Mid Day International News

US cab driver accused of masturbating on job loses taxi license
US tourism ad featuring scantily clad Bavarian women is YouTube hit
Campus employee in US arrested for filming female students in showers
Cat that looks like Harry Potter baddie struggling to find new home
Oz woman jailed for 10-yrs for masterminding 'house of horror' ordeal
Trapped Chilean miners talked of cannibalism, suicide
Assange boasted of 'love children'
Egypt is free
Mubarak quits as Egypt's president

US cab driver accused of masturbating on job loses taxi license

Posted:

A cab driver in the US, who lost his license after he was accused of masturbating while driving, has been told he will not get his job back, by an appeals court.

Angel Bautista, 55, who insists he was merely adjusting his open fly when a disgusted passenger complained he was playing with himself, had sued the Taxi and Limousine Commission to get his taxi license back and a 1,350-dollar fine reversed.

But an Appellate Division panel tossed out his appeal, saying there was "substantial evidence" to support the passenger's complaint in March 2008 that he whipped it out while driving her from Brooklyn to a doctor's appointment in Manhattan.

"You're not doing what I think you're doing!" the woman gasped, according to Taxi and Limousine Commission records. Bautista, a father of two, had insisted in 2009 that he had not pleasured himself behind the wheel, and that he felt "horrible" about the accusations.

"Of course, I didn't do that," the New York Daily News quoted him as having said. Bautista said he kept a box of tissues handy because he had a "runny nose", but the state appeals court did not buy it.

"Substantial evidence, namely the testimony of the complainant who was a passenger in (his) vehicle, supported the findings that (he) exposed himself... and engaged in lewd behaviour as he was driving," the judges wrote in a two-page decision.

US tourism ad featuring scantily clad Bavarian women is YouTube hit

Posted:

A quirky new tourism campaign in the US featuring scantily clad Bavarian women, a nutcracker and lots of beer has garnered a lot of attention.

Demonstrating the power of social networking, the tongue-in-cheek video promoting the Bavarian town of Leavenworth in Washington US, has become an Internet sensation with around 200,000 hits on YouTube.

The 'Gitcha Goomsba Up' music video shows hip-thrusting Bavarian women in traditional yet revealing clothes dancing around a nutcracker.

It was one of five themed videos commissioned by the Leavenworth Area Promotions board and funded with lodging tax dollars.

The lyrics include: "He's a nutcracker, so bring on the nuts."

Jeff Ostenson from Howell at the Moon, the company that directed the video, has called the video a wildly successful experiment in social marketing.

"We've been absolutely amazed and excited about the response," News.com.au quoted Ostenson as telling local news website the Wenatchee World.

"It was a method of reaching millions of people really cheaply," he stated.

Leavenworth Mayor Rob Eaton said many people have been puzzled by the ad.

"We have received some comments via e-mail asking why are we advertising to a hip-hop crowd," Eaton said.

"But we're not advertising to a hip hop crowd, it was a spoof video to have some fun and play with it," he added.

Campus employee in US arrested for filming female students in showers

Posted:

A former equipment manager at the University of Texas has been arrested and charged for filming women taking showers in the school's locker room.

According to MyFoxAustin, Rene Zamora was arrested in November 2010, and a grand jury indicted him in February. He now faces 40 charges of improper photography, which is a felony, Fox News reported.

According to an affidavit, Zamora was caught when a showering junior noticed a camera lens propped above her shower curtain while rinsing her hair after a track meet.

She screamed and heard retreating footsteps, but she recognized the man was Zamora, and shouted "Rene!" he yelled, "Sorry!" as he made his way out of the locker room.

She dressed, exited the building and Zamora once more yelled "sorry".

Zamora told the student in a text message that he deleted the video, but the student informed her coach about the incident.

A few days after the alleged September 3, 2010, video taping, university police questioned Zamora, and he admitted that he used a video camera, but said the woman yelled his name just at the moment he attempted to hit record.

He assured police that the camera did not successfully record the student, but his statement contradicted the alleged text message he had sent her.

School police searched his apartment and found 1,253 objects on computer devices; twenty were identified as pictures, and the others were movie streams.

The majority included women in "various stages of dress in what appeared to be a women's locker room".

