Two Australian police officers who told a prisoner his girlfriend was once a man were yesterday sentenced to 125 hours community service.
Once released from police lock-up, Garrick Jacobson broke into his girlfriend's home and assaulted her, telling a court in Sydney the news had "put him over the edge".
Constables Tyrone Stacey and Brendan Ritson admitted accessing Brigitte Fell's confidential police file and telling her boyfriend - while he was in their custody - that he had been having sex with a man.
Ms Fell was born a man and had undergone gender reassignment surgery more than 12 years earlier.
Magistrate Glenn Bartley ordered the constables to perform 125 hours community service each for accessing the file and unlawfully disclosing its contents, saying the subsequent violence was "foreseeable". "The information disclosed was extremely sensitive... it was disclosed to embarrass and humiliate Mr Jacobson," Magistrate Bartley said. (AFP)
Motorist survives three accidents
A German woman was involved in three car accidents in less than an hour that left a total of seven vehicles damaged but she suffered only slight injuries from the series of mishaps, police said yesterday.
The 69-year-old woman from Berlin first crashed into three cars while trying to pull out of a supermarket car park on the Baltic resort island of Usedom.
Then, she accidentally stepped on the accelerator and sped across a lawn before crashing into a nearby house, police said. She was taken to hospital in an ambulance but that vehicle was then hit by a truck.
"She was actually fortunate that no one was seriously hurt in any of the accidents," said Zinnowitz police spokesman Axel Falkenberg. "The accidents were a little bit like dominos toppling." (Reuters)
Fighter jets chase after stolen plane
A pilot stole a small plane in Canada on Monday and headed south, forcing US military officials to scramble F-16 fighter jets to trail him, before landing on a highway in Missouri and fleeing on foot.
The pilot was captured and arrested by Missouri State Troopers a short time after landing the Cessna 172, news reports said.
Lt. Commander Gary Ross of the North American Aerospace Defence Command said the plane was not believed to be a terrorist threat nor a threat to civilians. Still, the state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, was evacuated as a precaution while the plane was in its area.
The F-16s intercepted the Cessna at about 3:30 p.m. EDT (10:30 p.m. CET) and shadowed it for about seven hours over Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Missouri until it landed on the highway near Piedmont. (Reuters)
Leaves €9,000 in church collection
While the global economic crisis has forced many to cut back on spending, one elderly worshipper in Sweden left over €9,000 in cash at her local church collection, an official said yesterday.
The unidentified woman, believed to be in her 70s, made the gift last Sunday after pastors appealed for donations for international aid projects, Krister Klint, a verger at the Caroli Church in the southwestern Swedish town of Boraas, told AFP.
"When the service was over, she came forward and said in broken Swedish that she wanted to make a donation. She had a homemade brown envelope in her hand. So she handed it over to church wardens, and they took it into the back room with the rest of the collection," Krister said.
"They opened the envelope and were shocked to find a note on which it was written '100,000 kronor' (€9,200). There was a wad of money with 1,000- and 500-kronor bills," he added. (AFP)
World's oldest person celebrates 115th birthday
The world's oldest person celebrated her 115th birthday on Monday with music, cake and a letter of congratulation from US President Barack Obama.
Gertrude Baines, who became the planet's longest living human in January following the death of Portuguese woman, Maria de Jesus, also 115, marked her birthday at Los Angeles Western Convalescent Hospital.
Mrs Baines - who attributes her longevity to her religion and clean-living - attracted worldwide headlines last November when she became the oldest African-American to vote for Mr Obama during the presidential election.
She marked her latest milestone on Monday by declaring that she hopes to be around to vote for Mr Obama again in 2012.
Monday's low-key ceremony saw a group of friends sing Happy Birthday to Mrs Baines before the reading of a proclamation from the Guinness Book of World Records acknowledging her as the world's oldest person. (AFP)