Off Beat News

More on the above story:

Man in wheelchair takes ride on semi's grill

A young man has quite the story to tell after his wheelchair got lodged in the grill of a semi truck, which dragged the chair and the man inside for five miles down a road.

Muscular dystrophy forced Ben Carpenter, 22, of Alamo into a wheelchair eight years ago. He was on one of his twice-weekly outings, this time in Paw Paw around 4 p.m. Wednesday.

As he crossed Red Arrow Highway in front of a semi truck, he didn't make the traffic light. The truck driver apparently didn't see Carpenter and a collision occurred, causing the wheelchair's handles to become lodged in the truck's grill.

Carpenter remembers the sound. "Kind of like train cars coming together, something like that," he told 24 Hour News 8.

Unable to hear Carpenter's cries for help over the hum of the diesel engine, the truck driver continued down Red Arrow Highway at speeds of approximately 50 mph.

"It was fast, I know that. Faster than this chair was made to go," Carpenter said.

"I was thinking, the cars keep going by and nobody bothered to stop."

But they were calling 911.

The Michigan State Police Paw Paw Post and Van Buren County Central Dispatch began receiving strange reports of the situation. Police initially thought the report might have been a prank until they started receiving more calls.

Time was running out on Carpenter as the dark streaks on the road were marks left by the smoking tires on his wheelchair.

"I was probably thinking that this is going to keep going and not stop anywhere, 50 or 60 miles somewhere. What if I end up in South Haven? I mean, I would have been dead way before that."

Luckily for him, the truck driver stopped five miles down the road at Ralph Moyle Trucking Company, which owned the truck.

"If I had gone any more miles, the tires would have been gone all the way," Carpenter said.

When troopers arrived at the scene they discovered Carpenter unharmed and unfazed by the incident.

"I was happy. Thank God it was over," Carpenter said. "I thought it was kind of like a fair ride. I don't remember feeling any bumps though. I must have, but the road must have been pretty smooth."

Police approached the driver and advised him of what happened. The driver did not believe them until he stepped out of the truck and saw Carpenter still sitting in the chair.

One trooper on the scene said, "You could work another 90 years in law enforcement and never see something like this."

Everybody said they are just glad no one was injured.

Authorities say no charges will be filed.

WoodTV

Company Being Sued by Man's Long-lasting Erection

Woods claims that the vitamin-enriched drink gave him an erection that would not go away.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/06/05/ap3792153.html

I think his mrs would not complain at all. Especially after long suffering she must have been through.

Malik... i think i speak for everyone when i say 'ew'.

Naked riders promote pedal power

About 700 cyclists in various states of undress have cycled through central London in another leg of the World Naked Bike Ride.
The naked cyclists - and others with strategically-placed body paint, sticky tape or bum bags - were highlighting the damage caused by car dependency.

They were also promoting the environmental benefits of cycling.

Earlier on Saturday, more than 200 naked cyclists rode through Brighton and Hove in East Sussex.

The World Naked Bike Ride is now in its fourth year with more than 60 cities participating in 2007.

The London leg began at Hyde Park and finished in Wellington Arch, a route of about six miles.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6736969.stm

and how exactly does naken bike riding prove their point? :roll:

Fairground riders kept hanging on

Passengers found their ride on a roller coaster in Arkansas even scarier than expected after a power cut left them dangling upside down for half an hour.

The US thrill-seekers hung 150ft (46m) above the ground before being brought down by firemen.

They were rescued by ladder, whereupon a least one passenger was sick.

"It was very scary," said Connie McBride, after her unwanted adventure. "I love the amusement park, but I will never get on the X-Coaster again."

Angela Salter, who was on another ride that also seized up in the power cut, said: "You could tell who got off the [X-Coaster] because their faces were red."

A spokeswoman for the Springs & Crystal Falls amusement park said the management was investigating the cause of the power cut.

BBC News

Muhammad second most popular name

Muhammad is the second most popular name for baby boys in Britain, new research has found.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6727101.stm

"I am both Muslim and Christian"
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times religion reporter

Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group on First Hill.

