LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A woman who claims she was ordered by federal airport screeners to remove her nipple rings with pliers demanded an apology from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration on Thursday.

Mandi Hamlin, 37, also called for an investigation into the February 24 incident in Lubbock, Texas, saying that snickering male agents violated TSA policy by forcing her to remove the jewelry.

“I felt surprised, embarrassed, humiliated, scared and angry,” Hamlin told reporters at the offices of her Los Angeles attorney, Gloria Allred.

“This situation was totally out of control. I will not sit quietly. No one deserves to be treated this way.”

The TSA, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security that was set up after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, said it was investigating the incident but that agents were trained to search people with piercings in “sensitive areas” with dignity and respect.

“TSA is well aware of terrorists’ interest in hiding dangerous items in sensitive areas of the body, therefore we have a duty to the American public to resolve any alarm we discover,” the agency said in a written statement.

The TSA said incidents of female terrorists hiding explosives in “sensitive areas” were on the rise and provided a picture of a “bra bomb” that was used in training its agents.

Allred said the incident began when Hamlin, who has a number of piercings, set off a hand-held metal detector and told a TSA officer that her nipple rings were the problem.

A small group of TSA officers gathered around Hamlin, Allred said, and told her she would have to remove the jewelry from her nipples if she wanted to board her flight.

Hamlin went behind a curtain and removed one of her nipple piercings but could not budge the other, tearfully telling the officers it could not be taken out without pliers, Allred said.

“As Ms. Hamlin struggled to remove the piercing behind the curtain, she could hear a growing number of predominantly male TSA officers snickering in the background,” the attorney said.

Allred said TSA policy called for a pat-down under such circumstances but did not require the piercings to be removed.

BETHANY, Okla. – Police in Bethany are looking for what Chief Neal Troutman calls a “sick individual” who’s leaving notes asking for women to give him their underwear.

Troutman said the person is knocking on doors and leaving notes with specific instructions asking for the undergarments.

The notes say the women will be given $20.

Troutman says the person apparently has a fetish and police are worried about what he’ll do next.

HARTFORD, Conn. – Prosecutors say a video shows a Connecticut correction officer running a 40-yard-dash in women’s clothing and high heels — at a time he had claimed he was too injured to work.

Garrett A. Dalton of Naugatuck has been charged with workers compensation fraud. He’s accused of taking part in a radio station’s contest for Hannah Montana concert tickets last year. Not only did he have to dress in drag but he had to carry an egg on a spoon.

Authorities were alerted after someone saw Dalton in a TV news report. Prosecutors say the 41-year-old collected more than $5,000 in workers’ compensation after he reported a work-related injury in June.

Court documents do not list an attorney for Dalton, and his phone number is unlisted. And no, he didn’t win the contest.

BERLIN (Reuters) – A man in Germany fled his home half naked for cold, snow-swept streets to escape a mouse in his living room, authorities said on Thursday.

“He said there was nothing he was more afraid of,” police in Goettingen said in a statement.

After an emergency call in the early hours, officers in the central town found the 23-year-old wearing only his boxer shorts and slippers at a phone booth near his home.

The man told police he had seen the mouse scurry across the floor while he was watching a film, and had fled immediately.

Police failed to track down the animal, but told the man it was safe to go home. He went to relatives instead.

PARIS (Reuters) – A nude portrait of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife Carla Bruni will go under the hammer in New York next month, according to auctioneers Christie’s.

The 13 x 10 1/8 inch gelatin silver black and white photograph was taken in 1993, when Bruni was one of the world’s top fashion models, and is being sold by art collector Gert Elfering.

It is expected to fetch $3,000 to $4,000 when it is sold in New York on April 10, according to the Christie’s web site.

Sarkozy married Bruni, 40, in February after a whirlwind romance that began shortly after his divorce from his second wife Cecilia.

Their relationship has coincided with a sharp fall in Sarkozy’s approval ratings which have tumbled as voters judged that the president’s glitzy lifestyle jarred with his responsibilities and status as head of state.

Sarkozy and his new wife are due to pay a state visit to Britain this week during which they will be hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle.

