And Finally...

Plans for the installation of a Tardis-style police box in Watford town centre have been submitted.

The planning application the temporary structure has been added to the Watford Borough Council planning portal this week.

If approved, it would be installed between Metro Bank and the entrance to atria Watford at the High Street/Queen’s Road junction.

The area has apparently been identified as a “hotspot” for crime and anti-social behaviour, with regular reports of thefts and violent crime.

“The temporary installation of the police box is a part of a pilot project initiated by Hertfordshire Constabulary to reduce crime in hotspot areas,” the planning statement added.

“If proven successful, installation in additional locations and ‘permanent’ structures may be further explored.”

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Documents added that a 35 per cent reduction in crime and anti-social behaviour in the immediate area has been attributed to “a similar police box”, installed in Boscombe, Dorset.

Offenders apparently “would not know if there was a police officer inside the box and therefore would be less likely to carry out a crime”.

A mum from Prestatyn claims she's been denied a passport by the Home Office after changing her name to Pudsey Bear for charity 16 years ago. Eileen De Bont, 53, became 'Mrs P Bear' in honour of the Children In Need mascot having raised £4,000 at an online eBay auction for the cause back in 2009.

The Welsh mum-of-two, now affectionately known as 'Mama Bear' by her daughters, successfully changed her name when the UK Deed Poll Service secured the highest bid. She had given a list of 50 options stating that she would change her name to the one chosen by whoever bid the most.

Her driver's licence and bank card both bear the names 'Mrs P Bear' and 'Mrs Pudsey Bear' respectively while council tax communications address her as 'Ms Pudsey Bear' and Inland Revenue calls her 'Mrs Pudsey Bear'.

Despite being recognised by various government agencies under her chosen moniker she has struggled with the Passport Office which has repeatedly refused to issue her a passport, calling her name change "frivolous". Mrs Bear recently faced another setback when warned that her renewed attempt at acquiring a passport could be thwarted due to potential copyright infringement issues.

She told MailOnline: "All my bills, my bank details, the GP, my local health trust – verywhere else has accepted my new name. Everywhere except the Passport Office. When I applied back in 2009 their reasoning was that it was a frivolous name and therefore the answer was no."

She continued: "I thought that after 16 years the passport agency can hardly call my name 'frivolous'. It is my name, and has been for 16 years, so I would like it on the front page of my passport next to my photograph."

Mrs Bear has previously been asked if she'd revert to her birth name but she's fond of her current name and doesn't want to change it. Her tarot reading business, Northern Light Tarot, which boasts 32,000 subscribers on YouTube, is even registered under Mrs Pudsey Bear at Companies House.

She was advised to seek permission from the copyright owner, the BBC, before proceeding with her application. Having given up driving due to medical reasons she now finds herself without any valid form of photographic ID.

And previously:

• Game of Thrones name sparks passport mix-up for family
• Family’s ordeal after son, whose name is inspired by Star Wars, refused passport due to copyright issues
• Paddington Bear given UK passport by Home Office

A Melbourne mother who put a dead man’s toes in a jar to sell them on the black market had a treasure trove of other “oddities” in her house.

Lilydale woman Joanna Kathlyn Kinman, 48, appeared in Ringwood Magistrates’ Court on Monday to plead guilty to a single charge of offensive conduct involving human remains.

The court heard Kinman worked as a ranger at an animal shelter, where her job involved after-hours collection of stray and seized animals. Leading Senior Constable Melissa Sambrooks said on February 19 last year, two dogs who had partially consumed the toes after their owner died from natural causes were seized and taken for an assessment.

While at the facility where Kinman worked, the dogs became ill and vomited up the remains. Sambrooks said shelter staff cleaned up the vomit and placed it and the remains, which included two human toes, in a general waste bin.

When a distressed staff member left work early, Kinman remained behind to lock up, taking the opportunity to search the wheelie bins. “She located two human toes and took them home and placed them in a jar containing formaldehyde,” Sambrooks said.

