Motorist runs out of gas, practices drums at side of interstate

Police said a man who ran out of gas on the interstate decided to set up his drum set and practice until help arrived.

A state police spokeswoman said troopers spotted the man playing his drums on the shoulder of Interstate 695 in Baltimore around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and stopped to talk to him, The Baltimore Sun reported Wednesday.

The man told troopers he had run out of gas and decided to practice his drums until help arrived, the spokeswoman said.

The man's vehicle was refueled by a State Highway Administration truck and the drummer was sent on his way without a citation, the spokeswoman said.

Teacher suspended for sleeping in class

The Broward County (Fla.) School Board suspended a high school science teacher for two days without pay for allegedly falling asleep during class time.

The board issued the suspension Tuesday to Patrick Geller, 42, a science teacher at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, after students snapped photos of him taking a short nap during a class period, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Wednesday.

Geller told the school board he had been exhausted due to being up most of the night with a sleepless infant.

The board ruled he failed to supervise his students and disrupted learning in the classroom, and suspended him for misconduct in office and incompetence.

"People make mistakes but it's a safety issue," said Gracie Diaz, the district's chief human resource officer. "There's more intense pressure on educators."

Geller, who has been with the district since 2002, has the option of appealing the suspension before an administrative judge.

Prosecutor in Berlusconi sex trial receives mail with bullets

The prosecutor in former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's sex trial has received a series of anonymous letters of threats, including one with two bullets, Milan's chief prosecutor said on Thursday.

The letters against Ilda Boccassini have become more frequent since she requested a six-year jail sentence and a lifetime ban on holding public office for Berlusconi, Edmondo Bruti Liberati said.

"In the last few weeks there has been a crescendo of anonymous letters containing serious threats against Boccassini, including one yesterday containing two bullets," Bruti Liberati said in a statement.

On May 13, Boccassini requested the jail sentence and public office ban for Berlusconi, who is charged with paying for sex with a Moroccan night-club dancer when she was a minor and abusing his office to have her released from police custody.

In a six-hour-long closing argument, Boccassini said the so-called "bunga bunga" parties at villa of the 76-year old billionaire media tycoon involved a "system of organized prostitution." Berlusconi has denied the charges.

The verdict is expected on June 24.

Mother Abandons Day old Baby

An innocent day-old baby girl found abandoned by an unknown person was discovered at Funmilayo Bus Stop in Orille-agege area of Lagos State Nigeria on Tuesday May 21st, 2013 has been rescued by Good Samaritans.



The baby who was reportedly wrapped with a dirty Ankara wrapper and dumped in front of a shop owned by a foodstuff seller, Mrs. Adeola Adefenwa, at 194, Ipaja Road, Orile, at dawn, was rescued by some human right activists from Committee for the Defence of Human Right, CDHR, and Concerned Human Right, Nigeria.

The baby was taken to Orile-Agege General Hospital, Oke-Odo where she was given adequate medical care and later transferred to Elere Police Station, Agege.

After some documentation at the police station, she was handed over to Sister Josephine Titiloye of the Catholic Archdiocesan Orphanage, St. Monica's Home at 1, Victor Odunaiya Street, Off Agbado Road, Iju-Ishaga, Lagos.

Before the human right activists came to the rescue of the baby, people thronged the scene of the incident to have a look at the abandoned baby.

Most of them rained curses on the mother of the baby who dumped her to her fate. Some referred to the mother as a heartless woman, who despite the pain of pregnancy and childbirth, could leave her baby to die.

While some were busy taking the pictures of the baby and posting them on the social media, others stood helplessly watching the baby struggle inside the dirty wrapper she was wrapped in.

The residents of the area said that it is common to see babies, sometimes twins, being dumped inside Mulero canal around the area. They added that while some are washed away by flood, some are left to die inside the scorching sun.

Speaking with P.M.NEWS, Mrs Adefenwa, said: "I was doing the house chores when a call came in from a neighbour who said a new born baby has been dumped in front of my shop. I had to abandon everything I was doing and rushed down there.

"In fact, I was confused when I got to my shop. I didn't know what to do immediately and people started offering different suggestions. Some said I should call the police while some came up with different ideas.

"We were on this when some human right activists came in and suggested that we should first take her to the hospital and then proceed to a police station to report the case," she said.

A member of the CDHR, Blessing Igwe, who saw the baby and later called the shop owner, said it was unfortunate that people who were at the scene of the incident did not show concern about the health of the baby but were busy taking pictures of her and posting them on the social network.

