Daily Strange News

Izabel Laxamana: Girl takes her own life days after dad posts YouTube video to publicly shame her for bad behaviour

2015-06-11T14:59:00.001+08:00

A 13-year-old girl has committed suicide after her dad publicly shamed her in a YouTube video.

Izabel Laxamana jumped from a bridge on May 29, just days after her dad Jeff cut off her hair and posted a video of the punishment online.

It has been reported locally that Izabel, from Tacoma, Washington, walked out of a car before jumping off a bridge onto Interstate 5 – the main highway on the US west coast.

She was taken to a Seattle hospital, where she died on Saturday.

Speculation is now growing about whether the 15-second video – which has been removed – led to Izabel's death.

Tacoma newspaper the New Tribune reported that the King County Medical Examiners’ office ruled the death as a suicide on Monday.

A spokesman for Tacoma Public Schools, where Izabel was a pupil, told the paper that counsellors met with staff at her school to help them support students after the girl’s death.

During the video, the girl can be seen looking into the camera as the lens pans to where her long dark locks lie scattered on the floor.

A male voice can be heard saying: “The consequences of getting messed up, man, you lost all that beautiful hair."

He then asks her: “Was it worth it?”

She replies "no" before he asks: “How many times did I warn you?”

She girl quietly replies: “A lot.”

It is still not clear why Izabel was in trouble with her father.

The News Tribune quotes reports on social media that the schoolgirl was upset after being banned from running for a position on the student body.

A statement said the girl did not have parental permission to participate as a candidate, and rumour-mongering was hurting efforts of students and staff to deal with the trauma of Izabel's death.

Blog Tacoma Stories claims that the public shaming could have led to Izabel's death and is a "form of abuse".

A post on the blog read: "There are those who will say that public shaming teaches a lesson. So does punching someone in the face. That doesn’t make it okay to do to your children.

"My thoughts are with this young girl. I hope that she gets the help she needs."

Via

Man is suing actress for 'staring' at him from TV and causing him 'spiritual damage'

2015-06-11T14:58:00.002+08:00

A man is suing a famous actress for staring at him from the TV.

Zhao Wei is one of China's most famous stars and has been appearing in on the prime-time ratings winner Tiger Mom since it started in May.

The China Times reports from the People's Court of Shanghai Pudong's New District that the man has become upset with her intense stares and has accused her of causing "spiritual damage".

The actress' character is described as "emotionally unstable", giving piercing stares to her husband and daughter in the drama.

The man is seeking compensation, but it's not the weirdest lawsuit to be taken up.

Chinese publication Legal Daily, according to The Shanghaiist, reports that there's been an increase in unusual lawsuits in the last month following the adoption of a new system of processing court cases.

These include a lawyer taking legal recourse against a judge citing health damage following the judge's failure to call for a break during proceedings.

Connecticut high school teacher charged with sexually assaulting student

2015-04-02T14:30:00.000+08:00

DANBURY POLICE DEPT
Kayla Mooney, 24, who teaches at Danbury High School, was arrested and charged with second-degree sexual assault and distributing alcohol to a minor.

"We are all very disappointed that this has happened to one of our faculty members," he said.

Perhaps even more shocking than Mooney's arrest, however, is that it's only the latest sexual misconduct charge against a southwest Connecticut teacher.

On Feb. 11 former Wilton public schools teacher and Sacred Heart University instructor Timothy Leonard was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault involving a 14-year-old boy.

Police said the 37-year-old was found in a movie theater parking lot with the teen after they engaged in an intimate act, the Fairfield Sun reported.

Former Bethel first-grade teacher Brian Stroh also resigned on Feb. 19 after charged with sexually abusing three children, ages 6, 9 and 11, the News Times reported.

A Connecticut high school teacher is accused of sexually assaulting a student and distributing alcohol to a minor — making the third sexually-related arrest of a teacher in the area since February.

Kayla Mooney, 24, who is on paid leave from Danbury High School, turned herself in Tuesday following a seven-week investigation, the News Times reported.

The first-year science teacher was charged with felony second-degree sexual assault and the misdemeanor alcohol charge.

Sal Pascarella, the superintendent of the city's schools, would not provide details about the allegations against Mooney, only telling the News Times that the alleged incident happened off campus late last year. VIA http://www.nydailynews.com/

Oklahoma teacher busted for nude texts with student: cops

2015-04-02T14:14:00.003+08:00

An Oklahoma teacher faces sex crime charges after a former student’s parents uncovered a cache of her naked photos on their kid’s phone, authorities said.

