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Doctors pull screws, nails from metal-eating man
Doctors in a coastal town in northwestern Peru have rescued the innards of a 38-year-old man by removing 17 metal objects -- among them nails, a watch clasp and a knife -- that he ate.
Luis Zarate was taken to the regional hospital of Trujillo earlier this week by his family after complaining of sharp stomach pains. Doctors took X-rays of his chest that showed his insides littered with screws.
"There were 17 strange objects found at the level of his stomach and colon," said Dr. Julio Acevedo, one of the surgeons who operated on Zarate.
The black-and-white scans showed Zarate's skeleton interlaced with things like bolts, barbed-wire and pens.
"The objects had caused the stomach to expand," said Acevedo.
Doctors said Zarate was mentally ill but it was not clear why he ate the metal.
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Women arrested in sex competition
Nine British women were facing prostitution charges after being arrested at the weekend for taking part in an oral sex competition in the Greek holiday island of Zakynthos, police said .
Six British and six Greek men, including two bar owners, were also charged in the incident, which took place at Laganas beach in the south of the Ionian island, which lies off the west coast of mainland Greece, police said.
The women, who came to the popular resort on holiday, had been paid to take part in the competition, which was video recorded and was to be posted on the Internet, police said.
The men were charged with encouraging obscene behavior.
In recent years, Laganas has established itself as one of Greece's most popular destinations for twenty-something holidaymakers and is known for its wild party scene.
Around 15 million people -- a fifth of them British -- visit the eastern Mediterranean country each year, drawn by its soaring summer temperatures, azure waters and sandy beaches.
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Ravers lose sight at laser show
Dozens of partygoers at an outdoor rave near Moscow last week have lost partial vision after a laser light show burned their retinas, Russian health officials said on Monday.
Moscow city health department officials confirmed 12 cases of laser-blindness at the Central Ophthalmological Clinic, and daily newspaper Kommersant said another 17 were registered at City Hospital 32 in the centre of the capital.
Attendees at the July 5 Aquamarine Open Air Festival in Kirzhach, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Moscow, began seeking medical help days after the show, complaining of eye and vision problems, health officials told Reuters.
"They all have retinal burns, scarring is visible on them. Loss of vision in individual cases is as high as 80 percent, and regaining it is already impossible," Kommersant quoted a treating ophthalmologist as saying.
Attendees said heavy rains forced organizers to erect massive tents for the all-night dance party, and lasers that normally illuminate upwards into the sky were instead partially refracted into the ravers' eyes.
"I immediately had a spot like when you stare into the sun," rave-attendee Dmitry told Kommersant.
"After three days I decided to go to the hospital. They examined me, asked if I had been at Open Air, and then put me straight in the hospital. I didn't even get to go home and get my stuff," he said.
Cosmic Connection, promoters of the Aquamarine rave, were unreachable and did not list contact numbers on their Web site.
Industry Web site www.laserfx.com said focused laser light can cause eye damage almost instantly.
The owner of a Moscow laser rental company told Reuters the accidental blindings were due to "illiteracy on the part of technicians."
"It was partly the rain, but also partly the size of the laser. Somebody set up an extremely powerful laser for such a small space," said Valentin Vasiliev, who said his company did not provide the Aquamarine lasers.
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Police probe "hitmen" Web site adverts
Mexico City police are investigating classified advertisements posted on the Internet by people offering their services as hired killers for as little as $6,000, police said on Friday.
One post on the Web site, which hosts free ads for people selling old home appliances or renting apartments, advertises the services of an "ex-military hitman, professional and discrete."
The man promises a "job guaranteed in 10 days or less" and adds "I have worked in Spain, only serious offers, $6,000."
A police spokeswoman said authorities were taking the ads seriously, at a time when Mexican drug cartels and organized crime gangs are going ever more public with their tit-for-tat murders and leaving bodies and severed heads in streets.
Some 1,700 people have been killed so far this year in attacks between rival cartels and the thousands of soldiers and federal police sent out to crack down on them. Gangs often use paid assassins using high-caliber weapons for their hits.
"The problem of hitmen is real and we are facing it all over the country -- people offer their services to kill someone for a price," city police official Miguel Amelio Gomez was quoted as saying in the daily Reforma newspaper.
Mexican drug gangs aired radio spots in Guatemala earlier this year seeking elite ex-soldiers to work as smugglers, and an armed wing of the Gulf cartel hung banners in towns near the U.S. border also advertising for new recruits.
One of the Internet ads, titled "Hitman -- Killer for Hire," reads: "Problems with a certain person? Want it taken care of? Write me. I am 100 percent professional and don't charge in advance."
One advertiser, contacted by Reuters, boasted that he had "international experience" and enough tales to write a book.
A slow and ineffective justice system means homicides in Mexico are often left uninvestigated and killers elude jail.
The website also has an ad from somebody seeking to hire a "reliable" hitman for "an easy job" in Mexico City.
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Rejected newborn red panda adopted by cat
A newborn red panda rejected by its mother in Amsterdam's Artis zoo has been adopted by a domestic cat, the zoo said Friday.
The cat is nursing the red panda, currently about the size of a kitten, along with her own four kittens, the zoo said.
The red panda was born on June 30 and rejected by its mother soon afterwards. Red pandas look like raccoons and when fully grown are slightly larger than a domestic cat -- substantially smaller than the black and white giant panda.
"They are skilful climbers that, when not foraging on the ground, spend most of their time in the trees curled up with their long, bushy tails wrapped around their heads," the World Wildlife Fund conservation charity said on its website.
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Tailpiece
Only three doors
An airline captain was breaking in a new blonde stewardess. The route they were flying had a layover in another city. Upon their arrival, the captain showed the stewardess the best place for airline personnel to eat, shop and stay overnight.
The next morning, as the pilot was preparing the crew for the day's route, he noticed the new stewardess was missing. He knew which room she was in at the hotel and called her up wondering what happened. She answered the phone, crying, and said she couldn't get out of her room. "You can't get out of your room?" the captain asked, "Why not?"
The stewardess replied: "There are only three doors in here," she sobbed, "one is the bathroom, one is the closet, and one has a sign on it that says 'Do Not Disturb'!"
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