Daily Rotten Archives January 24, 2004 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 Police investigate satanic cult angle to serial killings BBC | Submitted by: Sunflower "Italian police are looking at the theory that Satanists may have been behind a series of gruesome murders. They believe a cult may have ordered the killing of eight couples between 1968 and 1985 and kept some body parts. Farm worker Pietro Pacciani, dubbed the Monster of Florence, was convicted of the crimes in 1994 but later released on the basis of flaws in the evidence... Witness reports of female genitalia and body parts in the fridge of a Tuscan villa linked to a suspected Satanist led police to reopen the case... The victims were shot during romantic trysts in the Tuscan countryside and many suffered sexual mutilations... The trial of Pacciani, who was given 16 life sentences, was attended by Silence of the Lambs author Thomas Harris who was fascinated by the case." Read article... Colin Powell admits Saddam might have been WMDless BBC | Submitted by: Mean Gene "US Secretary of State Colin Powell has conceded that Iraq may not have possessed any stocks of weapons of mass destruction before the war last year. His comments came after the former head of the US weapons inspection team, David Kay, said he did not believe there were any weapons stockpiles... Mr Powell acknowledged that the US thought Saddam Hussein had banned weapons, but added: 'We had questions that needed to be answered. What was it?' he asked. 'One hundred tons, 500 tons or zero tons? Was it so many liters of anthrax, 10 times that amount or nothing?' ... Mr Powell's language was very different from that of Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said just two days ago that it was too early to pass judgement on whether weapons of mass destruction existed." Read article... and This article... Polygamists excommunicated, their families reallocated CNN | Submitted by: dianalily "Authorities in Arizona and Utah are stepping up their years-long investigation into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with the family 'reassignments' sparking concerns of forced marriage of underage girls... In an apparent move to solidify his control, [Church leader Warren Jeffs] on January 14 ordered 20 men to leave the area, but without their wives, children and personal property. Jeffs said a vision from God told him to force the men out... Women and children are considered property and have no rights under church laws." Read article... US ignored 9-11 warning from Iranian agent Guardian | Submitted by: wingnut "The United States was warned of impending September 11 terrorist attacks by an Iranian spy, but ignored him, German secret service agents testified yesterday in the trial of an alleged al-Qaida terrorist. The spy, identified as Hamid Reza Zakeri, tried to warn the CIA after leaving Iran in 2001, but was not believed, two German officers who interviewed him told the Hamburg court... The testimony at the Hamburg trial could heap more embarrassment on the US state department and secret services, which have denied allegations that they were forewarned of the attacks. The White House and US intelligence agencies have been plagued by accusations of a catastrophic failure since the four planes were hijacked to such devastating effect in 2001." Read article... Warhead hijinks risk human lives CNN | Submitted by: Omega "Workers at the only U.S. factory for dismantling nuclear weapons risked an explosion this month by taping together broken pieces of high explosive being removed from the plutonium trigger of an old warhead, federal investigators said. The unorthodox handling of the unstable explosive increased the risk that the technicians would drop it and set off a 'violent reaction'... The problem occurred when workers were dismantling the plutonium 'pit' from a nuclear warhead. The pit is the sphere of plutonium metal surrounded by explosives... Workers found the explosives around the pit were cracked, making them more unstable and easier to detonate, Conway wrote. Their solution was to tape together the cracked explosives and move them to another location... in October that Pantex technicians had made a mistake while dismantling a W62 warhead from a Minuteman missile. A drill damaged part of the warhead's nuclear core, prompting officials to evacuate the facility." Read article... Wedding fire kills groom, 51 others CNN | Submitted by: Mean Gene "A fire on at a makeshift palm-frond wedding hall in southern India killed 52 people, including the groom, and injured dozens more as the couple were about to take their vows, police said. Most of the victims apparently died of burns or asphyxiation from the smoke, police said, though small children may have been killed or injured as panicked guests stampeded down a narrow staircase. The dead included the 36-year-old groom, four children younger than eight and 20 women... a spark from a short circuit set fire to the thatch roof of the building where the ceremony was being held." Read article... Men