"If I was not around to quickly call my people to come to the rescue of the child, maybe she would have been dead by now. When I saw people gathered at the scene, I moved closer to have a glimpse of what was happening. Immediately I saw the hapless baby, I called the shop owner and other activists in the area to come to her aid," she said.

Speaking with P.M.NEWS, the human right activist who took the baby to Orile-Agege General Hospital, Comrade Declan Ihekaire, National Coordinator, Concerned Human Right Nigeria, commended the management of the hospital for their quick response in attending to the baby immediately she was taken there for medical attention.

Ihekaire also commended them for the provision of free drugs and clothes for the baby who was left unkempt where she was abandoned.

He, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the way the people at the scene of the incident handled the case, saying that they were more concerned about taking the pictures of the baby rather than keeping her alive.

"Nigerians should understand that in this kind of situation, saving the life of the baby is more important than taking photographs and posting them on the social media," he said.

I regret sending my children abroad to study- Ex Minister

A former Minister of Works, Chief Adeseye Ogunlewe, said he regrets sending his children to study abroad and advised wealthy Nigerians to desist from the trend.

Ogunlewe, who was a minister under the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, weekend, said he struggled to meet with the financial obligations of that decision and realized it was not worthwhile.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who is now the pro-chancellor of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, opened up on his frustrations when the institution�s Alumni Association paid him a visit in his Lagos Ogudu residence.

Mr. Ogunlewe said he had to pay his children�s tuition �through the nose� and added that the transportation cost alone for his wards was enough to see them through their education back home.

The former minister said, the reduction of tuition fees in federal institutions by President Goodluck Jonathan is a welcome development and will be a huge relief to many parents and guardians.

Mr. Ogunlewe therefore enjoined leaders and other well-to-dos in the country to desist from sending their wards abroad for academic purposes.

Two students dead in OOU protest

Following the ongoing protest about the new introduced policies.

The armed police men came in the numbers as directed by the vice chancellor Prof. Saburi and Gov. Of Ogun state Sen. Ibikunle Amosun and started shooting sporadically at the student whom were conducting their protest peacefully.

Several students, including the university's student union president have been arrested and taken to Ijebu-Igbo.

So far two students have been shot with several others stranded in the bush of Ago Iwoye.

However, the cause of the protest could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report.

Details later

Scientists in Glasgow have discovered a low-cost way to create 3D images.

A projector displays patterned light on the face on a mannequin. These patterns are used to produce a 2D image. A 3D image is then formed using a technique called "shape from shade"

Their system uses detectors which have a single pixel to sense light instead of the millions of pixels used in the imaging sensors of digital cameras.

The detectors can "see" frequencies beyond visible light, which researchers say could open up new uses for 3D imaging in medicine and geography.

They said the single-pixel detectors cost "a few pounds" compared to current systems, which cost "thousands".

It is hoped that the system's ability to senses wavelengths far beyond the capability of digital cameras and its low cost, could make it a valuable tool for a wide range of industries.

Researchers said possible uses could range from locating oil to helping doctors find tumours.

Crossword patterns

Prof Miles Padgett led the team at University of Glasgow's School of Physics and Astronomy, which developed the technique.

He said: "Single-pixel detectors in four different locations are used to detect light from a data projector, which illuminates objects with a rapidly-shifting sequence of black-and-white patterns similar to crossword puzzles.

"When more of the white squares of these patterns overlap with the object, the intensity of the light reflected back to the detectors is higher.

"A series of projected patterns and the reflected intensities are used in a computer algorithm to produce a 2D image."

He said a 3D image was then created by combining images from the four detectors using a well-known technique called "shape from shade".

This 3D computational imaging, or ghost imaging produces detailed images of objects in just a few seconds.

Conventional 3D imaging systems uses multiple digital camera sensors to produce a 3D image from 2D information.

Careful calibration is required to ensure the multi-megapixel images align correctly.

Beyond the visible

Prof Padgett said: "Our single-pixel system creates images with a similar degree of accuracy without the need for such detailed calibration."

Lead author on the paper Baoqing Sun said: "It might seem a bit counter-intuitive to think that more information can be captured from a detector which uses just a single pixel rather than the multi-megapixel detectors found in conventional digital cameras.

"However, digital camera sensors have a very limited sensitivity beyond the spectrum of visible light, whereas a single-pixel detector can easily be made to capture information far beyond the visible, reaching wavelengths from X-ray to TeraHertz."

The team's paper, 3D Computational Imaging with Single-Pixel Detectors, is published in the journal, Science.

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