Whitney Fetters, 28, traded at least 20 nudes with the 14-year-old boy in a string of X-rated texts, according to court documents.

Putnam City police issued an arrest warrant for the middle school Spanish teacher after the boy’s parents learned of the relationship and called the cops.

Fetters turned herself in on Wednesday and posted $10,000 bail, The Oklahoman reported.

The randy teacher began texting the boy two years ago when he was one of her students at Hefner Middle School, authorities said.

The messages turned dirty as he entered high school, according to court documents cited by ABC 13.

“Touching myself is fun,” Fetters wrote in one message, court documents said.

A sexy shot of the teacher in lingerie included the teasing message, “That’s all you get.”

Cops raided her house and confiscated her phone, computers and even the undergarments she allegedly modeled in photos, News 9 reported.

The boy had tried erasing messages and pictures when confrontated by his parents, but detectives were able to recover the erotic evidence, authorities said.

Fetters was planning an overnight hookup with her underage boyfriend before the kid’s parent and police intervened, cops said.

She faces charges of indecent exposure, lewd proposals to a child younger than 16 and soliciting sex with a minor.

Fetters was removed from the classroom after allegations surfaced, school officials said.

Mentally ill man freed in China after 8 YEARS locked inside iron cage

2014-02-22T08:59:00.000+08:00

A mentally ill man has been freed after spending the past eight years locked in a cage in south-China.

Hong Zhengqu has spent the best part of the last decade in a rusty 10sqft cage in Jinjiang, Fujian Province.

Mr Hong’s situation only came to light recently when his mother, who had cared for him, passed away.

His family locked him inside cage after he was diagnosed with severe psychological problems and became aggressive.

Mr Hong was rescued from his cage by a group of volunteers, local government officials and policemen.

Mr Hong has now been found a place at a nearby psychiatric home where he will be cared for

Although Mr Hongs’ family’s behaviour may appear cruel and inhumane, this is not unheard of in rural China where there has been several cases of, mainly men, locked in cages for years.

Families are uneducated about what is causing their behaviour, which can sometimes be aggressive towards themselves and others, and believe they are doing them a favour by caging them.

In other cases previously reported by MailOnline, families living in poverty have not been able to pay for psychiatric care for their loved ones.Read more: dailymail.co.uk

Finland's reindeer antlers sprayed with glow-in-the-dark paint to prevent car crashes

2014-02-22T08:51:00.001+08:00

Finnish reindeer herders have found a new way of keeping their livestock from being hit by cars - they cover their horns in fluorescent dye.

The herders are trying out different types of reflective paints in the hope of finding a shade which can resist the harsh climate.

It is the the latest attempt to stop thousands of road deaths involving reindeer in Lapland, in northern Finland.

Anne Ollila of the Finnish Reindeer Herder's Association says the antlers of 20 reindeer have been painted with various fluorescent dyes to see how the animals react and whether the paints are resistant to the harsh Arctic climate.

If successful, animals with glittering antlers will be free to roam Lapland — a vast, deserted area in northern Finland where herders tend to some 200,000 reindeer.

Ollila says reflectors and reflective tape have proven unsuccessful as reindeer have torn them off — and road signs warning drivers of roaming reindeer often are stolen by tourists as souvenirs.

Domesticated reindeer has been kept as livestock in northern Scandinavia and Russia for thousands of years, believed to have started in the late Bronze ages as wild reindeer was captured.

In Finland, Sweden and Norway, the indigenous Saami people make up a majority of reindeer herders in the northern parts of Scandinavia.

The animals are bred for their meat, which is very popular in Sweden and Finland, as well as their fur and milk.

Read more: dailymail.co.uk

Woman stabbed boyfriend in the eye after he declined her offer of taking part in threesome

2014-02-03T10:03:00.000+08:00

A Florida woman is accused of stabbing her boyfriend in the eye because he refused a horizontal dance with her.

The victim told police that La Crystal King-Woolfork, 28, of Vero Beach, came home drunk on Sept. 26 wanting sex, according to TC Palm.

She was with another unidentified woman at the time. The two women "started performing oral sex on one another while [the victim] watched," according to an arrest affidavit. Still, King-Woolfork's boyfriend did not want sex.

When he refused intercourse several times, King-Woolfork allegedly grabbed a knife and attacked him. She stabbed him in the eye and the shoulder, but he was able to disarm her and call another person for a ride to the hospital.