On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest.

She does both, she says, because she's Christian and Muslim.

Redding, who until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, has been a priest for more than 20 years. Now she's ready to tell people that, for the last 15 months, she's also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Islamic prayers left her profoundly moved.

Her announcement has provoked surprise and bewilderment in many, raising an obvious question: How can someone be both a Christian and a Muslim?

But it has drawn other reactions too. Friends generally say they support her, while religious scholars are mixed: Some say that, depending on how one interprets the tenets of the two faiths, it is, indeed, possible to be both. Others consider the two faiths mutually exclusive.

"There are tenets of the faiths that are very, very different," said Kurt Fredrickson, director of the doctor of ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. "The most basic would be: What do you do with Jesus?"

Christianity has historically regarded Jesus as the son of God and God incarnate, both fully human and fully divine. Muslims, though they regard Jesus as a great prophet, do not see him as divine and do not consider him the son of God.

"I don't think it's possible" to be both, Fredrickson said, just like "you can't be a Republican and a Democrat."

Redding, who will begin teaching the New Testament as a visiting assistant professor at Seattle University this fall, has a different analogy: "I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I'm both an American of African descent and a woman. I'm 100 percent both."

Redding doesn't feel she has to resolve all the contradictions. People within one religion can't even agree on all the details, she said. "So why would I spend time to try to reconcile all of Christian belief with all of Islam?

"At the most basic level, I understand the two religions to be compatible. That's all I need."

She says she felt an inexplicable call to become Muslim, and to surrender to God — the meaning of the word "Islam."

"It wasn't about intellect," she said. "All I know is the calling of my heart to Islam was very much something about my identity and who I am supposed to be.

"I could not not be a Muslim."

Redding's situation is highly unusual. Officials at the national Episcopal Church headquarters said they are not aware of any other instance in which a priest has also been a believer in another faith. They said it's up to the local bishop to decide whether such a priest could continue in that role.

Redding's bishop, the Rt. Rev. Vincent Warner, says he accepts Redding as an Episcopal priest and a Muslim, and that he finds the interfaith possibilities exciting. Her announcement, first made through a story in her diocese's newspaper, hasn't caused much controversy yet, he said.

Some local Muslim leaders are perplexed.

Being both Muslim and Christian — "I don't know how that works," said Hisham Farajallah, president of the Islamic Center of Washington.

But Redding has been embraced by leaders at the Al-Islam Center of Seattle, the Muslim group she prays with.

"Islam doesn't say if you're a Christian, you're not a Muslim," said programming director Ayesha Anderson. "Islam doesn't lay it out like that."

Redding believes telling her story can help ease religious tensions, and she hopes it can be a step toward her dream of creating an institute to study Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

"I think this thing that's happened to me can be a sign of hope," she said.

Finding a religion that fit

Redding is 55 and single, with deep brown eyes, dreadlocks and a voice that becomes easily impassioned when talking about faith. She's also a classically trained singer, and has sung at jazz nights at St. Mark's.

The oldest of three girls, Redding grew up in Pennsylvania in a high-achieving, intellectual family. Her father was one of the lawyers who argued the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that desegregated the nation's public schools. Her mother was in the first class of Fulbright scholars.

Though her parents weren't particularly religious, they had her baptized and sent her to an Episcopal Sunday school. She has always sensed that God existed and God loved her, even when things got bleak — which they did.

She experienced racism in schools, was sexually abused and, by the time she was a young adult, was struggling with alcohol addiction; she's been in recovery for 20 years.

Despite those difficulties, she graduated from Brown University, earned master's degrees from two seminaries and received her Ph.D. in New Testament from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She felt called to the priesthood and was ordained in 1984.

As much as she loves her church, she has always challenged it. She calls Christianity the "world religion of privilege." She has never believed in original sin. And for years she struggled with the nature of Jesus' divinity.

She found a good fit at St. Mark's, coming to the flagship of the Episcopal Church in Western Washington in 2001. She was in charge of programs to form and deepen people's faith until March this year when she was one of three employees laid off for budget reasons. The dean of the cathedral said Redding's exploration of Islam had nothing to do with her layoff.

