Small Bits of News

2,240 police, 460 patrol cars and a helicopter mobilized for car chase in Osaka
Japanese police yesterday arrested a wanted man after a two-hour car chase that involved 2,240 officers, 460 police cars and one helicopter. Hirofumi Fukuda, 27, who had been wanted for assaulting police officers on Jan 21, was arrested after a chase through central Osaka. Around 11 a.m., police received an emergency call saying that a car was driving recklessly, ignoring traffic lights. When a patrol car approached the vehicle in question, it took off. Police were mobilized throughout the area and a helicopter called in. The chase ended when Fukuda's car crashed into a bridge column. He sustained light injuries but no one else was injured in the chase.

Parishioner's death doesn't stop Mass
Not even the death of a worshipper was enough to stop Mass in a small church in the northern Italian town of Trento.Pio Lieta, 86, suffered a fatal heart attack during an early-morning service at the Church of the White Madonna last Sunday. An ambulance was called, and Mr Lieta, whose name means "pious" in Italian, was pronounced dead at the scene. However, instead of halting the Mass, Father Mario Peron asked for the body to be covered with a white cloth and left Mr Lieta in the nave of the church while he finished the service. It is against Italian law to move a body without the authorisation of a local magistrate. "What could I have done?" said Fr Peron afterwards. "The Holy Mass has to be celebrated. It is not right to make an exception for one individual. Only people who do not understand the point of Mass would not understand the logic of my decision. We could not stop. We were united together in church and we prayed for him."

Australian landlord sues over dead man's broken lease
A landlord has been labeled heartless after he took a woman to court to get $600 from her father who broke the lease - by dying. The unrepentant landlord Anthony Lee has said he had no problems taking the case to a tribunal, saying: "A tenant has died. Is that my problem?" In a case that has sparked calls for a review of the state's tenancy laws, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal this week upheld Mr Lee's claim for almost one month's rent, to be paid from the estate of Michael James Ward, 64. Mr Ward died from a heart attack on December 6. He had another eight months to run on his 12-month lease. The law says that when a tenant dies, the tenant's representative must give 28 days' notice that the lease will be broken to terminate the lease. If, after advertising, the landlord cannot find a new tenant during that period, the landlord can make a claim against the dead tenant's estate for lost rent. It means the law holds grieving relatives liable for a landlord's lost rent.

Bark worse than the byte
dailymail.co.uk
Scientists develop computer that can 'translate' a dog's bark
What would a dog say if it could talk? "Stranger", "fight", "walk", "alone", "ball" and "play", according to scientists who have developed a computer program to translate dog barks.
The special program analyzed more than 6,000 barks from 14 Hungarian sheepdogs in six different situations.
In a series of tests the team of scientists, from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary led by Csaba Molnár, discovered that a computer could recognize whether a dog was in a stranger, fight, walk, alone, ball or play scenario.