A 30-year-old woman from Perth in West Australia came across a lottery ticket worth $13 million after she decided to check a bundle of old lottery tickets in a drawer, media reports said Thursday.
The woman, a university student, was unaware that she had been making headlines for almost a year as the winner of the region's largest unclaimed Lotto prize.
She decided to check several unchecked lottery tickets that she had kept in a cupboard drawer as she and her family were experiencing financial troubles. The winning ticket was a birthday present from her father, and was valid until July 22, 2009.
'I woke up this morning worried about our finances. Something made me think to check the tickets and I thought that if I win something, then I could help Mum and Dad out,' the woman, who preferred to stay anonymous, told the official state lottery Lotterywest.
She initially thought that she had won about $13,000.
'I checked the commas and decimal places and then realized,' she said.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
3 Year old Girl in coma wakes up singing Mamma Mia!
three-year-old girl fell into a coma after being struck down by meningitis, but stunned her family when she woke up five days later - singing Abba hit Mamma Mia.
Layla Towsey was so ill after getting the brain bug she had been put on a life support machine.
The little girl's family was told to give her a final kiss goodbye when she fell into coma.
However, it was far from the final curtain for Layla, who regain consciousness singing Abba tune.
"We had been preparing for bad news as the life support machine was keeping her alive. But on the Sunday I could hear her singing Mamma Mia quietly. I couldn't believe it. I knew then she would be OK," the Sun quoted Layla's mum Katy as saying.
Layla, from Gidea Park, East London, had learned the song after seeing the Mamma Mia! movie. She has now made a good recovery, with just scars on her legs from blood poisoning.
"It's one of her favourite songs - she loves it. She got as close to death as you can get. She's a miracle," Katy added.Monday, March 10, 2008
Britain makes camera that "sees" under clothes
A British company has developed a camera that can detect weapons, drugs or explosives hidden under people's clothes from up to 25 meters away in what could be a breakthrough for the security industry.
The T5000 camera, created by a company called ThruVision, uses what it calls "passive imaging technology" to identify objects by the natural electromagnetic rays -- known as Terahertz or T-rays -- that they emit.
The high-powered camera can detect hidden objects from up to 80 feet away and is effective even when people are moving. It does not reveal physical body details and the screening is harmless, the company says.
The technology, which has military and civilian applications and could be used in crowded airports, shopping malls or sporting events, will be unveiled at a scientific development exhibition sponsored by Britain's Home Office on March 12-13.
"Acts of terrorism have shaken the world in recent years and security precautions have been tightened globally," said Clive Beattie, the chief executive of ThruVision.
"The ability to see both metallic and non-metallic items on people out to 25 meters is certainly a key capability that will enhance any comprehensive security system."
While the technology may enhance detection, it may also increase concerns that Britain is becoming a surveillance society, with hundreds of thousands of closed-circuit television cameras already monitoring people countrywide every day.
ThruVision came up with the technology for the T5000 in collaboration with the European Space Agency and from studying research by astronomers into dying stars.
The technology works on the basis that all people and objects emit low levels of electromagnetic radiation. Terahertz rays lie somewhere between infrared and microwaves on the electromagnetic spectrum and travel through clouds and walls.
Depending on the material, the signature of the wave is different, so that explosives can be distinguished from a block of clay and cocaine is different from a bag of flour.
The T5000 camera, created by a company called ThruVision, uses what it calls "passive imaging technology" to identify objects by the natural electromagnetic rays -- known as Terahertz or T-rays -- that they emit.
The high-powered camera can detect hidden objects from up to 80 feet away and is effective even when people are moving. It does not reveal physical body details and the screening is harmless, the company says.
The technology, which has military and civilian applications and could be used in crowded airports, shopping malls or sporting events, will be unveiled at a scientific development exhibition sponsored by Britain's Home Office on March 12-13.
"Acts of terrorism have shaken the world in recent years and security precautions have been tightened globally," said Clive Beattie, the chief executive of ThruVision.
"The ability to see both metallic and non-metallic items on people out to 25 meters is certainly a key capability that will enhance any comprehensive security system."
While the technology may enhance detection, it may also increase concerns that Britain is becoming a surveillance society, with hundreds of thousands of closed-circuit television cameras already monitoring people countrywide every day.
ThruVision came up with the technology for the T5000 in collaboration with the European Space Agency and from studying research by astronomers into dying stars.
The technology works on the basis that all people and objects emit low levels of electromagnetic radiation. Terahertz rays lie somewhere between infrared and microwaves on the electromagnetic spectrum and travel through clouds and walls.
Depending on the material, the signature of the wave is different, so that explosives can be distinguished from a block of clay and cocaine is different from a bag of flour.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Man takes car on 2,000 mile test drive
An Australian who took a new car on a 3,200 km (1,988 mile) six-day test drive from the city to the outback has been arrested, police said on Thursday.
The 30-year-old convinced a car dealer in the southeastern city of Melbourne to lend him a A$40,000 ($37,000) Honda Accord sedan last Friday and drove the equivalent of London to Istanbul before he was arrested near the town of Tennant Creek, deep in the outback of the Northern Territory.
"He drove from Melbourne to Adelaide to Alice Springs," Tennant Creek police Constable James Gray-Spence told Reuters.
He said the man was arrested without incident at a road block on his way north to Darwin after he failed to pay for fuel at a hamlet.
The test drive was the longest known to Australian police and topped a 500km theft on New Zealand's South Island in 2006.
"I think we've topped that with the 3,000 km mark," Gray-Spence said.
Melbourne car yard owner Ian McKenzie said the man would have had to have been in the car all day, every day to reach Tennant Creek.
"He seemed a legitimate gentleman. He stood at the desk right in front of a camera. He wasn't afraid of being photographed or videoed," McKenzie told the Herald Sun newspaper.