Ironically, it was at St. Mark's that she first became drawn to Islam.

In fall 2005, a local Muslim leader gave a talk at the cathedral, then prayed before those attending. Redding was moved. As he dropped to his knees and stretched forward against the floor, it seemed to her that his whole body was involved in surrendering to God.

Then in the spring, at a St. Mark's interfaith class, another Muslim leader taught a chanted prayer and led a meditation on opening one's heart. The chanting appealed to the singer in Redding; the meditation spoke to her heart. She began saying the prayer daily.

Around that time, her mother died, and then "I was in a situation that I could not handle by any other means, other than a total surrender to God," she said.

She still doesn't know why that meant she had to become a Muslim. All she knows is "when God gives you an invitation, you don't turn it down."

In March 2006, she said her shahada — the profession of faith — testifying that there is only one God and that Mohammed is his messenger. She became a Muslim.

Before she took the shahada, she read a lot about Islam. Afterward, she learned from local Muslim leaders, including those in Islam's largest denomination — Sunni — and those in the Sufi mystical tradition of Islam. She began praying with the Al-Islam Center, a Sunni group that is predominantly African-American.

There were moments when practicing Islam seemed like coming home.

In Seattle's Episcopal circles, Redding had mixed largely with white people. "To walk into Al-Islam and be reminded that there are more people of color in the world than white people, that in itself is a relief," she said.

She found the discipline of praying five times a day — one of the five pillars of Islam that all Muslims are supposed to follow — gave her the deep sense of connection with God that she yearned for.

It came from "knowing at all times I'm in between prayers." She likens it to being in love, constantly looking forward to having "all these dates with God. ... Living a life where you're remembering God intentionally, consciously, just changes everything."

Friends who didn't know she was practicing Islam told her she glowed.

Aside from the established sets of prayers she recites in Arabic fives times each day, Redding says her prayers are neither uniquely Islamic nor Christian. They're simply her private talks with God or Allah — she uses both names interchangeably. "It's the same person, praying to the same God."

In many ways, she says, "coming to Islam was like coming into a family with whom I'd been estranged. We have not only the same God, but the same ancestor with Abraham."

A shared beginning

Indeed, Islam, Christianity and Judaism trace their roots to Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism who is also considered the spiritual father of all three faiths. They share a common belief in one God, and there are certain similar stories in their holy texts.

But there are many significant differences, too.

Muslims regard the Quran as the unadulterated word of God, delivered through the angel Gabriel to Mohammed. While they believe the Torah and the Gospels include revelations from God, they believe those revelations have been misinterpreted or mishandled by humans.

Most significantly, Muslims and Christians disagree over the divinity of Jesus.

Muslims generally believe in Jesus' virgin birth, that he was a messenger of God, that he ascended to heaven alive and that he will come back at the end of time to destroy evil. They do not believe in the Trinity, in the divinity of Jesus or in his death and resurrection.

For Christians, belief in Jesus' divinity, and that he died on the cross and was resurrected, lie at the heart of the faith, as does the belief that there is one God who consists of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Redding's views, even before she embraced Islam, were more interpretive than literal.

She believes the Trinity is an idea about God and cannot be taken literally.

She does not believe Jesus and God are the same, but rather that God is more than Jesus.

She believes Jesus is the son of God insofar as all humans are the children of God, and that Jesus is divine, just as all humans are divine — because God dwells in all humans.

What makes Jesus unique, she believes, is that out of all humans, he most embodied being filled with God and identifying completely with God's will.

She does believe that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected, and acknowledges those beliefs conflict with the teachings of the Quran. "That's something I'll find a challenge the rest of my life," she said.

She considers Jesus her savior. At times of despair, because she knows Jesus suffered and overcame suffering, "he has connected me with God," she said.

That's not to say she couldn't develop as deep a relationship with Mohammed. "I'm still getting to know him," she said.

Matter of interpretation

Some religious scholars understand Redding's thinking.