The following day, Kinman called her daughter and told her about the toes, saying she had researched selling them on the internet and believed she could get $400 for them.

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“The jar was positioned among other oddity items, including a guinea pig trotter, an alligator claw, a bird skull and baby teeth belonging to the accused’s children,” Sambrooks said.

The court heard further inquiries found Kinman was a member of Bone Buddies Australia, an online group for “skull and bone enthusiasts” to swap and sell specimens or share their finds with others.

Sambrooks said Kinman was an avid contributor to the site and used it to sell a wet still-born kitten and puppy and a book titled the History of Punishment and Torture.

Kinman had also taken part in discussions about dead road kill and a television show focused on the trade of human remains, the police prosecutor said.

The 48-year-old mother of five made full admissions to police about the toes, telling them she was “curious” and was known to collect weird things.

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cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/134426

Two Japanese tourists in their 20s were detained for two weeks in China then deported for taking photos showing exposed buttocks at the Great Wall, local media reported.

The incident at the World Heritage site near Beijing concerned a man who showed his bottom and a woman who took photos, NTV and other Japanese media outlets reported yesterday.

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Tokyo’s foreign ministry said today that “the Embassy of Japan in China confirmed on January 3 that two Japanese nationals were detained by local authorities at the Great Wall.”

They “were subsequently released and returned to Japan during January”, it said in a statement.

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Exposing the lower half of the body in a public place is against the law in China, according to the reports.

The tourists reportedly told the Japanese embassy they did it as a prank.

The reports sparked outrage in China, where memories of atrocities committed during Japan’s colonial occupation of the country in the 1930s and 40s still inspire strong feelings.

A hashtag translating to “Japanese man and woman detained for indecent behaviour at the Great Wall” had been viewed over 60 million times on social media platform Weibo by Friday morning.

Many top-liked comments blasted the tourists for the act, with some using hateful language toward Japanese people.

One comment by Chinese actor Chen Yitian, who has over 7 million followers on the platform, condemned them for doing “shameful things on my Great Wall”.

Others suggested China ban all Japanese visitors

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/25519952

Televangelist Peter Popoff also claimed that “miracle money” would appear from “unexpected sources” 🚨

cross-posted from: https://aussie.zone/post/18375814

This just leaves me with so many unanswered questions.

A man has survived being run over by a train while sleeping by train tracks in Peru, local authorities said.

Surveillance footage shows him lying motionless before a slow-moving cargo train makes contact with him. He gets to his feet shortly after the incident in Lima.

"He apparently was in a state of intoxication, fell asleep along the train tracks and did not feel the train coming," said local official General Javier Avalos.

Remarkably the man suffered only minor injuries to his left arm, General Avalos added, and was taken to hospital for treatment.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/25267144

One of the UK’s leading comedy clubs has banned guests with botox in a move that’s no laughing matter for those with “reactionless” faces.

Top Secret Comedy Club has hosted some of the biggest names in comedy, with star acts Jack Whitehall, Amy Schumer and Dave Chappelle gracing the stage in their Drury Lane and Kingsway clubs.

In a drastic move, those with botox will be unable to see similar stars live at the London venues after stand-up acts shared concerns that audience members with frozen faces aren’t reacting to their jokes.

Plonkers!

A woman in China is reportedly facing a lawsuit for making her boyfriend undergo three hours of childbirth simulation that led to physical harm.

The man in Henan province had to be hospitalised and have part of his small intestine removed after undergoing the painful simulation, China Times reported.

The man had agreed to undergo the pain simulation test after his girlfriend and her mother insisted that he should experience a woman's challenges before their engagement.

The man initially rejected the proposal but later reluctantly agreed to go to a medical centre where he was hooked up to electrodes that gave out electric currents to mimic the sensation of contractions, reports said. Several hospitals in China have been offering childbirth pain simulation experience for over a decade.

