Bizarre: My boyfriend was really a girl

BRITAIN: A 20-year-old girl posed as a boy and duped her 'girlfriends'. She took the identities of three boys to get in touch with her victims on social netowrking sites such as Facebook, reports Mirror.

The girl wore loose clothing and hoodies to help hide her identity and dated the teenagers and even indulged in 'heavy petting', the daily said.

Two schoolgirls filed separate complaints of sexual assault against their 'boyfriend'. They came to know the truth only when the 'boyfriend' was 'patted down' at the police station. The girlfriends were horrified to learn that they were assaulted by another woman.

The girl was jailed for two and a half years for sexual assault.

One of the victims was so traumatised that she thought of ending her life. The 18-year-old was assaulted about 10 times during her seven month relationship with the boyfriend who turned out to be a girl. During this time she had even fallen in love with her so-called boyfriend.

The victim was encouraged by her female friend to get close to her boyfriend. Little did she know that her female friend was her boyfriend in disguise. Now she is left wondering why her friend chose her as a victim.

Bride suffers embarrassing wardrobe malfunction on D-day

BRITAIN: This bride will never forget her wedding day, but for the wrong reasons. Her wedding march started well but a slight tumble and her day was ruined.

As the bride walked down the aisle, accidentally she stepped on her trailing wedding gown and the stunned guests reluctantly got to watch her wedding lingerie, reported Metro.

Even as the bride panicked and ran for cover, the official photographer and videographer kept their lenses trained on the bride even as the applause died down and the wedding song - - Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve - kept playing in the background.

The video of the unfortunate wedding march was posted on video-sharing site LiveLink. Many have commented on the authenticity of the video clip.

One user commented: 'This is staged. Dress and skirts do not fall apart. They are held together by things called stitches. '

While another said: 'I'm no expert but that does look fake to me.'

Gran fined £75 for littering... after a thread of cotton fell off her glove

BRITAIN: While a grandmother was walking down a shopping street, a fine cotton thread fell off on the street.

An officer from council environment who spotted the thread immediately, fined her £75 for littering, reports Mirror.

The old lady who receives a pension of £105 a week, was outraged. She told the daily she thought it was 'ridiculous'. She probably caught her watch on her glove and didn't even notice the thread fall off.

The council subsequently withdrew the fine.

Stressed banker takes boss hostage

BRITAIN: A banker who was under a lot of stress took his boss hostage at knifepoint.

The 24-year-old man tied his boss to a chair and held a knife right in front of his face, reported The Sun.

The customer services adviser was warned by his office for taking too much time off from work. He took another day off after being ticked off and came in the next day armed with a knife, cables and metal tubing.

He asked to meet his boss. Once inside the room, he told his boss to kneel on the ground and tied his hands behind his back. Then he moved him to a chair and tied him to it.

The ordeal lasted for 10 minutes but the victim was extremely traumatised and he remains away from work even five months after the incident. He thought he would be killed by his subordinate but he managed to break free and escape.

The kidnapper peladed guilty and was jailed for 20 months and ordered to stay away from his ex-boss.

A year on, the Satos, who all survived since their house was built on a hill, are planning a quiet birthday with some cake and ice cream for the child who, his grandmother Kazuko insists, "was born to save us".
 

Because of Haruse's birth, Kazuko also took the day off from her job at the Minamisanriku town hospital. A boat still perches atop the 5-storey building, a chilling reminder of the height of the walls of water that ripped through the town.

Wave after wave razed the heart of Minamisanriku, killing around 1,300 of its 17,000 residents. Many survivors still live in more than 40 barrack-style temporary housing settlements dotted on the hills around what was once a lively fishing town.

"I saw my child for the second time only when we all reunited in early April," said Sato, caressing his oldest son in his lap. "I wish all that happened in between was just a bad dream."

Haruse was born around 4 a.m., a month prematurely, weighing 2.6 kg (5 lb, 11 ounces) and requiring intensive care due to low body temperature. But while the hospital in the nearby city of Ishinomaki was spared the brunt of the disaster, patients from across the region poured in, straining facilities.

"That's why I was told to leave him and had to check out three days after his birth," said Hiromi, 34, Sato's wife. Most Japanese women stay in hospital for a week after giving birth.

Weeks filled with anxiety ensued amid post-earthquake chaos, with checking on relatives amid aftershocks, scrambling for food and trying to get by without running water and electricity in the cold early spring weather.

"I was scared he wouldn't be able to leave the hospital, but when they said I can pick him up I was just very happy we could be together again," said Harumi, changing Haruse's Mickey Mouse nappies as he beat his arms and legs against the floor.

HAPPY CENTRE OF ATTENTION

After his birth, Haruse -- whose name means "Bright Spring" -- was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, a genetic condition associated with some impairment of cognitive ability.

"I didn't know anything about it and was worried I won't be able to raise him properly, but we decided to bring him up just like our other two sons," said Hiromi. "The only difference is that we take him to a specialist doctor from time to time."

As she spoke, Haruse's older brothers, Anji and Oto, aged four and five, ran around the house screaming, fighting and stopping only for a bite of sakura mochi, a Japanese rice cake typically served in early spring.

"Sometimes I even think there are too many people trying to look after him," laughed Hiromi as Haruse's grandmother showered him with kisses and tickled him, making him squeal and laugh.

But raising three sons in a town resembling an eerie graveyard with only house foundations visible under a thick layer of snow will not be easy for even the most devoted family.

Minamisanriku's biggest employer, the fishing industry, is only starting to get back on its feet and rubble still litters the streets. Even before the disaster, young people had been migrating to larger cities anyway, to search for work.

Sato says that when not fighting with his brother, his older son is preparing to enter elementary school from April, while the four-year-old attends a nursery school in a pre-fabricated building near their house.

"When I drink with my friends, we laugh bitterly that our generation will spend the rest of our lives rebuilding the town," said Sato, now working at a different nursing home.

"It makes sense, because we want to do it for our children. Otherwise, they will have to abandon the place our family has lived in for generations.

"That just doesn't make sense."

Party for baby whose birth saved father from Japan tsunami

MINAMISANRIKU:  Searching through piles of bodies after Japan's March 11 tsunami, Kenji Sato was struck by the thought -- he could easily have been one of them, had it not been for his son born earlier that day.

In a fortunate twist of fate, Sato, a wiry descendant of fishermen in his coastal hometown of Minamisanriku, took time off from work to see his third child, Haruse, born at a hospital in a nearby port city.

Hours later, the only thing left of the nursing home where he would usually have been was a skeleton of steel pillars.

Nearly all 70 residents were swept away by the tsunami set off by the 9.0 magnitude offshore earthquake that devastated Minamisanriku, one of the worst-hit towns. Sato and his work mates set about the task of searching for them.

"I just confirmed that my wife and son were safe. Then, I spent days on end identifying bodies, looking for evacuation centres for the elderly," said Sato, 31, surrounded by his four-generation family at their home.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.