Turkish woman in penis-chopping case

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish woman accused of cutting off her lover's penis must wait 18 months for a verdict and sentencing while a court determines whether his re-attached penis still functions, a court source said Thursday.

The criminal court in the Black Sea town of Trabzon will wait for a medical report assessing whether the 28-year-old victim has regained full use of his organ or if he is permanently disabled, an official involved in the trial said.

"To determine which crime was committed, we first need the report," the source said. "We'll continue holding hearings in the trial from time to time until we receive the report."

The 39-year-old defendant faces between one and three years in prison if her former lover recovers, Haber Turk newspaper said. She will be jailed for at least 8 years if he does not.

The woman told the court he had broken his promise to marry her and forced her into prostitution and beat her.

Surgeons worked for 11 hours to re-attach the penis in an operation which they described as successful, and said full sexual function should return within six months, Hurriyet said.

The defendant, who has not been jailed during the trial, told the court she cut off her former lover's penis and threw it onto the roof of a neighboring building while he was drunk, the newspaper quoted her as saying.

Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa's Telkom

Rupanya koneksi internet yg lemot bukan problem di Indonesia saja, ternyata negara lain juga mengalami. Untuk membuktikannyapun perlu dibandingkan dengan cara yg udah jadul seperti pengiriman berita dengan merpati pos. Ternyata pengiriman data dengan merpati pos terbukti lebih cepat, hehehe lol.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African information technology company on Wednesday proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using Telkom , the country's leading internet service provider.

Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive.

Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 80 km (50 miles) from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card was strapped to his leg.

Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds -- the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line.

SAPA said Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times.

The company has 11 call-centers around the country and regularly sends data to its other branches.

Telkom could not immediately be reached for comment.

Internet speed is expected to improve once a new 17,000 km underwater fiber optic cable linking southern and East Africa to other networks becomes operational before South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup next year.

Local service providers are currently negotiating deals for more bandwidth.

Thai Scorpion pet

 as for me, I think cat is still the most lovable cuddly pet

UTTARADIT, Thailand (Reuters) - A Thai man is keeping more than 4,600 scorpions as pets to atone for the years he spent cooking the arachnids to sell as snacks.

Scorpions, insects and worms are commonly eaten in Thailand, especially in the northern regions.

But after years of serving up scorpions, Suang Puangsri, a practicing Buddhist, felt it was time to befriend them instead.

"Although I was happy to have money, I felt suffering deep inside as they were being harmed by me," he told Reuters. "I felt scared that I was committing a sin."

The 38-year-old has given up the bottom floor of his two-storey home to the scorpions, who scuttle about a 6 meter by 5 meter (19 ft by 16 ft) enclosure decorated with branches and stone so that very little light and heat come in.

Suang buys up to one kg of live cicadas and other inspects daily to feed his pets, who have stung him so many times that he says he is immune to their venom.

He also spends at least an hour every day meditating inside the enclosure, often placing scorpions in his mouth.

Suang's pets have attracted a few tourists to his sleepy town of Fark Ta in the northern province of Uttaradit, and he now makes a living by selling figurines and stone carvings of ants, frogs, turtles and Buddhas.

Although the $570 he earns a month is a far cry from the $860 he made selling cooked scorpions, he and his family are content.

"I feel good about what is he doing. I didn't like it when he made the scorpions suffer. I'm not scared of those scorpions, but I don't dare touch them," said Suang's wife, Lampoon Pimtoom.

Suang is so determined to atone for his past sins that he even buys scorpions from other people who want to sell them to restaurants. When the arachnids become too many, he and his son release a few hundred back into the forest.

Suang's fixation with scorpions is unusual, but not totally unheard of in Thailand.

Earlier this year a Thai woman went into the record books for spending 33 days and nights with 5,000 live scorpions. She also held a 7-inch live scorpion in her mouth for 2 minutes and 3 seconds.