Mexico Shuts Cancun Beach, Alleges Sand Was Stolen

Posted by Sinlung

MEXICO CITY — Surprised tourists found their little piece of Cancun beach paradise ringed by crime-scene tape and gun-toting sailors on Thursday.
Environmental enforcement officers backed by Mexican navy personnel closed off hundreds of feet (dozens of meters) of powder-white coastline in front of a hotel accused of illegally accumulating sand on its beach.
Mexico spent $19 million to replace Cancun beaches washed away by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. But much of the sand pumped from the sea floor has since washed away, leading some property owners to build breakwaters in a bid to retain sand. The practice often merely shifts sand loss to beaches below the breakwaters.
"Today we made the decision to close this stretch of ill-gotten, illegally accumulated sand," said Patricio Patron, Mexico's attorney general for environmental protection. "This hotel was telling its tourists: 'Come here, I have sand ... the other hotels don't, because I stole it.'"
Patron said five people were detained in a raid for allegedly using pumps to move sand from the sea floor onto the beach in front of the Gran Caribe Real Hotel. The hotel is also suspected of illegally building a breakwater that impeded the natural flow of sand onto other hotels' beaches, he said.
An employee of the hotel's marketing office said nobody was available to comment on the allegations. Authorities said the hotel owner ignored previous orders to remove the breakwater.
A knot of angry tourists gathered around the closed beach.
Some were irked by the sight of police tape and "Closed" signs.
Maria Bachino, a travel agent from Rocha, Uruguay, said by telephone that she had booked a beachfront room in Cancun, only to find herself cut off from the clear, bathub-temperature waters that lure millions to Cancun each year.
"They promised us a beach," said Bachino. "This is very unpleasant, we feel bad. This is intimidating," she said of the armed navy personnel who participated in the raid.
Patron said he regretted any inconvenience for tourists, but said the government is planning projects to restore beaches throughout Cancun in an orderly, environmentally responsible way.
"I apologize to the tourists for this problem, but it is a question of enforcing the law," Patron said.

“Real Housewives Of Atlanta”: Back For Second Stint

Posted by Sinlung

They are back and how. The “Real Housewives of Atalanta” are back for their stint at the season two of the popular Bravo networks show and the media coverage that they have received is so overwhelming, that it does not even feel that they had actually ever went away.
This season, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” sees the addition of a new face in the form of Kandi Burruss. She will supposedly be joining the existing cast members of the previous season, Lisa Wu Hartwell, Sheree Whitfield, Kim Zolciak and NeNe Leakes and it surely promises to be one dramatic and over the top season. The show premiered on Bravo on Thursday, July 30, on the Bravo network at 10 p.m.
Kandi’s resume boasts of numerous awards and adulation that has come to her for her singing career, as a singer/ composer, and also a producer. When asked why she chose to have the reality show reflected on her resume, Kandi said, “I was a fan last year. I love the show.” She is reportedly replacing previous cast member DeShawn Snow in the second season of the immensely popular show.
The busy Kandi said she has no idea whether she would be invited back for another season but she stressed on the point that she immensely enjoys being on the show. The highlight of the show, according to Kandi, lies in the fact that it is not scripted. Therefore, the unpredictability added to the fun quotient.
This season, if rumors are to be believed, will prove to be even more dramatic, spicy and stressful for all the “Housewives” as they balancing lives, motherhood and social circle in Atlanta.

Australian Dog Found 9 Years After Disappearing, 1,200 Miles Away

Posted by Sinlung

SYDNEY— Nine years after vanishing from outside her Australian family's home, Muffy the dog was found alive and well this month in another backyard – 1,200 miles away – officials said Thursday.
Inspectors with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were investigating a possible animal cruelty case at a home in the southern city of Melbourne two weeks ago when they found the fluffy white mutt sleeping outside on a scrap of cardboard, Victoria state RSPCA spokesman Tim Pilgrim said.
A microchip in Muffy's neck identified her owners, and, after a few days of searching for a current phone number, officials tracked down Natalie Lampard, who hadn't seen Muffy since the pooch disappeared from her backyard in the eastern city of Brisbane nine years ago.
"When the RSPCA described her, I told them her name; I knew immediately it was our Muffy," Lampard said. "It was totally out of the blue – after nine years, I thought she was long gone."
The owners of the Melbourne house where Muffy was discovered said they found the dog about a year ago wandering along a street, Pilgrim said. But where had Muffy spent the previous eight years? And how did she get all the way to Melbourne – about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) from Brisbane?
"Nobody knows," Pilgrim said. "The mystery continues for old Muffy."
Muffy was suffering from a severe allergic reaction to fleas and has been under treatment since the RSPCA removed her from the Melbourne home, Pilgrim said. The dog, which the Lampards originally adopted from an RSPCA shelter near Brisbane, is recovering well and should be in good enough shape to fly back home on Tuesday, Pilgrim said.
Lampard got Muffy as a gift for her now 17-year-old daughter Chloe, and the two had been inseparable, Lampard said.
"After the RSPCA called, I rang my daughter and asked her if she was sitting down, then told her they'd found Muffy," Lampard said. "She's over the moon and there'll be a few tears shed when they see each other again. But just how she got down to Melbourne I guess is a mystery that will never be answered."

Michael Moore And Tom Ford Films Top Bill For Venice Film Festival

Posted by Sinlung

ROME— The world economic crisis hasn't dulled the glitz of the 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival, which hosts a line-up rich with Hollywood heavyweights.
The 23 films vying for the Golden Lion at this year's festival, all world premieres, include Michael Moore's documentary on the financial crisis, called "Capitalism: A Love Story," and former Gucci designer Tom Ford's directorial debut, "A Single Man," starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.
The program demonstrates "the state of cinema in this precise moment, crisis included," said festival director Marco Mueller, who is starting his second five-year run heading the Lido festival. The festival runs Sept. 2-12.
Mueller said Thursday that the impact of the global recession was not evident in the high number of U.S. entries, 17 in all, six of those in competition. That is up from last year's 10 Hollywood offerings, curtailed by the writers' strike.
"It seems at this point, the writers' strike, the economic and financial difficulties would have stopped the most unique and most stimulating aspects of American cinema, but instead, we have a wider and more varied offering where we have some of the most important names," Mueller said, citing Steven Soderbergh as well as Ford's transformation from fashionista to director.
Soderbergh, director of "Ocean's Eleven" and its two sequels, is showing "The Informant" out of competition. The dark comedy thriller stars Matt Damon as a high-ranking whistle-blower revealing a lysine price-fixing conspiracy at a Fortune 500 company, and is based on the 2000 book by journalist Kurt Eichenwald.
Werner Herzog will be looking for a Golden Lion with his cop drama "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans." Starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes and Val Kilmer, the film is a nod to Abel Ferrara's 1992 cult crime drama "Bad Lieutenant."
Lido regular Charlize Theron is back in John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's grim post-apocalyptic novel "The Road," about a father and son's journey for survival. The movie also stars Viggo Mortensen and Robert Duvall.

