 | PerspectiveVolume LV | 
|
Sunday August 24, 2003 |
||
| Perspective is a weekly features of unorthodox news reports from around the globe. Some of the reports serve to prove the point that we as Nigerians are not as unique as we may think. To put any news report in Perspective please send a note to perpective@ekiti.com | ||
Headlines
Man Dies While Laughing in Sleep Damnoen Saen-um, 52, laughed for about two minutes on Wednesday and then stopped breathing, The Nation said, quoting officials. The newspaper said Damnoen's wife tried to wake him up but he kept laughing. An autopsy suggested that he might have had a heart attack, The Nation quoted a doctor as saying. "I have never seen a case like this. But it is possible that a person could have heart seizure while laughing or crying too hard in their sleep," said Dr. Somchai Chakrabhand, deputy director-general of the Mental Health Department, according to The Nation. The incident occurred in Phrae province, 300 miles north of Bangkok.
Whale leaps aboard sailing boat The 10-ton humpback whale leapt out of the water and pulled the rigging and mast along with it as it slid down the boat, British media reported on Wednesday. "I was below deck when there was a hell of a crash from port as it leapt out of nowhere," said Trevor Johnson, 61, who was on the boat with his wife, two sons and a son's girlfriend. "It's amazing that no one was hurt or killed, but it was a terrifying experience," he told The Daily Telegraph. The 40-foot boat was 10 miles away from the shore and the radio equipment did not work. They were eventually towed to dry land after using a mobile phone to ring for help. The family, from Coventry, chartered the £150,000 (U.S. $238,000) boat and set sail from Airlie Beach to go on a 10-day trip around the Whitsunday Islands, according to the Telegraph. "There was a bang and a thud, and a whale came about 12 ft out of the water and slid down the side. It was shedding barnacles from its tummy and caught itself on the rigging. I was very shocked -- it was very scary," Mark Johnson told the newspaper.
Stowaways End Up in Wrong City Thirteen vagabonds who hopped the wrong freight train, ending up here instead of their intended destination of Minneapolis, were arrested after a railroad employee alerted authorities. The Union Pacific train stopped in snarling downtown lunchtime traffic for about 30 minutes Tuesday so police could remove the 10 men and three women from the freight. The railroad had complained of unauthorized riders in one of its boxcars. The riders, from various cities in several states and Canada, were taken into custody for trespassing, police said. All were cited under the city code for trespass, a $102 fine, and released. The train had left Superior about seven hours before it stopped in Marshfield, one man said, identifying himself only as David, or "Sleepy," from New Brighton, Minn. "We were going to Minneapolis but got on the wrong train," he said. "We'll probably all try to hitchhike out."
Man Suspected of Killing Woman Over a Beer Charles Lee Vennevy, 26, was charged with killing 41-year-old Yvonne Garcia and beating her male companion last Monday night before leaving them for dead in downtown Albuquerque. Vennevy is in custody and bail was set on Wednesday at $1 million cash, according to a criminal complaint obtained on Thursday. According to the complaint filed, Vennevy was drinking beer with friends. Garcia approached the group wanting to drink with them, and was turned away. She returned later with a friend, and a fight ensued over the beer. While Garcia "was on all fours looking at the ground," Vennevy is suspected of kicking her in the face with his steel-toed work boots, then hitting her over the head with a lead pipe. He is also suspected of attacking her companion, the complaint said. Garcia was found by a security guard and later pronounced dead at the scene. Her male companion was treated and released from a nearby hospital, having lost his left eye after being struck with the pipe. Vennevy was charged with murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, and tampering with evidence.
Ops!!! Surgeon Castrates Man with Ear Ache A manager at the Doctor Jose Carlos de Espirito Santo clinic in the town of Montes Claros in southeastern Minas Gerais State told Reuters on Wednesday Valdemar Lopes de Moraes, 39, entered the vasectomy room when Aldemar Aparecido Rodrigues' name was called. "He was called by the full name and yet thought it was him. But the strangest thing is that he asked no questions when the doctor started preparations in the area which had so little to do with his ear," Vanessa Guimaraes said. "He later explained that he thought it was an ear inflammation that got down to his testicles," she added. De Moraes, a farmer who has two children, did not want to reverse the operation, performed last week, and showed up for an ear exam on Wednesday at the same clinic. "A local newspaper said he is going to sue us, but he did not tell us about any claims," Guimaraes said.
Italian Grandpa Looking for Fiance at Cemetery It is reported that at the age of 102 the man is looking for a new love: unfortunately, all of his previous passions have gone to a better world. Bordino complaints he feels awfully lonely. "I have a house, a good pension and what is more important I still can do the matrimonial duty! Why can't I find a woman to marry her?" Salvatore is still working as a mechanic; it is incredible but the man has never been taken to hospital in his life. Last time Salvatore marries was at the age of 80. To be on the safe side he deceived the fianc? and said he was only 70. It may sound strange but Salvatore is looking for a new passion near the local cemetery. When he sees an old widowed lady bringing flowers to the grave of her late husband, he starts talking to her and then makes a proposal. For the time being, all the attempts he has made failed.
Bride Rages at Reception, Jailed Adrienne T. Samen, 18, was arrested on criminal mischief and breach of peace charges Saturday after police responded to The Mill on the River restaurant. When workers there closed the bar, Samen allegedly began throwing things, including wedding cake and vases. Samen left the restaurant, and police found her walking down the road in her gown. While being taken into custody, police said she kicked the door and window of the police cruiser and tried to bite an officer. She posted a $1,000 bond and was released Saturday night, police said. She was on her honeymoon Monday. She is due in Manchester Superior Court on Aug. 28.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- An elderly Vietnamese man who spent seven hours in a drawer at a hospital morgue in Ho Chi Minh City was found alive by relatives who had come to bury him, an official said Friday.
