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CANBERRA (Reuters) - An elderly man who went out to fetch a morning newspaper ended up driving nearly 400 miles after getting lost and taking a wrong turn onto a major Australian highway, police said on Wednesday. The man, 81-year-old Eric Steward, eventually stopped and asked for directions after driving for nine hours, from the New South Wales country town of Yass to Geelong in the southern Victoria state. Steward, who did not know where he was, eventually approached a policeman at a petrol station and asked for help late Wednesday. "This little old man came up to me saying he was lost. He handed me his mobile and asked if I could speak to his wife," said Victorian Police Senior Constable Clayton Smith. Steward, who was reunited with his family on Wednesday, said he took the wrong turn and just kept on going. "I just went out on the road to have a drive, a nice peaceful drive," he told reporters, adding he did not need a satellite navigation device as he'd only been lost once. Source
SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - New Zealand was on Wednesday named the world's least corrupt nation out of a list of 180 countries, unseating Denmark after a year in which the global recession and ongoing conflicts proved challenging. The annual index by Transparency International ranked 180 countries on a scale of zero to 10 according to 13 independent surveys, with zero being perceived as highly corrupt and 10 as having low levels of corruption. New Zealand topped the table with a score of 9.4 after coming second last year. In second place was last year's leader, Denmark with 9.3 followed by Singapore and Sweden tying at 9.2 and Switzerland at 9.0. Countries at the bottom of the table were those which are unstable or impacted by war and ongoing conflicts that have affected the public sector and torn apart governance infrastructure. Somalia had a score of 1.1, Afghanistan was 1.3, Myanmar ranked 1.4 and Sudan tied with Iraq at 1.5. "Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well-performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society," said Huguette Labelle, chairwoman of Transparency International. "The international community must find efficient ways to help war-torn countries to develop and sustain their own institutions." Rounding out the top 10 least corrupt nations were Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Iceland. Britain came 17th in the list and the United States was 19th with a score of 7.5. More than 130 of the countries scored below 5. Source
A teenager who had been going door to door trying to sell marijuana early Thursday was arrested after he went to the residence of a Brownsville police officer, police said. Anthony Carrazco, 19, was arrested at the officer’s apartment at approximately 3:30 a.m. when he tried to sell the officer three ounces of marijuana, said police spokesman Jimmy Manrrique. He was later charged with one count of possession of marijuana and one count of possession of a prohibited weapon. The officer at the apartment found a 9mm handgun in Carrazco’s possession, said Manrrique. Because the apartment was located near a school zone, the charges were upgraded to state jail felonies, he added. Later Thursday morning, Carrazco went before a municipal judge who set his bond at $10,000 and sent him to Carrizalez-Rucker-Rucker Detention Center. The apartment is in the downtown area near UTB-TSC; however, the address was not released because of security reasons. "(Carrazco) went to an apartment building in the downtown area," Manrrique said. "He had over three ounces of marijuana in his possession and obviously looking for people to buy marijuana from him." An intoxicated Carrazco went door to door looking for a buyer and when a man opened the door, he made the offer, police said. "(Carrazco) asked him if he wanted to buy marijuana," Manrrique said. "This person he approached is a Brownsville police officer. The officer said he would be right back and went to go get his badge and handcuffs." Carrazco was cooperative and didn’t offer any resistance. Once Carrazco was under arrest, the officer searched him and found a 9mm handgun in his bag where he kept the drugs, the spokesman said. The officer also called on-duty officers to his house, where they picked up Carrazco. Source
Unfriend - the act of removing someone as a friend from social networking site Facebook - has been named word of the year. It topped a list heavy with tech-related terms in the New Oxford American Dictionary's Word of the Year list. The verb, used across several social networking sites, has been defined by the dictionary as: "To remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook." Christine Lindberg, a language researcher for Oxford's US dictionary, said: "In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year." There had been some debate across blogs and Twitter, about whether 'defriend' was the more commonly used term, especially on Facebook. However, Oxford spokesman Christian Purdy said researchers found 'unfriend' was more common. Other tech-related words which made the short list were: 'hashtag', the way Twitter users tag their material; 'sexting', the sending of sexual texts; and 'intexticated', being distracted by texting while driving. Source