While the popular Christian view is that Jesus is God and that he came to Earth and took on a human body, other Christians believe his divinity means that he embodied the spirit of God in his life and work, said Eugene Webb, professor emeritus of comparative religion at the University of Washington.

Webb says it's possible to be both Muslim and Christian: "It's a matter of interpretation. But a lot of people on both sides do not believe in interpretation. "

Ihsan Bagby, associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky, agrees with Webb, and adds that Islam tends to be a little more flexible. Muslims can have faith in Jesus, he said, as long as they believe in Mohammed's message.

Other scholars are skeptical.

"The theological beliefs are irreconcilable," said Mahmoud Ayoub, professor of Islamic studies and comparative religion at Temple University in Philadelphia. Islam holds that God is one, unique, indivisible. "For Muslims to say Jesus is God would be blasphemy."

Frank Spina, an Episcopal priest and also a professor of Old Testament and biblical theology at Seattle Pacific University, puts it bluntly.

"I just do not think this sort of thing works," he said. "I think you have to give up what is essential to Christianity to make the moves that she has done.

"The essence of Christianity was not that Jesus was a great rabbi or even a great prophet, but that he is the very incarnation of the God that created the world.... Christianity stands or falls on who Jesus is."

Spina also says that as priests, he and Redding have taken vows of commitment to the doctrines of the church. "That means none of us get to work out what we think all by ourselves."

Redding knows there are many Christians and Muslims who will not accept her as both.

"I don't care," she says. "They can't take away my baptism." And as she understands it, once she's made her profession of faith to become a Muslim, no one can say she isn't that, either.

While she doesn't rule out that one day she may choose one or the other, it's more likely "that I'm going to be 100 percent Christian and 100 percent Muslim when I die."

Deepened spirituality

These days, Redding usually carries a headscarf with her wherever she goes so she can pray five times a day.

On Fridays, she prays with about 20 others at the Al-Islam Center. On Sundays, she prays in church, usually at St. Clement's of Rome in the Mount Baker neighborhood.

One thing she prays for every day: "I pray not to cause scandal or bring shame upon either of my traditions."

Being Muslim has given her insights into Christianity, she said. For instance, because Islam regards Jesus as human, not divine, it reinforces for her that "we can be like Jesus. There are no excuses."

Doug Thorpe, who served on St. Mark's faith-formation committee with Redding, said he's trying to understand all the dimensions of her faith choices. But he saw how it deepened her spirituality. And it spurred him to read the Quran and think more deeply about his own faith.

He believes Redding is being called. She is, "by her very presence, a bridge person," Thorpe said. "And we desperately need those bridge persons."

In Redding's car, she has hung up a cross she made of clear crystal beads. Next to it, she has dangled a heart-shaped leather object etched with the Arabic symbol for Allah.

"For me, that symbolizes who I am," Redding said. "I look through Jesus and I see Allah."

Link

Question and Answer Session with the above mentioned lady:

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/reader_feedback/reader_feedb…

The bit where she thinks the Qur'an is incorrect is at issue with Muslims.

The bit where she does not believe Jesus to be God will be at issue for some Christians.

A Brazil's Gremio's fan holds up an image of Osama
Bin Laden wearing the colors of Gremio prior to the
Copa Libertadores final soccer game against Boca
Juniors in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Wednesday, June 20,
2007. (AP Photo/Marcelo Hernandez)

Yahoo News Photos

So Osama Bin Laden is a Gremio fan...

I suppose it could be worse, he could support Man Utd :twisted:

Ya'qubSo Osama Bin Laden is a Gremio fan...

I suppose it could be worse, he could support Man Utd :twisted:

Aint he a spurs fan?

[list]
[/list:u]
(Screenshot from Drudge Report)

You

Ya'qubSo Osama Bin Laden is a Gremio fan...

I suppose it could be worse, he could support Man Utd :twisted:

Aint he a spurs fan?

Arsenal it is.

BTW, that article about the christian and muslim woman one was interesting. I think, Inshallah, she is already there or thereabouts and will realise Islam in its fullest soon.

