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Seattle police are looking for a man suspected of stealing the toilet tank from a restaurant bathroom as workers at a Subway sandwich franchise prepared his family’s meal, police said on Monday. The man went to the Subway shop in West Seattle with his family on Sunday evening. After placing an order, he entered the restroom and remained inside even after his wife knocked on the door, asking why he was taking so long, and then left without him, Seattle police said in a statement. When the man eventually emerged from the bathroom, he hurriedly exited the store in possession of a large plastic garbage bag, police said.   true       An employee who later entered the bathroom discovered the toilet tank was missing. In addition, the bathroom sink was stuffed full of paper towels and still running, while the bathroom key was gone, police said. Subway workers valued the stolen toilet tank at $550, police said. Witnesses at the scene were able to provide police with a description of the m

Seattle police are looking for a man suspected of stealing the toilet tank from a restaurant bathroom as workers at a Subway sandwich franchise prepared his family's meal, police said on Monday. The man went to the Subway shop in West Seattle with his family on Sunday evening. After placing an order, he entered the restroom and remained inside even after his wife knocked on the door, asking why he was taking so long, and then left without him, Seattle police said in a statement. When the man eventually emerged from the bathroom, he hurriedly exited the store in possession of a large plastic garbage bag, police said.   true       An employee who later entered the bathroom discovered the toilet tank was missing. In addition, the bathroom sink was stuffed full of paper towels and still running, while the bathroom key was gone, police said. Subway workers valued the stolen toilet tank at $550, police said. Witnesses at the scene were able to provide police with a description of t

He's dark and lumbering, crashing through cities and destroying them with swipes of his massive tail and blasts of radioactive breath. Godzilla is back on the rampage, roaring and stomping, for the first time in ten years. But the much-anticipated return of Japan's most famous and beloved monster, 60 years and 28 movies after he first rose from the depths following a hydrogen bomb test, has been filmed not in the land of his birth but in the United States - and analysts say there is a chance he may never go back to his homeland. For in the wake of the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, when a tsunami tore through the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and touched off meltdowns that spewed radiation over a wide swathe of countryside, Godzilla and his traditional anti-nuclear subtext may simply be too touchy a subject for any Japanese film maker to handle.   true       "Godzilla gains his strength from class="mandelbrot_refrag"> nuclear power and

A California child pulled from his bike by an attacking dog was saved by his family's cat on Tuesday, which quickly rushed in and attacked the dog, a video posted on YouTube showed on Wednesday. The video, which quickly spread on the Internet, shows a young boy playing on a driveway in Bakersfield, when a dog lunges at his leg, grabs hold of it with his jaws and drags the boy off of the bike. (YouTube video: r.reuters.com/hyt39v ) A dark cat swiftly hurls itself onto the dog and chases it down the driveway and away from the child before a woman runs to help the boy. Local media reported the video was from multiple security cameras and shows graphic pictures of the bite wounds sustained by the boy.   true       “Thankfully, it wasn’t worse," his father, Roger Triantafilo, wrote in posting the video. "My son is fine."  Bakersfield police said the attacking dog, identified as an 8-month-old Labrador-Chow mix, had been surrendered by its owner’s family after the Tu

A 31-year-old woman has been arrested after several months posing as a teenage student at a private high school in Texas, local media reported. _0"> Charity Johnson enrolled in October as a sophomore at New Life Christian School in Longview under the name "Charite Stevens," with identification that said she was 15 years old, broadcast station KLTV said. Johnson told school officials she had been home-schooled and had no prior transcripts. A school district representative could not immediately be reached for comment. Tamica Lincoln, a woman who lives in the area, told KLTV she took Johnson in after she claimed to be a teenage orphan from an abusive household, enrolled her in school and met with her teachers.   true       "I took her in as a child, did her hair, got her clothes and shoes," Lincoln said. But Lincoln said she started to doubt Johnson's story and alerted police. Johnson was arrested Sunday after identifying herself to police as the ali

A show rabbit breeder in Pennsylvania is suing a French class="mandelbrot_refrag"> gas exploration company for using low-flying helicopters she said terrorized her prized animals, causing many to die and leaving survivors unable to breed. Deafening noise from helicopters flying over Susan Knowlden's mountain home in Trout Run, Pennsylvania, in search of shale gas deposits, sent her skittish rabbits into a frenzy, she told Reuters on Thursday. “It scared the you-know-what out of them,” Knowlden said. “They hit the sides of their cages and trampled the babies. They broke their necks or backs or legs.”   true       Knowlden filed a lawsuit this week against CGG, the French oil-and-gas exploration company based in Paris, one of many energy firms involved in oil and gas extraction in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, a heartland of America’s fracking boon. The company also uses helicopters that employ seismic equipment to explore for gas deposits. The helicopters fl