Rounding out the U.S. competition entries are horror director George A. Romero's "Survival of the Dead" and Todd Solondz' "Life During Wartime," a follow-up to his 1998 film "Happiness' with Charlotte Rampling and Ciaran Hinds.
The competition also includes films from such rarely represented countries as Sri Lanka, Israel, and Egypt, which is represented by first-time director Ahmed Maher's film "The Traveler," starring legendary actor Omar Sharif.
Italy has four films in competition, including festival opener "Baaria," by Oscar-winner Giuseppe Tornatore ("Cinema Paradiso") on his Sicilian hometown, and 22 films screening overall in the festival. France's four entries for the top prize include Claire Denis' "White Material."
As always, Asia is well-represented with five Chinese productions, one from Taiwan, one from Hong Kong and two from Japan.
Mueller also has added a yet-unannounced film to the competition and two to be shown out of competition – keeping up his habit of accepting promising films not quite finished in time for the announcement.
Mueller said the festival includes the most first- and second-time directors in festival memory, a total of 17 directorial debuts and 9 second films, in an overall lineup of 75 films, all but four world premieres, from 25 countries, including entries out of competition.
Out of competition, Wes Anderson is back with "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," an animated Roald Dahl adaptation, whose cast also includes George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep.
The jury will be led by Ang Lee, who twice won the prestigious Golden Lion – in 2007 for "Lust, Caution," and in 2005 for "Brokeback Mountain," for which he also won a best directing Oscar.
The presentation was interrupted by protests against cuts in government funding to the arts. Biennale director Paolo Baratta said the festival was helped by sponsors and should end the year even.

Sleep with a stranger and win an iPod...

Posted by Sinlung

how NHS bosses are combating the devastating legacy of casual sex

Sitting in the office during her lunch break, 24-year-old Charlotte Nelson quickly checked her emails. One immediately caught her eye - a message from a man called Neil who had got in touch after reading her profile on a well-known dating site.
She liked the look of him, replied immediately and by 7pm that night the pair were at a London bar having a drink. An hour later they were in bed together at his flat.
'I'd just come out of a five-year relationship and all I was looking for was a bit of no-strings-attached fun,' says Charlotte, a university-educated account manager with a pharmaceutical firm.

Watch out: Always use a condom - or you risk catching the symptomless chlamydia (picture posed by models)

What would prove to be less fun, however, was the fall-out from similar internet encounters. For although she initially insisted her partners used condoms, there were times when she didn't take even the most basic precautions.
'Looking back, it was really stupid that I was more concerned about pregnancy than protecting my health. But after that it became a bit of a habit. If there wasn't a condom available, I'd just think: "Oh, well, I'm on the Pill. It'll be OK." '
As it turned out, it would not. Persuaded by a girlfriend to face up to the risks she was taking, Charlotte plucked up the courage to visit her local genito-urinary clinic. Her biggest fear was that she had contracted HIV. Instead, she tested positive for chlamydia.
A bacterial infection, it is the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection (STI) in Britain and is spreading at an explosive rate. The so-called Skins generation (named after the cult teenage Channel 4 programme) are most at risk. They tend to have more sex, more partners who overlap and more casual relationships.
One in every ten people aged between 16 and 24 is thought to have chlamydia.
While it is easily treated with a course of antibiotics, chlamydia is known as the silent disease because it is often symptomless.
As a result, women in particular can have it for many years without knowing it. Left untreated, it can cause infertility and is linked to potentially life-threatening conditions such as ectopic pregnancies. In men, it can lead to pain and swelling in the testicles and can also cause infertility.

Symptomless: Many people have no idea they are suffering from chlamydia and unknowingly infect others

That it is a huge problem facing the sexual health of Britain's young is no secret. Every year across the country millions of pounds of taxpayers' money is pumped into schemes designed to encourage young people to get tested and treated. So far their success has been limited.
'Unless you change primary behaviour and you teach the young that the only safe sex you can have is with someone you know well enough to trust, then treatment is just a sticking plaster solution,' says Dr Trevor Stammers, a GP and spokesman for the Family Education Trust.
'Look at it this way. If you have no fence at the top of a dangerous cliff, then you have to pour in increasing resources for ambulances at the bottom for the people who are damaged when they fall off.'
If nothing else, the chlamydia epidemic has given the NHS the opportunity to blow taxpayers' money in more imaginative ways than normal.
In Northamptonshire, those tested for chlamydia have their names put into a monthly draw for one of a number of Nintendo Wii games consoles (at a cost of £160 each).
In Camden, North London, there are iPods up for grabs; in Nottinghamshire, it's a £1,000 Fujitsu laptop; while in Northumberland, it is a £2,000 holiday.
Fancy a night out at the flicks? In Colchester, self-testing kits are being sent to 26,000 youngsters. Everyone who sends back their results will receive a £10 Odeon cinema voucher.