charged with stealing $0.0094 worth of electricity San Francisco Chronicle | Submitted by: Liddell "Police have nabbed two Japanese men for siphoning off electricity in heists worth less than 1 cent each, an official said Sunday. A 38-year-old man was caught red-handed by a patrolling police officer last September after unplugging a business' neon sign and using the electricity to recharge his mobile phone. The other culprit, a 22-year-old university student, was giving a street performance in November when he unplugged a vending machine in order to power his portable stereo." Read article... Security pros oppose Internet voting deployment CNN | Submitted by: Omega "A federally funded Internet-based voting system due for release in less than two weeks is inherently flawed and should be scuttled because of weak security, according to a report by a team of computer scientists. The system, called the Secure Electronic Registration and Voter Experiment, or SERVE, is designed to allow U.S. military personnel and civilians living overseas to log onto a computer terminal and cast an absentee ballot... The SERVE system is different from the electronic voting machines used during several recent elections, but the report's researchers said the problems are greater with the SERVE system due to the addition of the Internet." Read article... Woman allegedly auctions hymen News of the World | Submitted by: Jonny Plasma "A student is so hard up she has decided to make the ultimate sacrifice... she is selling her virginity to the highest bidder on the internet... Rosie is even willing to sleep with a man despite it being abhorrent to her - she is a lesbian. But she would rather prostitute herself than see her studies suffer... Her posting, which ran alongside ads for secondhand cars and unwanted furniture, read: 'Eighteen-year-old university student looking to sell virginity. Never lost it due to lesbianism. Will bung in free massage if you are any good. Picture on request.'" [We have been unable to locate this item on eBay.] Read article... Canadians endangered by diseased chicken eggs Toronto Star | Submitted by: Queeebec "Tens of thousands of ungraded eggs are illegally making their way into Toronto grocery stores and restaurants each year - an underground trade that poses an 'extreme' risk to public health, say officials. Records show that over the past year, Toronto health inspectors have found at least 15 small grocery stores, food depots and restaurants selling or serving eggs that were never checked for serious contamination... Public-health inspectors began noticing the 'significant increase' of ungraded eggs in stores and restaurants around the second half of last year, Chan said. And they've continued to find thousands of illegal eggs on Toronto store shelves as recently as this week." Read article... Lucky geezer plowed under by motor vehicle The Indy Channel | Submitted by: Staci Johnson "Hours after winning $57,000 on the Hoosier Millionaire television show, a Madison County man was struck and killed by a pickup truck as he walked to the store where he had bought the lottery ticket that earned him a spot on the show. Carl D. Atwood, 73, of Elwood, was knocked to the ground and suffered a head injury in Thursday night's accident, Elwood Police Chief Toby R. Barker said. Atwood died later Thursday at an Indianapolis hospital... About 7 p.m. Thursday, he was on his way to the grocery store where he had bought the winning ticket the landed him a spot on the lottery show when a pickup rounded a corner and struck him." Read article... Eminem's mom carjacked on 8 Mile E! | Submitted by: hamster "Police in Oak Park, Michigan, say Marshall Mathers' maternal unit, Debbie Mathers, was carjacked as she sat in her black Honda Prelude at a BP gas station located along the five-lane stretch made famous by her son's Oscar-winning movie, 8 Mile...The Debbie Mathers-esque mother figure in 8 Mile was portrayed by Kim Basinger." Read article... Mike Rowe: Redmond's newest poster child Seattle Times | Submitted by: Diego Knyte "The lawyers insisted that he transfer the Web site to Microsoft as soon as possible; in return he would receive about $10... He heard nothing more until Jan. 14, when he received a 25-page letter in the mail accusing him of planning to extort Microsoft all along... Rowe has given Microsoft control of the Web site, said Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler. In return, Microsoft will help him get a new site, direct his Web traffic there and fly him and his family to Redmond in March to attend the company's annual research Tech Fest. The company also will pay for Rowe's Microsoft certification training, which teaches him about Microsoft technologies, and give him a subscription to a Web site for Microsoft developers. It also will pay for the costs Rowe has incurred in the matter. And last - but certainly not least to a 17-year-old - Microsoft will give Rowe an Xbox video-game console and let him choose some games from the company store." Read article... and This article...