In a post on Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu or Red Note, the unidentified woman said the first 90 minutes involved manually increasing the level of pain, while for the rest of the session, the intensity of pain remained at the maximum level.

"My boyfriend started screaming and struggling at level 8, swearing and crying at level 10, and by the end, he was gasping for air. My sister and I kept wiping his sweat," the woman wrote, according to South China Morning Post.

The man suffered from abdominal pain and started vomiting shortly after returning home. A week later, it was discovered that the simulation damaged a part of his small intestine, forcing him to undergo surgery.

For the second time in less than a year, a man is charged with attempting to engage in a sexual act with a seat on the Metrolink.

St. Louis County prosecutors charged Deangelo Covington on Tuesday with two counts of misdemeanor sexual misconduct. He is currently confined in the county jail without bond pending a March 3 reduction hearing.

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Later that day, police learned Covington boarded the train at the Central West End station. Near Lambert Airport station, he allegedly exposed himself and attempted a sexual act for about 10 minutes with the upper bar of a train seat.

One of the men on trial over the theft of a £4.75m gold toilet from Blenheim Palace has admitted he used it the day before it was stolen, a court has been told.

The fully functioning 18-carat toilet, created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, had been on display at the Oxfordshire country house where Sir Winston Churchill was born.

It was taken in an "audacious" five-minute raid in the early hours of 14 September 2019 by thieves who drove through locked gates and used sledgehammers to smash their way into the property.

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The day before the toilet was stolen, Jones and the same woman spent around 90 minutes at the palace on what was a Friday, the trial heard.

Asked by prosecutors why he had taken a half-day off work rather than waiting until the weekend, he admitted it was unusual for him, but "was interested to go and see it".

Questioned if he "took advantage of" the gold toilet's "facilities", the defendant said yes, and described it as "splendid".

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The toilet artwork, entitled America, weighed approximately 98kg, was insured for $6m (£4.75m) and was made from gold worth about £2.8m.

It is believed to have been broken up after it was stolen.

King Charles' bodyguards have sparked a buzz on social media, with many speculating that they might be wearing 'fake hands'.

Over the years, rumours have swirled about bodyguards using fake hands and arms to discreetly conceal weapons like an FN-P90 rifle under their coats, ready for action if needed.

Now, a TikTok has gone viral of King Charles on a visit to Cornwall with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.

King Charles led Sir Keir Starmer on a tour of his eco-friendly, sustainable housing project, but it wasn’t the duo that grabbed viewers' attention in the video.

It was the king's bodyguard and his unusual hand position, that got people talking. The bodyguard held his hands in-front of his body in a very still position, which prompted people to believe that his hands weren't real.

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However, previously a security expert of 30 years debunked myth of the use of fake arms in security.

Will Geddes, one of the world's leading specialists in counterterrorism, kidnapping, direct action groups, personal security, and close protection services, explained why the decoy arms are not used for the Royal Family.

Speaking to the Metro, Will revealed that while this tactic might be used in the US, it wouldn't be employed by guards in the UK.

He said: "They definitely aren’t fake hands; I can understand why some people might have thought they were because of what looks like an incredibly tight grip but they definitely aren’t.

"It isn’t a tactic that is used at all in the UK, there might be all sorts of other tricks and stunts that security officers use to make sure high-profile individuals are kept safe, but this wouldn’t be one of them."

He explained that while close protection officers in the US tend to be more quick to react, making such a theory believable there, the risk level in the UK makes it highly unlikely.

Buy a set of earplugs, maritime charity advises those hoping to sleep near Cornwall’s Longships Lighthouse

The two didn't believe the officers when they were informed that they were wildlife officers and bragged and their illegal hunts, their uncle's illegal hunts, and showed officers an illegal turtle skeleton they had in their bag.

Last Sunday, FC Taxi Duisburg II and SV Rot-Weiss Mülheim were preparing to go head-to-head in the lower divisions of German football.

As officials usually do, referee Stefan Kahler, who was due to take charge of the clash, was going through his pre-match checks.