Seattle police say an intoxicated 25-year-old man, who told officers he believed he was a ninja, was impaled on a metal spike Monday night after a failed attempt to jump a 5-foot fence. Around 11:15 p.m., officers responded to the 600 block of Seventh Avenue after a 41-year-old man called police to say he had been assaulted, said police spokeswoman Renee Witt. Officers arrived and found the impaled would-be ninja, Witt said. It turns out the older man, who was heavily intoxicated, tried to go into a sports bar in the 600 block of King Street, Witt said. The younger man, who isn't a bar employee, barred the man from going inside-- and an argument between the two men escalated into a fight. At one point, the men chased each other in the street, she said. In an attempt to get away, the younger man "thought he'd basically be able to jump over this fence, and he didn't quite make it," Witt said. As a police account of the incident notes, "Clearly he was overconfident in his abilities." That's when the older man called police to say he'd been assaulted. As police arrived to search for a suspect, one officer heard the 25-year-old's screams and found him stuck on the fence with the metal spike jutting out from his buttock, Witt said. The man was bleeding profusely. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center, she said. Questioned at the hospital, the man told police he believed he was a ninja. Since the two men "were in the middle of the street, chasing each other around," Witt said officers determined neither man would be arrested on suspicion of assault. Source
A French hotel is offering guests the chance to live like a hamster for a day. It's a unique concept according to its creators. A hotel in the French city of Nantes is offering the chance for people to become a hamster. For 99 euros (£88) a night, visitors to the hotel in Nantes can feast on hamster grain, get a workout by running in a giant wheel and sleep in hay stacks in the suite called the "Hamster Villa". It is the latest venture from owners Frederic Tabary and Yann Falquerho, who run a company which rents out unusual venues to adventure-seekers. Both architects, the men designed the room in an 18th century building to resemble the inside of a hamster's cage. "The hamster in the world of children is that little cuddly animal. Often, the adults who come here have wanted or did have hamsters when they were small," said Mr Falquerho, who was dressed as a hamster. However, the price is soon to go up as today's hamsters need, according to the owners, Wifi and a giant TV screen. Source
MORRISVILLE, Vt. (AP) - What possesses a man to steal his ex-employer's bus, take it for a three-state joy ride and then post a video of the lark on YouTube? "It was inspired," Jacob Rehm, 38, said outside court Tuesday. "I felt inspired." The vehicle's owner, Lamoille Valley Transportation, was not amused. Neither were authorities, who charged Rehm with theft of services, operating a vehicle without owner consent and trespassing. Neither was a judge, who ordered a competency evaluation for him. Rehm, a former bus driver for Lamoille Valley, took the bus from the company's depot Nov. 2. Accompanied by friend Natalie Page, 38, he headed south toward Allentown, Pa., but turned around somewhere in Connecticut after he realized the $200 worth of diesel he had bought wouldn't get them to Pennsylvania and back. Police caught up with him in the northern Vermont town of St. Johnsbury after the company's owners were told he had been seen driving through a schoolyard waving at children. The $583,000 vehicle, which was normally used for New England fall foliage tours and national park tours, wasn't damaged. Rehm later posted a four-minute video titled "The Fabulous Bus Ride" on the video-sharing site. "Vid by Jake 'Rolls Royce' Swift," it says in the opening credits, which Rehm said Tuesday is his nom de plume. The video mostly shows the bus parked by a roadside, but Rehm is also seen in the driver's seat as it travels down a road. A woman sitting in the otherwise-empty bus is seen hiding herself behind a jacket when the camera turns to her. "It was not premeditated," Rehm said after his arraignment Tuesday in Vermont District Court in Hyde Park. "I did not mean any form of mischief, not at all, or attention seeking, I didn't even do it for that." Speaking to reporters in front of the courthouse, Rehm shooed away his lawyer, public defender Rory Malone, as Malone tried to get him to stop talking to the press. Malone wouldn't comment on the case against Rehm. "At this point, my client has spoken," he said later. "I'm bowing out of it." Joel Prive, general manager of Lamoille Valley Transportation, said Rehm behaved erratically but was never involved in an accident or traffic violation during his three weeks working for the company in 2006. Customers complained about him acting oddly and out of character from what his bosses expected, though, according to Prive. He told his employers he lived with friends, but they learned that he was actually homeless and living in a car, Prive said. If convicted on all three charges, Rehm could get 15 years in prison. "It's not every day that someone documents their crime and posts it on YouTube," said prosecutor Todd Shove. Source
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A 27-year-old Anchorage man has been convicted of robbing his mother at gunpoint because she didn't give him money to help pay a $430 parking ticket. The Anchorage district attorney said Friday that Cheng Saelee was also convicted of illegally contacting his mother from jail and trying to get her to drop the charges. Prosecutor Gustaf Olson said Saelee was arrested in November 2008 after he became angry during an argument with his parents, got a handgun from his room and pointed the weapon at his mother's head. He was scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 19 and faces up to 12 years in prison. Olson said Saelee might also be deported to Thailand after he serves his sentence. The ticket was for abandoning a vehicle. Source