Now King-Woolfork faces attempted murder charges, even though she contended in court that she only attacked the victim with a metal candle holder, according to Vero News. She said her boyfriend punched her in the nose after she hit him with the candle holder.

Via huffingtonpost.com

Upstate New York man threatens to kill former President George W. Bush to get into 'relationship' with his daughter

2014-02-03T09:55:00.001+08:00

An unhinged New York man threatened to kill former President George W. Bush so he could get into “a relationship” with his daughter Barbara Pierce Bush.

“Bush will get his,” Pittsford, New York, resident Benjamin Smith, 44, screamed after authorities tracked him to Lexington Ave. and E. 28th St. in Kips Bay — a short distance from the first twin’s Greenwich Village home -- at 6:15 a.m. Friday, officials said.

Investigators arrested Smith after a loaded Rossi .38-caliber rifle and a container of gasoline were found in his vehicle.

The Secret Service had been looking for Smith for more than 12 hours, after he left a note with his mother threatening to kill the 43rd President and disappeared with the rifle, authorities said.“I have to slay a dragon and then Barbara Bush will be mine,” he wrote, according to court documents.

Via nydailynews.com

EXCLUSIVE: Meet New York City’s first professional cuddler

2014-02-03T09:52:00.002+08:00

Ali C. runs a snuggle business out of her Manhattan apartment. Her business, Cuddle U NYC, is similar to other cuddle businesses that have popped up in Portland, Rochester and San Francisco. She charges $80 for an hour to lay in bed with her.

Her therapy sessions trade in the leather couch for a memory foam mattress.

Manhattan transplant Ali C. is billing herself as the city's first professional cuddler, holding emotionally-charged snuggle sessions out of her Financial District studio apartment.

"It's a very healing experience,” Ali, 47, who asked that her last name not be disclosed due to privacy concerns, told The Daily News. “People are very vulnerable during the process.”

The expert nuzzler launched her unorthodox venture, Cuddle U NYC, in November and has already had more than 30 clients — all men except for one female — come to her doorman building.

Ali’s cuddle business — she strictly prohibits any unwanted advances or sexual contact with a legal waiver — is modeled after similar services that have popped up in Portland, San Francisco and Rochester, N.Y.

It’s a peculiar phenomenon that is being replicated throughout the country — and uncharted waters for city regulators.

A city Law Department spokesman said the agency wasn’t aware of any statutes on the books that govern cuddling.

The state Office of the Professions, which governs therapy services such as acupuncture and massage in the city, has no regulations or licenses for “snuggling,” a spokesman for Gov. Cuomo said.

Ali’s rates are comparable to a massage parlor: $60 for 45 minutes of spooning, $80 for one hour. An overnight stay, which has yet to be requested, is $500.

She even offers a $200 movie and cuddle package, but is waiting for someone to take her up on the offer before buying a TV for her minimalistic apartment.

A tissue box sits on a metal chair next to her full-sized mattress at all times, she said.

“They're absolutely necessary," she said. “There's a lot of tears.”

Prospective nestlers must make social media profiles and related websites accessible, as well as provide a copy of their driver’s license. A pre-snuggle interview is also conducted.

“My vetting process is pretty stringent,” she said. “My creepy meter is pretty finely tuned.”

Ali first flirted with the idea of touch therapy at a nursing home as a teenager in Detroit. She’d place her hand on the arms of ill people and watch their mood change instantly. She said eventually like to expand her fledgling service to people with disorders such as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“I was a really shy kid, at home there wasn't a lot of affection,” she recalled. “I had nobody to cuddle me and hold me and tell me it's going to be alright."

Read more: nydailynews.com

Shocking video shows teacher stuck in the middle of a classroom fight with no one helping her

2014-02-03T09:46:00.002+08:00

A shocking video shows a teacher helplessly stuck in the middle of a classroom fight - with no one coming to her aid.

The footage, recorded by a teenage boy in the class at Gibbs High School in St Petersburg, Florida, shows two young girls exchanging a war of words with their classmates egging them on.

The female teacher initially stands between the girls, trying to get them to calm down, but then the students start lashing out at each other - and she can do nothing but stand back and watch.

Other students clear tables to make way for the fight, while they encourage the girls to scrap.

The fighting students can be seen pulling each other's hair, slapping each other's faces and dragging each other across the floor in the four-minute footage.

The teacher can do nothing but abandon any effort to continue teaching the class.

