■ MEXICO
‘Good Samaritan’ robbed
A driver got himself into a sticky situation when he pulled over to help a woman whose pickup appeared to have broken down by the highway. Anadel Carrizales was driving on Wednesday near Monterrey when a blonde woman in a black miniskirt motioned for him to pull over. Once he had stopped, the woman walked up and told him an accomplice was pointing a gun at him, said David Perales, a spokesman for state investigators. She then tied him up with packing tape, super-glued his hands to the steering wheel of his truck and demanded money. Carrizales didn’t have any cash, but the woman took his credit cards and fled. With his motor still running and his hands glued to the wheel, Carrizales managed to drive a few kilometers down the road until he found a police officer to help him.
■ NETHERLANDS
No home for ex-alderwoman
A former businesswoman of the year who later served as alderwoman of the city of Rotterdam was found to be homeless after checking herself in at a local night shelter, the daily newspaper Metro reported on Thursday. Rabella de Faria has lived on the streets most of this year but is now staying with friends, Rotterdam city councilor Driesch Mosch told Metro. De Faria, 48, was the city’s alderwoman for security and public health between 2002 and 2004. After her resignation as alderwoman in 2004, de Faria could not find a new job. She lost her home after her husband divorced her.
■ GERMANY
Boy crashes teacher’s car
An eight-year-old schoolboy who wanted to complain to his mother about being sent out of class took his teacher’s car and crashed it, police said. The boy, banished from class for disrupting a lesson, pinched the 40-year-old teacher’s car key when she was not looking and managed to start up her compact car, accelerating and putting the vehicle into first gear. “The little fellow drove for about 25m before crashing into a Volvo, also parked in the car park outside the school,” a police spokesman in the city of Zwickau said on Thursday.
■ UNITED STATES
‘Pumpkin’ moves to Disney
Better to be the main attraction than the main dish. “Pumpkin” the turkey was honored as the grand marshal of Disneyland’s Thanksgiving Day parade on Thursday, a day after being pardoned by President George W. Bush at the White House. The 20kg tom and National Turkey Federation chairman Paul Hill then flew first-class from Washington to Los Angeles. After the parade, Pumpkin and his backup bird, “Pecan,” moved into their winter residence next to the theme park’s seasonal display of live reindeer. The two turkeys will live out their days at a coop for celebrity turkeys at Disney’s Big Thunder Ranch.
■ IRAN
Court orders man be blinded
A man who blinded a woman with acid after she spurned his marriage proposals will also be blinded with acid under the nation’s Islamic law, the Etemad-e Melli newspaper said on Thursday. The court made the ruling on Wednesday based on the system of qisas, or fair retribution, Etemad-e Melli said. The man identified as Majid proposed several times but was spurned by the woman, identified as Ameneh, it said. In revenge, he threw acid in her face as she left her work in 2004, it said. Ameneh traveled to Spain for surgery to reconstruct her face but efforts to restore her sight failed. On return from Spain, she asked the court for retribution, the newspaper said.
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