German woman fails in Beer Mug World Record attempt

A German woman has attempted to set a new world record by carrying 21 beer mugs at once.

Beer Mug World Record...Anita Schwarz from Eichenau tries to set a new world record carrying 21 beer mugs at once across a distance of 40 metres in a tent near Zeltingen, Germany, 09 November 2008. However, Eichenau fails to transport the mugs in one piec Photo: UPPA/Photoshot

Anita Schwarz, from Eichenau, had to transport the mugs across a distance of 40 metres to be successful.

Wearing traditional dress, Schwarz, 48, began with all 21 mugs balanced in pyramid-fashion.

However, she soon lost control and the tower toppled, sending the contents of every mug spilling out onto the floor of the tent near Zeltingen, in Germany.

Only last month the city of Munich in Bavaria celebrated Oktoberfest, its annual sixteen-day festival, widely known for the beer served at the event.

Beginning in late September and running to early October, the festival attracts some six million people each year.

The original Oktoberfest occurred in Munich on October 12, 1810. To commemorate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, a horse race was organised. Since temperatures can be as high as 30 degrees Celsius in that part of Germany at the end of September, large quantities of beer were served to quench the thirst of all of the visitors. The tradition has continued and it is now a yearly event.

Oktoberfestbiers are the beers that have been served at the event in Munich since 1818 and are supplied by six breweries known as the Big Six: Spaten, Löwenbräu, Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr.

The event has now become famous around the world although there are regularly problems with festival-goers who canot handle the copious amount of alochol on offer.

There are problems every year with many young people passing out due to drunkenness. These drunk patrons are often called 'Bierleichen', German for 'beer corpses'.

First pictures of British woman aid worker gunned down by Taliban motorbike killers 'for spreading Christianity'

A British woman who was working to better the lives of disabled children in Afghanistan has been shot dead by Taliban gunmen because she was working for a Christian organisation.

Gayle Williams, 34, was minutes from her office as she walked to work in Kabul when she was gunned down by two men on a motorbike.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the killing, claiming its leaders had ordered the murder of Miss Williams because she was spreading the message of Christianity.

But the British-registered charity she worked for, SERVE Afghanistan, said this was a 'convenient excuse' for the grim killing, which it believes was 'completely opportunistic'.

Miss Williams, from London, had been with the organisation for two-and-a-half years, helping to raise awareness of disabilities in Afghan communities and rehabilitating disabled people in their homes.

Her family, including her mother in London and a sister living in South Africa, were said to be 'distraught' Today.

The sports-mad aid worker was described as a 'lovely girl' who was 'passionate' about her work and loved life by the charity's chairman Mike Lyth.

He explained that Miss Williams had only recently been pulled out of the southern Kandahar province, as it was considered too dangerous to work there.

'She came back about six months ago as we felt it probably wasn't a good idea to stay on there because we heard that the Taliban had been seen coming in and the threat was there so we pulled our people out,' he said.

'Kabul is supposed to be the safest place in Afghanistan.

'Our people are thoroughly trained and Gayle always used to come by different routes to avoid risk.

'She gave herself for those who were disadvantaged - that was her passion. It was people who were marginalised and helping them to get on track which drove her on.

'At 5am I got a phone call and it was dreadful. She was an amazing girl and in some ways being on the board I have a responsibility for the safety of the people working for us so I feel very deeply about this.'

Today Afghanistan's Interior Ministry spokesman, Zemeri Bashary, said Miss Williams had been shot in the body and leg with a pistol before the men fled the scene.

Miss Williams died almost immediately. Blood stains could later be seen on the pavement where she was killed.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid later claimed she was killed ‘because she was working for an organisation which was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan’.

'This woman came to Afghanistan to teach Christianity to the people of Afghanistan,’ he said.

'Our (leaders) issued a decree to kill this woman. This morning our people killed her in Kabul.'

Eyewitness Daolad Khan, who was working on a building site directly opposite the murder scene, said: 'They raced up the street and stopped in front of the lady. They took out a gun and shot her on the spot. Then they rode off.'

A close friend of Miss Williams who did not wish to be named, told the Daily Mail: 'Although she will be sorely missed I will see her again. She will be wearing the martyr's crown.

'Knowing Gayle she would not have wanted anything more for her life than to die in His service.'

Miss Williams, who also holds South African citizenship, attended secondary school in Britain before moving to South Africa where she completed a sports degree with a view to working with people with disabilities.

She moved back to London where she worked with people with special needs, before choosing to work with the charity.

Her favourite sports are understood to have included track events and hockey.

The aid group she worked with - fully known as Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprises - describes itself as a Christian charity registered in Britain.

