Santa Maria California ( America's only female bull rider ) Maggie Parker

Maggie Parker, the diminutive cowgirl who is America's only female bull rider

Maggie Parker stands at just 5ft 5inches tall and weighs just over nine stone - but don't let her diminutive size fool you.

Maggie Parker's current percentage of staying on bulls is 35-40 per cent - which is a normal average for professional riders Photo: Incredible Features / Barcroft Media

11:06AM GMT 05 Feb 2013

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The slender Michigan native is America's only female bull rider to compete against men, regularly taking on beasts that weigh in excess of 2,000lbs.

Aged just 20, she is already the veteran of nearly 200 rodeos, competing alongside brawny cowboys in one of the most dangerous sports in the world.

^{Maggie Parker stands at just 5ft 5inches tall and weighs just over nine stone (Incredible Features / Barcroft Media)}

"You're up against an animal and you don't know what he is going to do or what he's thinking," she said. "You can't ride against them, you have to ride with them."

Ms Parker became professional last June after tackling a bucking bull for the full eight seconds needed to qualify as a pro. She relocated to Santa Maria, California, where she is being trained by top mentor Gary Leffew.

Saudi Arabia ( Beheads two men for armed robbery )

Saudi Arabia beheads two for armed robbery

Saudi Arabia beheaded two nationals in the southwestern city of Jizan on Tuesday after they were convicted of armed robbery, the interior ministry announced.

 

"Mohammed bin Ahmed Kharmi and Musa bin Mohsen Kharmi lured a man and opened fire on him," the ministry said in a statement published by SPA state news agency, adding the victim, whose identity was not disclosed, was wounded.

The pair "stole the money he was carrying which belonged to the company he works for," said SPA. They were sentenced to death "due to the danger of their crime".

In a separate statement, the ministry said a Palestinian identified as Wael Anbar was beheaded in the Red Sea city of Jeddah for stabbing to death a Yemeni, Naser Haqqash.

The beheadings bring to 56 the number of people executed in Saudi Arabia so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on official reports.

Amnesty International puts the number of people executed in the Gulf country last year at 79.

Tucson Az ( 2nd Puppy found in trash can- Suspect wanted )

2nd puppy found in Tucson park trash can

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Abandoned puppy

Photo courtesy of the Humane Society of Southern Arizona

A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person who left the 9-week-old chocolate mixed breed in a trash can at Kennedy Park. Park employees found the puppy and a couple at the park took the dog home and contacted the humane society.

2013-02-05T17:20:00Z2013-02-05T17:26:59Z2nd puppy found in Tucson park trash canArizona Daily StarArizona Daily Star

24 minutes ago • Arizona Daily Star

An emaciated puppy was found in a Tucson park trash can on Monday, the second one in less than a month, according to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona.
A $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person who left the 9-week-old chocolate mixed breed in a trash can at Kennedy Park. Park employees found the puppy and a couple at the park took the dog home and contacted the humane society.
The female dog, now named Kennedy, was emaciated, dehydrated and very hungry, according to a news release. About three weeks ago another dog was found in a plastic bag in a trash can at Reid Park.
Oscar, about 8 weeks old, was then brought to the humane society to be cared for. His story has a happy ending — he was adopted Monday, the agency said.
Anyone with information about the cruelty case involving the new puppy can call 88-CRIME or the Animal Cruelty Taskforce reporting line at 547-0260.

Tucson Az ( Police Lieutenant demoted after taking sexy photo's of herself in her police uniform )

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A Tucson police lieutenant has been demoted after allegedly taking sexually explicit photos and videos of herself wearing her police uniform.
Police said Monday that Lt. Diana Lopez used her personal cell phone to send videos and photos to a subordinate officer with whom she was in a relationship. They say Lopez was reduced to the rank of sergeant following an investigation that began last August 2012.
The Arizona Daily Star (http://bit.ly/WMXjxM) says anonymous letters sent to the police department about Lopez prompted the probe.
A police report says Lopez's boyfriend apparently showed the videos and photos to other officers from May 2011 through August 2011.
Police say Lopez violated several department regulations, code of ethics and professional standards. They say a recommendation was made to reduce her in rank.

