Police were forced to storm the camp in  Zallaq to rescue nine engineers, architects and foremen locked inside a building after negotiations failed.

Twenty eight workers of the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, thought to be the ringleaders, were arrested by police, reported Gulf Daily News on Sunday.

Two workers and a police officer were slightly injured in the raid and a 39-year-old hostage had to be taken to hospital suffering head and neck injuries after being attacked while being held, witnesses said.

“It was like an emergency situation and there were many police vans, fire engines and ambulances at the scene as if they were preparing for the worst,” sources told the paper.

“The workers seemed violent and the police and an embassy official tried to convince them politely that what they were doing was wrong.

“They kept on demanding that these bosses be sent back to China as they were not being paid properly and were being mistreated by them.

“The talk continued for around six hours and then police stormed the camp and rescued them.”

Chinese Embassy officials said they were studying the matter. No one was available for comment from the China State Construction Engineering Corporation.

This is Asif Hussain Shah, and this is his Suzuki taxi. He operates it in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and he has written a book about his experiences behind the wheel.

We don’t understand what’s up with all the tigers and triumphant birds and such, but then, no one has taken a picture of us and uploaded our face to the wire services. Maybe there’s a lesson there.

Mr. Hussain Shah’s book is called For Hire. It’s not currently available in English, but you can read a review of it here. Check the crazy wisdom

The founders of a website, PleaseRobMe. Com, which provides real-time updates on empty homes locations are “irresponsible” for providing a “one stop shop” for burglars, privacy campaigners say.

The Dutch website, launched this week, provides minute-by-minute updates on people who have just left their house.

Privacy campaigners have expressed outrage at the website, which publishes a regular updated stream of “opportunities” by detailing the names of Twitter users, when they left home and where they were currently located.

The three founders of the website denied they were providing a tool for burglars but instead were highlighting the dangers of the newest social networking craze.

They say they were pointing out that users of Foursquare exchange details of their precise location and were putting themselves at danger of becoming robbery victims.

The data it provides on people’s movements is searchable by city or by their Twitter username.

A search for “4sq -@four-square London” on the micro-blogging site regularly details information posted by Londoners who have left their houses.

But the website, which also takes the feed, has outraged campaigners.

Simon Davies, director of the Privacy International campaign group, said the website’s creators had “failed in their duty of care”.

“It is completely and totally irresponsible,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“They have raised a poignant and important issue about what people disclose on the internet but they could have done this so much better. They could have left out the details of people’s addresses.

“What they have actually achieved is providing a one-stop-shop for burglars rather than achieve their goals, which are to raise awareness.”

He added: “They make a legitimate point on the sort of information people put online about themselves. However there are ways of making those points.

“But they have created a portal for people to check whether people’s homes in their area are empty.”

Foursquare is a Twitter-type application which turns city maps into game boards, helps pals meet up, and awards “prizes” to the most active of its 150,000 followers.

They “check in” on their mobile phone to record their position on a map, indicating where they are.

More importantly, it also details where someone is not currently staying, such as their home, which is based on geolocation technology.

Those details are fed to Twitter, but are also copied to Please Rob Me, which presents them as a “burglars’ wish-list”.

Criminals monitoring their movements can, with a little extra investigation, pin down their exact address, and simply wait for the tweet that says “nobody’s home”.

In some cases users “check in” giving the exact address of a friend’s home, which makes life even easier for the criminal.

Some people caught on the site have also reacted with fury.

Raz Chorev, a freelance marketing consultant in Sydney, was listed on the site after he posted a message on Twitter saying he was at a café in

Mr Chorev was surprised to learn he had been listed as a potential target but he was not concerned enough to change his online habits.

“If someone really wants to rob me they’ll do it without Twitter,” he told Ninemsn, an Australian news site.

On their site the founders state: “Our intention is not, and never has been, to have people burglarised.”

It added: “Hi there, all we can say is wow. The amount of attention we’re getting is amazing.”

But it also lists “all those empty homes out there” and provides a running total of “new opportunities”.

Co-founder Frank Groeneveld, 22 said:“We’re leaving the lights on when we’re going on a holiday, but we’re telling everybody on the internet we’re not home.

“The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you’re definitely not – home.

“We’re not trying to get people robbed, but helping them not to get robbed. We’re just presenting this information in a more obvious way. And that’s our point: Everyone can see this on Twitter.”

He added: “At first we thought about it as a prank, but while developing the site we started to realise it really is a big risk (and problem), so it became a cultural statement.”

Another co-founder Boy Von Amstel added: “We saw people ‘checking in’ at their home addresses, or even worse, those of their friends and family, which we just thought was very wrong.”

The website comes days after Google was forced to redesigned its new social networking site, Buzz, after numerous privacy complaints.

Charity Crimestoppers advises people to think carefully about the information they choose to share on the internet.

“We urge users of Twitter, Facebook or other social networks to stop and think before posting personal details online that could leave them vulnerable to crimes including burglary and identity theft,” a spokesman told the BBC.