The NHS is attempting to raise awareness of STI issues

Recent figures reveal that more than half of local health authorities are failing to meet a target to screen young people for chlamydia.
Health officials are planning to spend even more money on the problem, with free DIY test kits to be offered to every 18 to 24-year-old in the country.
All they will have to do is provide a urine sample, send it off and wait for the result by text message, email or letter. If tested positive, they will be prescribed a course of antibiotics.
And the cost? About £40 for everyone found to be infected and treated. We are told the cost of later medical intervention would be much, much greater.
Of course, changing behaviour is never easy, particularly with young people, who are prone to lose control through alcohol. Studies have shown a link between binge-drinking and unprotected sex.
For Charlotte Nelson, there can be no doubt that alcohol played a role in her behaviour.
'I woke up one morning at home and had no idea whether I'd had sex with the man I'd met for drinks the night before,' she says. 'I was naked, so I assumed I had. He could have done anything to me.
'A friend told me that at best I'd get a reputation for myself and at worst I'd end up being raped or catching HIV.'
Terrified, in April she made an appointment at her local sexual health clinic. 'It was a humiliating experience and I removed myself from the dating website the same day,' she said.
'I couldn't believe I'd taken such risks. Despite the huge relief that the HIV test was negative, I was horrified to be told I had chlamydia.
'I felt dirty and ashamed. Thankfully, the doctor gave me antibiotics and assured me that my fertility shouldn't be affected because I'd caught the infection within the past year.
'Three months ago, I started dating a lovely man who I met through a friend, but it was eight weeks before we slept together. I've told him about my previous experience and that I will only have sex using condoms until he has an STI test to prove he's healthy. He is very understanding of that.'
Annabel Hayes, a 21-year-old trainee marketing executive from North London, is resigned to regular testing. She learned she had chlamydia after spending £25 on a home-testing kit.
'To say I was stunned is an understatement,' says Annabel, who graduated from Birmingham University last summer with a degree in English literature.
'At the same time, I was also furious with my former boyfriend, who had given the infection to me.'
The couple had met in the first term at university and started dating soon afterwards. At the time, Annabel knew she did not have any STIs, having had only one previous partner and tested clear of infections - including chlamydia - after starting college.
'Initially, Jon and I used condoms, but a few months into the relationship I went on the Pill,' she says. 'It seemed easier than having to mess about with condoms and risk them splitting or coming off. Despite being educated, the thing my friends and I worry about most is getting pregnant.
This is naive, I know, because you should take into account your own sexual history and that of your partner. Most young people are pretty judgmental about STIs and associate them with promiscuity.
'I used to think: "I haven't had lots of partners and my boyfriend hasn't, so there's no real risk." I've learned the hard way that this isn't the case.'
After leaving university, the couple separated. Shortly afterwards, she bought the home-testing kit.
'I was horrified when a letter arrived telling me I had chlamydia. Had Jon slept with someone else behind my back who'd given it to him or had he had it all along and not realised?'
The infection was easily treated with antibiotics and, because it was caught early, Annabel is hopeful it won't have damaged her fertility. But the sense of hurt still lingers.
'Along with the letter of diagnosis were some anonymous printed slips to send to anyone I'd had sex with, advising them that someone they had slept with had chlamydia and they should arrange to be tested,' she says.
'I sent one to Jon with a sour note telling him how bitter I was that he'd given it to me.
'Next time I have a serious relationship I will insist we are each tested for STIs first.'
It's hardly romantic. But unless and until the Skins generation can be persuaded to change their behaviour, chlamydia is a fact of life that simply can't be ignored.

Naked girls plough fields for rain!

Posted by Sinlung

Farmers in Bihar have asked their unmarried daughters to plough parched fields naked in a bid to embarrass the weather gods to bring some badly needed monsoon rain, officials said on Thursday.

Witnesses said the naked girls in Bihar state ploughed the fields and chanted ancient hymns after sunset to invoke the gods. They said elderly village women helped the girls drag the ploughs.

"They (villagers) believe their acts would get the weather gods badly embarrassed, who in turn would ensure bumper crops by sending rains," Upendra Kumar, a village council official, said from Bihar's remote Banke Bazaar town.

"This is the most trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue this practice until it rains very heavily."

India this year suffered its worst start to the vital monsoon rains in eight decades, causing drought in some states.

Chinese Whisper

Posted by Sinlung

A clutch of army wives on the joys of Mahjong, a game that is losing out on fans on this side of the border

The year was 1982. Somewhere in Lucknow cantonment, a young major’s wife was giving finishing touches to her immaculately made hair bun. The monthly Ladies’ Club meet was due to roll out in a few minutes and Darshi Harkirat Singh was never one to be late. An Indian army officer’s wife seldom is. A few minutes later as she made her way into the Officers’ Mess, she bumped into a senior officer’s wife. A quick hello from Darshi was followed by a question from the lady that would change the way Darshi would spend most afternoons there on. “Do you play Mahjong, Mrs Singh?” the lady had asked. And thus began Darshi’s initiation into the Chinese game. “Before I knew it I was part of a foursome and shuffling the tiles like a pro,” the petite 60-something Darshi reminisces today.

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But those were the early ’80s and Mahjong was as popular with the wives of our men in uniform as it was in mainland China. “Most of the senior ladies knew how to play...it was the done thing then,” Darshi, who has been playing for more than a decade, says. The saying went that if an army wife knew how to dish out a sumptuous Chinese meal, chances were she also knew how to win hands down at Mahjong. “Whenever we shifted stations, I would invariably find someone who knew the game. It isn’t so now,” says Darshi. For the fauji ladies clubs are only focused on their army-wife club activities and most young officers’ wives are also working professionals who, as Darshi adds, would never find an afternoon free.

Which makes Darshi Harkirat Singh and her three Mohali-based friends—Kanak Saksena, Raj Rai and Nirmal Khaira — bond more than ever before. Almost every day, as the hands on the clock inch towards 10.30 a.m, the foursome gathers around a square table in any one of their homes. The next two hours, as the ladies put it, “just fly past.”

Curious to see what’s made them never miss a date for 10 years now, we troop in at Raj Rai’s home. She’s also a wife of a retired Colonel and a Mahjong enthusiast. Strangely, no loud chatter greets us as we enter the room where the women are sitting across the table with Scrabble-like stands in front of them. The only sounds you can catch are the clicking of game tiles and a conversation peppered with Chinese words: “Three booze”, “Five dragon”, “Pung”, “Cong”.

Clearly, Mahjong, played with as many as 144 rectangular tiles, each of which has either a Chinese lettering or symbol or painting, isn’t an easy game to gather at one go. It’s a little like a card game and as many as 48 hands can be made. A single guide book can never really pack in all the rules. “There are many versions of the game. The Chinese, of course, have their original one and there’s the American, Korean, Japanese, and the Indian, which has been influenced by the British,” says Rai.

While the Indian army wives have been long associated with the game in the country, Kanak Saksena, wife of a former tea planter tells us how old-timers in the tea garden companies in the Northeast continue to play Mahjong. “I believe the British memsahibs popularised the game when the European tea companies were being set up decades ago,” says the 70-year-old, who picked up the game during her husband’s tenure in Assam.

Harsimrat Kaur is one loyal player in the tea belt. Her husband is a CEO with a tea company in Assam’s Mangaldai district and it was while shifting into a new bungalow that she found an old Mahjong set tucked away in the store. “At first, I didn’t really know what it was until I mentioned it at a party,” she says. “I realised almost everyone possessed a set and knew a bit about the game.” It took a while for Kaur to make a foursome but a group now meets occasionally to play a few rounds.

