Daily Rotten Archives February 19, 2005 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 60 diamond miners killed by plague BBC | Submitted by: heystoopid "At least 60 people are thought to have died in an outbreak of plague in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization has said. It is thought to be the worst outbreak of pneumonic plague, which affects victims' lungs, for 50 years. The people who have died are all diamond miners. Another 350 miners have been infected. The WHO is to send an emergency team to the area, in the former Zaire, in a bid to stem the outbreak." Read article... Surgeons excise baby's superfluous skull Wire Services | Submitted by: area_troglodyte "Egyptian doctors said they removed a second head from a 10-month-old girl suffering from one of the rarest birth defects in an operation Saturday. Abla el-Alfy, a consultant in paediatric intensive care, told Reuters at the hospital in Benha, near Cairo, that Manar Maged was in a serious but improving condition after the procedure to treat her for craniopagus parasiticus - a problem related to that of conjoined twins linked at the skull... the second twin had developed no body. The head that was removed from Manar had been capable of smiling and blinking but not independent life, doctors said. Video footage provided by the hospital, a national center in Egypt for children's medicine, showed Manar smiling and at ease in a cot with the dark-haired 'parasitic' twin, attached at the upper left side of the girl's skull, occasionally blinking." Read article... Blake prosecution witness allegedly former tweaker Wire Services | Submitted by: Crazy Quagga "After prosecutors rested their case on Monday, [Robert Blake's] legal eagles kicked into high gear in an attempt to paint one of the prosecution's star witnesses as a drug addict whose testimony could not be taken seriously. Last week, Ronald 'Duffy' Hambleton alleged that he and fellow stuntman Gary 'Whiz Kid' McLarty were approached by Blake and asked to 'snuff' the actor's wife, Bonny Lee Bakley... Witness Donna Sharon testified that Hambleton often suffered from paranoid hallucinations - that he believed a large, horned animal roamed outside his house and dug a hole to trap it and that he suffered from a fear of 'tree people,' specifically 'people dressed like sagebrush or Joshua trees that were sneaking up on his house.'" Read article... Dad, son plead guilty to pimping girls Wichita Eagle | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Bobby Prince Sr. on Friday pleaded guilty to transporting two minors for prostitution and trafficking children for sex, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Oklahoma. The father's guilty plea comes the same week that his son and namesake, a former athletic and academic standout at Wichita Northwest High School, pleaded guilty to related charges. Bobby Prince Jr., 20, pleaded guilty to transporting a 15-year-old Wichita girl for prostitution and trafficking a minor for sex... Bobby Prince Jr. threatened the girls at gunpoint, according to authorities. When one girl tried to escape, Bobby Prince Sr. found her at a movie theater, choked her, threatened one of her friends, and dragged her across a parking lot and into a car, according to authorities." Read article... Mob sullies virtue of Internet porn Times | Submitted by: dirty_des "Six reputed mobsters from New York's Gambino crime family have pleaded guilty to using internet porn sites and 'free' sex lines to cheat users across the globe out of $650 million in one of the biggest consumer frauds in American history... The mastermind was a Gambino soldier named Richard Martino, 45, a favourite of John Gotti, the late Godfather, and the mobster believed to be the Gambinos' biggest-ever earner. He faces up to ten years in prison and a restitution bill of as much as $75 million when he is sentenced in May." Read article... School reluctantly dumps RFID surveillance system Information Week | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "The grade school that required students to wear radio frequency identification badges (RFID) that can track their every move has ended the program because the company that developed the technology pulled out... The badges, developed by Sutter-based technology company InCom Corp., were introduced on Jan. 18... The system was imposed, without parental input, by [Brittan Elementary School] as a way to simplify attendance-taking and potentially reduce vandalism and improve student safety... Each student was required to wear identification cards around their necks with their picture, name and grade and a wireless transmitter that beamed their ID number to a teacher's handheld computer when the child passed under an antenna posted above a classroom door." Read article... Chemistry teacher arrested for pyroevangelism Wire Services | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "David Pieski, 42, used an overhead projector in class to give instructions in making explosives to students at Freedom High School, including advising them to use an electric detonator to stay clear from the blast, an Orange County sheriff's arrest report said... One student said he set off an explosive device at a golf course on Jan. 6 and videotaped it, an arrest warrant showed. The videotape shows an explosion, and the voice of a young man can be heard shouting. That student was allegedly encouraged by Pieski to make the video... Pieski guided investigators to an unlocked metal cabinet in the back of a classroom, where there was 'a can of black powder stored next to other chemicals,' the sheriff's office said. School officials told investigators that Pieski previously had been told he was not allowed to have any form of explosive on campus." Read article... and This article... Civil servant allegedly jacks off in public Mainichi Daily News | Submitted by: Burgermeister Meisterburger "A senior clerk at a prefectural children's welfare center was arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure after he unzipped his trousers in public and began touching himself, police said. Investigators said the man, Sumio Ishii, 53, unzipped his trousers on the sidewalk in Aomori at about 8:55 a.m. on Thursday and exposed his lower body parts. He then began playing with himself. At the time there were about three or four people around him, including a high school girl... Prefectural officials said Ishii was on his way to work at the time, wearing a suit, tie and coat." Read article... Jacko's penis reportedly striped London Daily Record | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Jurors at Michael Jackson's trial will be told the pop megastar's manhood looks 'like a barber's pole'. Private investigator Ernie Rizzo yesterday said the star's latest alleged victim could provide damning evidence about Jackson's unusually marked penis. Rizzo was hired by the family of Jordan Chandler, who accused Jackson of molestation in 1993. He claims he saw police photos of a naked Jackson taken more than 10 years ago. And he said distinctive brown rings were visible around the star's penis as the singer bleached his body twice a week... Rizzo claimed: 'It looks like a barber's pole - that is exactly what it looks like. The first kid and all the other kids who have seen his penis know there are brown circles around it.'" Read article... Bush once mistaken for Scottish teen Scotsman | Submitted by: Crazy Quagga "President George Bush today recalled working on a Scottish sheep farm... 'I worked there as a 14-year-old kid,' Bush said. 'I went from Texas to Scotland to work on a sheep farm. I'm riding a bike... A big tour bus stops. They got off and a woman with a Texas accent: "Look at the little Scottish boy!" I kept my mouth shut.'" Read article... and This article...