MANILA (Reuters) – Playboy magazine is launching in the Philippines next month and will be targeting mature men who like well-written articles and tasteful photographs of semi-nude women.

“Maxim and FHM are called laddy magazines. We can be called a Dad magazine,” Beting Laygo Dolor, Playboy Philippines’ editor, told Reuters on Thursday.

“We are targeting a more mature market, Filipino men, 30 and above.”

“There will be no full frontal nudity.”

Mens’ magazines with risque photos are already sold in the Philippines, which despite being a largely Catholic country has a macho culture that encourages promiscuity.

Although rural areas are more conservative, Manila and other large cities have a relaxed attitude to sex.

Dolor, who describes himself as a “bad Catholic,” said the religion’s values had influenced the decision not to go for a raunchier look for the magazine.

“I don’t want to be ashamed to show it to my mother,” said the father of four. “I have daughters in their twenties. It’s something that I want them to also enjoy. I want them to be proud of their Dad.”

Founded in 1953, Playboy has some 20 local editions around the world that cater to local taste rather than simply exporting and translating its U.S. content.

The magazine will be sold across the Philippines at a cost of 199 pesos ($4.76) and 70 percent of the content will be local.

Playboy’s first edition in Indonesia in 2006 sparked protests although it had no nudity and less flesh visible in the issue than many other magazines on sale in the world’s most populous Muslim country. Its editor was cleared of distributing indecent pictures last year.

Dolor said he didn’t expect any uproar when his magazine hits the news stands on April 3.

“It’s supposed to be a very good read,” he said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ilona Staller, known as “La Cicciolina,” sued her ex-husband Jeff Koons on Wednesday, saying he failed to pay about $1.5 million euros ($2.3 million) in child support ordered by an Italian court.

Koons, a one-time Wall Street commodities broker who holds the record as the highest-paid living artist, has paid just under 200,000 euros ($310,600) in child support since 1998, according to the lawsuit filed in New York State Court.

A representative for Manhattan-based Koons was not immediately available for comment.

The couple divorced in 1994, and Staller took their son to Italy. Four years later, their divorce was confirmed by an Italian court.

“I always felt my government would do the right thing and get my child back,” Koons told the New York Newsday newspaper in 2003. “Now I realize that I might not be able to see and live with my child again.”

Koons was originally awarded custody of the couple’s son, who was born in 1992. But custody was later given to Staller, and Koons was ordered to pay 1,500 Euros ($2,330) per month in child support.

“At no time during the Italian proceedings did Koons challenge the subject-matter or personal jurisdiction of the Italian courts,” the lawsuit said.

Koons and Staller married in Budapest in 1991. That year, Koons unveiled “Made in Heaven,” a series of paintings and sculptures that showed the couple in sexual acts.

The 52-year-old Koons burst on the art scene in the 1980s aided by an image consultant, and his contentious split from Staller, who has been active in Italian politics since the late 1970s, added to his fame.

Last November, Koons 3,500-pound (1,600-kg) sculpture, “Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold),” sold at Sotheby’s for $23,561,000, eclipsing its high pre-sale estimate of $20 million and establishing a record for any living artist’s work at auction.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Syphilis is making a comeback in developed countries, spurred by illicit drug use and high-risk sexual behaviors, and many doctors are unprepared to recognize and treat it, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

They said syphilis has been on the rise since the beginning of the 21st century in high-income countries, but because the disease had been well controlled in the 1990s, doctors may not be screening for it.

“The key message here is that syphilis is again on the rise in several developing countries. In many of these countries we are seeing very high rates in men who have sex with men,” said Dr. Kevin Fenton of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose study appears in the journal Lancet.

Fenton said the resurgence demands new training efforts among health-care professionals. “In many countries, physicians may have lost some of the skill sets associated with diagnosing syphilis,” Fenton said in a telephone interview.

The CDC last week said the U.S. syphilis rate rose once again in 2007, marking the seventh consecutive year of increases. Homosexual and bisexual men accounted for 64 percent of syphilis cases in 2007, up from about 5 percent in 1999.