Nguyen Van Quan, 73, was admitted to the Nguyen Tri Phuong hospital last week after complaining of a tight chest, said Thu Ba of Ho Chi Minh City's Health Department. By the time Quan arrived at the hospital, his whole body was dark purple. He had experienced heart failure, his blood pressure was zero and no pulse was felt, she said. Hospital staff tried unsuccessfully for 30 minutes to resuscitate him, Ba said. Quan was sent to the hospital morgue at 11 p.m. on Aug. 15 and was discovered seven hours later by his daughter and son-in-law, who had come to take him home for his funeral, the English daily Vietnam News reported. "I was shocked and frightened when I saw the blanket that covered my father moving as my husband and I stood in front of the drawer he was in," Nguyen Thi Gai was quoted as telling the paper. "When the morgue's officials pulled back the blanket, my father's eyes moved, brightening with joy." Quan was sent back to the intensive care unit where he had fallen into a coma and was breathing through a respirator on Friday, Ba said. Quan suffers from asthma and had been admitted to the hospital many times before with breathing difficulties, she said. The newspaper quoted a morgue official as saying that only one of the two air conditioners was running at the time Quan was there, which likely kept him from freezing to death. The incident is being investigated, Ba said. Hospital officials declined comment.
Con Artist Convicted of Posing As Lawyer Harold David Goldstein, 57, was convicted Wednesday following a three-day trial at which he testified he was actually performing a service by taking on clients other lawyers didn't want and representing many of them for free. Although he was not a lawyer, Goldstein said, he had honed his legal skills during 12 years of writing appeals while in prison on various fraud charges. "It was tremendous experience that could be used to help others," he said. Authorities said Goldstein took the identity of a real lawyer, David M. Goldstein of Redwood City, and began representing clients after he got out of prison. He was arrested last February in Las Vegas after a former partner in his Newport Beach law firm discovered the deception and contacted authorities. He faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 2. He also faces trial in September on mail fraud charges for the more than $130,000 prosecutors say his clients paid him.
Naked Man Nabbed for Seeking Shower in Car Wash "The man stripped off and said he wanted to take a shower, but he couldn't start the machine," a Fuerth police spokesman said Tuesday. "It wasn't a great idea. He could have been coated in car wax, scalded by hot water or rubbed raw by brushes." The car wash owner alerted police after spotting the man gearing up for his shower among the brushes and hoses. Police said the man had been looking for somewhere to wash since losing his home at the start of the month.
Ex-Guard Sentenced for Peeing on Inmates Greene County Circuit Judge Don Burrell said Monday he hoped the sentence would help Justin Hastings better understand what it was like to be dependent on those with power. Hastings, 23, also was given two years of probation and 150 hours of community service. He was convicted in June of four counts of assault. Four inmates said they were splashed by the urine as they played basketball in July 2001 at the Greene County Jail. Hastings admitted during the trial that he knew prisoners were in the room when he and another jailer urinated through a roof grate. A DNA expert testified that urine samples taken from the jail roof could be linked to Hastings. But defense attorneys contended there was no proof that Hastings' urine - and not the other jailer's - hit the inmates. Both guards have resigned. Greene County also paid a total of $100,000 to the four inmates.
Man Surprises Guest at His Surprise Party The man found out about the party in a forest cabin in south Norway beforehand and hid behind trees nearby with a shotgun as about 30 guests turned up on Saturday night, hoping to turn the surprise on his friends, He blasted off one round in the air, meaning it as a joke to shock the partygoers. But when he came out from his hiding place, he tripped and the gun went off again, badly hurting one woman in the legs and slightly injuring five others. "Seven people were taken to hospital in Fredrikstad including the man who shot. He wasn't physically hurt but in deep shock," a police spokesman said. The party was canceled.
Doctor Arrested for Selling off Patients as Wives Dr Wang Chaoying, head of a mental hospital in Huazhou in southern Guangdong, had made more than 20 transactions since 1998 in which he sold patients as wives for "thousands of yuan," the government-owned Qianlong news Web site reported at www.qianlong.com. "He was arrested for selling women. The case is still under investigation," Ruan Rongzhi, a police officer in Huazhou, told Reuters by telephone when asked about the report. He declined to give details. Qianlong said the women had been forced to take medicine before they were sold in order to keep the buyers from realizing they were mental patients. Some of the men later demanded refunds, it said. China has 70 million bachelors unable to find wives. Men outnumber women as a result of a one-child policy which led to many fetuses of girls, traditionally discriminated against, being aborted.
Burglar Finds Bacon Head, Calls Police Conceptual artist Richard Morrison had made the head from bacon wrapped around a wire frame floating in a jar of formaldehyde. After the burglar phoned, police bashed down Morrison's door to raid his house, near Liverpool in northern England. Morrison returned home to find that his house had been broken into twice, once by the burglar and once by the police. "In light of the information received, it was of vital importance that we investigated, to ensure that there was nothing suspicious," Detective Chief Inspector Stephen Naylor of Merseyside Police said in a statement on Tuesday. "The reason for the damage was explained to Mr Morrison and we apologized. Arrangements are in place to replace the door." Morrison told The Times newspaper he understood why the burglar might have been confused by his artwork. "It's obviously a very macabre piece of work and I suppose at a glance it looks like a head, but I never expected it to get this reaction," he said. "I gather the police were bracing themselves for a 'Silence of the Lambs' moment when they broke into my flat." Morrison said the police told him the scare had set the burglar on the straight and narrow. "He had a crisis of confidence and confessed his crimes to his mother."
| ||