At some point, she called for help, but it is not clear when, Pinellas County Schools spokeswoman Melanie Marquez Parra told the Tampa Bay Times.

A campus monitor, two administrators and another teacher responded to the fight, Parra said. On the video, a group can be seen pulling the two girls apart.

She would not reveal the grade or name of the teacher because it could identify the students.

St. Petersburg police spokesman Mike Puetz told the Times that officers were not called to the scene.

'The (school resource officer) wasn't aware of this until well after it was over,' he said. 'It is our understanding that the school is handling it internally.'

The video of the fight was posted on Facebook and later removed - but it continued to circulate.

The student who filmed the fight, as well as the two students involved, are now both facing punishment, which could be anywhere between suspension, school reassignment and expulsion.

Board members said that Gibbs High has struggled with a poor reputation due to the number of fights on campus, and said they feared that this incident would only worsen that belief.

'I am extremely hurt because we have really been making strides and Gibbs itself has been making strides,' board member Rene Flowers said. 'Now you have this situation that sets it back.'

She added that she was stunned to see the disrespect the students showed the teacher.

Lisa Wheeler-Brown, president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations, agreed.

'Number one, I don't see how this could go on in a classroom - the students could just blatantly disrespect the teacher and the other students who want to learn,' she told the Times.

'It's a sad reality that in too many of our classrooms, teachers spend just as much time trying to keep control as they do teaching.'

Last year, Gibbs High School issued 76 out-of-school suspensions for fighting, the most of any Pinellas high school. It also had the highest rate of suspensions, with 20.5 percent of students suspended for at least one day last year.

But Parra said the number of school arrests had dropped, from 23 this time last year to 13.

Via dailymail.co.uk

Pennsylvania teacher and mother of three accused of sexting and having sex with student

2014-01-27T16:09:00.000+08:00

The relationship allegedly started when a teacher approached her student at the high school prom and asked if he'd like to work out at her gym.

For several months last summer, Erica Ann Ginnetti, 33, sent photos of herself in a thong and had sex with the boy in a parking lot, authorities said, according to several local reports.

She was arraigned Friday on 13 charges including sexual assault of a student, corruption of a minor and disseminating obscene material to a minor, reported WCAU-TV in Philadelphia.Prosecutors allege she sent explicit photos of herself undressing, as a well as videos in which she performed sex acts on herself, the station said. The school is located about 20 miles from downtown Philadelphia.

The Lower Moreland High School instructor and the student admitted their affair when questioned by police last week.

Officers were acting on a tip to the statewide ChildLine sexual abuse hotline. A caller said Ginnetti had sent inappropriate photos to the student, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The teacher, who has three children, was released Friday on $50,000 bail and outfitted with a GPS monitoring device, KYW-TV in Philadelphia reported.

Tycoon Ups Dowry For Lesbian Daughter

2014-01-27T16:03:00.000+08:00

A Hong Kong property tycoon has doubled the dowry for any man who marries his lesbian daughter. The sum now stands at a cool $120 million.

Cecil Chao Sze-tsung told Malaysian newspaper Nanyang Siang Pau on Monday that he has not finished trying to arrange a straight match for openly gay Gigi Chao, 33. The last time he made the offer of a reward — then a mere $60 million — 20,000 suitors applied.

“I don’t want to interfere with my daughter’s private life,” said Cecil, not too convincingly. “I only hope for her to have a good marriage and children as well as inherit my business.”

News of the offer has left Sean Eav, Gigi Chao’s partner for nine years, “distraught,” reports the the South China Morning Post. Gigi Chao has spoken of the couple’s anguish at her father’s behavior and told the Post that she has repeatedly asked him to stop offering the bounty.

Gigi Chao is a highly respected LGBT activist in Hong Kong and a founding member of the local gay rights group Big Love Alliance.

Read more: Cecil Chao Ups Dowry For Lesbian Daughter | TIME.com http://newsfeed.time.com/2014/01/23/tycoon-upsets-gay-daughter-by-offering-120-million-dowry-to-any-man-who-marries-her/#ixzz2raGIovWi

Californian girl beaten to death for walking in front of a camera

2014-01-27T15:57:00.000+08:00

A 23-year-old student who died after she was brutally beaten outside a club in California may have sparked the savage attack by accidentally photo-bombing a group of people as they were trying to take a picture.

Kim Pham was declared brain dead in the wake of the Saturday morning incident in Santa Ana. On Tuesday, she was taken off life support and pronounced dead at 12.36pm.