Syphilis infects some 12 million people worldwide every year. Most cases are acquired through sexual contact with a syphilis sore. Pregnant women can pass it on to their babies.

The recent resurgence is among a sub-group of men who have sex with men and engage in high-risk sex with multiple partners.

If not addressed, Fenton said the disease could become far more widespread.

“We have seen with other epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases that even if the initial rise occurs in men who have sex with men, it is unlikely to stay in that group for any long periods of time,” Fenton said.

“The data suggest we are now seeing increases among heterosexuals in the U.S. and in Europe as well,” he said.

Fenton and colleagues argue that the resurgence calls for swift public health intervention, including screening programs to prevent the spread of the infection, mass media campaigns, efforts to change behavior in high-risk groups and distribution of condoms.

“Efforts must be made to incorporate and evaluate new diagnostics tools, social network approaches, innovative evidence-based prevention interventions, robust disease surveillance and systematic monitoring and evaluation of prevention, treatment and care activities,” they wrote.

Like many other sexually transmitted diseases, syphilis raises the likelihood of infection by or transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS.

Syphilis is caused by the bacterium Treponema palladium. It starts out as a sore, but progresses to a rash, fever, and eventually can cause blindness, paralysis and dementia.

TOLEDO, Iowa – A bevy of officers chased a doughnut delivery van at speeds up to 100 mph before arresting the driver at gunpoint, authorities said.

But the cops weren’t simply hankering for doughnuts.

The van, owned by Donut Delite of Moline, Ill., was stolen early Thursday while the driver was making deliveries at a hospital in nearby Rock Island. The driver had left the van running, and a man jumped in and headed for Iowa, just over the Mississippi River.

A Benton County, Iowa, sheriff’s deputy spotted the van later in the morning, and eight other officers eventually joined the chase. Authorities finally cornered it in neighboring Tama County.

Frank Alvarado, 46, of Moline, Ill., was charged with theft and other counts and was held on $15,000 bond.

Security video showed Alvarado milling about before driving off in the van, but he was not listed as a patient, said officials at Trinity Medical Hospital-West in Rock Island. A jail official said he was assigned a public defender, whose name wasn’t immediately available.

Tama County Sheriff Dennis Kucera said his officers had no idea what the unmarked van was carrying.

They were rewarded for their efforts anyway — the doughnut shop gave them the purloined goodies.

SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian man has found himself in trouble after calling police to report that his house had been broken into and some of his cannabis plants stolen.

The 35-year-old man from the southern city of Adelaide called police in the early hours of Tuesday after being woken by intruders who smashed a window and made off with portions of the plants.

Police were unable to locate the burglars but after searching the house, found six cannabis plants in the bedrooms. The man was arrested and charged with drug offenses, South Australian state police said in a statement.

“Members of the public are reminded that the growing of cannabis is not only illegal but can also attract other criminal activity such home break-ins and assaults,” the statement said.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A shoplifter looking to make a quick getaway from a Dutch supermarket after stealing a packet of meat left police a crucial piece of evidence — his son.

In his haste the 45-year-old thief made a solo dash to his car, batting away a supermarket worker who had flung himself on the vehicles’ bonnet in a bid to stop the escape.

Police in the southern Dutch town of Kerkrade said they managed to contact the thief via the boy, but he had refused to return and collect his son. The man told officers to get hold of the youngster’s mother instead.

The thief later turned himself in Thursday, a police spokeswoman said.

LONDON (AFP) – A new boutique hotel at a seaside resort in northwest England is to offer guests a sex toy minibar when it opens later this year, its owner said Monday.

The Vincent Hotel, in Southport, near Liverpool, will have “intimate seduction kits” in each of its 60 rooms from May, containing lubricating gel, massage oil, a vibrating ring and two condoms.

The kit will be in a sealed box alongside more traditional minibar items like nuts, chocolate and alcohol. Guests can request an extra special kit containing a whip, mask and bondage tape.

Owner Paul Adams said: “As well as giving guests a design conscious venue to stay, we wanted to give them a decadent, inspiring and seductive environment to enjoy.

“We want to provide our residents with a distinct and highly individual experience in their own private, opulent space.”

