… Finally Friday … April 6 th 2007

'US ready to strike Iran on Good Friday' By JERUSALEM POST STAFF AND AP The United States will be ready to launch a missile attack on Iran's nuclear facilities as soon as early this month, perhaps "from 4 a.m. until 4 p.m. on April 6," according to reports in the Russian media on Saturday. According to Russian intelligence sources, the reports said, the US has devised a plan to attack several targets in Iran, and an assault could be carried out by launching missiles from fighter jets and warships stationed in the Persian Gulf. Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted a security official as saying, "Russian intelligence has information that the US Armed Forces stationed in the Persian Gulf have nearly completed preparations for a missile strike against Iranian territory."

Lloyd Brown, a 104-year-old World War I veteran smiles as he recounts why he enlisted in the Navy at the age of 16 at his home in Charlotte Hall, Md., in this Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005 file photo. Brown, the last known surviving World War I Navy veteran, died Thursday, March 29, 2007. He was 105.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York reacts to seeing and old friend during a campaign stop at the National Education Association New Hampshire, in Concord, N.H., Friday, March 30, 2007.

You’ll find a remarkable light bulb burning bright at a fire station in Livermore, California. It hasn’t been turned off since 1901. The Guinness Book of World Records, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and General Electric agree the bulb, of unknown wattage, is the longest-living in history, despite two moves and a few power outages during its lifetime.

Don't make me axe you again A Danish woman whose teenage son locked himself into her car and refused to get out borrowed a policeman's axe and smashed open a window to make the boy change his mind, police said Monday. A spokesman for the police in Flensburg near the Danish border said the 15-year-old locked the doors after his mother left the car to go shopping and refused to come out. "She called police asking for help," the spokesman said, but the youth still refused to budge when an officer arrived. "So she borrowed his axe and smashed open a window. It was a rather unusual way to resolve the matter." It was not clear what the boy wanted.

Woman loses battle to turn dead dad into diamond Tue Apr 3, 10:32 AM ET A German woman's plan to turn her dead father's ashes into a diamond was thwarted Tuesday by her grandmother. A district court in Wiesbaden ruled the 19-year-old could not take the cremated remains to Switzerland where a company creates synthetic diamonds from ashes. "The daughter of the deceased could not provide sufficient proof that it was his final wish to be pressed into a diamond," the court in western Germany said, ruling in favor of his 86-year-old mother. The court said the daughter's views on the care of the remains took precedence over the wishes of the dead man's mother but ruled that any decision had to be in accordance with the expressed wishes of the deceased. The ashes are placed in a press under intense pressure and heat, replicating the forces that create a natural diamond, over a period of several months. Synthetic diamonds have been manufactured from carbon since the mid-1950s.

A prospective Denver Broncos cheerleader performs a routine on the first day of auditions in Denver, Colorado March 25, 2007. Over 250 women applied for the 34 slots .

Grieving couple commits suicide after dog dies Mon Apr 2, 8:44 AM ET Unable to come to terms with the death of their pet dog, an elderly couple in southern India committed suicide by hanging themselves, police said on Monday. The bodies of 67-year-old retired soldier C.N. Madanraj and his wife, Tarabai, 63, were found on Sunday in their home in a suburb of Hyderabad. Police said the childless couple had held a burial ceremony for their dog of 13 years, called "Puppy," and hosted a feast for friends before hanging themselves in their bedroom. "The couple described the grief over their pet dog in the suicide note they left on March 29," said police inspector V. Anantaiah.

Rolling Stone Richards "snorted father's ashes" Thu Apr 5, 8:12 AM ET Keith Richards may never have met a drug he didn't like, but on Wednesday the Rolling Stones guitarist denied mixing his father's ashes with cocaine and snorting the ghoulish concoction. The 63-year-old rocker caused an international uproar on Tuesday when British newspaper New Musical Express quoted him as saying: "The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father. He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow ... . It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive." Richards, known for his death-defying appetite for drugs, said in a statement on his band's Web site, rollingstones.com, that "the complete story (was) lost in the usual slanting." "The truth of the matter is that I planted a sturdy English Oak. I took the lid off the box of ashes, and he is now growing oak trees and would love me for it!!! I was trying to say how tight Bert and I were. That tight!!! I wouldn't take cocaine at this point in my life unless I wished to commit suicide." Bert Richards died in 2002 at age 84. The World War Two veteran was estranged from his son for decades, but they made up in the 1980s, and the father moved to his son's Connecticut estate, where they played dominoes every Friday night.

An Air Force F-22-A Raptor flies through the air as condensation clouds form around the aircraft during the 42nd Naval Base Ventura County Air Show at Point Mugu, Sunday, April 1, 2007, near Ventura, Calif. The aircraft is not flying supersonic.