Its website states that SERVE Afghanistan's purpose is to 'express God's love and bring hope by serving the people of Afghanistan, especially the needy, as we seek to address personal, social and environmental needs'.

Rina Vamberende, a spokeswoman for SERVE in Kabul, said the group was a Christian organization 'but they are definitely not expressing this on purpose. They are here to do NGO (aid) work. It's not the case that they preach, not at all.'

In Afghanistan, proselytizing - converting a person from one belief to another - is prohibited by law and other Christian charities have faced severe hostility.

In mid-August, Taliban militants killed three women working for the U.S. aid group International Rescue Committee while they were driving in Logar, one province south of Kabul.

Last year, a group of 23 South Korean aid workers from a church group were taken hostage in southern Afghanistan. Two were killed and the rest were released.

In 2001, eight international aid workers, including two Americans, were imprisoned and charged with preaching Christianity. They were all freed by Afghan mujahedeen fighters attacking the Taliban after the U.S.-led invasion.

The killing will lead to a growing sense of insecurity in Kabul.

Kidnappings targeting wealthy Afghans have long been a problem, but attacks against Westerners have also increased recently. Embassies, military bases and the United Nations have erected cement barriers to guard against suicide bombings.

'The risks are great and increasing,' said Mr Lyth. There has been a steady increase of this type of thing happening but it has not often happened in Kabul.

'There were three women shot two months ago in a place which we did not think was safe but now it is on the streets of Kabul and that has really hit home to us.'

' I was tortured by police to confess I killed Scarlett' says chief suspect in Goa murder

The man accused of raping and murdering British schoolgirl Scarlett Keeling on a beach in Goa has admitted leaving her there semi-conscious – but insisted he was not responsible for her death.

Samson D’Souza, 29, was dramatically freed last week when a judge ruled there was no evidence linking him to the crime in February.

He had spent seven months in custody after the 15-year-old was found dead in the resort of Anjuna following her mother Fiona MacKeown’s decision to continue a six-month holiday by travelling in the region without her.

Speaking for the first time since being released on bail, Mr D’Souza admitted leaving Scarlett in a comatose state on the beach where she was found dead just hours later.

But he said: ‘All I am guilty of is being the last person as far as I am aware to leave her behind at the beach. Scarlett was very drunk on the night she died. She was falling all over the place and could not stand.

‘The safest option was to leave her on the beach. It is not a crime to do what I did.’

Mr D’Souza’s release on Thursday, which effectively leaves the investigation back at square one, is the latest twist in the horrific story of Scarlett’s death and the sorry circumstances leading to it.

When her body was found battered and semi-naked, police initially claimed she had drowned accidentally after taking drugs.

A toxicology report revealed she had consumed a cocktail of drugs, including cocaine, and alcohol.

In the aftermath, Mrs MacKeown, 43, accused the Indian authorities of a cover-up, while her critics questioned her judgment in leaving behind her daughter with an older boyfriend, 25-year-old Julio Lobo, in an atmosphere rife with drink, drugs and sex.

A second post-mortem examination revealed the teenager had in fact been raped, had 50 abrasions on her body and was killed when her head was forcibly held under water for between five to ten minutes.

Mr D’Souza, an Indian who worked at Lui’s bar where Scarlett was drinking on the night she died, was the second person arrested in connection with her death.

The first, Placido Carvalho, was charged with supplying her with cocaine, ecstasy and LSD and was released on bail in April. Mr D’Souza was charged with rape and murder.

Several key witnesses reported seeing the barman lying on top of Scarlett outside the bar shortly before her body was found. But this week, Goa’s Children’s Court ruled there was no forensic evidence linking him to Scarlett, of Bideford, Devon.

‘Other than the accused last being seen with Scarlett prior to her death, there is no other material bringing out his role in her rape or death,’ the court order said.

Now, Mr D’Souza claims he was tortured into a confession by police desperate to find a scapegoat.

Scarlett’s mother has accused him of ‘messing around with her’ and of knowing who her killers were, but said: ‘I don’t think he raped and murdered her.’

The barman says Scarlett was a tragedy waiting to happen due to what he claims was her mother’s negligent attitude to her upbringing. He claims Mrs MacKeown was fully aware that Scarlett was drinking heavily and taking drugs throughout their family holiday in Goa.

Speaking from the home he shares with his French wife Bridget and their 16-month-old-daughter Lya just outside Anjuna, Mr D’Souza said: ‘It was a well known fact around Anjuna that Scarlett was always drinking.