Elsewhere in Mumbai, which has its own set of rules for the game, Mahjong players are enjoying their moment in the sun. This March saw a special three-day event for lovers of the game, whih was put together by veteran players like Sushila Pratap Singh— who is also a Mahjong teacher—and Chandrakala Aggarwala. The star guest was Tom Sloper, an international expert on the game, who not only played rounds but also introduced the Mumbai ladies to foreign versions of Mahjong. “The Mumbai style of Mahjong has more special hands for every round played,” says Sloper, over phone from California. He even carried an Indian rulebook back with him. “The Indian style is similar to the one played in most British colonies,” he says.

“In China, only men play Mahjong and they gamble, unlike in India,” says Nirmal Khaira. “All Mahjong played in India is done using pointers though we refer to them in money denominations,” Darshi says. That bit of information earns her a quick reprimand from Khaira for not paying attention. “See, that’s why we can’t gossip. The game requires attention all the time,” says Khaira, who is such an avid player that her children gift her a new Mahjong set every birthday. “You can’t get them here though I’ve that heard in Calcutta you could still find an old Chinese shop that sells the sets,” she says.
Luckily, they have had a chance to grab a set each from trips made to Canada, Australia and America, where Khaira got her prized antique ivory set.

The game is one that requires skill and an ounce of luck. “It’s a dying tradition. Since it requires time to both learn and play, the younger lot isn’t interested,” says Rai. “I would love to get more players involved. As for us, we will continue playing as long as Alzheimer’s doesn’t make us stop,” she says with a laugh as the game clicks on.

Aussie bus driver accused of forcing Muslim woman to take off headscarf

Posted by Sinlung

SYDNEY - An Australian bus driver has been accused of racism after he allegedly told a Muslim woman to take off her headscarf because it was against the law to wear it on board.

Khadijah Ouararhni-Grech was wearing a pink, floral niqab, which covers her hair and lower face, when she tried to board a bus in Greystanes, an outer suburb of Sydney.
“As I was stepping onto the bus the driver said ‘You can’t get on the bus wearing your mask’,” the Telegraph quoted her, as saying.
When she explained it was religious dress, the woman said the driver responded: “Sorry, it’s the law.”
“I told him it wasn’t the law and he said ‘You have to show me your face’. I said to him, ‘There’s no difference between me and that lady sitting there who chooses to not wear what I’m wearing’,” she said
The bus company, Hillsbus, said the driver was being questioned over the claims.
“We are investigating it and doing that as quickly as we can. We need to get to the bottom of it, work out what happened and what went on, and what we need to do about it,” a spokesman said.
Muslims make up about 1.7 per cent of Australia’s heavily Christian population of almost 22 million, and religious tensions have run high in recent years.

8 secrets to super sex revealed

Posted by Sinlung

Washington : Forget Viagra, sex toys or master Kama Sutra-style sexual gymnastics, the key ingredients to a great sex are all in your mind, according to recent study.

Contrary to the pop culture notion that hot looks and masterful technique are what that matter, a recent research in The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality found that the real essentials are emotional connection between partners, communication and focus.

The study, conducted on namely married couples over the age 60, also found that the best sex comes with relationships as they become more mature, reports a news channel.

The key ingredients to rock star sex are:

1. Being present, focused and embodied

More than any other factor is the need for lovers to be completely absorbed in the moment, feeling completely merged in one another.

2. Connection, alignment and being in sync

The depth of connection is critical to the experience, with lovers becoming one and synchronous as their energies align.

3. Deep sexual and erotic intimacy

With intimacy the foundation of the relationship, the components of intimacy lend themselves to optimal sex. These include caring, deep mutual respect, admiration, and true acceptance of one another.

4. Extraordinary communication and heightened empathy

Lovers realizing optimal sex are able to read their partner``s bodily responses, truly feeling them. They also listen in both verbal and non-verbal ways, picking up on little things and being sensitive in every way.

5. Authenticity, being genuine and uninhibited, transparency

Participants reported the ability to become emotionally naked, share freely, and feel unselfconscious with their lover as critical to having better sex.

6. Vulnerability and surrender

Lovers have a willingness to expose themselves, to truly be seen. In putting themselves in another`s hands, they relinquish themselves, ultimately penetrating each other`s souls.

7. Bliss, transformation and healing

Optimal sex is an exalted, soulful, timeless state of awe and ecstasy.

8. Exploration, interpersonal risk-taking and fun

Sex is an adventure, with lovers becoming explorers as lovemaking becomes one of discovery. Such is complemented by unleashing one`s sense of humor and laughter.

Campers Await Longest Solar Eclipse

Posted by Sinlung

Tourists from across the nation boarded planes, boats and buses to reach the island, in the hopes of finding a camping spot.

The park on Akuseki Island was immediately filled with colourful tents and anxious campers waiting for the total eclipse to happen on Wednesday, July 22.

"This is a once in a life time opportunity so I'm excited to see the eclipse with my son."

Many others took out their telescopes to test them ahead of the eclipse viewing.

"I'm so ready. All we need is good weather."

Astronomers say the total eclipse will plunge Akuseki Island into darkness for more than six minutes. The phenomenon will be visible in other parts of Japan, but the view from Akuseki is said to be the longest total eclipse out of all areas in the country.

The eclipse is due to start at approximately 9:34 a.m. local time and the sun will be totally eclipsed by the moon at approximately 10:56 a.m.

Freemason sorcery charges a reminder that sorcery fears persist.

Posted by Sinlung

Childhood role-model or sinister threat to civilization?

When 14 Freemasons were arrested in Fiji for practicing sorcery, it may have seemed like a once in a lifetime over-reaction by one third-world country. The police chief on the island of Denerau said they were being investigated for “allegedly practicing sorcery” after superstitious villagers reported their “sinister” activities and accompanied the police in a raid that should have stopped being possible two hundred years ago. Confiscated from the masons by the Fijian police were wands, compasses, and a skull. Fortunately, the prime minister intervened on behalf of these tourists, and they were released after a difficult night in jail.

Unfortunately, fear of sorcery is alive and well around the world.
In that rising Asian nuclear power India, numerous people have been murdered in the last four years because people suspected sorcery deaths. A man in Assam was killed and his arms chopped into pieces by unidentified assailants for allegedly practicing witchcraft, officials say.
Papua New Guinea has seen an epidemic of witch-burning. Although the witch-burning is not legal, the culture is so imbibed with magic that as recently as 1976, the government recently passed a Sorcery Act, recognizing sorcery as valid.
In the Solomon Islands, three men allegedly engaged in the ritual stabbing of a pagan priest, because they suspected him of sorcery.
In the enlightened and westernized United Arab Emirates, a soccer player was been dropped from his squad late last year after he was detained by police for witchcraft after he apparently fraternized with two witches.
To be fair, Fijians apparently hate Evangelical prayer as much as those sorcerer masons, because 27 men were arrested for violence in protest against an Assemblies of God prayer meeting. Two of them were arrested for rape associated with the prayer meeting.
Here in the U.S., we are making progress. The sixth Harry Potter movies is the first not to face demonstrations that it encourages sorcery in American children.