FIRM DENIES CV RACE CLAIM

AN Asian man rejected for a job reapplied posing as a less qualified Brit with a double-barrel name - and was offered an interview.

Qamar Malik, 48, called himself R. Lloyd-Hilbert, sent a worse CV, and even added a year to his age.

He had a "positive response" by email within two hours, he told an employment tribunal.

Yet two days earlier the same giant multinational had told him there were no vacancies even though he knew there were.

Now Mr Malik is claiming racial discrimination against engineering firm Amec Utilities. The father-of-four was born in Pakistan but has lived here since he was five. He is a qualified civil engineer with 25 years' experience.

Mr Malik works in Canary Wharf, East London, but wanted to return to Wales where his family live.

He told the tribunal in Cardiff he applied to Amec's office in Treforest, Glamorgan, after they told him on the phone they had vacancies. Two days later they wrote back saying there were no jobs available.

He said: "I decided to put them to the test and dreamed up the name Lloyd-Hilbert to see if he would be luckier."

After the interview offer "I had to be sure a vacancy hadn't suddenly cropped up so I applied again under my real name - and once again I was turned down". He added: "It seems they didn't want to know me under my real name because it sounded foreign.

"I believed these things were going on when I was a young man looking for work almost 30 years ago but I didn't believe it was still going on today.

"I'm not looking for compensation, I just want to stop this discrimination happening."

Amec denied discrimination but the tribunal said there was a case to answer and adjourned the hearing.

The building and utilities firm employs 20,000 worldwide - 12,000 in Britain. Chief executive Samir Brikho is a Lebanon born Swedish citizen.

A spokesman said later: "We vigorously deny discrimination. We have a very proactive equal opportunities policy."

theMirror

I did that once..I reapplied to this well known Muslim school that rejected my CV 4 times, telling me that they didnt have vacanies (despite the fact that they had an advert in every newspaper and their website).

I had a feeling that it has something to do with the work experience with various Muslim organsations I had done in the past. So I sent my CV again using a different name and stated that I did not have ANY prior work experience. And they called me for an interview...by then I no longer has any interest in that school.

However, my ethnicity has always worked my favour when applying for jobs...particularly in predominatly 'white middle class/working class' areas....I've always taken advantage of this postive discrimination.

thats probably why my uncle has an english name when hes a business man in the office, and a pakistani name when at home

Sister Yvonne Ridley who used to present Islam Channel, and Unity TV, has moved to Iran.
She would be presenting a new Shia Muslims Channel.
I think Iranian are paying her more than her bosses in Britain.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2117089,00.html

The Guardian Tuesday July 3, 2007

'An antidote to Fox': Iran launches English TV channel

Report of Glasgow attack says event staged by Britain to discredit Muslims

Oliver Burkeman, Helen Pidd and Robert Tait in Tehran

It was intended to be a radical departure in global news coverage, and few could argue that in this, at least, it succeeded. Iran's new state-run English-language 24-hour news channel, which launched yesterday, was aimed at viewers in the US and Europe, its director said. But despite the clipped English tones of its anchorman, Henry Morton - "Salaam, and welcome" - the channel, called Press TV, still needed to learn a thing or two about western attention spans.

Much of yesterday's airtime was occupied by long extracts from a soporifically gentle interview with Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, and a slow-moving documentary about Russian culture. That - rather than the channel's overtly propagandistic tone - seemed likely to prove the biggest obstacle to its success. As Fox News discovered, you do not need to worry too much about the truth, just as long as you keep your reports to 60 seconds, and use a lot of loud music.
Press TV's website took a more forthrightly partisan approach, emulating the design of the BBC News site to an almost spooky degree, but with material to make the BBC blanch. A story about the attempted attacks on London and Glasgow airport, headlined More threadbare propaganda from the west, was a perfectly serviceable account of recent events - until the final paragraphs, where the reporter suggested they were staged by the UK government, in order to tarnish the image of Muslims enraged by the knighting of Salman Rushdie.

The website also included a "quick vote" poll - "Do you think the withdrawal of the occupation forces is the best solution to the restoration of peace in Iraq?" - but, as if to invite mockery, refused to allow users to see the results.