‘She used to go from bar to bar racking up credit bills and even used to go up to people and steal their drinks. She was very like most Britishers – when she started drinking she could not stop.

‘She boasted she had been drinking for three days without sleeping. What mother leaves their 15-year-old girl on their own in Goa to get drunk and end up in such trouble?’

On the night Scarlett died, Mr D’Souza was working at Lui’s bar. He said: ‘Scarlett was drinking in the bar and by the end of the evening she could not walk. I tried to call her a taxi to take her home but she insisted on being left on the beach. I’m afraid that’s what I did. It was only the next morning that I heard she was dead.’

Mr D’Souza added: ‘In hindsight, knowing that she died, it is sad, but I did the most responsible thing that I could at the time.’

He said he believed she drowned while trying to swim when drunk and under the influence of drugs, adding: ‘I cannot say any more than that because I was at home when she died.’

Mr D’Souza said he only confessed to her murder because police tortured him. He added: ‘They held me without charge from February 21 until my first court appearance
in March.

‘To get the confession out of me they initially beat me with their fists. Then they used plastic rods to beat my feet. When that didn’t work they used electric shock diodes on my head and body until I said I would confess to anything they wanted. But I am totally innocent.’

The case was handed to India’s Central Bureau of Investigation in June after local police were criticised for the way they handled it.

Mr D’Souza said he hopes to settle in France once he is formally cleared. He added: ‘We are going to start all over again. My life here is ruined. I cannot stay.’

Fiona MacKeown’s spokesman, Clarence Mitchell, said: ‘Samson D’Souza has been bailed but he is still facing a most serious charge.’

Mystery of the 'couple' buried arm in arm 1,000 years ago: not husband and wife, but two MEN

Archaeologists have unearthed the mysterious remains of what first appears to be a couple buried together arm in arm more than 1,000 years ago.

The amazing discovery shows the "couple" laying side by side in the grave with one's arm across the other.

But the discovery has left experts with a 1,000-year-old mystery.

They know that the body pictured on the right is that of a man, over 6ft tall but they believe that the body on the left is also that of a man as well.

First they thought the couple were a man and wife united in death. But now they believe they could be two men who were 'brothers in arms', possibly warriors, who died together and were buried in the one grave.

The unusual burial is thought to be from the Saxon period between 410AD and 1066AD.

Now they are waiting for forensic tests to be carried out to determine the sex of the pair and exactly when they were buried.

The remains were just some of dozens of finds at a huge archaeological dig which has been underway for the past year at the planned development of a giant salad growing complex near Ramsgate, Kent.

Adrian Gollop, project officer at the Canterbury Archaeological Trust which has been masterminding the work before the builders move in, said: "It is quite a rare discovery.

"The body on the right is definitely male.

"They are exceptionally tall - both over 6ft. The one on the left has got some female traits to it but it does seem to be male.

"Until we get the bones examined, we cannot be 100 per cent certain.

"They were found surrounded by a ring ditch.

"At first we thought they were early Iron Age but now we think they were from much later - in the Saxon period.

"Rather than looking at the two graves as a couple, we now think they could have been buried as brothers in arms. They died together and were buried together.

"There were no artefacts buried with them to give us any clues. It is a bit of a mystery really."

The tests on the bones have yet to be carried out but it is hoped that the forensic examination will give the team more clues into who the pair were.

Archaeologists have found a wealth of graves and artefacts ranging from the Early Bronze Age (between 2700 BC and 1500 BC) and the Medieval period on the vast 90 acres site.

Adrian said: "It has been fantastic archaeologically." In one section, 18 burials have been found including 16 humans and two dogs.

The team has uncovered hundreds of pits (many probably silos to store grain over the winter) and post holes (remains of wooden structures), numerous fragments of pottery jars and bowls, animal bones (sheep, cattle, pig), abundant charred remains of plants and pulses (especially cereals and peas) and burials of both humans and animals.

Five of the human burials were found in ditches surrounding the main area of Iron Age activity and may have been placed there to 'protect the settlement. Other burials may have been offerings.

Another poignant grave is that of a young girl - thought to be aged in her early teens - who died during a breech birth along with her baby.

The mother and baby seem to have been buried soon after death with the young girl still holding a smoothed pebble she was probably holding during the traumatic labour as a comforter.

Adrian said: "We think she is from the Roman era. She was close to a cemetery of about 20-24 people but she was on her own.

"It was a breech birth and the baby was still in the birth canal.

"She was found with a flint pebble. Some think it may have been ready to cut the umbilical cord but it a smoothed pebble on both sides. We think it could have been held by the mother during childbirth to comfort her."

The archaeological field work is expected to finish later this month.