An Indian judge has sentenced a robber to life imprisonment for hurling a slipper at him. Judge C D Gongale managed to duck in time when Rajkumar Sharma threw his slipper at him, reports The Times of India.
The 19-year-old appeared before the judge in Mumbai after he was accused of robbing an auto rickshaw driver of £5.20.
Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani said: "The punishment is excessive but the accused's conduct is unpardonable." The paper said suspects are now produced without their shoes in some courts to avoid such incidents.
Green mamba sent through post
German police are investigating after a deadly green mamba snake was sent through the post. The parcel had a note attached saying: "Warning! Poisonous snake!"
It contained a three-foot-long green mamba, and was sent to an address in Berlin. The green mamba, one of the world's most dangerous snakes, has been handed over to a zoo in the German capital.
Musical breast implants
Computer chips that store music could soon be built into a woman's breast implants. One boob could hold an MP3 player and the other the person's whole music collection.
BT futurologies, who have developed the idea, say it could be available within 15 years. BT Laboratories' analyst Ian Pearson said flexible plastic electronics would sit inside the breast. A signal would be relayed to headphones, while the device would be controlled by Bluetooth using a panel on the wrist.
The sensors around the body linked through the electrical impulses in the chips may also be able to warn wearers about heart murmurs, blood pressure increases, diabetes and breast cancer.
Ex-head's skeleton helps with lessons
Health officials in Romania are concerned about a school using the skeleton of a former headmaster to teach anatomy.
Puchenii Mosneni elementary school, in Prahova County, has been using the skeleton for more than 50 years. School staffs believe it has played a big part in encouraging many ex-teachers to become doctors over the years.
Former principal Grigore Alexandru Popescu wrote in his will that he wanted to donate his body for educational purposes when he died in the 1950s. It is believed he also put a curse on anyone who moves the skeleton from the school.
But health officials say they need to check to see whether the skeleton poses any health risks to students. They say any preservation treatment must have been carried out decades ago and there could still be a disease risk, the Evenimentul Zilei newspaper reported.
Swedish firm insures against speeding fines
A Swedish company is offering insurance against parking fines and speeding tickets, claiming to be the first in the field.
Swedish drivers who register with the Bisso company and pay an annual fee of 850 crowns ($150) are covered against three speeding tickets a year, as long as they are not more than 30 kilometres per hour above the limit. For an extra fee, drivers can buy cover against parking fines.
Fines in Sweden, which has one of the best road safety records in the world, range from 800 to 2,000 crowns for speeding and 425 to 700 crowns for parking offences.
"We believe drivers are under economic pressure and there is no room in household budgets to pay fines," Bisso head of marketing Dan Glimmeras said.
"We offer economic protection."
He says insuring against speeding fines is not illegal but repeat offenders could still lose their licence. Mr Glimmeras says several thousand people have signed up for the insurance since May.
Bus to Hell!
'Menstruating' boy stuns doctors
In an extremely unusual case, a Kolkata doctor is treating a teenage boy who has been showing symptoms of menstruation.
The 15-year-old 'effeminate' boy's bleeding has been occurring in the second week of every month and lasts three days. During the period he experiences stomach aches, cramps, nausea and mood swings.
"We examined the boy. Though he has male organs, his behaviour and traits are like a woman," said physician Sudip Mondal.
"If tests of blood samples prove the presence of ovum, this would be a very rare medical case," he added.
Tarak, the boy who was identified by only one name, works as a domestic help in Kalna town, some 200 km north of Kolkata.
He began 'menstruating' more than a year ago, but hid the fact from his employers and his impoverished family for the fear of losing his job.
Doctors, who say this is a very rare case but not unprecedented, are now planning chromosomal and hormonal tests on the boy.
"The presence of female functional endometrial in a male prostrate gland can cause this type of anomaly," said Pradip Mitra of the West Bengal Gynaecological Society.
"The boy needs immediate medical attention or else this could cause fatal complications," Mitra warned.
Curry spice found to fight cancer
HOUSTON, July 12 (UPI) -- Turmeric, a spice that is a key ingredient in Indian curry dishes, contains a potent cancer-fighting agent, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.
A study published in the upcoming issue of Cancer magazine related that curcumin, a chemical pigment in turmeric, helped stop the spread of breast cancer tumor cells to the lungs of mice.
Now doctors have launched clinical tests to see if it works on humans, said Bharat Aggarwal of the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who led the study.
Earlier studies suggest that people who eat diets rich in turmeric have lower rates of breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer, Aggarwal said.
He noted that many cancers are 10 times rarer on the Indian subcontinent than in the West.
The breakthrough came as no surprise to the owner of an Indian restaurant in downtown Manhattan. Abu Syed told the Daily News: "We already knew that Indian food tastes good. But it is good to hear it can help with cancer, too. It is one more reason to eat plenty of it."
Woman, 86, arrested in pizza row
An 86-year-old woman has been arrested for calling emergency services because she couldn't get a pizza delivered. Dorothy Densmore, of Charlotte, North Carolina, spent two nights behind bars after dialling '911' 20 times in 38 minutes.
Angry she could not get the meal delivered to her home, she demanded police arrest the pizza proprietors, reports the BBC. She told police that she had been called a "crazy old coot" by someone at the pizza shop. Mrs Densmore, who is 5ft tall and weighs seven stone, has also been charged with resisting arrest.
A police spokeswoman said the octogenarian scratched, kicked and bit the hand of the officer. She has now been released from jail, pending a court appearance in July, after a judge ordered a medical evaluation.
Scientists in Russia are baffled by a girl who apparently has X-ray vision and can see inside human bodies
Reports say 16-year-old Natalia Demkina has been tested by doctors at the children's hospital in Saransk and they can't explain her strange talent.
Natalia, who can describe the inside of bodies in detail, said she was pleased the doctors didn't think she was lying.
But she claims to be worried "that they might be hiding something from me about why I can see through objects".
Two-month-old baby speaks
A two-month-old baby in China can call his mother for feeding, instead of crying for attention.
When the baby wants feeding he calls "Mama, Mama".
Mrs Wang at Beijing city says she discovered her baby could speak when the baby was only 2 months old, reports Beijing Times. Mrs Wang says the baby can also say the word Nai, the Chinese word for milk. Doctors at Beijing Children's Hospital say it's really rare for a baby speak at two months old.
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