Abductors sell woman after gangrape in UP

Posted by Sinlung

A woman was allegedly sold for Rs 10,000 to a man after being gangraped by her abductors, police said on Monday.

According to the police complaint, the woman was picked up by two men from the railway station on her arrival in Muzaffarnagar from Delhi on July 8 under the pretext of giving her lift.

The men then took her to an unknown location and raped her for two days. She was later sold for Rs 10,000 to a person in Solapur village in the district.

However, the woman managed to escape from the house of her buyer on Sunday.

Britain provides secret asylum to death penalty facing Saudi princess

Posted by Sinlung

London, July 20: A Saudi Arabian princess has been granted secret asylum in Britain after she claimed that her country would award her death penalty for having an illegitimate child.

The young woman, who has a love child with a British man, won her claim for refugee status after telling a judge that her adulterous affair made her liable to death by stoning.

Her case is one of a small number of claims for asylum brought by citizens of Saudi Arabia, which are not openly acknowledged by either government, The Independent reports.

According to foreign policy experts, acknowledging such cases would mean highlighting the persecution of women in Saudi Arabia, which would be viewed as open criticism of the House of Saud and lead to embarrassing publicity for both governments.

The woman, who comes from a very wealthy Saudi family, says she met her English boyfriend - who is not a Muslim - during a visit to London.

She became pregnant the following year and worried that her elderly husband - a member of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia - had become suspicious of her behaviour, she persuaded him to let her visit the UK again to give birth in secret.

She persuaded the court that if she returned to the Gulf state she and her child would be subject to capital punishment under Sharia law.

Since she fled Saudi Arabia, her family and her husband’s family have broken off contact with her.

The woman has been granted permanent leave to remain in the UK after the Immigration and Asylum tribunal allowed her appeal.

Both, the British Home Office and the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in London, have declined to comment on the issue.

Relations between the UK and Saudi Arabia have been strained since 2006 when Tony Blair intervened to end a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) inquiry into alleged kickbacks paid in a multibillion military aircraft deal between the two states.

This led the Saudis to threaten to restrict the sharing of intelligence relating to terror activity if the prosecution went ahead. They also threatened to pull out of other highly-lucrative arms deals.

10 Odd Things you can buy from Amazon

Posted by Sinlung

World Largest Book

The gigantic book BHUTAN is a breathtaking photographic adventure across the legendary last Himalayan kingdom. Teams from MIT and Friendly Planet took over 60,000 photographs on four extensive expeditions. Portraits of people are life-size or bigger. Panoramas convey the staggering sweep of the Great Himalayan Range and the awesome and unique ancient architecture. Tantric Buddhist dancers, clad in a rainbow of sparkling brocade silks, almost seem to be leaping off the page. According to Guinness World Records, at over five by seven feet (and 133 pounds), this beautiful photographic book is the largest published book in the world–about one of the world’s smallest countries.
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Wedding Chapel

Delivered Fully Assembled! Great for a church service getaway wedding chapel or other experience you want to remember forever! . INCLUDES: . Hinged Windows. Screen Windows. Wooden and Screen Doors. Tin Roof. Attic Ladder. Exterior Stain. Chinking Inside and Out. Rough Cut White Pine . Full Assembly. Front Porch. Tongue and Groove Flooring. Wood Roof.
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UFO Detector

Over the years many UFO sightings have reported magnetic and electromagnetic disturbances. The UFO Detector is designed to sense these disturbances and will signal their presence by flashing an LED and beeping. The elegantly designed transparent acrylic case is a handsome sculptured conversation piece that’s suitable for display on a desk, shelf or bedroom dresser.
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Grim Reaper on Skeleton Horseback Life-Size

Grim Reaper on Skeleton Horseback Life-Size Prop – Life-Size Hooded Grim Reaper with scythe upon a life-size skeleton horse statue! Shipping = $399. (NOTE: Does not qualify for FREE Shipping.)
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Inflatable Bondage Chair

This chair is great if you want to hit the road in your RV or camper but don’t want to leave the joys of S&M behind. It folds up into it’s own little pouch bag so you can carry it on day hikes and you can blow it up(or order it blown up) with a bicycle pump or even by mouth. The exterior is not really tough enough for the rough stuff, but the simulated plastic covering makes clean ups a snap. And please remember folks, while this chair is great fun in the family pool(the velcro restraints make great beverage holders) this is NOT intended as a safety flotation device.
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Wolf Urine

Use our 100 percent urine lures to create the illusion predators are present in the area you wish. Great for photographers, gardeners, hunters and wildlife enthusiasts. Due to changes in shipping regulations, we cannot ship this item to California.
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Uranium

Radioactive sample of uranium ore. Useful for testing Geiger Counters. License exempt. Uranium ore sample sizes vary. Shipped in labeled metal container as shown. Shipping Information: We are always in compliance with Section 13 from part 40 of the NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules and regulations and Postal Service regulations specified in 49 CFR 173.421 for activity limits of low level radioactive materials. Item will be shipped in accordance with Postal Service activity limits specified in Publication 52. Radioactive minerals are for educational and scientific use only.
More info: Uranium Ore
Uterus with Fetus Model

These five flexible lifelike, uterus with fetus models illustrate fetal development and the changes in the uterus at 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 15 weeks, 20 weeks, and 40 weeks.
More info: Uterus with Fetus Model
Drive Thru Kit

Kit includes the drive thru unit (pictured), all equipment needed for start-up, start-up supplies including product and small wares, membership in the E.A. Brevita Cooperative Association for one year featuring product discounts and online, video-based training 24/7.
More info: Brevita Drive Thru Kit

Hand Crank Van de Graaff Generator

Thrill your high school and middle school students with exciting demonstrations as impressive as Paul Hewitt’s. Show sparks fly. Make hair stand on end. Illustrate how positive and negative ions attract or repel, and more. It’s easy with our new low-cost Van de Graaff Generator. This hand-crank model can develop potentials of up to 200kV and produce a spark up to 3.2 inches long. Measuring 28" high with a 10" dome, it includes a variety of accessories including a 16" discharge electrode, electric plume, and the electric whirl. Best of all, it’s less than half the cost of a traditional Van de Graaff generator, so you’ll be able to conduct spectacular electrostatic experiments without breaking your budget.

