A shepherd is suing Russia's space agency for compensation after he said a 10-foot-long chunk of metal from a space rocket fell into his yard, just missing his outdoor toilet.
Boris Urmatov, who is asking for one million roubles ($42,000) from the Roskosmos agency, lives in a small village that lies underneath the flight path of rockets taking off from the Baikonur launchpad Russia leases in nearby Kazakhstan. "Something woke him up in the night, like something exploded.
Since he's visually handicapped he didn't notice the fallen rocket parts," Urmatov's sister Marina told Reuters from the village of Kyrlyk, in Russia's Altai region. "But in the morning in front of the shepherd hut he saw this enormous metal casing, as smooth as an egg," she said by telephone from the village, which is 2,175 miles east of Moscow. "It nearly crushed the outhouse."
She said her brother was seeking damages to compensate him for the stress he suffered.
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Two Fijian youths who mistakenly stopped a police car thinking it was their truck are now on the run after dumping their sacks of dried leaves, believed to be marijuiana, at the feet of the police and fleeing into bushes.
The two boys, both on horseback, were carrying up to two kg of leaves when they stopped the police patrol car on Monday near the town of Nausori, the Fiji Times newspaper said on Wednesday. Realizing their mistake the boys dropped the sacks of leaves, abandoned the horses and fled into bushes. _______________________________________________________
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary's famed acumen and self-confidence briefly deserted him when he failed to back his own horse Hear The Echo to win the Irish Grand National at odds of 33-1.
The outsider ridden by Paddy Flood and trained by Michael (Mouse) Morris easily knocked 6-1 favorite Royal County Star into second place at Ireland's top steeplechase on Monday. "I thought he was going out for a run to keep himself warm," said O'Leary, whose Gigginstown House Stud produced 2006 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner War of Attrition.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
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