These are recent news stories that have taken place recently in different parts of the world:


Bunch of keys saves businessman from kidnapper's bullet

A businessman has been saved from a kidnapper's bullet by a bunch of keys in his pocket.

The lucky escape happened outside his office in central Calcutta after an armed gang stormed in and abducted him.

A police van was passing as they bungled Bidyut Chakrabarty into the street and stopped to investigate.

One of the gang fired at the businessman as they fled, but the bullet ricocheted harmless off the keys in his jacket pocket.

A local police chief has described his escape as a miracle.

Police are still hunting the gang. They had been demanding cash not to kidnap Mr Chakrabarty in telephone threats for several days.

The officer-in-charge, Abhranta Majumder, said: "We have been stunned by this fact of a man being saved from a bullet by a bunch of keys. It is a sheer miracle."

Mr Chakrabarty said: "I cannot believe that I am alive and the keys in my pocket saved my life from a bullet."

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I think Kennys needs one of these...



Greek inventor produces earthquake-proof bed

A Greek inventor has built an earthquake-proof bed.

Giorgos Kondodimas' creation turns into a protective cage when a latch is released and the headboard pulled.

He hopes to have a single bed on sale for about $300 by the end of the year, and is working on a double bed version.

Kondodimas also has plans to produce an earthquake-proof couch, crib and school desk.

The bed is equipped with survival essentials stored inside one of the legs - cookies, bottled water, a whistle, a bag to hold urine and a dynamo-powered flashlight.

"This can take anything... It doesn't break," Kondodimas said as a worker dropped a five-ton pile of slate onto the bed's frame.

"People always talk about the new buildings and ways of making them safer. But what about the old buildings? There doesn't seem to be anything planned for them," he added.

Kondodimas is marketing his quake bed in Greece, which is riddled with fault lines. If successful, he has his sights set on other quake-prone nations such as Italy and Turkey.

When a quake hits, the person in bed releases a catch and pulls the headboard, which joins with the metal footboard to form a cage-like barrier. An opening at one side of the bed provides room to crawl out.

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Urine attack on ABM

A man in Germany urinated into an ABM which wouldn't give him any money.

Police in Offenbach say the machine was badly damaged during the late night incident.

Officers traced the offender through security camera footage which filmed the whole thing.

The unnamed 23 year-old had been trying to withdraw 10 euros which is about £6.40.

The transaction was prevented because there was no money left in his account. So he took revenge by peeing into it.

Offenbach police spokesman Rudolf Neu told Spiegel magazine: "As his attempted withdrawal was so well documented, it was easy for us to trace him."

The man now faces charges for causing damage to property and can expect to pay around £2,890 to repair the damage.

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Boy tries to rob shop of porn mag

A 13-year-old boy in West Virginia held up a shop and demanded a porn magazine.

The boy asked for the magazine but then pulled a handgun when the female manager refused.

He fled empty-handed when Ellie Masters shouted at him to get out of the store.

The Charleston Daily Mail reports the boy was arrested about 10 minutes later.

Ellie, of Martinsburg, said: "I think I scared - pardon my French - the living hell out of him. But it worked."


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Strip Club Sued over Wheelchair Access


WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - A quadriplegic sued a Florida strip club because he could not get his wheelchair into its lap-dancing room, his lawyer said on Monday.
Edward Law of Orlando sued the Wildside Adult Sports Cabaret in U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach last month, claiming the club violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by excluding him from restrooms, the bar area and the private rooms where dancers offer more-intimate entertainment.

An official with the nightclub said he could not immediately comment on the lawsuit.

Law, who filed a separate suit against another Palm Beach club on similar claims, alleged the Wildside's lap-dancing room, separate from the main showroom at the club, was accessible only by a short flight of stairs.

The lawsuit also said the club had no parking for the disabled, its restrooms were inaccessible and its stage was too high, blocking Law's view of the dancers from his wheelchair.

"The big thing is that there are private rooms upstairs and he can't get into them," said Law's lawyer, Anthony Brady of Camden, New Jersey.

The Americans With Disabilities Act was designed to ensure that disabled people have access to businesses, transportation and other public facilities.

U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, a Florida Republican who has introduced legislation to limit ADA-related lawsuits by giving businesses 90 days to comply with the disabilities act, issued a statement on Monday that sharply criticized Brady.

He said the lawsuit was "a bigger flop than (the movies) 'Striptease' and 'Showgirls."'

"The disabled community should be outraged over the hijacking of a law meant to protect their interests, not lawyers' assets," Foley said.

"I'm shocked that a Republican congressman would support the sex industry," Brady said in response.