Inside Iran, meanwhile, the channel itself did not seem to be available at all. At the launch of Press TV, at the headquarters of state broadcaster IRIB, president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said its goal was to counter "propaganda" peddled by western channels. "Knowing the truth is the right of all human beings but the media today is the number one means used by the authorities to keep control," he said. "We scarcely know a media that does its duty correctly. Our media should be a standard bearer of peace and stability. "

Mohammad Sarafraz, head of the new channel, said most of Press TV's 30 journalists were non-Iranians, and included many Britons as well as Americans. The channel will have correspondents in London, New York, Washington, Beirut, Damascus, Moscow and several other European capitals, as well as three correspondents covering the Israel-Palestine conflict from Gaza, Ramallah and Jerusalem. Mr Sarafraz said training had been provided by a BBC employee.

The most well-known face at the London bureau, based in Ealing, is Yvonne Ridley, the former Sunday Express journalist who converted to Islam after being captured by the Taliban in 2001.

Ridley will host a live political show called The Agenda every week. The first edition, to be broadcast tomorrow, will investigate Pakistan's military budget.

Ridley, 48, told the Guardian she jumped at the chance to work for Press TV when approached just a few weeks ago.

She said: "I see it as an antidote to Fox TV that will give a different perspective to the coverage that you get from the mainstream media. It's not shock TV, tabloid TV or propaganda promoting reactionaryism."

Despite Iran's dubious record on press freedom, Ridley was keen to stress that there was no censorship at the station. "I have had no editorial interference so far and I wouldn't be here if someone did try to censor me. I like working for news outlets that don't peddle propaganda." She added that she had already pre-recorded interviews with pro-Israelis, pro-Zionists and Jewish academics with no complaints from her bosses.

Ridley's faith played no part in her decision to work for Press TV, she said. "It's a secular news programme and my religion is really not relevant."

Since her conversion to Islam, Ridley, who stood for the Respect party in the last general election, has expressed some controversial views. After the botched police terror raids in Forest Gate last summer she urged Muslims to "boycott the police and refuse to cooperate with them in any way, shape or form".

Backstory

Press TV and its website is not alone in offering a different take on the world's news. Other members of America's "awkward squad" have long been trying to get their message out to the public via the internet and television. As the Iranian rolling news channel was launching with reports of American mischief and imperialism, news services in North Korea and Cuba were putting out their own unique perspectives on the world. Kim Jong Il's Korea News Service (kcna.co.jp index-e.htm) led its site with news that a delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency had left Pyongyang on Saturday. Also on the site were the headlines: "Seminars on Kim Jong Il's Works Held" and "Meetings for Remembering Kim Il Sung Held". Meanwhile, Prensa Latina in Cuba (plenglish.com) led its site with "Fidel Castro: The empire has created a veritable killing machine" - the empire being the US under George Bush. Also news was: "Air raids kill over 100 Afghans", "Washington protects terrorists, US lawyer says", and six opinion pieces by Castro himself.

malikSister Yvonne Ridley who used to present Islam Channel, and Unity TV, has moved to Iran.
She would be presenting a new Shia Muslims Channel.
I think Iranian are paying her more than her bosses in Britain.

Can't be hard to outbid "Islam channel" and "Unity TV". They are volunteer efforts from what I imagine.

Sirusthats probably why my uncle has an english name when hes a business man in the office, and a pakistani name when at home

I noticed they started doing that with Indian call centers. I tried to get some service on my stupid laptop and somebody answered the phone "Hello, my name is Jim."

Definitely not a Jim.

Woman runner-up in one-horse race

A grandmother won second prize in a cake-baking contest at a fete, only to discover she was the only entrant.

Jenny Brown, 62, entered her Victoria Sponge into the competition and was initially pleased to have come second.

But she was left shocked when a friend revealed to her that she was the only person to take part.

The contest was organised by the Wimblington Sports Committee and judges marked down the cake because it had indentations from the oven rack.

