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A wanted man taunted the authorities by sending in a picture of himself posing by a police van. Matthew Maynard, 23, texted the picture to a local newspaper from his mobile phone, commenting that he didn't like the photo issued by the police. The suspected criminal is being hunted following a burglary in Swansea in September. Mr Maynard was among eight people who were pictured in local media alongside a request for information from the public. Four were subsequently apprehended, but the rest – including Mr Maynard – remain at large. Police declined to comment on the provocative picture, taken on Mr Maynard's mobile phone and texted to the newspaper offices, but said that their recent drive to catch criminals was working. Acting Chief Inspector Nigel Whitehouse said the public had made a very important contribution to solving a number of recent crimes. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Swansea for the information they have provided, which, without any doubt, was instrumental in enabling us to effect a high number of arrests." Source
Beijing’s burgeoning art district has a new symbol for its growing influence in the global art world -a giant farting bull. Created by sculptor Chen Wenling, the 20-foot statue depicts, well, a big fiberglass bull that rams a devil figure with its horns while making whoopie so hard the devil crashes into a wall. Entitled ‘What You See Might Not Be Real’, Wenling’s flatuous virtuosity has been creating lots of hot air in the Chinese capital’s Joy Art gallery. Some say it’s a follow-on from his last exhibition, “God Is Materialism”, at the Asia Art Center. Let’s have a think about what the logic might be there. The economy is our God, the bull is the economy, and it’s, eh, gone to shit, right? Part of an exhibition entitled “Emergency Escape” (the bull really had to let one off, in other words), ‘WYSMNBR’ recalls the Chinese phrase “big fart”, ?? (fang pi). This literally translates as, umm, “big fart”, but also has a slang connotation of a big bluff or lie. So we guess the big lie we’re meant to see is that the Chinese economic bull can’t go on eating up natural resources without, well, letting off some toxic steam. Clever, huh? Although like every good piece of art, it’s open to more than one interpretation. Maybe the devil figure being pinned to the wall is the Western world’s economy, and the big farting bull of little China is really giving him a good gassing. Indeed, some say the devil personally represents Bernie Madoff, the former NASDAQ stock market boss that admitted multiple felonies earlier this year in what might be termed the biggest investment stinker of all time. Either way, you can assume neither Madoff nor the Chinese government are quaking in their intestines at the sight of this art project – maybe they consider it overblown? – but perhaps they could learn that to let a big one rip can sometimes really cause undesirable consequences. Source
A BRAZILIAN man reportedly killed in a car crash shocked his mourning family when he showed up alive at his funeral. Relatives of Ademir Jorge Goncalves, 59, had identified the bricklayer as the victim of a car crash in Parana state, in southern Brazil, AP reports. But Goncalves had not died. He had spent the night chatting with friends at a truck stop. Goncalves did not learn about his own funeral until the service had already started the following day. It is customary for funerals in Brazil to be held within 36 hours of a death. As soon as he realised the mistake, Goncalves rushed to the funeral to let his family know he was not dead. “The corpse was badly disfigured, but dressed in similar clothing,'' a police spokesman said, according to AP. “People are afraid to look for very long when they identify bodies, and I think that is what happened in this case.” Goncalves’ niece, Rosa Sampaio, told the O Globo newspaper that some family members were not sure the body was Goncalves. "My two uncles and I had doubts about the identification,'' she told O Globo. "But an aunt and four of his friends identified the body, so what were we to do? We went ahead with the funeral.'' Source
SEOUL, South Korea – A woman in South Korea who tried to pass the written exam for a driver's license with near-daily attempts since April 2005 has finally succeeded on her 950th time. The aspiring driver spent more than 5 million won ($4,200) in application fees, but until now had failed to score the minimum 60 out of a possible 100 points needed to get behind the wheel for a driving test. Cha Sa-soon, 68, finally passed the written exam with a score of 60 on Wednesday, said Choi Young-chul, a police official at the drivers' license agency in Jeonju, 130 miles (210 kilometers) south of Seoul. Police said Cha took the test hundreds of times, but had no specific total. Local media said she took the test 950 times. Now she must pass a driving test before getting her license, Choi said. Repeated calls to Cha seeking comment went unanswered. She told the Korea Times newspaper she needed the license for her vegetable-selling business. Source
SPOKANE, Wash. — A Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Washington state has been found in a shipping container at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport. Customs agents found the 1965 van on Oct. 19 when they opened a shipping container bound for The Netherlands, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported. They ran the vehicle identification number and discovered it was listed as stolen. Law officers said the van, which is in great shape, was stolen from an upholstery shop in Spokane on July 12, 1974 — while Spokane was hosting the 1974 World's Fair. Authorities have not been able to find the original owner, whom they would not identify. The operators of a vehicle restoration business in Arizona were the latest to have possession of the van, which they refurbished and planned to sell overseas, said Michael Maleta, an investigator with the California Highway Patrol. Maleta said the shop is also considered a victim in the case, and he declined to identify it. The van now legally belongs to Allstate Insurance Co., which paid off the original owner's theft claim back in 1974. The Highway Patrol turned over the van to Allstate this week. Maleta said the van had been restored to pristine condition. "Now it's probably worth 27 grand," he said. "It's a beautiful van." Megan Brunet, a spokeswoman for Allstate, said the company is looking through old records trying to find the original policy and theft claim. "Trying to find paper files from that far back can be pretty challenging," she said. The company will likely have the van appraised and go through the process of getting a replacement title before selling it at auction, she said. Source
