Los Magandos' interest thread

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Drunk 'hijacker' overpowered by passengers

An apparently drunk man who tried to hijack a Turkish Airlines flight to Russia by claiming to have a bomb has been overpowered by passengers and detained on landing.

The would-be hijacker on the charter flight from the Mediterranean city of Antalya to Saint Petersburg was quickly subdued and the Airbus A-320 continued its flight after the incident, said Orhan Birdal, the head of Turkey's airports management authority.

The man was taken into police custody after the plane landed as scheduled at Saint Petersburg at 1120 GMT (2220 AEDT) today, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

"The hooligan landed with everyone else. He has been taken off the plane and handed over to police," an unnamed official from Saint Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport was quoted by Interfax as saying.

A tearful passenger from the flight was contacted on the phone by AFP while undergoing checks at Saint Petersburg's Pulkovo airport.

"Right now we are all in the room where they took us from the plane. Everyone is being searched. We don't know what is going on, and it's also unclear when we will be released. Some people are feeling unwell," she said.

There were contradictory reports about the man's nationality. Turkish officials identified him as an Uzbek national named Yasa Rashidov but the Russian airport official quoted by Interfax called him "our countryman".

"The passenger claimed to have a bomb and wanted to divert the plane to a destination of his choice... The person was subdued and put under control," Birdal said on CNN Turk television.

"There is nothing to worry about on board at the moment," he said, adding that the incident occurred around 1000 GMT (2100 AEDT) in Belarussian airspace as the plane was approaching Minsk.

The man, who was said to be drunk, handed a flight attendant a note for the pilot reading, "I have a bomb. If you don't take me in (to the cockpit) I will blow it up," Turkish Airlines director Temel Kotil told Anatolia news agency.

"The man then attempted to walk towards the cockpit... and was overpowered by passengers," he said, adding that the man had no explosives.

Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, quoted by CNN Turk, confirmed that the hijacker was "pacified" and that the plane continued on its route.

There were 164 passengers on board, Turkish Airlines said.

Turkey is a popular destination for Russian tourists, and heavy drinking is common among Russian airplane passengers going on holiday or returning home after vacation.

In March, a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Kiev made an unscheduled landing in Poland after a passenger from Russia, apparently drunk, began shouting that he was a terrorist.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/10/...3750175381.html

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Man caught with penis in pasta jar

A man caught near Nobbys Beach with his penis in a pasta sauce jar led police on a 20 kmh car chase, Newcastle Local Court heard yesterday.

Police drew their weapons when they suspected Keith Roy Weatherley, 46, was armed.

Instead, they found him partially clothed with his genitals in a jar, a police statement said.

Weatherley, of Promontory Way, North Arm Cove, attracted attention parked in a no-stopping zone before noon on October 26.

Police believed Weatherley was doing something with his hands in his lap and thought that he might have a weapon.

Weatherley saw the police and drove away, despite them flashing their lights.

The chase lasted five to 10 minutes, with a top speed of just 20 kmh, before Weatherley was stopped at Centenary Drive, Newcastle. He refused to leave the car.

Four officers used batons and capsicum spray to remove him.

They found a 750-millilitre jar around his penis and noted that Weatherley attempted to continue "pleasuring himself in between bouts of wrestling".

A search of his car uncovered pornography, a home-made sex aid, women's stockings and a Jack Russell terrier.

Weatherley pleaded guilty to offensive behaviour, resisting police and disobeying a police direction.

Magistrate Elaine Truscott asked Weatherley, who represented himself, why he behaved the way he did.

He said he resisted police because he was trying to make himself "decent".

He was fined $600 for offensive behaviour and convicted of the other two offences without further action taken.

http://www.watoday.com.au/national/man-cau...81120-6crq.html

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Government to investigate health rebates for sexual 'massages'

The Federal Government will crack down on any "massage" providers who rip off taxpayers by letting clients claim health rebates for sexual services.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon says she will investigate the "serious allegations" that sexual services were being billed as a massage or acupuncture to attract a health fund rebate.

The practice was revealed after health funds reportedly investigated Chinese community newspaper advertisements offering "young attractive masseuse with a health fund rebate".

"The allegations that are made are serious ones," Ms Roxon told reporters in Canberra.

"I don't want to see public money being used in any inappropriate way."

The health minister said she had asked for "verification and information" regarding the News Ltd report.

"We are interested in public funds being used for health services, and if we have any evidence to the contrary, then certainly we would look at how we could take action," Ms Roxon said.

That included changing government regulations, she said.

But Ms Roxon dismissed suggestions that rebates should be banned for all types of massages.