Falling woman saved by pile of... [ SHIT ] A Chinese woman survived a plunge from a sixth-floor balcony thanks to a convenient pile of excrement which broke her fall, local media said. The accident happened when the woman was hanging out laundry on Monday in Nanjing, capital of the eastern province of Jiangsu, the Kuaibao tabloid said on its Web site (www.kuaibao.net). "Workers happened to be emptying the building's septic tank, which had not been tended for a long time and had regularly blocked sewage pipes," the newspaper said. "She probably stretched out too far and fell ... right on to a 20 cm-thick heap of excrement." The woman suffered only slight injuries, the newspaper said. In March, a six-year-old girl broke only her left leg when she fell six floors on to a pile of snow in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.

Dentist guilty of urinating in surgery sink A British dentist was found guilty Thursday of urinating in his surgery sink and using dental tools meant for patients to clean his fingernails and ears. A medical tribunal said it was satisfied the evidence showed 51-year-old Alan Hutchinson, who "routinely" did not wear gloves or wash his hands, had risked the health of "himself, staff and patients" for more than 28 years. A dental nurse who worked for Hutchinson for 16 years said she had caught him urinating in the sink more than once. "He was tucking something into his trousers before zipping them up hastily. I walked over and I was behind him. He moved to the left and I could smell urine," the nurse told the tribunal. A later hearing will decide if the dentist's unhygienic habits impaired his ability to treat patients, and if so, whether he should banned from practicing.

Bikini Firefighter Burned Police photo gallery documents Ohio man's "offensive attire" APRIL 5--By now, you're likely aware of the exploits of Steven Cole, the world's most famous volunteer firefighter. The bikini-wearing Ohio man, 46, got himself arrested Tuesday on drunk driving and public indecency charges at Mason's Heritage Oak Park. As seen in the police evidence photos on the following pages, local police extensively memorialized the arrest, from 360-degree views of Cole in his "very skimpy woman's blue bikini" to the contents of his duffle bag, which was stuffed with other swimwear and women's shoes. One profile shot provides a clear view of the "tan water balloons" Cole, pictured at right, used to fill out his bikini top. As noted in a police report , an aggrieved citizen, Troy Harphant, told Officer Scott Miller that "you need to lock up that pervert" after he spotted Cole allegedly fondling himself. Smoking Gun

Man jailed for beating one of 107 wives From correspondents in Jakarta April 03, 2007 04:54pm Article from: Agence France-Presse A 74-YEAR-old Indonesian with 107 wives has been jailed for beating one he suspected of being unfaithful. The victim reported the crime to police on Muslim-majority Indonesia's main island of Java, the Koran Tempo newspaper said. A local police chief was quoted as saying that the husband, Abdurahman, was guilty of torturing Tariah, his second wife. Islam permits up to four wives and polygamy is thought to be widespread in Indonesia. Only four of Abdurahman's wives were still living with him. He said he had 41 children and "countless grandchildren," according to the newspaper.

Men jailed for using teen's head as a bowling ball April 04, 2007 06:20pm Article from: AAP TWO men have been jailed for life for the brutal slaying of a homeless teenager who was stabbed 133 times and decapitated before his head was used as a bowling ball. After six hours of deliberations, a Brisbane Supreme Court jury this afternoon found James Patrick Roughan, 27, and Christopher Clark Jones, 23, guilty of the gruesome murder of 17-year-old Morgan Jay Shepherd (known as Jay) on March 29, 2005. The pair, both from Sandgate, north of Brisbane, had already pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse. During the trial of almost three weeks, the court was told police found Jay's headless body buried in a shallow grave in Dayboro, north of Brisbane, following an anonymous tip-off only days after he died. The jury heard Jay, who was a resident of a Brisbane youth hostel, had been drinking with both the accused at Roughan's home before a fight broke out. Prosecutor Don McKenzie said a post-mortem examination revealed Jay had been stabbed 133 times and his head had been cut off by either an axe, saw or knife. Police found a tomahawk, knife, handsaw and pruning saw stained with the victim's blood in Roughan's shed, as well as blood-stained clothing containing Jones' DNA. Witnesses testified Jones told friends about the murder and how Roughan had used Jay's head as a bowling ball and a puppet . Jones smirked as his guilty verdict was delivered but later read out a note he had penned to the court apologising for his involvement in the murder.

Painted Into A Corner (Cell) North Carolina arrestee in homage to classic booking photo APRIL 4--After discovering this classic mug shot , we doubted that another arrestee would ever be photographed in a similar state. Well, meet Michael Edward Thompson. The North Carolina man, 34, was busted Sunday by Hickory Police Department officers and charged with inhaling toxic vapors. Thompson, who was popped behind a Circuit City at 7 AM, was booked into the Catawba County jail, where the below mug shot was snapped. An examination of the picture leaves little doubt that the toxic vapors Thompson was allegedly inhaling came from a can of spray paint. He is being held on $500 bond and has a court appearance scheduled for May 2 on the misdemeanor charge. Smoking Gun

… ..Yet another Smoking Gun classic mug shoot of a paint huffer.