A friend of the victim revealed that Pham was outside The Crosby club when she may have accidentally wandered in front of a camera as a group of partygoers posed for a snapshot.

A heated argument followed, which according to police, culminated with two men and three women beating Pham unconscious and leaving her for dead.

One female suspect in her 20s is police custody and has been booked for assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury. Her identity has not been released.

The suspect has not been named, but is described as in her 20s and has been arrested for suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and causing great bodily harm. She was identified thanks to video footage of the attack filmed by a bystander.

In her personal blog, titled: ‘These Are the 7 Biggest Fears That You Need To Avoid Having In Your Twenties’ on the website Elite Daily, Miss Pham calls on people her age to stop being fearful.

On the ‘Fear of Missing Out’, a rationale she said was ‘empty’, she wrote: ‘We all have this guilt that tells us we should be doing one thing when we choose to do another.

‘We may even choose to justify it by announcing it on Facebook or Twitter to receive likes and lighthearted comments that perhaps make us feel more at ease about being “out studying the babes instead of studying for a midterm.” Don’t be a fool. Attend to the things you need to do in order to grow a better you.’

She tells her contemporaries to stop worrying about ‘Not Being Invited to the party’, instead claiming that it is merely the universe’s way of ‘telling you that you’ve got more valuable things to be doing with your time’.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2543809/Inspirational-blog-Kim-Pham-23-beaten-death-outside-California-nightclub.html#ixzz2raEWYHXJ

Besotted victim forgives iPhone thief because she is incredibly good looking

2014-01-27T14:30:00.000+08:00

A besotted victim who tracked his phone thief using an app has forgiven her - because she is incredibly good looking.

Matsumoto Hiroki lost his iPhone on holiday in Bangkok. Forced to return to Japan, he invested in a new 5C, and took to iCloud to trace his account.

But what Mr Hiroki found was far from what he expected.

His photostream is now cluttered with selfies of a young, cute Thai girl dating back to December 29, when the phone went missing.

Single Mr Hiroki, sharing the development on Twitter on January 10, wrote: 'Her pictures are really cute, so I’m not sure how to handle this.'

He added: 'She’s so cute, I want to tell her "You can keep the iPhone as long as we can be friends!"'

Followers replied encouraging him to send her a message.

But his suggestion, translated into Thai and sent to her lock screen, was met with a bombardment of photos of another young man.

However, yesterday, after Mr Hiroki finally closed his iPhone account, he tweeted a screenshot of a text from the new owner: 'Nice to meet you!'

The incident is the latest in an increasing number of cases where victims have tracked their muggers using apps.

Find My iPhone and MobileMe, both developed by Apple, have been praised by police officials across the world for solving low-level muggings that consume their time.

In 2011, Liam Aspin, then 31, was electronically tagged after snatching 20-year-old Rio Bridge's phone - only to be traced 45 minutes later.

In 2012, Katy McCaffrey was shocked to find a collection of exotic holiday photos popping up on her laptop taken on her phone which was stolen during a Disney cruise.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2543553/Besotted-victim-forgives-iPhone-thief-incredibly-good-looking.html#ixzz2raFQ0TI7

Teen angry that he bougth a XBox photo for $450 on Ebay

2014-01-23T08:22:00.002+08:00

A TEENAGER has been left fuming after mistakenly buying a photo of an in-demand computer console online.
Peter Clatworthy thought he had paid £450 for an XBox One console on eBay, but actually received a picture of one in the post.

The 19-year-old student, of Bilborough, had saved up in order to buy a limited edition Day One version of the console as a surprise present for his four-year-old son, McKenzie.

Mr Clatworthy said: "I've had to make a joke out of it because I was that angry. At least we've now got something to laugh about in the years to come.

"I always buy stuff on eBay and this had never happened before."

Mr Clatworthy paid £450 plus £8 packaging.

Despite the listing stating it was a photo of an XBox One Day One edition console, Mr Clatworthy said he'd expected to receive the console as it was listed in the video games and consoles category on eBay.

Since then, there have been reports of people buying empty XBox One packaging via eBay, and paying hundreds of pounds for the privilege.

Source nottinghampost.com

Rock 'n' rob: Los Angeles rocker lived lavish lifestyle from $6M in liar loans

2014-01-06T09:58:00.001+08:00

If Jordan Belfort is the Wolf of Wall Street, this guy is the lobo of Los Angeles. Rocker Robert Mawhinney, the former front man for American punk band Lights Over Paris, painted a picture of lavish success — complete with champagne, caviar, a customized tour bus, and a $10,500-a-month luxury rental in the Hollywood Hills.

