Tiny Planet

China has executed the leader of a bogus scheme for breeding ants to make aphrodisiacs that conned investors out of 3 billion yuan ($439m, €346m).

Stop laughing that the guy’s name is Wang.

While the world continues to cheer the election of Barack Obama as president of the world’s most powerful democracy, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck has been anointed king of the world’s newest, Bhutan.

Apparently you can accidentally steal a car.

Gorillas need surgery too.

Companies are turning to blogging as a way of reporting layoffs, rather than letting them get picked up by the traditional media.

It’s a beard off!

Cleantech is growing in silicon valley.

The Mars lander is guestblogging on Gizmodo

The journey so far… in numbers (Kathy Foley)

My Saks spree: How to spend $150,000 like Palin (Slate, chosen more for its oddness than me having an interesting in such shopping )

Is this the most eco-friendly car innovation since the hybrid? (Treehugger)

Leukemia drug halts, reverses MS (AFP)

New car targets 1,000mph record (Sky)

In Jordan, prayers for the persecuted (The National)

Fake cop busted after stopping real one (AP)

The return of micro-states? (Catholicgauze)

Dolls and toys that creep us out (Dark Roasted Blend)

X-rays made from Scotch tape (Boing Boing)

Lucy writes:

The International Police are requesting worldwide assistance in finding the man pictured above. He is charged with the sexual abuse of at least three young boys in images released on the Internet.  Interpol states:

“The man, whose name, nationality and location are unknown is featured in approximately 100 images in a series of around 800, which are believed to have been taken in Southeast Asia and depict the sexual abuse of at least three boys aged between six and 10 years old. The first pictures of the man were originally discovered by police in Norway in March 2006.”

If you’ve seen this man or know his whereabouts or identity please contact Interpol.

I almost wet myself laughing at this one:

Things went terribly wrong for a Limerick man who rushed into a bar armed with a sawn-off shotgun seeking out a particular customer but ended up in hospital after customers disarmed him and gave him a “bit of a trimming”.

The gunman was said to be in a stable condition at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital last night after being treated for serious injuries when he was beaten up by customers.

Now, I’m not advocating vigilante justice or anything of the sort, but if you walk into a pub with a shotgun and get the living tar whacked out of you, I’m going to laugh.

I hope I’m this active when I turn 70, though preferably outside a prison cell.

From 2000 to 2006, the number of older inmates soared by 160 percent, to 46,637, from 17,942, according to Japan’s National Police Agency. Shoplifting accounted for 54 percent of the total in 2006 and petty theft for 23 percent.

As a result, penitentiaries are struggling to adapt environments designed with the young in mind to a lawbreaking population that is fragile physically and often mentally.

The “hard labour” programmes involve knitting and making envelopes, while the inmates can have a lie down if they feel ill.

A recent Justice Ministry report said that older people were increasingly turning to crime out of poverty and isolation, suggesting a breakdown in traditional family and community ties. With nowhere else to go, more of the older inmates serve out their full sentences, instead of being released on parole like younger prisoners. What is more, recidivism is higher among the older inmates.

Turning to crime out of poverty is not unheard of. During the Great Famine in Ireland, many committed petty crimes in order to be jailed — because there they would be fed regularly (Cork Gaol is my reference here).

Prison life in Japan isn’t so bad, as it’s fairly non-violent. However, criminals are cut loose from their families and so don’t receive visitors. This explains the recidivism rate — it’s a place for human contact as well as a place to stay.

First OS X Trojan spotted — no need to panic just yet.

Greens means compromise. Harry’s in fine form: “As the saying goes, you say tomato, I say total and abject capitulation.”

How to educate yourself online. Sure, we’ve all been wandering the net for years, but now and then it’s good to get a refresher.

Tesco employee suspended over Facebook. He tracked a customer down and sent her naughty pictures.

And you thought you had a bad day… You didn’t get arrested after crashing your car, getting shot and stripping off.

A friend of a friend bombed Bali. That’s one way for a politician’s speech to make the papers.

Japan may track defence officials using GPS.

His name is Robert Stewart, he has admitted sexual breach of the peace and has been placed on the sex offenders’ register. He was in a hostel bedroom which was unlocked by cleaners who caught him copulating with the bike.

Richard Alleyne of The Daily Telegraph notes that this is not the first time somebody has been convicted of sex with an inanimate object — an electrician was done in 1993 for having sex with pavements.

Bryony Gordon muses:

He was in his hostel room at the time, behind locked doors (staff went in when they got no response from him). It was between him and the bicycle. I’m not sure I would have called the police had I caught him riding his bike [as the hostel manager did]; probably I would have just screamed and run away and then think that maybe he was just confused by somebody who had told him that the local bike would sleep with anyone.

From the International Herald Tribune:

The independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper and Russian prosecutors know the identity of the man who killed Anna Politkovskaya, the newspaper’s correspondent who was slain in a contract-style killing last year, according to the newspaper’s editor and a special report.

But the identity of the person who ordered the killing has not been determined and the man who shot Politkovskaya has not been found and arrested, the editor said. He added that more time was needed to investigate the case.

The special report is apparently “not a full disclosure of what the editors know”. The paper is working with police on the case, although I have my doubts the authorities have the will to catch the guy.

The newspaper’s editor in chief Dmitry Muratov said: “My main task is not to give interviews and to write stories. I want the bastards in jail.”

Me too. Take ‘em down.

The small farm and the cow. The man continues to inspire. (Paul Coehlo)

Tapes released of Simpson in Vegas. If these tapes are accurate Simpson is quite possibly the dumbest man in existence. (AP)

Ramadan’s peaceful roots.  (James Carroll/International Herald Tribune)

NY attorney general investigating energy companies. He’s probing if investors were given enough information about the financial risks of CO2 emissions of five firms’ future coal-power plants. (Earth2Tech)

Rule change favours Pakistan’s Musharraf. Seems he’ll be able to seek a new term as president while still head of the army. Slimy bollix. (AP)

Belgium to split? A division into Walloon and Flemish regions is looking more and more likely. (Catholicgauze)

Wallonie-sur-Mer. While we’re on the subject of Belgium, what the country would look like if the Flemish part was submerged, leaving only French-speaking areas. Plus an interesting few facts on how many governments the nation has. (Strange Maps)