U.S. political adviser David Axelrod spelt British opposition leader Ed Miliband's surname wrongly in a Tweet on Friday erroneously linking to a spoof account that pokes fun at his new client instead. _0"> The gaffe, which came down to Axelrod, a former adviser to President class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Barack Obama , putting an extra 'l' in the Labour party leader's surname, delighted British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party who sought to make political capital from the mistake. "Labour's latest guru @davidaxelrod gets Ed Miliband's name wrong in tweet - DOH! £300k (300,000 pounds)a year for this?," the party's central office wrote in a Tweet, mischievously asking whether Axelrod had actually met the real Miliband.   true       Axelrod, who swiftly fixed the spelling mistake, has been in London meeting Miliband and the Labour party for the first time since being hired by them to offer strategic advice a

A 31-year-old woman has been arrested after several months posing as a teenage student at a private high school in Texas, local media reported. _0"> Charity Johnson enrolled in October as a sophomore at New Life Christian School in Longview under the name "Charite Stevens," with identification that said she was 15 years old, broadcast station KLTV said. Johnson told school officials she had been home-schooled and had no prior transcripts. A school district representative could not immediately be reached for comment.   true       Tamica Lincoln, a woman who lives in the area, told KLTV she took Johnson in after she claimed to be a teenage orphan from an abusive household, enrolled her in school and met with her teachers. "I took her in as a child, did her hair, got her clothes and shoes," Lincoln said. But Lincoln said she started to doubt Johnson's story and alerted police. Johnson was arrested Sunday after identifying herself to police as the ali

Displaying 80 people in a human zoo in Oslo's most elegant park, two artists hope their " class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Congo Village" display will help erase what they say is Norwegians' collective amnesia about racism. Re-enacting a similar display from 1914, Lars Cuznor and Mohamed Ali Fadlabi say class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Norway , one of the richest nations in the world, with a reputation for tolerance, has only suppressed its intolerance, especially around the time of Saturday's national day. The class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Congo Village - which 100 years ago displayed African tribes, attracting 1.4 million visitors over four months - will this time exhibit volunteers taking turns living on show in makeshift huts, resembling a traditional sub-Saharan village.   true       "Norwegians have been propagating this self-image of a post-racial society and it's been internalized that it's a good, tolerant soc

Tara, the California cat that became a YouTube sensation after being caught on video saving a boy from a dog attack, has been invited to “throw” the first pitch at a minor league baseball game, Bakersfield Blaze officials said on Friday. Video footage showed a dog dragging 4-year-old Jeremy from his tricycle in a driveway in Bakersfield. YouTube video: r.reuters.com/hyt39v Tara, the family's cat, ran to the rescue, broadsided the dog, and chased it away from the child. She then returned to the boy. “Thankfully, it wasn’t worse," the child's father, Roger Triantafilo, wrote in a posting with the video. "My son is fine."   true       Local minor league baseball team the Bakersfield Blaze has invited the cat, assisted by the Triantafilo family, to throw the first pitch at a May 20 game. "We will be attempting to have her throw out the first pitch. Now, how that goes off, we'll see, but the idea is to have her pitch the ball," said Philip Guiry,

A Connecticut college dropout was arrested Sunday night after admitting to calling in two bomb threats to keep her family from learning she had quit Quinnipiac University, police said on Monday. Danielle Shea, 22, of Quincy, Massachusetts, made the threats after arriving at the graduation ceremony in a cap and gown with her mother, who did not know she had dropped out. She "panicked" when relatives noticed her name was not on the list of graduates, police said. Shea called in two bomb threats to the Quinnipiac University library so the graduation ceremony would be canceled, police said. Instead the Sunday evening ceremony was delayed 90 minutes and moved a mile (1.6 km) to a different campus of the university in the town of Hamden.   true       Local police went to the library as an estimated 5,000 people, including the 388 graduates, evacuated the area and quickly moved to the indoor location, according to John Morgan, university spokesman. "We cannot speculate wh

McDonald's restaurant chain says its new "Happy" mascot will bring "fun and excitement" to its children's meals, but social media contend the toothy, red box-shaped character will have the opposite effect. Twitter responses to McDonald's mascot announcement on Monday complain that the animated red Happy Meal box, with its cavernous dark mouth and rows of large white teeth, is scary and will bring children nightmares instead of joy. "It's the meal that eats you," said one comment. Another said, "I didn't want to sleep tonight anyways, it's cool."   true       The character will be introduced nationwide on Friday. Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's said in a statement that it will encourage kids to enjoy healthy food choices, like fruit, vegetables and low-fat dairy. In response to the criticism on social media, McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa McComb noted that since 2009, the character has been "loved and w

Maine wildlife officials are pressing charges against a local fisherman for possessing hundreds of undersized or otherwise protected lobsters, calling it one of the state's most "egregious" lobstering violations in a quarter century. _0"> Maine Marine Patrol said on Tuesday that Theodore Gray, 34, of Stonington had 269 undersized lobsters, and 123 whose tails were v-notched - indicating that they were protected breeding females that should have been thrown back. Maine has strict rules protecting its iconic lobster industry, a major summer tourist draw that employs some 4,500 people and was valued at over $360 million in 2013.   true       "Through my 28-year career I have only seen a handful of what I would call extreme violations like this involving the taking of short lobsters," said Marine Patrol Major Jon Cornish in a press release announcing the charges. "In the last 24 years, there have only been two such cases, which make this one of the

France's national rail company SNCF said on Tuesday it had ordered 2,000 trains for an expanded regional network that are too wide for many station platforms, entailing costly repairs. _0"> A spokesman for the RFF national rail operator confirmed the error, first reported by satirical weekly Canard Enchaine in its Wednesday edition. "We discovered the problem a bit late, we recognise that and we accept responsibility on that score," Christophe Piednoel told class="mandelbrot_refrag"> France Info radio. class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Construction work has already begun to reconfigure station platforms to give the new trains room to pass through, but hundreds more remain to be fixed, he added.   true       The mix-up arose when the RFF transmitted faulty dimensions for its train platforms to the SNCF, which was in charge of ordering trains as part of a broad modernisation effort, the Canard Enchaine reported. The RFF only gave the di

France's national rail company SNCF said on Tuesday it had ordered 2,000 trains for an expanded regional network that are too wide for many station platforms, entailing costly repairs. _0"> A spokesman for the RFF national rail operator confirmed the error, first reported by satirical weekly Canard Enchaine in its Wednesday edition. "We discovered the problem a bit late, we recognise that and we accept responsibility on that score," Christophe Piednoel told class="mandelbrot_refrag"> France Info radio.   true       class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Construction work has already begun to reconfigure station platforms to give the new trains room to pass through, but hundreds more remain to be fixed, he added. The mix-up arose when the RFF transmitted faulty dimensions for its train platforms to the SNCF, which was in charge of ordering trains as part of a broad modernisation effort, the Canard Enchaine reported. The RFF only gave the di

McDonald's restaurant chain says its new "Happy" mascot will bring "fun and excitement" to its children's meals, but social media contend the toothy, red box-shaped character will have the opposite effect. Twitter responses to McDonald's mascot announcement on Monday complain that the animated red Happy Meal box, with its cavernous dark mouth and rows of large white teeth, is scary and will bring children nightmares instead of joy. "It's the meal that eats you," said one comment. Another said, "I didn't want to sleep tonight anyways, it's cool."   true       The character will be introduced nationwide on Friday. Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's said in a statement that it will encourage kids to enjoy healthy food choices, like fruit, vegetables and low-fat dairy. In response to the criticism on social media, McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa McComb noted that since 2009, the character has been "loved and w

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he would not press during his term as Boy Scouts of America president for an end to the group's ban on gay adult leaders for fear of causing permanent damage to the century old organization. Gates, who helped end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that barred gays from serving openly in the U.S. military while he was defense secretary, said he strongly supported the Boy Scouts vote last year to lift its ban on gay youth members. He also said he personally supported going further, but would oppose efforts to reopen the issue in his two years as president. His selection had fueled speculation that Gates would seek to end the ban on gay adult scout leaders.   true       "Given the strong feelings - the passion - involved on both sides of this matter, I believe strongly that to reopen the membership issue or try to take last year's decision to the next step would irreparably fracture and perhaps even

A California mother was charged on Friday with first-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of her three daughters - all younger than 3 years of age - at their home in a working-class suburb of Los Angeles, prosecutors said. _0"> Carol Ann Coronado, 30, was arrested on Tuesday evening after police were called to the home by relatives who found her lying on a bed covered in blood beside the bodies of the three girls, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Coronado, who also was charged with attempted murder of her own mother, was taken to a hospital after her arrest to be treated for self-inflicted stab wounds, the sheriff's office said.   true       Authorities have not said if Coronado's mother was actually injured by her daughter and have revealed few other details except to say that the three girls were killed with a knife, and that they ranged in age from about 2 months to 3 years old. The Los Angeles Times, citing accounts of relatives, h

At least 27 people were killed in an overnight raid by gunmen on a city in southeastern Yemen, residents and a local official said on Saturday, as al Qaeda fought back against a government offensive. Armed with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and explosives, attackers in Yemeni army uniforms drove in from the desert on 15 pickup trucks into Seyoun after detonating a car bomb at the entrance to the city in Hadramout province. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has carried out many hit-and-run attacks since the Yemeni army drove it from its southern strongholds in Abyan and Shabwa provinces last month.   true       The West is concerned the group could use class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Yemen , which borders major oil producer class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Saudi Arabia , as a base for international attacks. The militants targeted at least seven locations, including the main military posts, the police headquarters, government offices, bank branches and

Chinese police have identified five suspects who carried out a suicide bombing in the deadliest attack in the country's restive Xinjiang region in years, the official Xinhua news agency reported. _0"> The report said 39 people were killed from the bombing on Thursday morning at a vegetable market in Urumqi in far western class="mandelbrot_refrag"> China , home to a large Muslim Uighur minority. Police have identified the suspects as Nurahmat Ablipiz, Memet Memtimin, Raghimjan Memet, Memtimin Mahmat and Ablet Abdukadir, Xinhua said late on Friday. They all appear to be Uighur, judging by their names.   true       The five, influenced by religious extremism, took part in illegal religious activities, watched and listened to terrorist violence video and audio materials, the report said citing the police. Thursday's bombing was the second suicide attack in the capital in just over three weeks. A bomb and knife attack at an Urumqi train station in April k

An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude struck off the coast of northern class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Greece on Saturday and was felt as far away as neighboring class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Turkey and Bulgaria but there were no reports of serious casualties or destruction, police and fire brigade officials said. _0"> The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake occurred some 77 km (48 miles) south-southwest of Alexandroupolis, between the islands of Lemnos and Samothrace, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles). Greek police said the quake had caused minor damage to shops and houses on the two islands.   true       The USGS downwardly revised its first reading of 7.2. class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Greece , at the southeastern end of Europe, is often buffeted by earthquakes. Most cause no serious damage but a 5.9 magnitude quake in 1999 killed 143 people. "It lasted very long and it was very intense. We haven't got the full picture of the da

Utah's Mia Love, a Republican darling who could become the first conservative black woman elected to U.S. Congress, is getting a second, and likely better, chance to make history after narrowly losing to a popular incumbent Democrat in 2012. Love, 39, is a Mormon mother of three who is upending stereotypes about the state and its predominant faith. She locked up her party's nomination to vie for an open seat in Utah's 4th District at a state convention last month with an overwhelming 78 percent of the vote. The seat became available when Jim Matheson retired after seven terms in Congress as the heavily conservative state's lone Democrat in Washington. Two years ago, the politically savvy son of a beloved Utah governor beat Love by fewer than 800 votes. If Love wins this time, she would become an unlikely champion in Washington of staunchly conservative views - limited government, fiscal discipline and state's rights. The daughter of Haitian immigrants is pro-li

An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude struck off the coast of northern class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Greece on Saturday, sending panicked residents into the streets in Greece, class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Turkey and Bulgaria, officials said. _0"> In class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Turkey , about about 270 people were hospitalized, most with minor injuries, as a tremor shook buildings, the government disaster and emergency department (AFAD) said. The quake also rattled Turkey's most populous city, Istanbul, as well as the Aegean coastal city of Izmir and the popular tourism province of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast. One person was in critical condition after jumping from a balcony in the western Turkish town of Canakkale, AFAD said.   true       Hurriyet Daily News reported 30 people injured jumping out of apartments in the town and patients in one hospital were evacuated after cracks emerged in the building. The U.S. Geological Survey

Washington is considering using visa restrictions to prevent Chinese nationals from attending popular summer hacking conferences in Las Vegas as part of a broader effort to curb Chinese cyber espionage, a senior administration official said Saturday. The official said that Washington could use such visa restrictions and other measures to keep Chinese from attending the August Def Con and Black Hat events to maintain pressure on class="mandelbrot_refrag"> China after the United States this week charged five Chinese military officers with hacking into U.S. companies to steal trade secrets. class="mandelbrot_refrag"> China has denied the charges, saying they were "made up."   true       Organizers of the two conferences said they knew nothing about any efforts under consideration by Washington, but that they believed limiting participation from China was a bad idea. Jeff Moss, founder of both Def Con and Black Hat, could not be reached, althou

Vladimir Putin promised that class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Russia would work with the new Ukrainian administration formed after a presidential election on Sunday that the Kiev government said on Saturday would anchor the ex-Soviet state to the West. In the eastern region where at least 20 people were killed in recent days, there was less violence, though in fighting near Slaviansk between pro-Moscow rebels and Ukrainian paratroopers, unconfirmed local media reports spoke of up to four deaths. The separatists reject an election run by a fascist "junta" in Kiev and national electoral officials said few ballot papers had yet been issued in two eastern regions with over 12 percent of the electorate, implying most there will be denied a vote.   true       Denouncing an "atmosphere of terror" directed against local electoral officials in the east, Europe's OSCE democracy agency pulled out most of the dozens of international monitors it had posted to D