Southport is best-known for its Victorian-era promenade, the oldest surviving iron pier in Britain and the Royal Birkdale golf club, where the Open Championship will be held in July.

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poles should not be allowed to vote online because the Internet attracts people who watch “pornography while sipping a bottle of beer”, a former prime minister told his party’s Web site.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski and other leaders of his conservative party have said they wanted to rejuvenate their ranks and reach out to Internet users after losing power last October when younger voters flocked to their center-right rivals.

Poland’s election commission is floating proposals such as allowing people to vote online to boost turnout.

“I am not an enthusiast of a young person sitting in front of a computer, watching video clips and pornography while sipping a bottle of beer and voting when he feels like it,” he was quoted as saying on his party’s revamped Web site.

He added that Internet users are “the easiest group to manipulate, to suggest who to vote for.”

Kaczynski, who admits to not using a mobile phone or having a bank account, and his party have stumbled in other recent efforts to attracted younger supporters.

Last month party officials sparked chuckles among the fans of “The Matrix” franchise by comparing Kaczynski’s successor Donald Tusk to Leo, the movie’s hero pursued by evil Agent Smith and his look-alikes.

Kaczynski ruled Poland with his twin brother Lech, the president. Since leaving office he had unsuccessfully sought to retain his secret service agents because he feared being mistaken for his brother.

LONDON (Reuters) – It is the one moment every man wants to get right — and which London floor-fitter Lefkos Hajji could hardly have got more wrong.

The luckless 28 year-old’s dreams of giving his sweetheart, Leanne, 26, the ultimate proposal have literally vanished into thin air.

Hajji, of Hackney, east London, had concealed a $12,000 engagement ring inside a helium balloon. The idea was that she would pop the balloon as he popped the question.

But as he left the shop, a gust of wind pulled the balloon from his hand and he watched the ring — and quite possibly the affections of his girlfriend — sailing away over the rooftops.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he told The Sun newspaper.

“I just watched as it went further and further into the air.

“I felt like such a plonker. It cost a fortune and I knew my girlfriend would kill me.”

Hajji spent two hours in his car trying to chase and find the balloon, without success.

“I thought I would give Leanne a pin so I could literally pop the question,” he said.

“But I had to tell her the story — she went absolutely mad. Now she is refusing to speak to me until I get her a new ring.”

He is hoping the ring will still turn up.

“It would be amazing if someone found it,” he added.

NEW YORK – A businessman claims in a lawsuit that he was injured when a stripper giving him a lap dance swiveled and smacked him in the face with the heel of her shoe.

Stephen Chang, a securities trader, said in court papers filed Friday that he was at the Hot Lap Dance Club near Madison Square Garden and was getting a paid lap dance when the accident occurred early Nov. 2, 2007.

According to the lawsuit, as the dancer swung around, the heel of her shoe hit him in the eye, causing him “serious injuries.”

A man who identified himself as the manager of the Hot Lap Dance Club said he was unaware of the accident or the state Supreme Court lawsuit. The club’s lawyer, Stephen Ateshoglou, did not immediately return a call.

On its Web site, the club describes itself as the “Playboy Mansion of Manhattan party lofts.” The site says admission is $50 plus a one-time club membership fee of $10 for newcomers. Lap dances cost around $40, plus admission, according to the Web site.

SYDNEY (Reuters) – A man in Australia is auctioning his life — his house, his job, his clothes and his friends — on eBay, after his marriage broke up, saying he wants to start a new life.

“It’s time to move. A completely fresh start. I want to see where life takes me,” Ian Usher, 44, told Australian television on Tuesday from Perth in Western Australia state.

Usher said he was auctioning his life as “a package” with his house in Perth valued at around A$420,000 (192,186 pounds).

“Hi there, my name is Ian Usher, and I have had enough of my life! I don’t want it any more! You can have it if you like!,” reads his Web site, which has a link to eBay for bidders.

Usher said his life auction, which starts on June 22, included not only his house, a car, a motorbike, a jet ski and a spa, but also an introduction to “great friends” and a job at a rug shop in Perth for a trial two-week period.

