Wrong T-shirt giveaway for forged passport

NICOSIA - An England football shirt gave away a Senegalese man attempting to enter Cyprus on a forged French passport, police on the Mediterranean island said on Monday.

Suspicions were aroused when the man appeared at a checkpoint supervising crossings from the Turkish Cypriot north to the Greek Cypriot south of the divided island, wearing the England shirt and presenting a French passport.
"Being a football fan, the officer found it highly unlikely that a Frenchman would want to wear an England football jersey," a police source said.
"That was his first suspicion prior to the proper check on the passport, which turned out to be a fake," said the source.
The 22-year-old man, who has not been charged, was remanded in custody for six days pending further inquiries.

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"You call that a knife?"

LONDON - With Australian outback hero Crocodile Dundee as her inspiration, an 80-year-old British pensioner foiled a knife-wielding burglar with an even bigger blade of her own.

When woken by a masked man holding a knife, Winifred Whelan screamed and ran downstairs to the kitchen.
Grabbing a giant carving knife, she told the startled intruder "You call that a knife? This is a knife" in an echo of the famous scene in the Crocodile Dundee film when actor Paul Hogan confronted a New York mugger.
As she took on the intruder, her husband grappled with his accomplice.
Recalling the incident on the day the burglars were jailed for the break-in, Whelan told The Liverpool Echo: "I said to the robber 'You call that a knife?' His was around 10 inches long and I had a carving knife measuring around 14 inches.
"I pointed it at his belly and added 'This is a knife!'"

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How Superman saves the world?

PUNE: Superman's spectacular return to celluloid this summer capitalises on mankind's secret desire for larger than life heroes and their world-saving antics. One of the most popular and enduring forms of art, comic books have the power to zoom their central characters right off their pages on to the silver screen. Last year there were the due instalments from Batman and Spiderman. Superman merely clinches the climax to a global audience's yearning to escape into a fantasy world manned by people of superhuman strength. But what is the secret behind a comic book hero's enduring appeal? On one level, comic book heroes are just good men featuring in action stories. But look deeper and Batman becomes a metaphor for adults working out childhood traumas, Superman is an immigrant symbol, Spiderman represents a typical adolescent turning into a responsible man and the X-Men series reflects the civil rights movements of the 60's. The superheroes' appeal follows the creators' use of folklore and cultural motifs. The creators may create new historical contexts, heroes and villains but they also depend heavily on folklore structures to develop their narratives. Some of the common traits of the superheroes are that they are introspective, concerned and even obsessed with exploring their identity and have to redeem their own past. Another overarching theme is the battle with evil and this has been a huge topic throughout. Batman, who was born around 1939, has been the most prominent of all superheroes holding a timeless appeal for teenage boys. Sherlock Holmes to a large extent solved crimes before they happened, but comic books focus on crimes that have already happened and the concept of apt revenge. The action is not thought out or premeditated. Just like all things American, the action is a pure response to a 'barbarous' act. Symbolism from folklore has been so intelligently packaged that it does not interfere with the fantasy element for even the most avid fan. Comic books create a comfortable space for the reader to explore vexing or tormenting issues. Heroes become alter egos playing out the audience's deeper most desires, single-handedly fighting evil forces and nature's fury. Superhero archetypes are there to connect reality to myth, the real world to the mythical world, and in the process to clarify issues of general and human concern.

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SMS influencing romance: Survey

LONDON: From dating invitations to sexually explicit comments, mobile text messaging is slowly changing the way most young people approach romantic relationships, a survey conducted across Britain has shown. More than half of mobile-users aged between 18 and 24 have sent or received an invitation to a date in a text message, while just as many have traded sexually explicit messages, the survey conducted by the London School of Economics revealed. Fifty-three per cent also agreed that sending a flirtatious message to someone while in a relationship was a form of cheating. "When it comes to dating, a text gives you that chance to compose your thoughts, rather than having to speak spontaneously in a phone call with that person," The Times' daily quoted the Director of the Social Issues Research Centre as saying, on Monday. The survey also found that, 54 per cent of women aged under 25, use their mobile phones to deter people from approaching them. "It acts as a kind of subliminal zone, an exclusive forum where the normal social rules are suspended, and that has a no-inhibitions barred effect. People often say things in texts which they would never say in real life," Fox said.

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Islam Group files complaint against Miss Indonesia

JAKARTA - A militant Islamic group has filed a police report against Indonesia's miss universe candidate accusing her of indecency, a lawyer for the organization said Tuesday.

Nadine Chandrawinata's participation in the contest and display of her body in a swimsuit there "is actually insulting for Indonesian dignity and women," Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) attorney Sugito told Reuters.
Chandrawinata did not make it to the finals of the Sunday competition in Los Angeles, which was won by Miss Puerto Rico, but she had drawn heavy media coverage in Indonesia, partly because of her mixed Indonesian-German parentage and Eurasian looks.
Sugito said FPI had also filed complaints against four people involved in sponsoring and organizing Chandrawinata's participation.
"I am worried that Nadine is only victim of their ambition," he said.
Under Indonesian law, police would have to investigate whether there was sufficient evidence for a case under the complaint, and if so, turn their findings over to prosecutors for a decision on whether it merited going to court.
The offences involved carry potential sentences ranging from two to six years in jail, Sugito said, adding that the posing requirements of the competition offended the standards not just of Islam but other religions.
A government decree against participation in beauty contests issued when strongman Suharto was president is still technically in effect in Indonesia, although in practice it has been disregarded since he lost power in 1998.
Some 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people follow Islam, making it the world's most populous Muslim country.
Although most Indonesian Muslims are considered relatively moderate and the government is officially secular, hard-line groups are becoming increasingly vocal and visible.
The result has been a tug-of-war in Indonesian politics over how much religious values should be reflected in law.
FPI has filed complaints with the police on other issues previously, while critics say it encourages such vigilante tactics as attacking bars selling alcohol during the Muslim fasting period.
An April protest organized by FPI against the Indonesian edition of Playboy magazine was marked by rock throwing and vandalism.

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