Cat that looks like Harry Potter baddie struggling to find new home

Posted:

An ugly stray cat in Britain has been unable to find a new home - because it looks so much like the Harry Potter villain Lord Voldemort.

The abandoned cat, named Charlie, had to have its ears and nose removed after suffering from skin cancer, reports the Sun.

Workers at animal rescue centre said visitors have been scared off by the white cat''s resemblance to Ralph Fiennes' character in the blockbuster movies.

They said a family of Harry Potter fans could offer 14-year-old the best hope of a happy new life.

Charlie was living as a stray before a woman adopted him and took him to a vet for surgery.

But he failed to get on with her other two cats and a dog and she was forced to take him to The Blue Cross in Southampton.

Staff there said he loves 'fuss, lots of tickles and cuddles', but would be best suited to a home with no other pets.

"At first glance, people may be put off because Charlie does look like Lord Voldemort who is the Harry Potter baddie. But he is a lovely, playful cat who just adores attention," said animal welfare assistant Marie Loveridge.

"We are desperately trying to rehome him with somebody that knows beauty is more than skin deep. Perhaps he would be a great cat for a Harry Potter fan," she said.

"Charlie has no problems with not having ears or a complete nose - he hears you, smells things as normal and does have the sneezes now and then," she added.

Oz woman jailed for 10-yrs for masterminding 'house of horror' ordeal

Posted:

A woman in Australia, who is said to have masterminded a cruel regime of starvation "beyond comprehension" of five children in her care, has been jailed for 10-years.

Tania Staker, 36, has been jailed for her role in the neglect of five children at a house, which has been dubbed as the "house of horror", in Adelaide's northern suburbs between February and June 2008.

Three men, the children's father Luke Armistead, 38, Michael Quinlivan, 27, and Robert Armistead, 41, were each sentenced to nine years in prison.

In sentencing, Justice Kevin Duggan said each of the adults had inflicted a daily routine of punishment "beyond comprehension" on the five siblings.

"It reached a point where the children were made to stand against a wall without moving ... they were made to stand in the same position from morning until night," the Herald Sun quoted him as saying. Each of the children were beaten, starved, choked and fed only the scraps left over after the other 21 children in the house had eaten a share of hot chips or noodles.

Justice Duggan said the cruelty came out in the open only because a crisis arose. The squalid house was investigated when a five-year-old boy collapsed and was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital suffering severe

hypothermia, and each of the children had other injuries, scabies and suffered malnutrition. Justice Duggan said Staker played a more significant role in the regime because of her jealousy of Luke Armistead's former

relationship with the children''s mother. He told Staker the children's mother "was not far behind your culpability". "For some reason she was prepared to inflict suffering on her own children," he stated.

Staker, who pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial to two counts of endangering life and three counts of creating a risk of serious harm prior to trial, will be eligible for parole after serving six years and eight months.

Each of the men, who were found guilty of the same offences, will be eligible for parole after serving six years. Prior to trial, the children''s mother pleaded guilty to the same charges. She gave evidence against the other adults and was jailed for six years with a non-parole period of three years and three months.

Trapped Chilean miners talked of cannibalism, suicide

Posted:

The trapped 33 Chilean miners have now revealed that their mental faculties were stretched to the limit, and have admitted that there were thoughts of death and cannibalism.

They also had doubts over whether they would ever see daylight or their loved ones again, even as they lived out one of the most astonishing stories of human endurance ever.

The miners were trapped for 69 days last year in cramped and uncomfortably hot conditions.

According to the Daily Mail, both suicide and even cannibalism were considered as the men struggled to contend with the idea that they may never be freed.

The men said that they rationed the inadequate emergency food supply, down to one can of tuna and eating just one teaspoon each every 48 hours.

In an upcoming book by Jonathan Franklin entitled 'Los 33' ('33 Men'), he recalls one of the survivors joking tone when he suggested that if he died in his sleep, he would be 'breakfast, lunch and dinner.'

It was no joke, there was no more food. But how long before cannibalism became a very realistic option?

Many of the miners are now on heavy medication.

One of the miners, Victor Zamora, aged just 31, said after his rescue: 'I said to a friend, "Well, if we are going to continue suffering, it would be better for us to all go to the refuge, start an engine and with the carbon monoxide, just let ourselves go."

One of the survivors, Edison Pena, has since run the New York Marathon to prove just how much he wanted to live

Others are struggling to rebuild the relationships they once had with friends and family members. One man is constructing a wall around his home.

All this is a stark contrast to the stories of special appearances at functions across the globe. Some have coped better than others.

A large contingent have been guests of honour at both Manchester United and Real Madrid matches. One appeared at the National Television Awards.

Assange boasted of 'love children'

Posted:

Julian Assange has at least four love children to different mistresses over the world according to leaked documents.

The Wikileaks founder is alleged to have boasted about his conquests to former associates who have informed investigators about his claims.

Assange was fond of the idea of having several Julianson each continent

An extract from the forthcoming tell-all book by former Wikileaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg, said in his book, "Often I sat in large groups and listened to Julian boast about how many children he had fathered in various parts of the world. He seemed to enjoy the idea of lots and lots of Julians, one on every continent.

Whether he took care of any of these alleged children, or whether they existed at all, was another question."
His youngest child is allegedly just six-months-old, according to the former friend.

The oldest is 20-year-old Daniel Assange, the only one of his children that has been reported on. The ages of the other two children are unknown, but are said to also be in Australia.

Daniel Domscheit-Berg's explosive book describes Assange as a paranoid megalomaniac. The book, released today, also claimed the organisation was chaotic and unable to protect its sources.

"Julian's main criterion for a woman was simple," said Domscheit-Berg, in an excerpt of the book. "She had to be young. Preferably younger than 22. And it went without saying that she couldn't question him.

She has to be aware of her role as a woman", he used to say. Wikileaks claims the accounts in his book are false and that he has exaggerated his responsibility within the organisation.

Hearing deferred
A British judge yesterday said he needed time to consider whether WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sex crimes and adjourned his extradition hearing to February 24.

Egypt is free

Posted:

Euphoria erupts as Hosni Mubarak Finally steps down as President; Nobel Peace Prize winner Elbaradei says country has been liberated

Egypt's military took control of the country yesterday as Hosni Mubarak resigned as president after
18 days of massive protests against his autocratic 30-year reign.

Slideshow: Egypt is free

Mubarak's resignation was announced by Vice President Omar Suleiman in a brief statement that brought roars of joy to Egyptians gathered in Tahrir Square the epicenter of the protest movement as well as the presidential palace in the suburb of Heliopolis and all around the country.

Egyptian streets explode in joy as Mubarak stepps down after three decades of autocratic rule and hands power to a the military. Anti-government protesters chanted, 'We've brought down the Pharaoh'.

"We have brought down the regime, we have brought down the regime," chanted the hundreds of thousands of people who packed into Tahrir Square for "Farewell Friday."

Egyptians waved flags, cried, cheered and embraced when the news reached them through a public address system.

"In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position," Suleiman said.

"He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succour."

Leading Egyptian democracy advocate Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, said Friday was "the greatest day of my life."

"The country has been liberated after decades of repression," said ElBaradei.

'Finally we are free'

But, when Suleiman confirmed that Mubarak had also left office, people were overcome with shock and joy.

Outside the palace, women on balconies ululated with the joyous tongue-trilling used to mark weddings and births.

"Finally we are free," said Safwan Abo Stat, a 60-year-old in the crowd of protesters at the palace. "From now on anyone who is going to rule will know that these people are great."

Another, Mohammed el-Masry, weeping with joy, said he had spent the past two weeks in Tahrir before marching to the palace yesterday.

The crowds in Cairo, the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and other cities around the country burst into pandemonium.

" Egypt is free, it will never go back to what it was, we won't let it," said Tareq Saad, a 51-year-old carpenter in the square.

Protesters danced, chanted "goodbye, goodbye," and raised their hands in prayer as fireworks after Suleiman made the announcement on national TV just after nightfall.

Whereabouts
Mubarak is reported to have already left Cairo and is in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he has a residence.

Mubarak quits as Egypt's president

Posted:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned, handing over power to the military, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced.

"Mubarak has decided to resign as president," Suleiman announced in a brief statement on state TV, the BBC reported.

The announcement came as thousands of demonstrators gathered in Cairo and other Egyptian cities for the 18th day of protest to demand Mubarak's resignation.

Protesters responded by cheering, waving flags, embracing and sounding car horns.

"The people have brought down the regime," they chanted.