In China, job seekers are resorting to plastic surgery

Posted by Sinlung

The cosmetic surgery business is booming in China as a hyper-competitive labor market has job hunters altering their looks to get an edge with potential employers.

By Don Lee
March 30, 2009

Reporting from Shanghai — In this crummy job market, Stephanie Yang figures any little advantage will help. Even double eyelids.
So on a cold January morning, the 21-year-old college senior walked into one of dozens of plastic surgery clinics here and plopped down $730, the equivalent of one year's tuition. An hour later she came out with two big bandages over her eyes.

Chinese web users overtaken US users, hits 338 million

Posted by Sinlung

BEIJING — More people now go online in China than there are people in the United States.

The country’s rapid economic growth and expansion of Internet access in more areas has fueled a sharp increase in Internet users, totaling 338 million by the end of June, a government-sanctioned research group said Thursday.
That is a 13.4 percent jump since the end of 2008, the China Internet Network Information Center said in a report.
The latest U.S. Census Bureau’s figure says the population of the U.S. is just under 307 million. China’s population is more than 1.3 billion.
China’s population of Internet users has been growing at explosive rates despite government efforts to block access to material deemed subversive or pornographic.
But Internet penetration is still only 25.5 percent, the center said. The Pew Internet and American Life Project places U.S. online penetration at more than 70 percent.
Internet use on mobile phones has increased 32.1 percent since the beginning of the year to 155 million led by rising use by rural dwellers, the report said.
China this year rolled out its third-generation mobile phone service — which supports wireless Web surfing — which is expected to set off a new surge in Internet use.
On the Net:
China Internet Network Information Center (in Chinese): www.cnnic.org.cn

Late? Get ready to be locked out, Emergency style

Posted by Sinlung

Nagaon, July 16: The deputy commissioner of Morigaon, Apurba Phukan, today locked the chambers of three latecomers in a rare show of acting tough against truant government officers, reviving memories of the Emergency, when the officials were kept on a tight leash by the Indira Gandhi government.

When sub-divisional officers Alaka Goswami and Krishna Borua and district treasury officer Madhab Malakar reached their workplace late, they were in for a surprise. They found their offices, sharing the campus with that of Phukan, locked.

Later, they were told to take casual leave for the day.

Septuagenarian Monoram Saikia, who was at the DC’s office at the time of the incident recalled that such stern measures were taken during the days of the Emergency to ensure discipline in government offices. Sources in the administration said Phukan had called the three officers for an “urgent administrative discussion” at his office chamber around 10.10am but none of them arrived on time.

“When the DC sent one of his staff to call the officials, none of them was present at his or her chamber,” the source said. An angry Phukan immediately instructed his staff to lock up their offices.

He later collected the attendance registers of the three officers. When the three officers reported for work, they found the register missing. On approaching Phukan, they were asked to take casual leave for the day. “All three were found absent till 10.30am while our office starts at 10. I ordered their rooms to be locked up as they were not in their chairs during office hours,” Phukan told this correspondent over phone.

A source in the Morigaon treasury office said: “Everything took place within a very short time. When our officer was found absent, a staff sent by the deputy commissioner rushed to his room and locked it up. Even the computer inside the room remained switched on.”

Sub-divisional officer Krishna Borua defended her delayed arrival saying, “It was very hot this morning. I reached office around 10.15 only to find my room locked.”

Alaka Goswami, however, was unapologetic. “I had anyway planned to take leave for the day on personal grounds. It is not a serious matter, I think.”

Saikia said: “The deputy commissioner has done the right thing...I have been coming here for so many days for a trivial work but have to return empty-handed as the employees either work at a snail’s pace or are not present,” he said over phone. His nephew Ranjan Saikia said the DC had set an example which others must emulate.

During the 21-month Emergency period beginning June 25, 1975 civil liberties were curtailed and the usually laid back babus were forced to reach office on time.

Berlusconi’s luxurious spa weekend with ‘young women’ disclosed

Posted by Sinlung

LONDON - While Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was busy attending world leaders at the G8 summit in his country, a new chapter unfolded in the sex scandal haunting him for months.

A magazine has alleged that the PM had spent a weekend in a luxurious Umbrian health spa with an entourage of women, including an actress and a former showgirl who have worked for his television stations.

Prosecutors in Bari in southern Italy are probing a businessman, Giampaolo Tarantini, who is suspected of assisting in prostitution by allegedly paying women to attend parties at Berlusconi’s homes in the capital and Sardinia

However, Tarantini has denied all wrongdoing.

According to the magazine L’Espresso, Berlusconi, with Tarantini and “many” young women, had spent the weekend of November 28-30 last year at the Health Centre Marc Messegue near the picturesque hilltop town of Todi in Umbria, to undergo massage therapy to relieve back pain.

It is believed that the billionaire politician’s retinue did include Tarantini, who arrived by car with a number of young women, after getting lost in the countryside.

The female guests allegedly included Barbara Guerra, a former television showgirl, and Licia Nunez, an actress and friend of Tarantini.

Guerra denied the magazine’s report saying that she did not know the people mentioned in the article, including Nunez and Berlusconi.

“None of it is true. I know nothing about this weekend. I was working at the time,” Times Online quoted her as saying.

Even Nunez told the magazine that she knew nothing about the weekend.

Executive stress a boon for island rehab

Posted by Sinlung

Few taxis will make the journey to Osea, a private island accessible for just four hours a day when the tide is low.

Drivers are reluctant to cross the ancient causeway that connects the island to the Essex coast for fear the salt water will rust their engines.

But that's not a problem for most visitors - who jet in by helicopter.

The island is a rehab centre where burnt-out rock stars, high flyers and celebrities seek treatment for mental health problems, addiction and eating disorders.

And the patch of lawn that doubles as the island's helipad is getting busier - The Causeway Retreat says the recession has boosted its business as stressed-out executives follow in Amy Winehouse's footsteps and check in to recharge their batteries.

"We've been at max capacity for the past year," says the retreat's general manager Mark Gregory on a tour of the island.

"The recession isn't hurting us, I say it with sadness - it's aiding our business."

'Tip of iceberg'
The Causeway Retreat estimates that it has seen a 60% increase in clients from corporate sector in the past nine months.

You can be a captain of industry but it doesn't mean you have life skills

Mark Gregory, The Causeway Retreat

"Clients tell us they are worn out at work but when we get them here, it turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg," says Mr Gregory.

"You can be a captain of industry but it doesn't mean you have life skills."

