Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed

Angry neighbor shot undies
An angry Italian was arrested for taking pot shots at his neighbour's undies with a rifle.
Massimo Lazzaretti, 69, allegedly let fly with a legally owned hunting rifle he had at his home in Carnago after the 56-year-old woman had hung out her washing.
A police spokesman said: "The two neighbors had fallen out some time ago and he said he thought by leaving bullet holes in her underwear he would frighten her enough to stay away from him.
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Car-jackers' Worst Nightmare
Two suspects run away when they discover uniformed officers in the unmarked car.
A 22-year-old man is in custody after police said he and another man unwittingly tried to carjack an unmarked police car with two uniformed officers inside.
At 9:30 p.m. Thursday, the officers were investigating illegal fireworks activity in the 2200 block of Eastwood Avenue when a sports utility vehicle pulled up in front of their unmarked police sedan, said Santa Ana Police Department Comm. Steve Colon.
The two men got out of the SUV and took "an aggressive approach toward the officers," Colon said. The driver acted as if he had a weapon in his waistband, police said.
At that point, the officers got out of the car; the two suspects ran back into their SUV and attempted to get away, Colon said. Police suspect the two men didn't realize there were officers in the vehicle.
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Girl, 8, Nearly Loses Fingers in Tug-of-War Accident
An 8-year-old girl who nearly lost her fingers in a tug-of-war accident is back home, resting and hoping for a speedy recovery.
Alyssa Martin went through several surgeries and grafts to reattach four fingers on her left hand. She was hurt when her hand became tangled in the rope during a tug-of-war for kids at a BMX track in Fergus Falls on June 20. She had broken bones and torn veins, but her fingers were still connected by tendons that were stretched severely.
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'Crocodile Dundee' Star 'Come and Get Me'
"Crocodile Dundee" star Paul Hogan challenged Australian tax authorities Friday to track him down in the United States after a newspaper report that he was under investigation for tax evasion.
The 68-year-old actor has repeatedly denied that he dodged taxes.
The Australian national newspaper reported that Australian tax authorities had asked for help from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in obtaining Hogan's banking records. Four companies related to Hogan have been ordered to hand over documents, it said, citing court documents.
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Surgeon Ordered to Pay $795G for Cutting Off Man's Penis
A court has ordered a Romanian surgeon to pay $795,000 in compensation to a patient whose penis he accidentally severed during an operation.
In July 2004, Naum Ciomu made a surgical error while operating on the man's testicles, severing the penis instead of making an incision to the testicle.
The Bucharest Magistrates Court ruled Friday that Ciomu had been 'superficial' in his approach to the operation, ordered the fine and handed Ciomu a one-year suspended prison sentence. The ruling can be appealed.
A piece of muscle from the man's arm has now been attached to where his penis was, but its function is aesthetic.
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Man caught with sex images
A MAN whose self-esteem is so low he identifies himself as a beast has admitted to downloading images showing sexual acts with an octopus.
Rodney Scott McLagan, 48, of South Arm, was caught with 31,000 images and video files involving sexual acts with children, dogs, ponies, snakes, tigers and an octopus.
The office equipment worker, whose job involves deleting computer hard drives, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Hobart today to possessing child exploitation material and bestiality products.
Crown prosecutor Jane Williams said police found the material on computers and discs discovered during a search of his home on January 6 last year.
She said the children in the images were both sexes and aged between five and 15.
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I can see you
Peeping tom victims told to fix blinds
A Seattle man accused of peering at his young female neighbors with binoculars couldn't help it because the women's blinds were up, his wife says.
Police reported the man acknowledged watching the neighbor women through their uncovered windows, but the man's wife defended him, saying the women left their blinds up and were "putting on a show" by walking around naked.
Officers didn't cite the man and told the neighbor women, whose ages were not provided, to get their blinds fixed. The report noted that the women said the blinds were broken but that they would ask their landlord to make repairs.
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Beer Calms A Savage Beast
Women calm attacker with beer
A 71-year-old Los Angeles woman said she was able to stop an attacker in her home from assaulting her daughter by offering him beer.
Linda Dodson, 45, said a large man entered her room and attacked her at 3:37 a.m. Monday while her mother was sleeping in the next room.
"He had his big hands ... on my throat, my mouth and my nose and I'm flopping ... when he released his hand for a second, I just let out this blood-scorching scream," Dodson said.
Dodson's mother said she came into her daughter's room to investigate the scream and jumped onto the attacker's back. However, she said she decided to switch tactics after the attacker threw her against a wall and grabbed her face so hard the lenses popped out of her glasses.
"I just looked at him because I could tell he had been drinking and I said, 'I don't know about
you, but I could use a beer, how about you?'" she said. "And he said yes."
The mother and daughter took the suspect into their living room and gave him a beer, which seemed to calm him. Linda Dodson said she phoned 911 after excusing herself to go to the bathroom and police arrived soon after.
Louie Herrera, a convicted child molester, was arrested on suspicion of residential burglary, false imprisonment, and resisting arrest.
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Man accused of faking heart attacks to avoid bills
A 52-year-old Milwaukee-area man has been accused of faking heart attacks to avoid paying restaurant bills and cab fares.Police say the Waukesha man took a cab to a mall Monday and pretended to have a heart attack. The cab driver left unpaid.Authorities say the man then ran up a $23 bill when he had a steak dinner at Applebee’s. He again pretended to have a heart attack.
This time the fire department took him to a hospital. A doctor there recognized the man as having pulled the same stunt in the past few weeks.
He was charged Thursday with defrauding a restaurant as a habitual criminal. He could get up to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine.