Drug smugglers use catapult to fling pot

Surveillance video shows drug smugglers using an old invention as a new way to move marijuana across the border from Mexico to Arizona.

National Guard troops operating a remote surveillance system at the Naco Border Patrol Station say they observed several people preparing a catapult and launching packages over the fence late last week — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Chilli fumes send four to hospital

The pungent smell of roasting chillies in an apartment building sent four people in the Finnish city of Espoo to the hospital on Monday with respiratory problems.

Rescue workers had to use gas masks to get up to the top floors where the smell was coming from, rescue services spokesman Mika Maekelae told AFP, saying the smokeless odour was akin to pepper spray.

The first rescue worker who entered the building had a bad coughing fit and trouble breathing, he added.

Inside the apartment, rescue workers found an oven full of burnt whole chillies, which the occupant had forgotten — via richardfarner.newsvine.com

Mark Landis, Prolific Art Forger

Mr Landis — often under his own name, though more recently as Father Scott or as a collector named Steven Gardiner — has indeed done a lot of traveling over the past two decades, but not for the church. He has been one of the most prolific forgers American museums have encountered in years, writing, calling and presenting himself at their doors, where he tells well-concocted stories about his family’s collection and donates small, expertly faked works, sometimes in honor of nonexistent relatives.

Unlike most forgers, he does not seem to be in it for the money, but for a kind of satisfaction at seeing his works accepted as authentic. He takes nothing more in return for them than an occasional lunch or a few tchotchkes from the gift shop. He turns down tax write-off forms, and it’s unclear whether he has broken any laws. But his activities have nonetheless cost museums, which have had to pay for analysis of the works, for research to figure out if more of his fakes are hiding in their collections and for legal advice. (The Hilliard said it discovered the forgery within hours, using a microscope to find a printed template beneath the paint) — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Hunt on for a killer rooster

Indian police are hunting for a killer rooster after the fighting bird slashed its owner’s throat with razor blades attached to its legs for the cruel sport of cockfighting.

Police say the dangerous rooster is thought to have killed Singrai Soren after being forced back into the ring soon after his last fight, — via redwolf.newsvine.com

God as guard: Bank opens ‘lockless’ branch

The United Commercial (UCO) Bank has opened the country’s first lockless branch at Shani Shinganapur in Maharashtra, even as the Centre has made hi-tech security mandatory for all nationalized and private sector banks. Shani Shinganapur is a small village in Ahmednagar district whose presiding deity is Lord Shani. More than 5,000 devotees visit the temple every day, while on weekends the number crosses the 1 lakh mark.

We took note of the general belief and faith of the people. Ever since the most revered temple came into existence several years ago, the village has not witnessed a single crime. In fact, all houses in the entire village have no doors. We took the risk and started the lockless bank a week ago, a senior bank official said — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Coakham Hunt’s greatest game pits bloodhounds against man

Six years after hunting with dogs was banned here, a pack of black-and-tan hounds is in full cry across this swath of semirural southern England, urged on by a huntsman and riders resplendent in fox-hunting habit. Somewhere up ahead is their quarry – limping slightly and straining every sinew to throw the hounds off the scent.

The Hunting Act, which became the law of this land in 2005 following months of protest and parliamentary debate, made it illegal to use dogs to hunt foxes. It also protects some other mammals, such as hare (but not rabbits), mice (but not rats) and mink (but not men).

Several pink-cheeked and puffing specimens of which are now scrambling through hedgerows of hawthorn and wild rose, plunging into icy irrigation channels and laboring across plowed fields that are sodden with just-thawed snow from Britain’s uncharacteristically cold winter.

This is a manhunt.

And although he started the day nursing a sore knee, 54-year-old Andy Kay and his fellow runners are putting up a fine chase, it has to be said, pausing occasionally to listen for the hounds in pursuit or to pull brambles from their hair. Despite the suction of the mud and the slight rasp that comes from inhaling frigid air, this fit crew of three men and two women, given a half-hour head start, is maintaining an exhilarating lead over the hounds, which begin to emit an eerie bay as they lollop purposefully along behind, noses to the ground — via redwolf.newsvine.com