A New York couple will really be on cloud nine when they marry later this month as they will exchange vows in zero gravity.
Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan will be floating - possibly upside down - as they say "I do" in a specially modified Boeing 727-200 departing Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral on June 20.
They will be "the first bride and groom to be married in zero gravity," said Zero Gravity Corporation which arranges commercial weightless flights.
According to the statement, the aircraft's interior replicates levels of weightlessness found on Mars or the Moon. "It's an experience unlike any other."
Although the betrothed may have trouble with rings floating away, they'll at least get out of the extreme setting unscathed. The plane is a zero-gravity playroom, complete with padded floors and walls. (AFP)
'Burn armed robbers'
Guinean citizens should burn any armed robbers they catch to avoid filling the country's prisons, the military government's anti-crime chief said yesterday.
Lawlessness in the capital city Conakry has risen in recent months, with soldiers accused of being among the main culprits of robberies and rapes.
"I'm asking you to burn all armed bandits who are caught red-handed committing an armed robbery," said Captain Moussa Tiegboro Camara, appointed by the military junta to oversee the fight against drugs and serious crime.
"The prisons are full and cannot take more people, and the situation cannot continue like that," he told a meeting of city officials, adding that residents should form self-defence committees to protect themselves against crime. (Reuters)
Store owner takes pity on thief
An owner of a New York store thwarted a robbery only to take pity on the perpetrator, who claimed he could not feed his family, and gave the man $40 and a loaf of bread, a video of the incident showed.
A video posted yesterday by the Newsday newspaper on its website www.newsday.com showed a masked man wielding a bat as he entered a convenience store in Shirley, Long Island, just after midnight on May 21 and demanded money.
But when the store's owner, identified as Mohammad Sohail, pulled out a rifle, the masked man dropped to his knees and appeared to beg for forgiveness.
"He said 'I am sorry, I have no money, no job, my family is hungry,'" Mr Sohail said. "Then I feel bad for him... I take $40 for him."
Mr Sohail said he was not planning to press charges. (Reuters)
Spurned man offers diamond ring
A New Zealand man, spurned by the woman of his dreams, has come up with a novel way of disposing of the diamond engagement ring he bought her - a treasure hunt.
Anyone keen to pick up the ring, valued at NZ$5,000 ($3,268), will need to be in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, on Saturday to join the hunt.
"I met this girl I thought was pretty cool, bought a ring, turns out she wasn't as keen," Anthony Gardiner, a 29-year-old call-centre worker said.
Clues to the ring's whereabouts will start being posted on social networking site Twitter ( http://twitter.com/donoogle_com ) at 8 a.m. local time on Saturday (2000 GMT on Friday).
Mr Gardiner says he will keep posting clues, and if the ring is not found by the end of the day, "my clues will suddenly change into directions". (Reuters)
Secret papers left in TV studio
Senior Canadian officials left a binder full of confidential nuclear documents in a TV studio and made no attempt to retrieve them, the TV network involved said yesterday. The incident is likely to increase pressure on the minority Conservative government, already under fire for its handling of the economic crisis.
The binder was found in a CTV television studio after a visit by Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt. CTV, which kept the binder for six days before breaking the news, said the documents showed the government would spend far more money on a troubled nuclear reactor than it had acknowledged.
The revelation is doubly embarrassing for Ottawa, given that former Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier was forced to resign in May 2008 after leaving secret documents in the apartment of a girlfriend who had ties to organized crime. (Reuters)