While Kahler was conducting the license checks, a Taxi Duisburg’s player’s son was reportedly running around the field of play before he approached the ref.

And he certainly did not expect what happened next.

According to the official's report he could not take charge of the match after he was bitten by the child.

He wrote: "While I was checking the FC Taxi players' ID, a small child was doing warm-up exercises alongside the players.

“He came closer and closer to me, then suddenly - to my complete surprise - gave me a sharp bite in my left testicle.

"I did not start the game, because of the pain I was in and the situation.

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According to German outlet WAZ the medical condition of the referee is still unclear.

Doctors in the Indian capital, Delhi, have performed a life-changing surgery on a 17-year-old boy to remove his "parasitic" twin that was attached to his abdomen.

A parasitic twin is an underdeveloped conjoined twin that relies entirely on the host twin for survival.

They are extremely rare, with less than one case occurring, external per 100,000 births.

The teenager who had a fully developed extra set of limbs and a pelvis - sustained by a chest artery - underwent a two-hour surgery at Aiims hospital in Delhi.

Dr Asuri Krishna, who led the team of specialists, said the surgery was particularly challenging because of the patient's age.

"Only 40-50 cases of parasitic twins have been documented in world medical literature and, in those cases, the surgery had been attempted on children," Dr Krishna told the BBC.

With insufficient medical literature to guide them, the team had to rely on their "intuition, skill and knowledge", he added.

Parasitic twins form when one foetus partially develops while attached to the other.

In this case, the teenager had two fully formed legs, buttocks and external genitalia - weighing nearly 15kg - protruding from his abdomen.

Remarkably, the parasitic limbs could feel pain, touch and change in temperature.

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The teen was discharged four days after being admitted. He is healthy and has suffered no complications from the surgery, Dr Krishna says.

A Colombian man has been caught trying to smuggle £8,000 worth of cocaine under a wig.

The drugs were discovered by police after the 40-year-old attempted to board a plane to Amsterdam, Netherlands, at Rafael Nunez International Airport.

Footage released by police showed the wig being cut off the man's head to reveal 19 capsules of the substance, which weighed 220g.

The man was arrested on suspicion of trafficking, manufacturing and carrying narcotic substances, the Colombian national police said.

The force said the bust had affected criminal finances and "prevented the sale of more than 400 doses of cocaine, valued at more than €10,000 (£8,296) in international markets".

A 23-year-old Keene woman was arrested Friday, accused of serially urinating on products in local stores.

According to information from the Keene Police Department, Kelli Tedford had posted "disturbing videos" to an internet site, some of them dating back to 2021.

In a recently recorded video, "Tedford recorded herself contaminating items in a local business with her urine," states the information, identifying the business as the Monadnock Food Co-op, which sustained a financial loss in excess of $1,500 in destroyed merchandise and cleaning costs.

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"It appears likely that similar historic incidents occurred in Keene and surrounding communities where Tedford contaminated items and/or surfaces with urine, as several videos appear to be recorded as early as 2021," states the information, which did not identify the previous locations.

A 14-year-old Brazilian boy died after injecting himself with butterfly remains — with police investigating whether it was part of a twisted online challenge, according to a report.

Davi Nunes Moreira started to vomit and then developed a limp after mixing a dead butterfly in water and injecting the liquid into his leg, according to the DailyMail.

The teen told his dad he hurt himself while playing — but then confessed what really happened when he continued growing sicker and was admitted to a hospital in Planalto, the report said.

His dad also found the syringe his son had used hidden under the boy’s pillow, according to the report.

Davi was rushed to another hospital in Vitoria de Conquista, the state of Bahia’s third-largest city, on Wednesday, but succumbed to his injuries.

The mysterious death — linked to possible toxins in the butterfly mix that caused his body to shut down as he went into septic shock — is making headlines across Brazil.

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However, authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the boy was participating in an unusual social media craze that proved fatal, the report said.