Game For A Laugh

A 24-year-old devotee of Sri Yoga Narasimhar Temple in Sholinghur drowned in the temple tank in the early hours of Thursday.

The deceased was identified as Mouneesh of Kudamaloor in Kerala. Mouneesh, his elder brother Sudeendra and a friend Prateep had come to the temple by car. After reaching Sholinghur, the trio went to take a bath in the tank. Mouneesh, who did not know swimming, drowned in the tank despite attempts by his brother and friend to save him. The incident took place around 6.30 am, said the police.

Get Carter

For centuries, ancient Egyptian society, with its advanced technology, fascinating culture and unique traditions and practices, has enchanted amateurs and Egyptologists alike. While the pyramids, tombs, hieroglyphics and names of some pharaohs are recognized around the world, perhaps the best-known of the ancient god-kings is Tutankhamun - popularly referred to as "King Tut" - who was said to have died around the age of 18. His tomb, prepared with a treasure trove of afterlife necessities, was discovered, nearly intact, in 1922 by the British self-taught Egyptologist Sir Howard Carter.

Tutankhamun was born as Tutankhaten to Akhenaten and his sister and wife around 1341 BC. Their only male child, he is said to have changed his name around 1333 BC and to have married his half-sister, Ankhesenpaaten, with whom he had two stillborn daughters. In 1922, Carter discovered the mummies of these two children, along with approximately 1,000 other objects, inside Tutankhamun's tomb. Carter's discovery of the tomb, the first known contact with the former pharaoh since his death, is a vital part of the "Tutankhamun: His Tomb and Treasures" exhibition currently on display at Výstaviště in Prague 7 until the end of June.

Framingham

An Ashland woman was drunk when she tried to run over her boyfriend, kicked two police officers and repeatedly exposed her chest to them, authorities said.

Hopkinton Police arrested Kelly A. Gingras, who is also known as Kelly A. Love, at 4:30 p.m., after a 911 call reported that a woman in a Jeep was trying to run over a man, a police report filed in Framingham District Court on Thursday said.

The man, Gingras' boyfriend, said she tried to run him over after they had an argument. At one point, he said he ran behind a house to get away from her, and she drove across the lawn chasing after him.

"He (the boyfriend) said he was afraid for his life," the report said. "He said, 'She was trying to kill me.' He said, 'It's not like you see on TV. I'm still shaking.' "

When officers arrived, Gingras left. Officers searched for her, and a few minutes later found her parked at the boyfriend's mother's house on Hayden Rowe Street.

Police asked Gingras about the allegations. She denied them and said she had been sleeping on the couch since 10 a.m., the report said. However, the boyfriend's mother said Gingras was lying and had arrived less than 10 minutes before police arrived.

Read more: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x776191189/Hopkinton-cops-Woman-tried-to-run-over-boyfriend-kicked-cops#ixzz2TWxzpthi

Nineteen

Nineteen-year-old Rukhsana, who killed a Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Abu Osama in September this year, will be awarded Rs.2.5 lakh and a job with the Jammu and Kashmir Police for her bravery, authorities said Tuesday.

Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda made the announcement at a police function in the border district headquarters of Rajouri.

He said a job will also be given to younger brother Aijaz and her uncle who had assisted her in killing the terrorist.

Rukhsana shot to the limelight when on Sep 27 she killed LT terrorist Osama, who had barged into her house in Rajouri district, 180 km north of Jammu.

Mongoose

The newest public health threat in Africa, scientists have found, is coming from a previously unknown source: the banded mongoose.

Leptospirosis, the disease is called. And the banded mongoose carries it.

Leptospirosis is the world's most common illness transmitted to humans by animals. It's a two-phase disease that begins with flu-like symptoms. If untreated, it can cause meningitis, liver damage, pulmonary hemorrhage, renal failure and death.

"The problem in Botswana and much of Africa is that leptospirosis may remain unidentified in animal populations but contribute to human disease, possibly misdiagnosed as other diseases such as malaria," said disease ecologist Kathleen Alexander of Virginia Tech.

With a grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Coupled Natural and Human Systems Program, Alexander and colleagues found that the banded mongoose in Botswana is infected with Leptospira interrogans, the pathogen that causes leptospirosis.

Coupled Natural and Human Systems is part of NSF's Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability investment and is supported by NSF's Directorates for Biological Sciences; Geosciences; and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences.

"The transmission of infectious diseases from wildlife to humans represents a serious and growing public health risk due to increasing contact between humans and animals," said Alan Tessier, program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology. "This study identified an important new avenue for the spread of leptospirosis."

Gulag

One of the two jailed members of Russian political opposition group Pussy Riot has said she is in solitary confinement after receiving death threats from other prisoners.

Maria Alyokhina, who with Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was imprisoned for performing a pro-gay, anti-Vladimir Putin song in a Moscow cathedral for two years, has revealed the harsh conditions where she is serving her sentence.

A third member of the group was also sentenced but released on appeal.

Speaking to an opposition newspaper, she said 'the essence' of the threats was 'if you remain in this unit you are dead', Yahoo.com reported.

Imprisoned at Corrective Labour Colony No 28 in the Perm Region, Alyokhina said she was 'the only one who went to rights activists, representatives of [Russia's] Public Monitoring Commissions' watchdogs.

Unseated

A huntsman died after he was unseated by his horse and dragged into a tree with his foot caught in the stirrup, an inquest heard.

Gary Bradley, a whipper-in with Minehead Harriers, suffered multiple injuries in the accident and later died in hospital.

The 55-year-old’s family raised concerns about his treatment in hospital following the incident at the hearing in Taunton on Tuesday.

However, West Somerset coroner Michael Rose ruled hospital staff had acted correctly.

The inquest at the Old Municipal Buildings heard how Mr Bradley, of Timberscombe, had been riding on a hunt in Blagdon Wood when his horse ducked to avoid a gate and partially unseated him before dragging him down a steep embankment.