'Judges' expectations'

Ms Brown said: "My friend came over to me at the fete and said I had come second.

"I asked her how many more entries there had been, but she just started laughing and said I was the only one.

"I definitely wasn't annoyed about it."

Although the cake was not deemed fit to win the competition, Ms Brown said it was soon polished off with no complaints.

Julie Dent, from the Wimblington Sports Committee, said: "The judges had an expectation and I suppose they didn't feel as though it qualified for first place.

"This was the first year but the cake competition will become an annual event."

She said her own baking was subject to another strange decision.

"About 11 years ago I entered a show with some fruit scones. I was the only entrant but I came third."

BBC News

Woman jailed for 'neglected' lawn

A 70-year-old US woman has been left bruised and bloody after an unexpected clash with police who came to arrest her because her lawn was dry and brown.

Trouble flared when Utah pensioner Betty Perry, 70, refused to give her name to an officer trying to caution her for not watering her lawn.

She says the officer hit her with handcuffs, cutting her nose, although police insist she slipped and fell.

Ms Perry said she was "distraught" after the incident.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6282348.stm

The effects of kidnapping:

YouThe effects of kidnapping:

it does age people a bit, doesn't it

A shocking amount of aging in a few short days. I would have sworn she was alot older!

Former Cheshire councillor marries Osama bin Laden's son

A former parish councillor has married a son of Osama bin Laden following a "fairytale romance" in Egypt and is making plans for when he will be able to obtain a visa to come and live with her.
Jane Felix-Browne, 51, who recently resigned from her post as a councillor in Moulton, Cheshire, said yesterday that she married Omar Osama bin Laden, 27, the al-Qaida leader's fourth eldest son, who works as a scrap metal dealer in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Mrs Felix-Browne, an interior designer before she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis nine years ago, says the couple fell in love after Mr bin Laden saw her riding a horse near the Great Pyramid of Giza in September. They were married in Islamic ceremonies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia in April. "I married the man I fell in love with," she told the Guardian. "I married a very quiet, a very kind man. It was a fairytale romance."
She said she expected some negative reaction to her marriage in Britain but hoped people would not judge her too harshly. Until now she has kept quiet about the marriage apart from telling her family and a close circle of friends. The couple are awaiting permission from the authorities in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, to make their marriage official.

She described her husband as a man with a "pure heart" who was "pious, a true gentleman".

"It would be nice if, like any other married woman, I could stand up and say this is my husband and this is his name, but I have to be realistic ... I married the son, not the father," she said.

Three days after the couple met, Omar told her who his father was and she said it didn't change her feelings towards him.

Mrs Felix-Browne, who has three sons from previous marriages and five grandchildren, said that she speaks to her husband for hours every day over the internet or by telephone. She told the Guardian she did not expect there would be too many difficulties preventing her husband from obtaining a visa to come to Britain and that she divides her time between Britain and Saudi Arabia.

But she has admitted her husband finds it very difficult to travel anywhere because of his name and rarely leaves Saudi Arabia. She said she will not be using the surname himself but instead uses the Islamic name Zaina Muhammad.

"Omar is wary of everyone. He is constantly watching people who he feels might be following him ... He is the son of Osama," she told the Times. "But when we are together he forgets his life."

She said her husband left Afghanistan before the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001 and last saw his father in 2000 when they were both in Afghanistan.

He doesn't know whether it was his father who was responsible for the September 11 attacks, she said, and was as shocked as everyone else was when they happened.

Mr bin Laden already has a wife and a two-year-old child. Mrs Felix-Browne has been married several times. During her time as a councillor she concerned herself with tackling yobbish behaviour among teenagers in Moulton and Davenham.

Osama bin Laden is one of the world's most wanted men, with a $25m (£12.5m) bounty from the US government on his head.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2123567,00.html

ewwww gross but saying that she does look really good for 51.
Open your eyes woman and smell the coffee it aint true love your his ticket to the UK.

Bride arrested after wedding day stiletto attack on her new husband
They had just been wed in the castle which features in the TV series Monarch of the Glen, and their guests were waiting for them at the reception.