But, like Belfort, Mawhinney's high-flying antics were too good to be true — the 30-year-old singer, who didn't have a record label or recording contract, funded his lavish lifestyle with millions of dollars in loans that he never intended to pay back. And it landed him in prison.

The singer said in a candid interview with ABC's "20/20" that he is full of regret. "My lifestyle… it was crazy, and I was hoping deep down that I could rectify the situation and… pay these things back," Mawhinney said from his jail cell.

The Lights Over Paris rocker — who idolized bands like Blink 182 — went to great lengths to create the illusion of his band's success after the real thing failed to come along.

"There was no money coming into his bank accounts," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ranee Katzenstein told CNBC last month. "He couldn't get loans unless he lied."

So Mawhinney lied his way into the lifestyle of a rock star, applying for more than $11 million in loans beginning in 2009. He received $6.2 million of that. To get such a sum, he forged documents stating he had $8 million in stocks and other funds, court documents show.

"He was living the life of an A-lister," Katzenstein told CNBC, detailing Mawhinney's custom-made $750,000 tour bus with platinum bathroom tiles and a master suite.

Mawhinney was charged in January 2012 with making a false statement in a loan application and later pleaded guilty to four counts. He is currently serving out a seven-year sentence. "The thing I regret is… kind of losing control," he told "20/20."

Thief forced to eat 96 bananas to recover gold chain

2014-01-06T09:57:00.001+08:00

No matter how you peel it, the thought of eating 96 bananas is not too appealing. But that's how many bananas an accused thief in India was fed to help him pass a gold chain through his bowels.

According to The Times of India, 28-year-old Damu Gupta was riding a train from Mumbai to Gondia on Dec. 22. During the lengthy trip, Gupta snatched a gold chain from a doctor who was also a passenger, according to police.

The victim, identified as Dr. Sheetal Kamble, of the Akola district, cried out for help, prompting several passengers to chase Gupta. The suspect was quickly cornered, but denied stealing the chain. However, one of the passengers claimed they had witnessed him swallowing something, prompting police to conduct a thorough search.

"We initially conducted a regular X-ray but it didn't detect anything. So on [Dec. 25] we conducted an ultrasound which revealed the chain in Gupta's abdomen," Sampat Nirmal, a senior inspector with the Government Railway Police in Kalyan, told The Times of India.

Rather than wait for the 11-gram gold chain to naturally pass through Gupta's system, authorities reportedly fed him 96 bananas to help it along on it's travels. The following day, investigators recovered the chain from the suspect's fiber-laden feces.

After the recovery of the chain, Gupta allegedly told police he swallowed the chain because he was afraid of getting beat up by the other passengers.

Authorities have not said how Gupta felt after consuming some eight dozen bananas in 24 hours.

Bumpy road ahead: Mexican coastal highway cracks up and slides 300ft down mountainside into sea after earthquake

2013-12-31T23:28:00.001+08:00

A cement truck driver is lucky to be alive after the coastal highway he was driving on in Mexico cracked and sunk some 300 feet down a mountainside into the sea near the U.S. border.

The driver was rescued by heavy machinery before his truck, along with a 300-yard section of the road, which leads to port city Ensenada on the Baja California peninsula, slid into the Pacific Ocean.

While it remains unclear what caused the landslide, fractures in the Tijuana-Ensenada toll road were seen after several small earthquakes ranging from 1.3 to 4.3 in magnitude shook the area on December 19, according to some media reports. By Saturday morning huge cracks appeared in the cliff-side, exacerbated by heavy rain, before it slid into the sea.

The landslide caused gaping holes, one more than 40 feet deep and 200 feet long.

The collapse occurred about 58 miles south of the American border, closing the scenic road near the San Miguel toll booth.

Some media reports suggest that the road may remain closed for up to a year with vehicles advised to use a smaller, alternate freeway.

Gilberto Hirata, the mayor of Ensenada, has blamed the national road authority CAPUFE for not closing the road sooner after pictures and reports of fractures were posted on social media according to SanDiego6.com.

He also said that discussions were underway to build a replacement highway after years of recurring damage on the route.

The day before the landslide, the road authority and the Ministry of Communications and Transport announced that work to strengthen the asphalt had begun on sections of the troublesome highway in sloped areas according to El Mexicano.

