Good Samaritan makes up for stolen bikes
When the bikes Dennis and Tamie Leporin bought themselves for Christmas to ride with their young son disappeared from their front lawn, the couple posted a sign to let the thieves know their disappointment.
"I hope U crooks enjoy our bikes U stole; Merry X-Mas," the sign read.
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It was a catch that should earn both men a place in the New York Yankees.
Showing exemplary teamwork, two friends caught a toddler who had fallen 40ft from the third floor of a block of flats in the Bronx section of New York. “He knocked me right out of my shoes,” said Pedro Nevarez, 40, who took the brunt of the impact.
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Amsterdam puts red lights out in war on crime
THE famous “window” brothels of Amsterdam are under threat after the city council refused to renew 33 licences in a crackdown against organised crime.
The clampdown may spell an end to the sight of scantily clad women displayed in the neon lights of the street windows, beckoning to customers. Now a tourist attraction, the alleyways have been a magnet for prostitutes and their clients since the 17th century.
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Doctors 'left stroke victim to starve to death'
An elderly stroke victim begged for a beetroot sandwich and macaroni cheese in hospital but no attempt was made to feed her, an inquest was told yesterday.
Olive Nockels, 91, a former school matron, died after surviving for nearly a month on a subcutaneous drip that delivered only a quarter of the calorie intake specified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a short-term starvation diet.
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'Rocky' Stallone back in church as new movie in theaters
Sylvester Stallone grew up Catholic, stopped going to church after he tasted fame and fortune, but now considers himself a churchgoing Catholic again.
Stallone's shift back to church started when his daughter Sophia was "born sick," Stallone said in a Dec. 7 telephone interview from Dallas to promote his new movie, "Rocky Balboa."
1 comment:
The clampdown may spell an end to the sight of scantily clad women displayed in the neon lights of the street windows, beckoning to customers.
Ten years ago, I lived for a semester in Rome, and was fortunate enough to be able to travel during a lot of the weekends.
One of the last places I visited while I was there was Amsterdam, which I found to be a city of contradictions.
On the one hand, I found it to be one of the most beautiful cities I visited in Europe -- the style of architecture, the canals, some amazingly good art museums -- but on the other hand, I found it to simultaneously be one of the ugliest cities in Europe.
Amsterdam's reputation as a vice haven is well deserved. Drugs are ubiquitous, and walking through the red light district made me utterly depressed.
At the time, I was curious to see if the stories about prostitutes in windows was true.
They were.
(There is a good argument to be made that from a prudential standpoint, I should have never have gone near the red light district -- for obvious reasons. In retrospect, had I been at a point in my spiritual life then that I am now, I almost certainly wouldn't have sought to satisfy my curiosity.)
I remember two things about the window brothels:
1. There was a sign on nearly every window that said, "No photos". (When passersby did try to take photos, the women, who were very much scantily clad, moved quickly to close the curtains.)
2. It was painfully obvious that the women in the windows did not look happy. I remember at the time thinking that they looked emotionally beaten up -- no doubt because they were. I also remember feeling sorry for them. Hence, the sort of depression I felt afterward.
The cesspool that is the seedy side of Amsterdam has a long way to go before it cleans itself up, but here's hoping that the closure of some of its window brothels is a first step.
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