■ Germany
Fan counters foul with karate
A 42-year-old German man was so enraged by a foul during a boys' soccer match that he invaded the pitch and felled the eight-year-old culprit with a karate kick, then jumped on him, police said on Wednesday. "It seems likely the man was related to the player who was fouled, but it's not entirely clear at this point," a spokesman for police in the southwestern town of Hassloch said. Other spectators, mostly parents of the children playing in the indoor match, piled in behind the angry spectator to restrain him and prevent any serious injuries to the boy.
■ United States
Missing words mystify Mint
In God We Trust. In machines? Not so much. An unknown number of new US$1 coins bearing the image of George Washington are missing the words "In God We Trust" and other lettering along the edges, the US Mint said on Wednesday. The Mint released more than 300 million gold-colored, George Washington US$1 coins last month, but it recently discovered a problem. The coins, made by the Philadelphia Mint, were supposed to have the inscriptions "In God We Trust," "E Pluribus Unum," the date and the mint mark around the edge. It is unclear how the mistake occurred or how many of the coins are in circulation.
■ Mexico
Hitman's corpse stolen
Gunmen stormed into a cemetery in southern Mexico and stole the buried corpse of a suspected drug gang hitman killed days earlier in a shootout, officials said on Thursday. The four armed men broke into the graveyard in the town of Poza Rica, Veracruz state, on Tuesday night, tied up a security guard, smashed Roberto Carlos Carmona's gravestone with hammers and made off with the coffin containing his corpse.
■ United States
Transsexual fights for job
A Florida local official facing dismissal after going public with plans to pursue a sex-change operation said on Thursday he planned to fight to keep his job. A courier delivered City Manager Steve Stanton's appeal on Thursday to Largo City officials. The City Commission that voted 5-2 last week to begin the process of firing him must now hold another public hearing so he can make a final appeal to keep the job he has held for 14 years. "I want to get my job back," Stanton said. "I'm good at it. I miss it. I miss my friends and I miss this community." Stanton is currently on paid leave from his US$140,000-a-year job. The commission voted to remove Stanton a week after he confirmed that he was a transsexual.
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