Washington ( Female bank robber hits two banks in 15 minutes ) See good photo

Female robber hits two Washington banks in 15 minutes

Reuters – 17 hrs ago

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  View PhotoReuters/Reuters - An unknown bank robber is pictured on a surveillance camera inside a bank in Washington, in this February 4, 2013 FBI handout photo. REUTERS/FBI/Handout

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A woman wearing sunglasses and dressed in black down to her white tennis shoes robbed two Washington banks within 15 minutes on Monday, threatening a teller by saying she had a gun, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.

The woman entered a PNC Bank in northwest Washington at 9:13 a.m. EST and passed a note to a teller demanding money. The robber got money and left the bank, the FBI said in a statement.

The woman next turned up at a Bank of America Corp branch in northwest Washington at 9:28 a.m. EST, asked the teller for money and saying she had a gun. She again got the money and left, the FBI said.

An FBI spokesman declined to give the amounts stolen.

The woman was described as possibly Hispanic, with dark hair. She was wearing sunglasses, a black puffy jacket, black pants, black leather gloves, a black scarf around her head, a white and black polka-dotted scarf around her neck and white tennis shoes.

She was described as having a bandage on her nose or lip.

China ( China sea - Japan and china flex muscles in the ocean ) Over Islands

China frigate locked radar on Japan navy

A Chinese military frigate locked its weapon-targeting radar on a Japanese navy vessel on at least one occasion, Japan's defence minister has claimed, as the bitter territorial row threatened to escalate.

The mosaic of rival territorial claims in the South China Sea has become Asia's worst potential military flashpoint Photo: Zhong Kuirun/ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

11:53AM GMT 05 Feb 2013

Itsunori Onodera claimed that on January 30, "something like fire-control radar" was directed at a Japanese Self-Defence Maritime escort ship in the East China Sea.

Mr Onodera said a Japanese military helicopter was also locked with a similar radar a few days earlier.

"Directing such radar is very abnormal," he said. "We recognise it would create a very dangerous situation if a single misstep occurred.

"We will seek the Chinese side's self-restraint from taking such dangerous action."

The move is an apparent ramping up of an already tense situation in the East China Sea, where Asia's two largest economies are at loggerheads over the sovereignty of an uninhabited island chain.
On Tuesday Tokyo summoned China's envoy in protest at the presence a day earlier of Chinese government ships in the waters around the islands.

No mention was made in the earlier announcement of the actions of any Chinese military vessels. It was not believed that the military ships had been in what Japan considers its waters.

"The foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador over ships entering the waters near Senkaku islands," said an official, referring to a chain claimed as the Diaoyus by Beijing.

North Korea ( Childish Youtube video - Shows U.S city under attack )

North Korea ‘dream’ video shows U.S. city under missile attack ?

In what appears to be a provocative PR stunt, a bizarre video uploaded to YouTube by North Korea over the weekend shows a dream sequence that includes a U.S. city resembling New York under an apparent missile attack.
The video, produced by North Korea's official website, Uriminzokkiri, begins with a young man imagining himself aboard a North Korean space shuttle that circles the earth, pausing to zoom in on a unified Korea.
The soundtrack to the three-and-a-half-minute video is an instrumental version of "We Are the World," the 1985 single written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and recorded by a celebrity supergroup, with proceeds going to African aid.
Near the end of the dream sequence, the imagined U.S. city—including what appears to be the Empire State Building—is shown in flames.
"Somewhere in the United States, black clouds of smoke are billowing," reads a caption, translated by The Guardian. "It seems that the nest of wickedness is ablaze."

When reached by Yahoo News, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to comment.

The video arrives just days after North Korea threatened to retaliate against the U.S. for what it called a double standard stemming from a recent rocket launch by South Korea, which the U.S. said had no military intent.

In December, the U.S. claimed a North Korean rocket launch was a test of banned ballistic missile technology, and the United Nations Security Council announced sanctions.

On Saturday, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman did not elaborate on the threatened retaliation. But according to the Associated Press, Pyongyang recently threatened to conduct its third nuclear test in response to what it calls U.S. hostility.

On Tuesday, South Korea U.N. Ambassador Kim Sook said a North Korean nuclear test was "imminent."