Housed in clapboard cottages and a larger manor house, the rehab centre exudes a laid-back charm on a sunny June morning.
The bedrooms are stylishly decorated with four poster beds, flat screen televisions and claw-footed roll-top bathtubs that would not be out of place in a five-star hotel.
But the wellington and hiking boots scattered at the door give a more homespun air. Its gym is housed in a row of old stables, and a yoga studio is hidden away in a wooden outhouse.
The retreat's one big concession to its celebrity clients is a recording studio that once belonged to Bob Marley, though the retreat won't divulge whether any hits have been made there.
'Wolf pack'
Brendan Quinn, the retreat's chief executive and a former psychiatric nurse, says that its corporate clients come chiefly from the world of investment banking and law, and are predominantly female.

The retreat's secluded location makes it popular with celebrities

"Women might feel more bullied in a corporate environment - they are seen as a soft target by male colleagues," Mr Quinn says.
Clare (not her real name), a finance director at a financial services firm in the City, spent a month at the retreat in November last year.
"It did all come to a head when the financial crisis really hit," the 50-year-old executive says.
"I think that tipped me over the edge. I was working even longer then and drinking a bit more than I should."
"It was like being a woman in a wolf pack."
Her stay at the retreat triggered a complete change in lifestyle. Although she returned to her job briefly, she later quit and moved away from London and now does the accounts for a small firm.
Like most of the retreat's clients, who must all sign a confidentiality agreement, she is keen to preserve her anonymity and is nervous about speaking to a journalist.
"I thought it a sign of weakness to tell people. My father was a services man - he said you make your own bed and lie in it."
Realistic solution?
Ben Pimlott, senior policy advisor at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said while rehab might work for senior managers, it is not a realistic solution for the vast majority of us.
"Line and middle managers are under as much pressure as board level directors," he says.

In the past, the retreat's clients have hailed from the music industry

"They are the ones who have to deliver on the objectives set by those above them and make the decisions on redundancies."
Stress is the biggest cause of long-term absence for non-manual workers, and workplace absence on average costs a company £666 per employee each year.
Companies do take the problem seriously, but they could do more to safeguard employee well-being, Mr Pimlott adds.
"Employers can depend on employees to go the extra mile in a recession, but once things pick up people will vote with their feet," he says.
Ruth Spellman, chief executive at the Chartered Management Institute, agrees that managers are under increased pressure, with four in 10 British managers not having yet booked any holiday this year.
"Managers are easy targets when times are tough, they are after all the face of an organisation and so can make easy targets.
"So, it is perhaps unsurprising that given the increased pressure managers are under because of the recession that they may be paying the price when it comes to their wellbeing," she adds.
Expansion plans
To cater for the growing demand from the corporate sector, the retreat is expanding.
It plans to increase the number of rooms and cottages available on the island to around 40 from 23.
Mr Gregory says the wider availability of private health insurance will make the retreat more accessible, and not just the preserve of celebrities and chief executives.
"Society is more at ease with mental health problems and it's more common for companies to have good private health care insurance.
"The attitude among companies is that we pay for it, we may as well use it."
But at around £10,000 for a week's stay, no matter how seriously companies take workplace stress, a stint in luxury rehab is likely to remain a genuine option only for a few lucky high flyers.

Holly Madison does chained naked underwater pose

Posted by Sinlung

London, Jul 8 (ANI): American model Holly Madison was photographed naked with chain wrapped round her body, as she posed at the bottom of the sea.
Madison, 29, looked quite the mermaid as she displayed her twin assets during the underwater pose, reports the Sun.
The busty Playboy blonde, a former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, did the X-rated underwater display as she posed for a kinky shoot.
She could be seen resting seductively on the seabed before popping out of the water for a shot of her famous chest.
Madison also flashed her bum as she leaned over a giant rock. (ANI)

Hitler’s stealth fighter re-created by plane experts

Posted by Sinlung

Washington, July 8 (ANI): Top stealth-plane experts have re-created a radical Nazi aircraft, a retro-futuristic fighter, which was made during World War II, under the orders of German dictator Adolf Hitler.
According to a report in National Geographic News, to replicate the Ho 2-29, a team from the Northrop Grumman defense-contracting corporation used original Nazi blueprints of Hitler’s stealth fighter and the only surviving Ho 2-29, which has been stored in a US government facility for more than 50 years.
The engineers’ goal was to determine whether the so-called stealth fighter was truly radar resistant.
In the process, they have uncovered new clues to just how close Nazi engineers were to unleashing a jet that some say could have changed the course of the war.
The all-wing Ho 2-29 looked more like today’s U.S. B-2 bomber than like any other World War II aircraft.
Made primarily of wood and powered by jet engines, the plane was designed for speeds of up to 600 miles an hour (970 kilometers an hour).
Armed with four 30mm cannons and two 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) bombs, the planned production model was also meant to pack a punch.
A Ho 2-29 prototype made a successful test flight just before Christmas 1944. But by then, time was running out for the Nazis, and they were never able to perfect the design or produce more than a handful of prototype planes.
Determining the Horten’s stealth capabilities could help reveal what might have happened if the Ho 2-29 had been unleashed in force.
To determine once and for all whether the Ho 2-29 had stealth capabilities, experts first examined the surviving 2-29 and probed it with a portable radar unit based on World War II radar tech.
Then, in the fall and winter of 2008, they set about building the full-scale re-creation at a restricted-access Northrop Grumman testing facility in California’s Mojave Desert.
The construction team embraced historic materials and techniques, and the Horten 2-29 replica, like the original, is made largely of wood and bonded with glue and nails.
Unlike the original, however, the replica wasn’t built to fly, though it did soar, after a fashion.
The new craft’s body was constructed around a rotor, which allowed the replica to be manipulated atop a five-story-tall column.
There, in January 2009, the craft was subjected to World War II-style radar.
Radar tests on the replica show that the plane’s radical, smooth design would indeed have given it a significant advantage against radar, according to Tom Dobrenz, a Northrop Grumman expert, who led the Horten replica project. (ANI)

Koreans turn to blue as white collar jobs go

Posted by Sinlung


Despite wounding their pride a lot of people take to manual labour, but secretly — just to slake the job thirst

