Infozone Breaking World News

A Swedish man who tried to make a nuclear reactor in his kitchen has admitted to police that the idea was ‘crazy’. Police were called to Richard Handl’s house in Angelholm after being tipped off by Sweden’s radiation authority.

It turns out Mr Handl phone the authority to ask if he was breaking the law. Mr Handl, who is unemployed, said that he wanted to know if he could split an atom after reading physics books and purchased radioactive material from Germany and the internet.

Mr Handl had been working on the experiment for around six months before the police got involved and posted his findings regularly on his blog. Police confiscated the nuclear materials and computer from his house for analysis.

It is unclear what charges will be brought against Mr Handl, but he expects to get away with just a fine.

A South African truck driver who was stopped at a routine checkpoint in Cape Town was found to only have one leg and was using his 11 year old son to operate the clutch. Police found out that the 39 year old man had had his leg amputated in 1996 after he was shot, but continued to keep driving his delivery truck with the help of his son.

Police also said that the man, who has not been named, had an out of date drivers permit that only allowed him to drive automatic vehicles. After investigating the truck, it was found that it had an expired licence, a broken seat belt and a broken parking brake.

Cape Town’s chief traffic inspector Merle Lourens told the press that, “He won’t be allowed to drive, but he shouldn’t have been driving in the first place”.

The driver has been fined 1,000 rand (approximately £90).

Police have released a statement saying that they caught a woman trying to sneak an inmate out of a Mexican prison in a suitcase. The woman tried the daring stunt as she tried to free her common-law husband from jail after a conjugal visit at the prison in Chetumal.

Staff at the prison noticed that something was wrong when the woman looked like she was struggling with her suitcase which seemed and looked a bit bulky. The guards searched the luggage and found inmate Juan Ramirez curled up in side.

Mr Ramirez is serving a 20 year sentence for illegal weapons possession and was taken back to his cell immediately, the woman 19 year old Maria del Mar Arjona was arrested by police pending charges.

Staff at the Camden Library in Sydney got a surprise after a first edition of Insectivorous Plants by Charles Darwin was returned over 122 years late. The library stamp inside the book showed that the book had last been borrowed on the 30th January 1889.

Staff at the library estimated that the late fees for the book would be about AUD $35,000 (nearly £23,000). The book had been part of a private collection for the last 50 years, before being given to a local university then passed back to the library.

The library’s manager of community services said that, “It has obviously had an interesting journey in that time from what we can tell it ended up in the private collection of an elderly gentleman who gave it to the University of Sydney Farms library when he moved out of the area”.

She also added: “They saw the stamp in it and sent it to us and we were absolutely thrilled, here’s this fantastic aged book that can go back into our collection.”

Staff at the library said that the fine would not be in effect as the book was returned during the library’s ‘fine amnesty month’ where people can return their overdue books in exchange for charity donations.

The library stated that the book would not be lent out again, but will be on display in the library so that people can see it.

Online dating site BeautifulPeople.com admitted that it had been hit by a Shrek virus that allowed ‘ugly’ people to join without being rated first. Traditionally members to the site have to go through a screening process where existing users rate them and if they are deemed attractive enough they are accepted. But last month the rating process was hit by a virus allowing anyone to join.

The website owners had to apologise to 30,000 people who were wrongly admitted to the popular dating site, they have since been removed from the site. Managing director Greg Hodge said, ”We got suspicious when tens of thousands of new members were accepted over a six-week period, many of whom were no oil painting,”

He went on to say, ”We responded immediately, repairing the damage from the Shrek virus and putting every new member back into the rating module for a legitimate and democratic vote. The result is that we have lost over 30,000 recent members.

”We have sincere regret for the unfortunate people who were wrongly admitted to the site and who believed, albeit for a short while, that they were beautiful”.

The origin of the virus is still being investigated by BeautifulPeople.com and safeguards have been put in place to stop any future attacks.

Scientists in China have genetically modified cows to produce human breast milk and plan to be selling it in supermarkets within three years. The milk that is produced by the dairy cows is identical to human breast milk, containing the same antibacterial and immune boosting qualities as its human counterpart.

Scientists at the Agricultural University in Beijing bred 300 dairy cows; human genes were inserted into cow embryos and implanted into surrogate cows. The procedure was similar to that of Dolly the sheep; the first mammal to be successfully cloned.

The same scientists have also genetically modified cows to be resistant to mad cow’s disease and modified beef cattle to provide more nutritious meat.

The cow/human milk is undergoing safety checks and if it passes will be sold to customers as a more nutritious drink than standard cow’s milk.

Toyota has unveiled a new in-car social networking service for its motorists called Toyota Friend. In collaboration with Salesforce.com, the software allows owners to receive Twitter-styled messages from their car about maintenance issues and low batteries in their electric and hybrid vehicles.

Motorists can also communicate with Toyota dealerships and customer services through cloud-computing software and keep in touch with friends and family through Facebook and Twitter.

The software will be released with all new electric and hybrid cars next year in Japan, but the service is expected to be available to other markets such as the UK shortly after if it proves successful.

President of the Toyota Motor Corporation Akio Toyoda said, “Social networking services are transforming human interaction and modes of communication. The automobile needs to evolve in step with that transformation. I am always calling for Toyota to make ever-better cars. The alliance that we announce today is an important step forward in achieving that goal.”

This news comes just over a week since Toyota announced that it was partnering with Microsoft to install internet connectivity to its vehicles.

A Venezuelan bus driver has become the first person in the country to be banned from driving for speeding. The 41-year-old man was caught speeding in his bus that was overcrowded and missing one of its rear wheels.

The law authorising officials to ban drivers and suspend licences was first introduced in 2008, but until now has not been enforced. Police chief Luis Fernandez told the press, “It is important to emphasise that this is a totally new act; for the first time in Venezuela we are suspending a driving license, for 12 consecutive months.”

Venezuela is notorious for its lackadaisical driving laws and high volume of traffic; this is attributed to the low price of petrol with the average price to fill a tank around 70p.

A bull that escaped from a transport truck after a traffic accident ended up in a clothes shop in the town of Sao Jose do Rio Preto in Brazil. Shoppers in the town were shocked when they saw the animal standing in the shops window.

Videos of the incident were captured by passers-by showing that local residents assembled outside of the store in a bid to capture the beast. The bull broke through the shops door before being brought under control by some daring men with lassos and loaded onto a transportation truck destined for a local farm.

Shop assistant David Nunes, hide in the bathroom of the shop as the bull was outside, he said, “I’m still scared, that sort of thing never happens.”

At least it wasn’t in china shop!

On Sunday, Yves Rossy became the first person to fly over the Grand Canyon using a winged jet pack. Yves, aka ‘JetMan’, 51, a former Swiss fighter pilot was dropped from a helicopter at an altitude of 8,000ft above the world famous Canyon. He travelled at speeds up to 190mph and completed a series of barrel rolls and twists before parachuting down to the canyon floor.

Yves shot to fame in 2008 when he became the first person to successfully cross the English Channel using his jet pack, reaching a speed of 186mph during the 21 mile flight. In November last year, Yves performed a similar stunt over the Swiss canyon of Vaud.

His Grand Canyon stunt was due to take place on May the 6th, but was postponed after the FAA failed to clear his winged jet pack for flight.