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Christopher Hedrickson has been charged with identity theft after it was found he tried to use his 2-year-old son’s Social Security number to apply for a loan to buy a used Cadillac. Hedrickson used his own name on the form, but his son’s number.

Police came across the alleged theft because Hendrickson was being investigated for other cases of identity theft. He bought the Cadillac in March this year, changing his son’s birthday on the application form. Read more »

Using exploit tactics more in line with adware and spyware companies, Microsoft has updated the XP and Vista update engines of users without explicit or implied permission. Update 7.0.6000.381 bypassed the notification and permission dialog box.

The backdoor update was also reported in eWEEK and eWEEK labs confirmed the action as did ZDnet. Microsoft has not explained its intentions but a forum found that said updates would not work any longer unless 7.0.6000.381 was installed.

This is the second known time that Microsoft slipped in updates without permission. The first was when Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) was installed without user’s consent or knowledge. WGA was part of Microsoft’s anti-piracy program. Read more »

Ladies’ lives could be transformed by a new super pill being tested right now.
The pill called Lybrel is designed to be taken daily, and for woman at work this could be a real breakthrough.

This little pill could be the end of women being put in the disposition of sudden mood changes, bulging stomachs, pain and periods altogether. Skeptics oppose it as they are concerned that it could induce breast cancer.

Eric Hester, of Family and Youth Concern, said: “Being a teenager is complicated enough without having something like this tampering with hormones.” Read more »

Shaun Earl Arender, 19, has been charged with the sexual assault and capital murder of Hanna Mack, 6, of Corsicana, TX.

Arender was in jail on unrelated burglary and drug possession charges when his DNA matched that taken from the shirt worn by the child. When questioned, Arender would not answer “but put his head on the table and cried.” His bond is $2.5 Million.

While in custody on the burglary charges and two days before being charged with murder, Arender cut himself with a piece of glass “because he was depressed.” Read more »

A new report in Star Magazine says that Tom Cruise is going to build a $10 million bunker under his home in Telluride in order to protect his family from an intergalactic alien attack.

Cruise, 45, a dedicated Scientologist, is afraid that “an evil revenge attack” is being plotted by Xenu, a deposed galactic ruler. With a capacity for ten people, “It’s a self-contained underground shelter with a high tech air purifying shelter.”

“This is completely untrue. He is not building on his property at all,” said a spokesman for Cruise. Read more »

China: Xia Xinfeng has been sentence to death for killing her partner. Xinfeng, suspecting that her lover was cheating on her, slipped a capsule of rat poison into his mouth during a kiss.

The capsule proved fatal within a short space of time. According to local media reports her lover, Mao Ansheng, had been spotted “talking” to another woman.

“The couple had said that if either one of them cheated on the other, he or she would have to die,” reported the Shanghai Daily. Read more »

China: Huang Jinjiang, a former bank manager from Sichuan province, is to be executed after being convicted of accepting bribes totalling 7 million yuan between 1993 and 1997.

In return for the bribes Huang approved bank drafts to a local firm. His actions cost the Agricultural Bank of China to lose 700 million yuan or $108 million. Three of his colleagues are also on trial for taking smaller bribes. Read more »

The Fortress resort in Sri Lanka has stated it is home to the world’s most expensive dessert. “The Fortress Stilt Fisherman Indulgence” costs US$14,500 and contains an 80 carat aquamarine stone.

The rest of the dessert is made up of a gold leaf cassata from Italy, flavoured with Irish Cream, a chocolate fisherman holding on to a silt, a compote made up of mango and pomegranate, and a champagne sabayon enlighten.

No one has, as yet, purchased the dessert. Read more »

‘Halo 3′, the long-awaited game from Microsoft, made US$170 million at its XBox 360 launch in the United States alone. This may mark the most successful release in the entertainment industry. Microsoft claims the sum is more than Spider-Man 3.

It is also, according to Microsoft, more than what the seventh Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” made in its first 24 hours. Analysts believe the sum includes presales, which came to 1.5 million games. Read more »

A photograph seized by British police and currently at the centre of a child pornography investigation belongs to Sir Elton John according to the singer