empty space: Chin (right) inspecting the wall where the metalwork used to be hung while pastoral committee vice-chairman David Wong looks on.

A priceless antique metalwork depicting Jesus falling while on his way to Calvary to be crucified has been stolen from the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Balik Pulau here.

Pastoral committee chairman Anthony Chin, 67, said the century-old work was part of a 14-piece set specially procured from Italy for the church.

“My wife Agnes Loh and me were praying at the 153-year-old church at 7.30pm on Feb 23 when we noticed that the metalwork had gone missing from the wall.

“We initially thought that it had fallen off but a check showed otherwise. A report was lodged at the Balik Pulau police station four days later,” he said yesterday.

“We then informed the 3,000-strong parishioners to be on the lookout for the item but to no avail. We are hoping that whoever took the item would return it to us.”

Chin said at least two thieves could be involved as the antique was quite heavy.

“They must have then carried the metalwork out of the church. The door was locked from the outside but could be opened from the inside without a key.

He assured the thieves that no action would be taken against them if they returned the irreplaceable item.

“They can just leave it at the church’s doorstep. It is of no use to anyone but it is of great spiritual value to the church parishioners.

“Anyone who has seen such a metal work can also call me at (04-866 8581) or my handphone (012-576 3063). All information received will be treated as confidential,” he said.

Chin said two antique porcelain flower stands, which were part of a set of five, placed next to the altar were also stolen from the church in December.

“The pastoral committee is considering installing a CCTV system. Additional locks have already been placed on the doors,” he said

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]