One in 20 British schoolchildren thinks Adolf Hitler was a German football manager, according to a new survey. One in six youngsters believed Auschwitz was a theme park - and one in 12 thought the Blitz was a European clean-up operation following World War II. The embarrassing findings are contained in a poll for the veterans' charity Erskine, which asked 2,000 kids aged nine to 11 about the two world wars. One in four said they did not think about soldiers who died then, and 40% had no idea when Remembrance Day is. Erskine chief executive Major Jim Panton said: "Some answers to this poll have shocked us and show we have a part to play, not just in caring for veterans but in educating society. "Children are the future of the country. It is important we help them learn about our history." The Erskine charity, which provides nursing and medical care for veterans, will now take part in a national scheme to educate kids about the world wars. Source
APPLETON, WI — The suspect in a drive-by shooting failed to open his own car window before he shot, with the broken window ultimately leading to his arrest. Andrew J. Burwitz, 20, 45 Diane Lane, Appleton, was charged Wednesday in Outagamie County Court with four counts of first- degree reckless endangerment, four counts of endangering safety by reckless use of a firearm, disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property and placed on a $25,000 cash bond. A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 11. Burwitz is suspected of shooting at two residences, his ex-girlfriend's house on Meadowbreeze Court in the Town of Buchanan and another house, apparently chosen at random, on South Tahoe Court in Appleton, in Calumet County. According to court documents, the occupants of the house in the Town of Buchanan were awakened about 2 a.m. Monday to the sounds of breaking glass. They saw a car driving off and found two bullets had struck the exterior of the house and three had entered the living room. None of the four people in the house was injured. The ex-girlfriend was attending school out of state. Sheriff's deputies examining the area found broken auto glass in the street, and, later that day, contacted area auto glass repair shops and found Burwitz had his car window replaced after filing an insurance claim. Burwitz was taken into custody and admitted to shooting at the house and to firing a single shot at the Appleton residence as well as firing shots in a wooded area at the end of the street. A search of his residence and car turned up a 9 mm handgun and spent shell casings. Burwitz said he had been drinking heavily before the shootings. Charges are expected to be filed in Calumet County for the second drive-by shooting. Source
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The Queens woman who mutilated her father and burned his penis on the stove has been taking a cooking class in jail. Brigitte Harris, who faces up to 15 years in prison for killing her dad when she is sentenced on Friday, also has been biding her time on Rikers Island by reading vampire novels and mysteries. In a jailhouse interview with the Daily News, the soft-spoken, crucifix-wearing woman said she never intended to murder her father, Eric Goodridge. "Thinking back now, I definitely would have tried to put my resources into getting him put in jail," she said. "But I thought that people weren't going to believe me." Harris, 29, who claims her father started raping her when she was 3 and had sex with other underage girls in Liberia, said she acted after learning that Goodridge was taking his granddaughters back to Africa. "There was no way I could let it continue," she told The News. "I did it because I couldn't let my sister's children go through that." Prosecutors say Harris lured Goodridge to her apartment two years ago, handcuffed him to a chair and stuck a towel in his mouth. He choked to death. Harris told the court she cut off his penis with a scalpel and cooked the evidence after researching the John Bobbitt case and discovering organs can be reattached. "I don't know why I didn't take the towel out of his mouth," she said of Goodridge. "I didn't want him to hurt anybody else." Harris said that she has met lots of women in jail who have told her their tales of parental sexual abuse. "I try to tell them that if they did it to you, they could do it to someone else," she said. Harris said she told her sister, her aunts and other relatives about Goodridge's abuse, but they refused to believe her. One aunt, she said, told her, "No matter what he did, he's still your father." "The people who did know me should have known I wasn't lying," she said. "They knew me. They knew I wasn't that type." Harris said she wishes now she had gone to someone other than family members for help. "You can't run away from it," she said. "You have to tell somebody. I was anti-social." Defense attorney Anthony Aidala, who represented Harris pro bono, said seven jurors have written Supreme Court Justice Arthur Cooperman, asking him to sentence her to time served so she can get psychiatric help. "I've spoken to judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys, and nobody has ever heard of jurors doing this," he said. Harris said she's not sure what she will tell the judge, but she says she hopes her case will shed more light on sex abuse in the home. "People need to start talking about it," she said. "People don't want to believe it happens. It's too gruesome." Source
