06.24.03:::
Great White Shark Gatecrashes Tuna Dinner Party

A Great White Shark has gatecrashed a tuna research project in Australia, mysteriously appearing inside a fishing pen containing around 100 tuna. The 13-foot shark, weighing about 1,500 pounds, is thought to have either bitten its way into the tuna pond or leapt a 7.5 foot electrified fence while chasing a seal last Thursday.

Scientists at the pen off the coast of the South Australian tuna fishing town of Port Lincoln said Tuesday the shark had swum contently around the pen, but they were not sure how the tuna felt about their uninvited guest.

A head count of the tuna showed two had disappeared.

"When the shark swims to the surface the tuna swim to the bottom of the net and vice versa," said a spokesman for the South Australian Research Development Institute.

The scientists, who are studying tuna feeding, said they eventually coaxed the Great White from the cage by using a net to funnel it out through underwater gates.

06.09.03:::
Woman Kills Man with Her High-Heeled Shoe

A stormy relationship ended up on a Brooklyn street in the early hours of Saturday when a 220 pound woman sat on her ex-boyfriend's chest and clubbed him to death with her size 12 high heeled shoe, police said.

Anna Rhinehart, 40, told authorities she attacked Roosevelt Bonds, 51, in self-defense after he punched her in the mouth, knocking out her two front teeth.

The passionate struggle to the death began at 3 a.m. Saturday when Bonds saw Rhinehart at a restaurant with another man, police said.

"There was a dispute between them and the man was struck in the head and body with a blunt instrument," police spokeswoman Det. Carolyn Chew said.

Rhinehart was charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon. "It was her shoe," Det. Chew said.

05.12.03:::
Official Trapped in Car After Computer Fails

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Security guards smashed their way into an official limousine with sledgehammers on Monday to rescue Thailand's finance minister after his car's computer failed.

Suchart Jaovisidha and his driver were trapped inside the BMW for more than 10 minutes before guards broke a window. All doors and windows had locked automatically when the computer crashed, and the air-conditioning stopped, officials said.

'We could hardly breathe for over 10 minutes,' Suchart told reporters. 'It took my guard a long time to realize that we really wanted the window smashed so that we could crawl out. It was a harrowing experience.'

02.03.03:::
Punxsutawney Phil Forecasts More Winter

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (Reuters) - The weather-prognosticating groundhog known as Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow during the annual Groundhog Day ceremony on Sunday, signaling six more weeks of winter in North America.

The chubby rodent, said to dine on a rich diet that includes strawberry sundaes, was hauled from his cozy burrow beneath a maple stump on Gobbler's Knob into the glare of television camera lights and cheers from hundreds of onlookers, as part of a 117-year-old ritual.

The ceremony, which dates back to 1887, stems from an ancient European superstition that winter will last another six weeks if a burrowing animal like a groundhog or a hedgehog sees its shadow on Candlemas Day, which falls on Feb. 2. No shadow means an early spring.

The Punxsutawney rodent has seen its shadow 41 times over the past 50 years. It last missed its shadow in 1999.

Sunday's prediction followed weeks of unusually cold weather in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest during January.

For the town of Punxsutawney, a rural community of 6,800 people located 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Groundhog Day is an annual tourist festival of parades, music, sleigh rides and ice carvings that can attract thousands of out-of-town visitors.

Groundhog Day has gained world notoriety in recent years, thanks mainly to the 1993 Hollywood film "Groundhog Day," starring Bill Murray. Organizers have since taken to selling groundhog souvenirs on the World Wide Web.

The 15-pound rodent, which is also known as a woodchuck, has made public appearances with President Ronald Reagan and TV talk show celebrity Oprah Winfrey.