With his clean white university sweatshirt and shiny cellphone, Lee Chang-shik looks the part of a manager at a condominium development company, the job that he held until last year’s financial panic — and the one he tells his friends and family he still holds. But in fact, he leads a secret life. After his company went bankrupt late last year, he recently relocated to this remote fishing village to do the highest-paying work he could find in the current market: as a hand on a crab boat. “I definitely don’t put crab fisherman on my resume,” said Lee, 33, who makes the five-hour drive back to Seoul once a month to hunt for a desk job. “This work hurts my pride.” Economy hit Tales of the downwardly mobile have become common during the current financial crisis, and South Korea has had more than its share since the global downturn hammered this once fast-growing export economy. But they often have a distinctly Korean twist, with former white-collar workers going into more physically demanding work or traditional kinds of manual labour that are relatively well paid here — from farming and fishing to the professional back-scrubbers who clean patrons at the nation’s numerous public bathhouses. Just as distinctly Korean may be the lengths to which some go to hide their newly humble status. Lee says he carefully avoids the topic of work in phone conversations with friends and his parents, and dodges invitations to meet by claiming he is too busy. He gave his name with great reluctance, and only after being assured the article would not appear in Korean. Another former white-collar worker who now works on a crab boat in the same village said he could not tell family and friends, and told his wife only via e-mail after arriving here. Yet another tells his parents that he is in Japan. In a competitive, status-conscious society, these and other workers say they feel intense shame doing manual work. Fixed mindset Some also say they feel guilty working such rough jobs after years of expensive cram schools and college. And many younger workers, having grown up in an increasingly affluent nation, consider physical labour a part of the bygone, impoverished eras of their parents and grandparents. “These days, many South Koreans think they have the right to be white collar,” said Lee Byung-hee, senior economist at the Korea Labour Institute, a government-linked research organisation based in Seoul. “But their expectations hit the dark reality of this economy, where people have no choice but to go into the blue-collar work force.” Labour experts say the number of former office workers who are moving into blue-collar jobs has increased as South Korea has suffered its worst unemployment since the 1997 Asian currency crisis. According to the National Statistical Office, the unemployment rate has risen to 3.8 per cent — low by American standards, but high for this Asian economic powerhouse. Many of the unemployed can rely on traditional forms of economic support, like living with family. And despite the slowdown, jobs are still to be found in this prosperous society, where the neon-lit bustle of cities like Seoul has not missed a beat. Still, Jeong Seung-beom, whose small Seoul-based firm helps recruit workers for South Korea’s fishing industry, says that this year is the busiest he has seen, even better than 1997, when white-collar workers also flooded his office. He said his company, the Sea Job Placement Center, now places about 80 people a month, four times the number a year ago. Jeong said most of the new recruits were laid-off office workers or university students who could no longer afford tuition. Many of the newcomers are so woefully unprepared for the physical demands of fishing, he said, he tries to scare them during orientation sessions. On a recent morning in his cramped office, six young men showed up with gym bags, ready to make the trip to Kunghang, near the nation’s southwest tip. Among them was Lee, the former condominium developer. Jeong warned them that they might get seasick or homesick, or even be injured or killed on the crab boats, which can spend 14 hours a day at sea. When he paused for questions, one man in his 20s asked if he could go home during holidays. “Crabs don’t take holidays,” Jeong scoffed. Undaunted, all six went to Kunghang later that day. Lee said he decided to fish because he could make about $1,700 a month, much more than he could earn in Seoul pouring lattes or busing tables. The high salaries stem from the chronic labour shortages in these occupations during the boom years when South Koreans shunned them as too dirty, leaving them to Asian migrant labourers. Another allure is that many of these menial jobs seem to be recession-proof, workers and labour experts say. Na Deuk-won, who owns a school in Seoul that trains back-scrubbers and bathhouse masseuses, says enrollment has jumped 50 per cent this year, to 180 students, because of a sudden influx of university graduates and laid-off office workers. “Even in a recession, people need their back scrubbed,” Na said. At his Dongdaemun Bath Academy, students gathered in a tiled shower room to learn how to scrub naked customers with a pair of sponge mitts. One, Hyun Sung-chul, 48, said he had been supervising 50 workers as a manager at a construction company before losing his job in January. At first, he said, he hid his enrollment in scrubbing school from family and friends, though he told his wife. When he finally confided about his career change to a friend, he was surprised when the friend confessed interest as well. “He told me, ‘Teach me when I get fired, too!’ ” Hyun said. “I think people come into this field only when they are afraid that their livelihood is at risk.” In Kunghang, many of the new crab fishermen recruited by Jeong expressed regrets about their choice. “This is so smelly and dirty, it makes me want to vomit,” Kwak Jung-ho, 33, a branch manager of a cellphone store in Seoul before it closed this year, said as he cut tangled crabs out of a net. “If my parents knew what I was doing now, they would pity me,” he said. “Now, I look at the ocean and think, I should have worked harder at the cellphone store, and be a better man for my family.”

New Zealand teen sells nude pictures of mum online

Posted by Sinlung

Revealing ... the woman first said she was angry, but then thought the photos were "artistic".

Teen tries to sell sexy shots of mum
Mum angry at first but later agrees

A NEW Zealand teenager tried to sell sexy photos of his mother in her underwear online to make some quick cash.
While most 18-year-olds would balk at the thought of their parents naked, Auckland student Michael appeared comfortable with the concept, twice listing nude and semi-clothed images of his 44-year-old mother Jennifer.
The first time he auctioned "five naked photos of my mum'' to annoy her after the pair had an argument, he told the Herald on Sunday newspaper.
When TradeMe removed the listing the following day he relisted a second series of "glamour photos'' with her permission.
This time there was more clothing but one was an underwear shot.
Michael, who did not want his full name used, said he did it for the extra cash.
"We're not rich or anything,'' he said.
Jennifer said she was "pretty annoyed'' by the first listing, calling her son a "cheeky little git'', but liked the second lot because they were "quite artistic''.

Thomas Santa of Sydney Uni.

"There's nothing dodgy about them. They were taken by a family friend about eight years ago,'' Jennifer told the newspaper.
"I wanted 50 per cent of the sale but more than that, I miss the nice comments.''
The photos were viewed 11,000 times before they were pulled by the website's management, citing "inappropriateness''.
"We don't really want to be the place where people list photos of their mums in their underwear,'' TradeMe spokesman Jon Macdonald said.

Jessica Biel strips off in sexy new photoshoot

Posted by Sinlung

Hollywood actress Jessica Biel has stripped off in a sexy new cover shoot for Gotham magazine.
The smoldering black and white shots come hot on the heels of a slew of headlines about the 27-year-old star fearing her looks may be holding her back from serious roles.
She echoes that sentiment in the Gotham interview saying that while she’s “made a mark” as a “very sexy” actress, she's looking to also do the "dark, conflicted" roles.
Judging by these photos nobody’s going to forget about her looks in a hurry, particularly not on-off boyfriend Justin Timberlake.

But she tells Gotham that "balancing the idea of being very sexy and then also being really attainable, kind of a girl-next door quality, is really important" to her.
June/July issue of Niche Media's Gotham magazine on stands in the US this week.