“When it’s over, I will just walk out the front door, take my wallet, my passport and start a new life,” he said.

Usher said his ex-wife had heard of his auction.

“Her last comment was, ‘it seems a bit mental to me’,” he said.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese bride burned her new husband to death after he got into bed after a drunken argument without washing his feet, state media reported on Wednesday.

“Wang and his wife, Luo, were married on February 2. The couple, however, frequently fought over trivial things while still on their honeymoon,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted a local newspaper as saying.

The couple, from the central province of Hubei, had another fight on the night of March 4, “and in frustration they together drank a bottle of liquor to ease their anger.”

“At about 10 p.m., Luo watched her husband get into bed without cleaning or washing his feet. In a fit of anger and intoxication, she set fire to the sheet he was sleeping in,” the report said.

“When he awoke, the two began fighting before a very drunk Wang collapsed. As fire engulfed the bedroom. Luo escaped to the living room, leaving her other half to burn,” it added.

The woman has been arrested, Xinhua said.

LONDON (Reuters) – Far from being heavy, lumbering and clumsy, pregnant women are often fascinating, beautiful and serene, according to the artistic director of one British ballet company.

And to prove it, Balletlorent is recruiting 12 pregnant women to star in a dance production alongside six professional ballet dancers.

“MaEternal” will be performed in the northern English city of Newcastle in May and is offering the 12 who get through the auditions “a chance to share with an audience the beauty of what it means to carry the life of another within you.”

Artistic Director Liv Lorent, who, coincidentally, is pregnant herself, says she has always been keen to combine trained dancers with people from all ages and stages in life to make her ballet productions richer.

“I’ve done projects in the past where I have invited all sorts of people — children, old people, builders, footballers doctors, all sorts — to take part,” she told Reuters.

“This is another development of a long-held wish to mix up the different physical types in my choreography. The shape of people changes the way they move, and I like that very much.”

She notes the stark contrast between the typically lithe light and muscular physique of a dancer, and the softer, rounder contours of a pregnant woman, and delights in it.

“You can’t get a 25-year-old size 8 ballet dancer type body to move with the weight, the gravitas or the sheer cheerful spirit a pregnant woman,” she said.

Lorent promises that no previous dance experience is necessary to audition for a part in MaEternal. The only requirement is that anyone wishing to take part should be up to 32 weeks by the time of the performance on May, 14. Beyond that, she says, the risk is too high of unplanned dramas on stage.

As well as recruiting 12 pregnant women, Lorent has also signed up Lynn Campbell, an active birth therapist who runs pregnancy classes in and around Newcastle, to advise on the movements and abilities of expectant mothers.

“Pregnant women do sometimes feel heavy and weighed down by all the changes, but sometimes they also feel fascinating and beautiful and amazing,” Campbell told Reuters.

“Culturally we don’t always have the words to celebrate the beauty of pregnancy, and although people are often fascinated by it, they don’t know how to express that, so the say things like “Aren’t you big!”

“So this is a real opportunity for pregnant women to be seen in a new way.”

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington lawmakers have approved a pilot program that will allow beer and wine tasting in 30 grocery stores statewide in an effort to market local products.

The measure now heads to the governor, after passing the Senate 29-17 on Monday. It earlier passed the House.

The one-year program, strongly supported by the state’s microbrewery and wine industries, allows shoppers to sample as much as 4 ounces of beer or wine. Supporters say it allows small wineries or breweries with no marketing budget to get their products out to the public.

But opponents contend the program sets a bad example by exposing children to alcohol consumption.

ROME (Reuters) – An Italian man was jailed for more than two years for putting pornographic pictures of his ex-girlfriend on the Internet and sending them out in more than 15,000 emails.

The 32-year-old man had created a Web site that appeared to show his ex-girlfriend offering sexual favors and erotic games, with her phone number also on display.

The man, who also sent threatening text messages to the woman and her parents, was accused of aggravated defamation, threatening and violence.

In its ruling, the Milan court said the man had publicized photos and data that should have remained private, and done so without his ex-girlfriend’s consent.

The court sentenced him to 2 years and 4 months in jail.