The road closure could prove devastating for Ensenada which is home to the third busiest cruise ship terminal in Mexico and the major access point to Baja by sea.

Father, son die in Christmas Day diving accident

2013-12-28T02:53:00.001+08:00

A FATHER and his 15-year-old son died while they were testing new diving equipment they received as Christmas presents.

The bodies of Darrin Spivey, 35, and his son Dillon Sanchez were found on Christmas night in an underwater cave they were exploring in Hernando County, Florida, according to the Tampa Tribune.

The newspaper said the pair arrived at the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Refuge around 11am on Wednesday to dive into the 300-foot (91-metre) Eagles Nest Sink – a deceivingly complex cave system which was not recommended for novices.

Spivey’s fiancé Holly King first became concerned that afternoon, when the two had failed to return and she couldn’t reach Spivey on his mobile phone.

Ms King drove herself to the dive site and found their empty car. She alerted the authorities around 7pm.

Recovery divers began searching the waters an hour later and found both bodies by midnight. Sanchez’s body was discovered just inside the cave at 67 feet and his father’s further at 127 feet.

"It was very unfortunate," Assistant Hernando County Fire Chief Kevin Carroll told the Tribune. "Our hearts and prayers go out to the family and friends."

Kiki Lin stuffed cat in jar, posted picture on Facebook and now faces animal abuse charges

2013-12-28T02:50:00.001+08:00

A UNIVERSITY student has been charged with animal abuse after punishing her cat by stuffing her in a jar and then posting it on Facebook.

Kiki Lin from Taiwan, posted the image of her cat, which is also named Kiki, saying she did it because it was a "punishment for misbehaving".

In one of the worst cases of animal cruelty, the cat is pictured with its face pushed against the sides of the jar and in distress. It is not known whether the cat could be heard crying for help from inside the jar.

Those who saw the image on Facebook slammed Miss Lin as an animal abuser. But she defended her actions saying they all had "too much time on their hands".

Miss Lin, who attends Taichung's Providence University, told The China Post that she has put her pet in the jar to experiment with different ways of taking it out with her. She claimed that she had only tried it once, but it didn't work because the trapped feline would not fit into a bag.

She told The China Post that her cat weighs in at 4kg, which was too heavy for her to put the cat in her handbag. She claimed that her experiment in using the large jar was reasonable and legitimate.

But when asked by the paper what she would say to her Facebook critics, she said: "I only have three words for them, ha ha ha."

After an investigation, the Taichung City Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office charged Miss Lin with animal protection law violations. If found guilty she could face a fine, and a year in jail.

The case has been referred for further investigation to the Taichung District Prosecutor's office. Lin, currently a Junior university student currently majoring in English, claims to love her cat more than her life. VIA

Flush with love: Wife returns to husband after he promises divorce court that he will build her a toilet

2013-12-28T02:46:00.000+08:00

A wife has agreed not to divorce her husband after he promised a court he would get a proper toilet for their home. Savita Malviya, 27, is set to be reunited with her husband in the village of Mundlaana in India, along with her two children.

She and her husband Devkaran, 30, had been married for seven years, but a divorce court heard that Mrs Malviya had moved out to go back to live with her parents.

Mrs Malviya blamed the breakdown of the relationship on the lack of lack of toilet facilities, which she said gave her a 'deep sense of shame'.

Without a fully functioning toilet, the court heard that the family had been forced to answer the call of nature in the open, and that this became unbearable for Mrs Malviya. She filed a case with a local court seeking monthly maintenance for her children, and said that she would not go back to the house unless a toilet was installed.

Mr Malviya assured the court that he would provide a proper toilet in time for the next hearing on January 10. His wife agreed to return home as long as her conditions were met. The couple will now live together again, despite being separated for three years. Via

California Father pumps up the Boobs of both of his Daughters

2013-12-17T21:13:00.000+08:00

Daddy's girls Charm and Brittani Niccole have both been given boob jobs - by their plastic surgeon father.

Brittani, 25, first had breast surgery for her 18th birthday and three years later her proud father gave her a new nose for her 21st.

Shockingly, Charm first went under her dad's knife at the tender age of ten when she had her protruding belly button reshaped.

And last month the marketing manager, also 25, had her first boob job taking her from a B to a full C.

The girls from fashionable Orange County on the outskirts of Los Angeles, California, are walking advertisements for their famous father, Dr Michael Niccole.