The man was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of property and will appear in court on Thursday.
The 30-year-old convinced a car dealer in the southeastern city of Melbourne to lend him a A$40,000 ($37,000) Honda Accord sedan last Friday and drove the equivalent of London to Istanbul before he was arrested near the town of Tennant Creek, deep in the outback of the Northern Territory.
"He drove from Melbourne to Adelaide to Alice Springs," Tennant Creek police Constable James Gray-Spence told Reuters.
He said the man was arrested without incident at a road block on his way north to Darwin after he failed to pay for fuel at a hamlet.
The test drive was the longest known to Australian police and topped a 500km theft on New Zealand's South Island in 2006.
"I think we've topped that with the 3,000 km mark," Gray-Spence said.
Melbourne car yard owner Ian McKenzie said the man would have had to have been in the car all day, every day to reach Tennant Creek.
"He seemed a legitimate gentleman. He stood at the desk right in front of a camera. He wasn't afraid of being photographed or videoed," McKenzie told the Herald Sun newspaper.
The man was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a motor vehicle and unlawful possession of property and will appear in court on Thursday.
Dead rodent stops operation
A patient was told there was no reason why he couldn't have surgery in a hospital, despite the smell caused by a dead rodent trapped in the building's ceiling.
Andrew Cowper was due to have an operation at the Queen Elizabeth II hospital in Hertfordshire when staff "were made aware of a dead rodent in the single storey unit's roof space," the hospital said in a statement.
The hospital said its experts concluded that the dead animal was outside the operating theater and posed no risk.
But "despite being told that the trust's infection control experts had stated that Mr Cowper was not being exposed to an infection risk, he decided not to proceed with the operation," it said.
Cowper, 19, told the Sun newspaper he had waited 11 months for the operation, and the doctor told him he could go ahead despite the stench.
"He said the smell didn't represent a health risk, but I was appalled," Cowper said. "I asked him: 'If you were me, would you have the operation?' He looked at me and said 'no', so I decided there and then I wasn't going to go ahead."
Andrew Cowper was due to have an operation at the Queen Elizabeth II hospital in Hertfordshire when staff "were made aware of a dead rodent in the single storey unit's roof space," the hospital said in a statement.
The hospital said its experts concluded that the dead animal was outside the operating theater and posed no risk.
But "despite being told that the trust's infection control experts had stated that Mr Cowper was not being exposed to an infection risk, he decided not to proceed with the operation," it said.
Cowper, 19, told the Sun newspaper he had waited 11 months for the operation, and the doctor told him he could go ahead despite the stench.
"He said the smell didn't represent a health risk, but I was appalled," Cowper said. "I asked him: 'If you were me, would you have the operation?' He looked at me and said 'no', so I decided there and then I wasn't going to go ahead."
Fortune cookies help cops nab suspect
TULSA, Okla. - Two fortune cookies helped Tulsa police make an arrest after a pair of break-ins Chinese restaurants. Terrence Middleton, 30, was booked Friday on charges of second-degree burglary and attempted second-degree burglary after police responded to a burglar alarm to find him with more than $20 in coins and the cookies in his pockets, Officer Leland Ashley said.
Middleton was being held on $15,000 bond.
Ashley said police were able to link Middleton to the Asian Express that was robbed because he had possession of the same type of fortune cookies that were at the restaurant.
The alarm went off at the Asian Express about 14 minutes after one sounded at the Chinese Chef Restaurant down the street Thursday night, Ashley said.
When officers arrived, both restaurants had their front doors broken. At the second restaurant, the cash register had been pulled open.
Minutes later, officers stopped Middleton, who was walking down the street, and he dropped various coins and a prison identification card, Ashley said.
Ashley said it appeared there was nothing stolen from the first restaurant, and all that was missing from the second restaurant was $20 in change — and the fortune cookies.
Middleton was being held on $15,000 bond.
Ashley said police were able to link Middleton to the Asian Express that was robbed because he had possession of the same type of fortune cookies that were at the restaurant.
The alarm went off at the Asian Express about 14 minutes after one sounded at the Chinese Chef Restaurant down the street Thursday night, Ashley said.
When officers arrived, both restaurants had their front doors broken. At the second restaurant, the cash register had been pulled open.
Minutes later, officers stopped Middleton, who was walking down the street, and he dropped various coins and a prison identification card, Ashley said.
Ashley said it appeared there was nothing stolen from the first restaurant, and all that was missing from the second restaurant was $20 in change — and the fortune cookies.
Angry wife accused of burning 400 phones
BEIJING - A spurned Chinese wife set fire to more than 400 cell phones owned by her and her husband after he walked out on their marriage, a news agency reported Friday. The official Xinhua News Agency said the 37-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Wang, was arrested for arson.
The couple had owned a successful retail phone business in Weifang, the eastern province of Shandong. However, their shaky relationship hit rock bottom when her husband left her on March 3, the news agency reported, citing the local Qilu Evening News.
Overcome with despair, the woman gathered up their entire stock of more than 400 new mobile phones, reportedly valued at more than 300,000 yuan ($42,000), and set them on fire, before walking out of the house, the report said.
Neighbors who saw smoke coming from the house called firefighters, who quickly extinguished the blaze.
The couple had owned a successful retail phone business in Weifang, the eastern province of Shandong. However, their shaky relationship hit rock bottom when her husband left her on March 3, the news agency reported, citing the local Qilu Evening News.
Overcome with despair, the woman gathered up their entire stock of more than 400 new mobile phones, reportedly valued at more than 300,000 yuan ($42,000), and set them on fire, before walking out of the house, the report said.
Neighbors who saw smoke coming from the house called firefighters, who quickly extinguished the blaze.
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