In the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, 74-year-old Mangayamma Yaramati gave birth to twin girls on Sept. 5. Yaramati and her 82-year-old husband had wanted children for years, but they had been unable to conceive. “We tried many times and saw numerous doctors,” Yaramati said. “So this is the happiest time of my life.”
The Washington Post reported that Yaramati had already gone through menopause, so a donor’s egg was fertilized with her husband’s sperm, then implanted in her uterus. Her doctors, who claimed she is the oldest person in the world to give birth, delivered the twins via cesarean section.
Bright Ideas
— The town of Porthcawl, Wales, is fighting back against the misuse of its public toilets by installing high-tech loos with water jets that will spray users who are smoking or taking drugs. The new stalls will have weight-sensitive floors to make sure only one person is using the facilities at a time, and the walls will be graffiti-resistant. There will also be a time limit to discourage overnight campers.
— People in the United Arab Emirates depend heavily on expensive desalination for drinking water. But an Emirati businessman has a novel idea for providing fresh water to the Arabian gulf. Abdulla Alshehi wants to tow an iceberg from Antarctica, EuroNews reported in May. For six years, Alshehi has been working on a plan to tow an iceberg, as much as 1.25 miles long and a third of a mile wide, the entire 5,500 miles to the UAE coast. He estimates the journey will take 10 months and the iceberg may lose about 30 percent of its mass. But Alshehi believes its presence could provide drinking water to one million people for about five years. And that’s not all. “It’s expected that the presence of these icebergs may cause a weather pattern change (and) attract more rain to the region,” he said. A trial run this year will move a smaller iceberg, at a cost of $60 million to $80 million. Alshehi believes the cost of the larger project will be between $100 million and $150 million.
A Bad Memory’s Not Always Bad
Yusuke Taniguchi, a shopping mall clerk in Koto City, Japan, was arrested earlier this year for using his photographic memory for illegal activity. According to police, Taniguchi was able to memorize more than 1,300 numbers from credit cards as people used them at his shop register. He admitted to investigators that he remembered the name, card number, expiration date and security code, then wrote the information down as the customer walked away, later using the accounts to make online purchases of items he would then sell. Police, who tracked him to his address by means of orders for two expensive handbags, found a notebook with hundreds of accounts listed.
Car Pooling
A. Janus Yeager, of Dixon, Ill., was arrested as she motored toward home with an inflated kiddie pool on the roof of her SUV. Dixon police officers pulled Yeager over after being alerted that there were two children in the pool. Yeager told police she took the pool to a friend’s house to inflate it, then had her daughters ride inside it “to hold it down on their drive home.” Yeager was charged with two counts of endangering the health or life of a child and two counts of reckless conduct.
Barbie Of The Dead
Mattel is releasing a Day of the Dead Barbie. She arrives wearing a full-length embroidered dress and traditional skull-like face-painting representing the dead. Dia de los Muertos is celebrated from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2. The doll’s designer said he wants to expand awareness about the holiday.
The Perfect Time To Make A Photocopy
Gary Lambe allegedly made a photocopy of his face during a break-in at a commercial property. Police said the suspect also “ate some food items.” Lambe, was arrested when he was already in custody for an unrelated incident. They charged him with breaking and entering and failing to comply with probation.
Where’s My Pasta?
The Sharonville, Ohio, police department found a way to turn a resident’s misconceptions about marijuana laws in Hamilton County into a teaching moment. The department posted on its Facebook page a recording of a call received from “Mr. Marilyn Manson,” who complained that “two Sharonville cops … stole my weed last night.” The angry man insisted that anything “under 100 grams is cool, right?” (It is legal to possess up to 100 grams of marijuana in Cincinnati, but that law does not cover the entire county — including Sharonville.) The officers who confiscated the weed were arresting the man’s wife, whom he identified as Marilyn Manson during the call, when they found the contraband in her purse. In a second call to police, the caller also complained that the officers had taken his carryout order from Red Lobster. “It was a fresh meal of Cajun pasta!” he ranted. A police supervisor later met with the man to clarify the laws about marijuana and explain what had happened to his dinner.
Determined To Drive
Police in Wilton, Conn., scored a two-fer on Sept. 7, thanks to Ellen Needleman-O’Neill. The woman was arrested that afternoon after a caller alerted police of a driver who hit a parked car in a parking lot. Officers conducted field sobriety tests, which they said Needleman-O’Neill failed. She was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, along with possession of a controlled substance (for the Tylenol 3 found in her bag). Police released her. But hours later, she was seen driving away from a liquor store in her car. Officers stopped her again and found her to still be under the influence, they said. Police also said they learned Needleman-O’Neill didn’t have a valid driver’s license, hadn’t registered her vehicle, and had lost her right to drive after the first offense earlier in the day. She was charged with additional crimes.
Drone Guidance
Residents of Kaysville, Utah, have reported two incidents in which a drone approached them, identified itself as belonging to the Kaysville Police Dept. and issued directions to them. On Sept. 8, a drone told people walking on the campus of Davis Technical College to evacuate, although it didn’t specify why. Earlier, a couple walking their dog were followed by a drone that told them to take their dog inside, Kaysville police officer Alexis Benson said. Benson said even if the department owned a drone (which it doesn’t), it wouldn’t use it to issue evacuations or make commands. She also warned that impersonating the police is a crime.
Mr. Guo In The Kitchen With a Ladle
Nearly a year after chef Xiu Bin Wang was found dead in his room above China Chef carryout restaurant in Brockenhurst, Hampshire, England, police are still trying to figure out how he died. He apparently suffered a forceful blow to the head. Officials first pointed the finger at Zhu Long Guo, a colleague at the restaurant who admitted to striking Wang with a ladle during an altercation. “A ladle was seized, and there was a thorough investigation,” Detective Constable Brad Wanless reported. But the coroner could not make a definite determination. “I do not accept that there is a clear causal link between the admitted blow with the ladle and the death of Mr. Wang,” senior coroner Grahame Short concluded.
Armed and Ordained
When the alarm went off at 12:40 am at the Seminole Heights Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla., Pastor Brant Adams grabbed his handgun. He arrived at the scene just minutes later, spying a man rifling through a desk in a food pantry in the church. The intruder noticed Adams and started approaching him, so Adams drew his gun and ordered him to hit the floor, which he did. “I said, ‘Dude, what are you doing?’” Adams said. He held the man, Miguel Otero-Rivera, at gunpoint until police arrived. They arrested him and charged him with burglary. When police led Otero-Rivera out, he told the pastor, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” For his part, Adams was just glad no one was hurt. “I never thought I’d pull a gun on someone,” he said. “Hope the gentleman gets the help that he needs.”
Fake-Out Fail
Kim Gordon vanished on Feb. 25, according to his 17-year-old son, after going for a nighttime swim at Monastery Beach in Monterey, Calif., an area with a deadly reputation that is sometimes called “Mortuary Beach.” Police searched for three days before learning the Scotsman from Edinburgh, also known as Kim Vincent Avis, faced 24 charges of rape in Scotland, which made them suspicious about the story. “When that came up, we start to wonder if this is a hoax,” said Monterey County sheriff’s Capt. John Thornburg. Finally, the U.S. Marshals Service announced it had caught up with Gordon in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he is now being held. The son was returned to Scotland and will not be charged with filing a false report.
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