Smarty Ring Sends Smartphone Updates to Your Finger

2013-12-17T20:09:00.000+08:00

One ring to rule them all — or at least manage all of your incoming smartphone alerts. That's the idea behind Smarty Ring, a Bluetooth-enabled wearable gadget that allows users to check smartphone alerts and manage incoming calls right from their finger.

Users can manage the settings for their Smarty Ring from a mobile app, and can even use the device as a watch, timer or phone finder. If a user walks more than 30 feet from his phone (sadly, a rare occurrence these days), the ring will beep to alert him that he's left something behind.

The stainless-steel ring has a 24-hour battery life. Android and iOS devices are all compatible, as long as they have Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities, according to Smarty Ring's Indiegogo page.

Users can manage the settings for their Smarty Ring from a mobile app, and can even use the device as a watch, timer or phone finder. If a user walks more than 30 feet from his phone (sadly, a rare occurrence these days), the ring will beep to alert him that he's left something behind.

The stainless-steel ring has a 24-hour battery life. Android and iOS devices are all compatible, as long as they have Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities, according to Smarty Ring's Indiegogo page.

A beautiful mind: Being attractive can give you better grades and more success at high school

2013-12-17T19:07:00.000+08:00

Not being attractive as a teenager may have consequences far more reaching than a bruised ego and scribing the occasional bad poem.

A new study suggests that a pretty face can be a source of lifelong advantage - beginning at secondary school - according to a report prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families.

The report, 'In School, Good Looks Help and Good Looks Hurt (But They Mostly Help)' says that from high school onwards, people rate better-looking people higher in intelligence, personality, and potential for success — and this often creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The sociologists behind the study, Rachel Gordon (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Robert Crosnoe (University of Texas at Austin) also say women gain an eight per cent wage bonus for above-average looks and pay a four per cent wage penalty for below-average looks.

For men, the bonus is only four per cent. But the penalty for below-average looks is even higher than for women – a full 13 per cent.

Gordon and Crosnoe argue that 'lookism' creates inequalities comparable to those created by racism, sexism, and family background.

They wrote: '(In high school) youth rated as better looking get higher grades and are more likely to attain a college degree than their peers, setting the stage for better economic outcomes through adulthood.

In fact, the difference in GPA (grade point average) and college graduation rates between youth rated by others as attractive versus average in looks is similar to the differences in academic achievement between youth raised in two-parent versus single-parent families.'

Gordon and Crosnoe’s research suggests that there is a cumulative advantage to being considered attractive that continues to operate long after people’s high school cliques have dissolved.

They find that even when people are listening to phone calls, they tend to 'hear' more warmth and sociability from individuals they have been primed to think are attractive than from individuals who have been portrayed as unattractive.

However, the authors acknowledge that there are some disadvantages to the popularity that comes with being seen as attractive. For instance, they note: 'Youth rated as more physically attractive are more likely to date, have sexual partners, and drink heavily.

'These factors, in turn, have negative consequences for immediate grades and later college completion.'

They concede that a few studies have identified a beauty penalty for women in certain male-dominated occupations.

All in all, they maintain, above-average looks provide people with long-term advantages, while being unattractive is a source of disadvantage.

They suggest that parents and schools should pay more attention to countering the effects of lookism.

However, while sociologist Barbara Risman (University of Illinois/Chicago) applauded the quality of the research, she objected to any equation of lookism with racism.

She said: 'Although looks are in part inherited, babies who are eventually labeled unattractive children do not begin life with the same cumulative disadvantages of, say, African-Americans, who are disproportionately likely to grow up in impoverished communities with inferior schools.'

Ms Risman also reminds us that for men in particular, the disadvantages of being unattractive are often outweighed by other achievements as they age, while even the most attractive women face unfavorable comments on their looks as they age.

Justin Timberlake helps man propose at Louisville concert

2013-12-17T18:11:00.000+08:00

Justin Timberlake helped a man propose to his girlfriend during his concert in Louisville last night (December 15). The 'Mirrors' singer invited Josh and Kim to join him on stage after he performed 20/20 Experience track 'That Girl' at the city's KFC Yum! Center.

"Josh called me earlier, he's got something he wants to tell you," Timberlake said, before Josh got down on one knee to propose to Kim.

She accepted his proposal, to the delight of the 22,000-strong crowd. Timberlake is currently taking his '20/20 Experience World Tour' around North America, before heading to the UK and Europe in 2014.

Jessica Biel recently said that she and Timberlake would like to have children "at some point".