“Details posted online are available for the world to see; you wouldn’t hang a sign on your door saying you’re out, so why would you post it online?”

( source : Telegraph)

Thomas Wallace, from Ohio, was arrested on Tuesday over the crash on the New York State Thruway near Buffalo last month.

He has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of 33-year-old Julie Stratton, a mother of two from a Buffalo suburb.

The 45-year-old was being held in Genesee County Jail on Wednesday.

It was unknown whether he had an attorney.

Investigators say Wallace also violated federal trucking rules by sleeping no more than four of 27 hours before the crash.

Stratton’s car was struck soon after she called police to report she had hit a deer.

Lingerie robber 48-year-old Randall J. Giesbers was sentenced to three years probation by Marion County Judge Albin Norblad on Monday, after admitting three counts of burglary.

The prosecution had sought a four-year prison sentence for his crimes, noting that the victim had her ‘intimate items’ repeatedly stolen from her Salem, Oregon home for a year before Giesbers’ August arrest.

Giesbers was caught in his neighbour’s garage, wearing only the woman’s underwear, after the woman and her boyfriend interrupted him during a burglary.

Police later found several large bags filled with women’s clothing, underwear, shoes and accessories in his garage.

The Statesman Journal newspaper reports that Giesbers apologized in court on Monday to his family and his victim.

Defence attorney Jason Thompson said that his client has been living away from his family’s home and will continue to stay away for now.

We know that most Brits find curries heavenly, but this is surely taking the passanda.

This latest sighting follows a spate of the Messiah’s holy visage popping up in unexpected places.

Heavens above: The face of Jesus appeared in a naan served at India Dining in Esher

A few days back a woman from the US claimed she could see the face of Jesus in a bruise on her arm, while an American woman’s iron also played host to the Lord Jesus Christ’s facial features.

Meanwhile, the Messiah’s countenance materialises every day on a Tennesse man’s pick-up window.

The holy naan bread pictured above was served to plumber David Howlett, 34, at India Dining in Esher, Surrey.

He lost no time in piping up about the event.

He explains that the fact it was Twelfth Night added to the general spookiness of the episode.

David said: ‘I spotted Jesus looking back at me. It was one eerie experience given how close we were to Christmas.’

Medics at Southampton General Hospital struggled to get the man’s penis out of the stainless steel pipe, because the restricted blood flow had caused it to become erect.

Instead, they resorted called in Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The fire crew turned up with a special equipment unit from St Mary’s station in Southampton and seven firefighters to help, in what a spokesman understatedly described as a ‘delicate operation’.

The firefighters used the four-and-a-half-inch industrial metal grinder to cut the pipe from around the anaesthetised man’s penis.

The penis was left bruised and swollen, but otherwise unharmed by its traumatic day.

The man, thought to be aged around 40, did not explain to hospital staff how exactly the pipe got stuck around his penis, after he presented himself at the hospital’s Accident & Emergency department on Tuesday morning. He was said to be ‘quite concerned and anxious’.

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: ‘It was a very delicate operation that required a very steady hand and the crew was worried about things getting too hot during the cutting.

‘It’s certainly an unusual call-out, and I’m sure the man won’t be getting into that situation again.’

Watch manager Greg Garrett from the Redbridge fire station told the Southampton daily Echo: ‘I’ve only come across this type of thing three or four times in my 17 years as a firefighter. It’s not a daily occurrence.’

One of the holy spuds was found by an Iowa family, while the other by a police detective in Ohio.

Jim Gross of Marion, Iowa, says his wife was peeling their potato on New Year’s Eve when she found the cross shape. They listed the potato for sale for eBay under the title ‘Religious Potato: Cross Revelation!’, with bids starting at a reasonable $2 – which has since risen to $46.

Meanwhile, Detective Dennis Bort of Brunswick, Ohio, says he found the cross in his potato on Christmas Day.

Clearly believing that his theologically-inclined tuber was more valuable than the Grosses’ offering, Blort listed his potato for $1,000. He hasn’t found any bidders yet.

In the past, collectors have paid big bucks for items deemed to have been blessed by the appearance of a religious symbol, including $28,000 for a partially eaten grilled cheese sandwich with the likeness of the Virgin Mary.

The 23-year-old Londoner was attacked by a waiter in a hotel toilet after celebrating her engagement to her boyfriend with drinks.

But after she admitted boozing and sharing a hotel room with her fiancé, cops in the strict Islamic state arrested her for “illegal drinking” outside licensed premises and having sex outside marriage.

Her 44-year-old fiancé, also from London, was charged with the same offences. And both were thrown in police cells by officers who paid little heed to the rape.

The devastated couple were last night understood to be on bail awaiting trial and have had their passports confiscated. They could be jailed for up to six years if found guilty of the illicit sex charge.

British embassy officials in the desert emirate are helping them.

A diplomatic source said: “There have been some truly appalling injustices in Dubai but this one tops the lot.

