Jockstrip: The world as we know it

TIGER OWNER DENIES KEEPING LION

Antoine Yates, charged with reckless endangerment and possession of a wild animal for keeping a tiger in his public housing apartment in New York City, says he lost his only friend.

"I want my cat back," Yates says. "He was like my brother, he was my best friend, my only friend, really. I am brokenhearted. I hope my kitty cat is safe."

The "kitty" weighed about 400 pounds and bit Yates, which tipped police to the big cat left alone in the apartment with "Al" the alligator.

Prosecutors say Yates may have had other animals in his Harlem apartment and are looking for a lion, the New York Post reports.

Yates' attorney scoffed at suggestions Yates kept a lion in the fifth-floor apartment.

PHONY DOC ARRESTED FOR CASTRATION

A man masquerading as a doctor castrated a transgender woman who nearly bled to death.

Catherine Watson, 45, said she was awake during the procedure and experienced "horrible" pain, British Sky News reports.

Watson found Doug Lenhart, who charged $800, on the Internet and he allegedly told Watson he had performed 23 other castrations.

The doctor faces charges of aggravated assault, with reckless endangerment of life and unauthorized practice of medicine and surgery.

HEALTHY PHONE LINE: 'UTTER RUBBISH'

A healthy eating telephone help line in Scotland that cost taxpayers an average $23 per call has been branded an "utter waste of money."

The "healthy living" line -- that allowed the public to ask food-related questions -- cost almost $600,000 and was part of a $2.8 million advertising campaign, the London Telegraph reports.

One critic says the money would have been better spent distributing "some decent cookbooks."

Tom McCabe, deputy health minister, claims the campaign is making an impact in low-income communities.

TREVI FOUNTAIN COINS FREE TO ALL

Many thought it was bad luck to fish out the "good luck' coins tossed in Rome's Trevi Fountain. Police thought it was just plain illegal.

Fifty-two-year-old Nadia Angrisani, who is homeless, was arrested for theft of city property for taking almost $20 of coins from the famous 250-year-old fountain, the Web site the Scotsman.com reports.

A lower court in Italy fined her about $1,800 for taking the coins.

However, an appeals court in Rome has ruled the coins, once discarded, do not belong to anyone, so they are free game. It is, however, still illegal to enter the fountain.