Not the ideal time for Mark Allerton and the former Teresa Brown to have the first blazing row of married life.

After some well-chosen insults, the newly-weds ended up grappling together in their hotel bridal suite and 33-year-old Mrs Allerton spiked her husband in the head with one of her stiletto heels.

The 40-year-old oilman staggered down to the hotel desk with blood pouring from a puncture wound, causing staff to call an ambulance.

Police who also arrived found the bride, still in her wedding gown and tiara, surrounded by broken glass and power sockets which she had ripped from the wall in her rage.

"She wasn't particularly nice to the police," prosecutor Alan Townsend told Aberdeen Sheriff Court. "She was asked to calm down but didn't and was arrested and detained for questioning."

While the reception for family and friends continued, Mr Allerton was taken to hospital for treatment while his bride, who works in an estate agent's, spent her initial two days of wedded bliss in a police cell.

However, the couple are still together and are trying to make their marriage work.

Mrs Allerton yesterday admitted attacking her husband and vandalising the bridal suite at the Treetops Hotel in Aberdeen.

She had been charged with a breach of the peace by shouting and swearing at officers, but her plea of not guilty was accepted. She was fined £250 and ordered to pay £500 compensation to the hotel.

Sheriff James Tierney told her: "I think it's best to bring this to an end. You and your husband have resolved matters and there is no need for further intervention from the courts."

The couple, who had been friends for 16 years before falling in love last November, were married on April 21 at the Ardverikie Estate in the Highlands, where the BBC drama is set.

Mrs Allerton's solicitor Stuart Beveridge said she had been suffering from mild depression and was taking anti-depressants at the time of the incident.

"This is a very sad story. There had been an argument in the bridal suite. They had both been throwing things about the room and at one point, she struck him on the head with a shoe.

"Both have accepted joint responsibilityfor the damage that's been caused."

Mr Allerton said: "I've forgiven her and I love her. It was something over nothing. Just one of those silly things.

"It's unfortunate that the police got involved. It was hellish for me seeing her taken off in handcuffs, but at the end of the day we're back together and we're happy. I'm not holding anything against her."

His bride added: "It was just a domestic that got out of hand. It could have happened to anyone. We're still very much in love and want to put this behind us."

Stiletto's can be lethal.

Also, if a couple are unable to be all 'loved up' on the happiest day of their life - what hope is there for them in their marriage.

NazOpen your eyes woman and smell the coffee it aint true love your his ticket to the UK.

Why do we always think people want a ticket into the UK?

It's not as if we excel at anything.

And that guy has gotta be loaded. Probably can live a lot better off in a lot of places around the world. Places better than Cheshire.

this counrty gives u financial benefits

a roof over ur head

a job which'l put food on ur table for ur family back home

status amongst ur loved ones from back home - even if ur working in a chicken shop

and ur qualifications that u earned here actually mean sumin

its no wonder so many people marry others for a ticket

Mr Admin u tryin to say u dont know people like that?

i've lost count

You

NazOpen your eyes woman and smell the coffee it aint true love your his ticket to the UK.

Why do we always think people want a ticket into the UK?

It's not as if we excel at anything.

And that guy has gotta be loaded. Probably can live a lot better off in a lot of places around the world. Places better than Cheshire.

Because it’s true in this case.
If he weren’t after a visa he would have said something along the lines of "oh wifey I want to stay in Egypt and not move to the UK". His dad is loaded but not sure he is. Plus what will happen to his other wife and kid when he moves to the UK to be with his new wife, who will provide for her? Will the new wife be ok with her hubby sending wifey no.1 money (I don’t think so).

The UK isn’t all that but it still has better job prospects, higher pay rates, excellent Human Right laws and tolerance for all faiths (though it might not seem like it at times). The above being in comparison with Egypt.

Its not gonna last. Firstly there’s the huge age gap, 24 years! secondly the cultural difference. Look at Jemima Khan she lasted 8 years before she couldn’t take it anymore. And another thing she been married 5 times previously what makes her think it will work out this time. I think she’s probably just having a mid life crisis.