“A desperate, distressed rape victim went with her boyfriend to report the attack to police. And both wound up behind bars.

“The police and authorities in Dubai have shamed themselves by yet again displaying a breathtaking lack of compassion and humanity.”

The ordeal of the rape victim, a pretty Muslim of Pakistani descent, began after she joyfully accepted a marriage proposal from her boyfriend during a three-day New Year break.

She admitted drinking too much afterwards as they celebrated at Dubai Marina’s luxurious Address Hotel – and passed out in a ladies’ loo.

The waiter is said to have followed her into the toilets and raped her while she was semi-conscious.

Her fiancé was initially unaware of the attack and helped her to their room, where they slept until the next day.
Quizzed

But the horror of the rape came back to her when she woke – and the pair went to Jebel Ali police station to report it.

Yet unsympathetic cops immediately quizzed them about breaking the emirate’s severe decency rules, which contain elements of Sharia law.

Medics were said to have shunned rape case procedures – but made sure they obtained a blood sample from the woman to prove she had been drinking.

After being locked up, she told a cellmate she was terrified the rapist had made her pregnant or given her a sexually transmitted disease.

She was given access to proper medical checks and a morning-after pill only after an appeal from British embassy staff.

She and her fiancé spent several days behind bars before being freed.

The cellmate, held for alleged cheque fraud, said: “She’s a British girl but a Muslim, so I think they were tougher on her because of that.

“She was trying to report the rape but soon realised the policemen were more interested in how often she has sex with her boyfriend.

“They even asked if she did just normal sex or anything else in bed.”

Her attacker, who is understood to be Syrian, is believed to have denied rape.

He claimed the Briton consented but has also been charged with “illegal sex”.

A spokesman for the Address Hotel said: “The matter is being investigated by the authorities.”

Joanne Kent, 26, hired every room in a cliff-top hotel, laid on a fireworks display, splashed on flowers and even bought Armani bracelets for guests.

The mother-of-two spent the money on the lavish ceremony in Newquay, Cornwall, in September 2007 while tying the knot to fiance David.

Kent pilfered £470,000 ( $835k ) from her former employers Wilson UK Ltd, a Walsall subsidiary of an American company supplying the oil industry, before leaving the firm two months before her wedding.

Guests were treated to a night at the Hotel Victoria funded by the bride, unaware that the champagne they were quaffing had been funded by the firm.

Kent, originally from Cannock, Staffordhsire, who now lives in Fraddon, Cornwall, even blew more than £50,000 on cars, paying for an Audi A4 and a £38,000 Mazda.

The court heard she transferred cash to her bank accounts after disguising the money as payments to other firms.

The scam was only discovered when Kent used the wrong currency for one transfer, making a supposed payment to an American company in sterling instead of dollars.

But today at Wolverhampton Crown Court she was finally punished for conning her employers out of so much money.

Prosecutor Mark Phillips said she worked the scam by paying money out of the firm to existing clients, but changing the bank details so it went to her.

He said: ‘Mrs Kent accepts that she spent £50,000 on her wedding, the hotel bill alone was over £37,000, without the flowers, cards, or fireworks on the beach.

‘She also admits bracelets were given as gifts to guests. With the money she also bought a Mazda worth £38,000 and an Audi A4. Some of the cash was also spent on mortgages on properties.

‘Using dormant companies she would put in her own bank details so the records showed existing creditors as paid when it was her and nothing would be thought of it.

‘The financial manager acted after she saw a discrepancy in a £22,000 payment. It was to a U.S. company who should have been paid in dollars and not in pounds sterling.

‘But for this discrepancy it is very unlikely that Mrs Kent would ever been caught.’

Kent had pleaded guilty to one count of theft of £296,047 from her employers between July 5, 2005, and April 11, 2007.

She also admitted fraudulently obtaining £177,845 from the firm during the period of April 12 to June 21 the same year.

Dressed in black, Kent starred at the ground for the whole hearing but sobbed as the judge spoke to her.

Louise Howard, defending, said her client’s family would suffer because of her crimes.

She said: ‘There is no way to justify how Mrs Kent spent the money, however a significant amount was spent on other people.

‘She will have to live with the fact that her husband and her children will be living in a desperate situation because of her actions.’

Judge Michael Challinor appeared to take pity on the mum-of-two as he jailed her.

He said: ‘This was a relatively sophisticated fraud. Only a mistake in the type of currency used gave away what you were doing.

‘Most of the money you stole was squandered on an extravagant lifestyle for yourself or in order to show off to your friends.

‘Although the company had a turnover of over £10million the amount of money stolen was very significant.

‘Because you have an eight-week old baby and it suffers from hip problems I will attempt to sway the prison service to allow you to attend a mother and child unit.

‘I sentence you to two years and eight months imprisonment, reduced to two years due to the fact you have two small children.’

A separate hearing into whether the money taken can and will be repaid will take place later this month.