American held after threatening to stab pilot
London: A drunken US businessman was held after he allegedly threatened to stab a plane’s pilots during a flight to Britain.
Tim Bradley, 32, is said to have downed wine and beer at 30,000 feet before threatening fellow passengers and spitting at cabin crew, The Sun reported Tuesday.
Witnesses claimed he brandished a shard of glass after being refused more alcohol on the Boeing 747.
The drama unfolded on the nine hour 40 minutes British Airways flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to Heathrow.
Lesley Lewis, 31, who was near Bradley in business class, said: “He was shouting at customers and crew, swearing, stumbling about the cabin.
“At one stage I could see him holding a broken glass, ready to attack the crew and talking to himself.” (IANS)
Free clothes on Chinese metro causes chaos
Beijing: A Chinese apparel firm carried out a promotional stunt on a metro train in Shanghai by giving out free clothes, resulting in a mad rush of passengers.
The train was transformed Tuesday into a clothes shop, with passengers helping themselves to garments hanging from hand rails, the Shanghai Daily reported.
On each item was a notice that said: “Not for selling, but you can take this away if you like it.”
The promotional campaign by e-commerce giant Taobao attracted many passengers who caused chaos on the trains. Metro authorities had to call the police to control the situation.
A media official with Taobao admitted that the free clothes delivery got a bit out of control.
“We just wanted to promote women’s clothes. We’re sorry. Our plan was not thought through properly,” she said.
A day earlier, in another stunt, young women wearing bikinis were spotted on another metro train putting on shirts and trousers. (IANS)
Bodybuilder dies of taser gun bolt!
London: A 27-year-old bodybuilder in Britain has died after being jolted by a taser gun used by police to normally just stun.
Dale Burns, a taxi driver by profession, is understood to be the first person in Britain to die by the high-voltage weapon taser gun, Daily Express reported.
Police were called to his home Tuesday following reports of a domestic incident involving Burns.
When officers arrived at his home in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria county, at 6.30 p.m., neighbours said 15-stone Burns was alone and smashing up his property.
A police officer fired thrice from a taser gun when efforts to calm him down and arrest him failed. The taser incapacitated Burns by causing involuntary muscle spasms.
After being handcuffed, he complained of feeling unwell and was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at 9 p.m.
Burn’s childhood friend Mike Bowker said: “He stopped playing football, joined the gym and beefed up quite a lot.”
The incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission watchdog. (IANS)
Despite heart attack during exam, student qualifies for varsity
London: A student suffered a heart attack during an exam in Britain and yet went on to win a place at a university.
Eighteen-year-old Jairaj Chandran collapsed barely 10 minutes into his theology paper.
“I’d only written four lines when my chest got really tight and I had trouble breathing. I asked to go outside, but didn’t make it.
“My legs and fingers were numb. It was terrifying,” The Sun quoted Chandran as saying.
Chandran had an existing heart condition.
He did not complete the second part of his theology exam, but his earlier grades meant he passed it overall.
Also, an A in Classical Civilisation and B in Maths, helped him to study politics at Sydney University in Australia.
“The doctors said it was probably stress related and I was nervous because theology was one of my worst subjects,” said Chandran. (IANS)
Polar bear shot dead after it killed man
Moscow: A polar bear that mauled a man to death in Russia’s far eastern region has been shot dead along with two other bears, an official said.
Andrei Boltunov, co-chairman of the Committee for Marine Mammals, said the incident took place in Chukotka region.
The mauling occurred late Friday night. Police found and killed the three-year-old polar bear, as well as a female polar bear and her 18-month-old cub.
“Three young polar bears appeared near the village several days ago and were holed up in an old pig barn. At around 11 p.m. Friday, 32-year-old Stanislav Ettuvge was heading to work at a boiler and crossed through a coal storage site when he was attacked by the polar bear,” Boltunov said.
He said another two bears that were living alongside the three ran out of the village. (IANS)
Facebook blackmailers target 100 gay priests in Italy
Isernia (Italy): At least 100 gay priests across Italy were blackmailed by two people who met them on social networking websites, a media report said Friday.
The pair asked the priests for up to 10,000 euros each to keep quiet about their virtual sex sessions via webcam and in some cases, actual encounters, Italian weekly Panorama reported.
The weekly cited a judicial probe spearheaded by magistrates in the town of Isernia in Italy’s southern Molise region, which led to the arrest of Diego Maria Caoggiano, 35, and Giuseppe Trementino, 30, on July 26.
Police found the contact details of over 100 priests on computers and mobile phones of the suspects, as well as video recordings of sex sessions involving priests and incriminating messages in what prosecutors described as a “disturbing” case.
Trementino, a despatch rider, told Panorama through his lawyer that he had initially been seduced by a priest who he had delivered a parcel to and had sex with soon after they exchanged phone numbers.
The priest had made regular payments to him via Postpay “often of his own free will” and had offered to buy him a car, Trementino claimed.
The priest reported Trementino to police in May but he, meanwhile, met another priest on the social networking website Facebook.
Trementino claimed to have spent three days with the priest in a hotel in Rome during a conference, and said the priest paid for his rail ticket and gave him 300 euros “to buy canabis, alcohol”.
Trementino claimed he was soon inundated with messages and requests for sex from “dozens” of priests with whom he came into contact on Facebook and Messenger.
“Asking them for money was a way of filtering the requests, which had got out of hand,” he said, adding that he became “disgusted” by the priests’ “absurd” and needs.
Caggiano, who had access to Trementino’s computer and to his friends’ social networking profiles, appears to have been the chief blackmailer, asking some priests for up to 10,000 euros, according to investigators. (IANS)