"There are of course well established remedial benefits from particular massages used properly," she said, adding there were "quite strict" requirements regarding training for legitimate service providers.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/governme...81117-68o5.html

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Husband accidentally shoots wife during sex

A US woman is in a critical condition after her estranged husband told police he shot her accidentally while they were having sex.

Timothy Havens, 38, told police he was reaching for something on the bedside table when the pistol went off, hitting his estranged wife Carolyn in the chest, US news channel WLWT reported.

"[The gun was] right beside the bed. I picked it up and put it off to the side. We were having sex and it went off," he can be heard saying on the emergency 911 call soon after the incident.

Mrs Havens, 42, was in a critical condition at a hospital in Dayton, Ohio.

Havens was arrested after it emerged his wife had a civil protection order against him, the Springfield News Sun said.

He had previously spent 60 days in jail for assaulting his wife and been ordered to attend anger management classes, WLWT said.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/12/05/1228257269814.html

Brings new meaning to that Mae West line: "Is that are gun in your pants or you just happy to see me."

This article might explain lossy's absence from the forum:

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Sex sells at half price as Bangkok hit by turmoil

The go-go bars are empty and sex is on sale at half price as Bangkok's infamous red light districts suffer from a blockade of the capital's airports.

"It's high season, but now it's like low season," said Nan, a scantily-clad hostess at one deserted nightspot in the Thai capital's notorious Patpong area.

An old man played guitar and sang along to a karaoke machine inside. Outside, beneath the pink neon, about 10 women in almost identical low-cut dresses tried to drum up trade.

Although anti-government pro-*test*-('")ers have ended an eight-day siege of Bangkok's airports, the effect of Thailand's ongoing political chaos on the tourism industry is devastating.

Sex tourism is no exception. Patpong depends on foreigners to keep afloat, but as the 350,000 air travellers stranded by the airport closures rush to leave Thailand, replacements are not coming in.

"Now Thailand has a problem -- no customers," said Lam, a man who works for Nan's bar, luring tourists in off the streets by posing as a friendly Thai offering unsolicited advice on good places to go.

Lam is hopeful the trade will return to Patpong, a lurid strip of live shows and sleazy nightlife.

"It is because of the airport, but now the airport is all clear," he said.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is not so optimistic.

The group expects incoming travellers in 2009 to be half the 14.8 million the kingdom saw last year, with word of the pro-*test*-('")s causing tourists considering a trip to Thailand to book elsewhere.

At the normally standing-room-only "ping-pong" shows, five or six women swarm each new arrival. Some are following the example of Thailand's resorts and luxury hotels by offering discounted rates.

Prostitutes offer two hours of sexual services for 800 baht (about 22 US dollars) instead of the normal 1,500 to 2,000 baht that would cost.

The airport closures also hurt Bangkok's other entertainment options, such as the famous "ladyboy" cabaret shows.

"The shutdown of the airports seriously affected our business," said Nipon Boonmasuwaran, sales and marketing manager of the Calypso show in Bangkok, where flamboyantly-dressed transvestites lip-sync and dance to famous tunes.

"Our guests have dropped 90 percent -- we have less than 50 guests in our 350-seat theatre," Nipon said.

The Calypso also cancelled its second daily showing during the November 25-December 3 chaos, when images of frustrated tourists trying to flee Thailand from a military airbase beamed around the world.

"We handed out thousands of free tickets for the stranded hotel guests in order to entertain them and hope that they would buy drinks -- otherwise we will have no business," he said.

"Since re-opening of the airports business is trickling in but very slow," adding that guests normally came from Europe -- especially the Netherlands and Belgium -- and Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan and Singapore.

The blockade may have brought in some extra trade.

American tourists Lisa Richardson, 30, and Michael Latham, 29, said they would never have come to Patpong had they not been stranded in Bangkok.

"Being stuck for an extra week convinced us to spend time and money on things we wouldn't have normally -- ping-pong shows for example," said Latham.

But he said that he felt for Thais whose livelihood was being hit, adding: "they're hurt so much worse than we are and it just hurts to see," Latham said.

Thailand was until 2005 the world's leading destination for sex tourists, when its crown was taken by Brazil, according to Interpol.

Although prostitution is officially illegal in Thailand, estimates for the number of sex workers range from 80 000 to two million women and men.

At her Patpong bar, Nan says she hopes the tourists return soon, as she sends the money she earns back to her family near the Cambodian border.

"Maybe in 15 days, a month it comes back," she said.

http://www.theage.com.au/travel/sex-sells-...81208-6tiy.html