Rescuers free boy stuck in washer

Talk about an oversized load: A 4-year-old boy got stuck when he climbed into his family's top-loading washing machine, and firefighters had to use a metal cutter to slice into the appliance to get him out.

Donovan Hasseman, who wasn't hurt, was wedged up against the agitator with a knee folded against his chest, while the machine was empty and not running Sunday night, Dover Fire Capt. Mike Mossor said.

Firefighters responding to a 911 call from the boy's mother tried to help him wriggle out, but he couldn't move, Mossor said. The owner of an appliance store was then called in for advice on how to take the washer apart.

The fire department wound up using its hydraulic "jaws-of-life" tool normally used to remove crash victims from wrecked vehicles to cut through the machine's walls and plastic tub.

The child cried and screamed at times while stuck but was calm once he was freed, Mossor said.

A hospital looked him over then released him, and he was given a stuffed bear which the family has named Agitator.

Student's mouth-to-muzzle saves tiger cub

A German medical student got some unexpected practical experience at the zoo when she gave the kiss of life to a baby tiger choking on a piece of meat, the zoo director said Friday.

The student was passing the enclosure with her toddler son on a visit several weeks ago when she noticed the 4-month-old tiger choking and offered her assistance to the helpless keeper, said Andreas Jacob, director of the zoo in the eastern German city of Halle.

"The tiger tried to eat a piece of meat that was too big and started choking and shaking and then fell over," the student, Janine Bauer, told MDR radio.

"We got the piece out but he wasn't breathing so I tried mouth-to-mouth and heart massage," she added. "After 3-5 minutes he came to, thank God."

The zoo, which held a ceremony Friday to thank Bauer, has decided to call the tiger Johann, after her one-year-old son.

Game researcher ducks millions in royalties

Ryuta Kawashima, the researcher behind Nintendo's Brain Age series of games for the DS portable system, would rather be working than enjoying $11 million in royalties he could have earned from his creations.

"Not a single yen has gone in my pocket," Dr. Kawashima told the AFP in a recent interview. Kawashima, whose likeness was heavily featured in the best-selling Brain Age games, is instantly recognizable to almost 12 million gamers worldwide.

Under the terms of his agreement with his employer, Tohoku University in Japan's north-east region, Kawashima was entitled to accept half the Brain Age royalties personally. Instead, he used the proceeds to help fund $6.5 million in construction projects on Tohoku's campus.

"My hobby is work," he said. "Everyone in my family is mad at me but I tell them that if they want money, go out and earn it."

Kawashima, who strictly monitors his teenage sons' gaming time, is currently working on a four-year project to study brain development in children. He's also cooperating with Toyota to develop a car designed to keep elderly drivers alert.

This 'blue marble' image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date, using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer of Earth. A U.S. intelligence satellite has lost power and could fall to Earth sometime in February or March, a government official said on Saturday.

Jaxon Thomas, son of New England Patriots' David Thomas, is positioned for a photo before the Super Bowl XLII football game between the Patriots and New York Giants at University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008 in Glendale, Ariz.

Oui the frog sits on a miniature motorcycle in the eastern beach town of Pattaya January 10, 2008. Oui's owner says Oui loves playing with human toys and posing for photographs.

Give Your Valentine Blue Roses

TOKYO (AFP) - Think that red roses are predictable? In Japan, gift-givers soon will also have the option of blue roses.

The Japanese company that created the world's first genetically modified blue roses said Monday it will start selling them next year.

Suntory Ltd., also a major whisky distiller, hopes to sell several hundred thousand blue roses a year, company spokesman Kazumasa Nishizaki said.

"As its price may be a bit high, we are targeting demand for luxurious cut flowers, such as for gifts," he said. The exact price and commercial name for the blue rose have not been decided.

The company is also growing the rose experimentally in Australia and the United States to get approval for sales, but no timing has been set for commercial launches in the two countries.

Suntory in 2004 unveiled the world's first genetically modified blue rose after 14 years of study which also involved Australian researchers.

It created the flowers by implanting the gene that leads to the synthesis of the blue pigment Delphinidin in pansies. The pigment does not exist naturally in roses.