British police arrested three men who robbed a jewelry store in Maidstone, Kent, because they stopped for a red light less than 200 yards from the scene of the crime, allowing officers to catch up to them.
Trevor Agnew, 44, pleaded guilty to burglary after British police caught him using stolen bankcards to try to withdraw money from the same ATM in Timperley. The Manchester Evening News reported Agnew returned to the ATM more than 50 times trying to guess the PINs by entering random sets of four numbers. He failed to guess right before arousing suspicion. Police identified him from his many appearances on the ATM camera.
Army Strong
The Army disclosed that 24 soldiers committed suicide in January 2009—eight more than died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Synch
China intends to ban lip-synching at live performances. New rules announced by the Ministry of Culture would also cover musicians who pretend to play their instruments. The measure covers only professional performers, who would lose their business licenses for two or more violations in a two-year period. Singer Zheng Jun told the Shanghai-based paper Noon News that fewer than 20 percent of performers sang at their “live” shows, adding, “I once met a well-known singer at a show who didn’t even recognize his song as it was playing because it had been so long since he truly performed it.”
Instant Replay
India has become the first country to convict someone of a crime after relying on evidence from a brain scanner that produces images of the human mind in action and is said to reveal signs that a suspect remembers details of the crime in question. The New York Times reported that the case in Maharashtra state involved accused murderer Aditi Sharma, 24, who had 32 electrodes placed on her head and was asked a series of questions relating to the crime. The woman said nothing for an hour, but the parts of her brain where memories are thought to be stored reacted when the crime was recounted, according to state forensic investigator Sunny Joseph. The judge endorsed Joseph’s assertion that the results proved “experiential knowledge” of having committed the murder and sentenced Sharma to life in prison.
Little Things Mean a Lot
Philip Seaton, 61, sued two doctors who amputated his penis without his consent. According to the lawsuit filed in Shelby County, Ky., Seaton was supposed to have undergone a circumcision for a medical condition, but when he awoke from the procedure, he discovered his penis had been surgically removed. The plaintiff’s attorney, Kevin George, told Louisville’s WLKY News that Dr. John Patterson amputated the organ after finding cancer.
Secondhand Victims
A 22-year-old German man on trial in Moenchengladbach for causing an explosion that killed a 45-year-old neighbor and injured 15 other people in his apartment building told the court he was trying to kill himself because his girlfriend had broken up with him by phone. He had just opened the gas jets when the 17-year-old girl dropped by to pick up her belongings and unwittingly lit a cigarette, which ignited the gas and blew up half the building.
Avoirdupois Justice
People who are “functionally disabled by obesity” are entitled to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada, according to a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada.
No Shortage of Suspects
Following the attempted abduction of a 13-year-old girl in Daytona Beach, Fla., Orlando’s Local 6 News checked and found 244 registered sex offenders and predators living in a 5-mile radius of the intersection where the attack occurred.
If the Briefs Don’t Fit, You Must Acquit
Dhirendra Kamdar escaped a death sentence for drug trafficking, even though Indian police in Mumbai testified they caught him carrying four 500-gram bags of heroin in his underpants while walking 1 kilometer to catch a taxi. Kamdar’s lawyer, Ayaz Khan, argued that no one could have walked about a half-mile while concealing roughly 4.5 pounds in his underwear and demonstrated his theory using bags of sugar. The court agreed.
News and Blues is compiled from the nation’s press. To contribute, submit original clippings, citing date and source, to Roland Sweet in care of The New Times.
