UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Officials: Nolan brother planned jailbreak

CHICAGO, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Authorities in Chicago said the brother of "The Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan was allegedly planning a jail escape worthy of Batman.

Officials at the high-rise Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago said they discovered 31 feet of rope made from bedsheets, a harness, a razor and a metal clip that could unlock handcuffs in the cell of Matthew Nolan, 41, who was arrested in February on Costa Rican murder charges, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.

Nolan was charged with creating items "designed and intended to be used to facilitate an escape."

"It is clear from the items seized ... that Nolan had devoted a significant amount of time during his first two weeks at the MCC preparing for an escape," prosecutors said in a court filing.

A source at the prison said it was unlikely that Nolan's plan would have worked even if his tools hadn't been discovered. A search of the facility's records indicates no one has ever escaped from the jail.

Costa Rican authorities charged Nolan with murder and kidnapping in the death of Florida accountant Robert Cohen. He was arrested by the FBI in February while leaving bankruptcy court in Chicago.

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Dad angry about retouched photo of girl, 3

LULEA, Sweden, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A Swedish father said the photographer hired to take pictures for his 3-year-old daughter's preschool digitally removed her scar without permission.

Per Engman of Lulea said Thords foto altered the preschool class photo to remove a scar from the nose of his daughter, Meja Flymalm, The Local reported Friday.

"It's just not right, it's a sign that people refuse to accept the world as it is and all these problems associated with idealized beauty just seem wrong," Engman said. "They assume that parents don't want scars, but I do. The scar is a part of who she is."

Engman said the photographers hired by the school also altered his daughter's picture without permission last year to remove a red spot from her cheek that she incurred from a fall the previous evening.

Thord Larsson of Thords foto apologized for the incident, saying pictures are usually only altered with the permission of parents.

"There are a lot of parents who are happy when marks which may have shown up from a scratch that morning are made to disappear, and the same goes for runny noses," he said. "We just want things to be nice and cute."

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Canada apologizes for declaring woman dead

KAMLOOPS, British Columbia, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A Canadian federal department has apologized to a British Columbia woman who was mistakenly flagged as dead in government records.

Nancy Towle's problems began when her Canada Pension Plan widow's benefit check didn't arrive in September, The (Kamloops) Daily News reported.

She told the newspaper she spent two days making phone calls to various federal departments and learned she had been declared dead.

Towles told the Daily News she received a registered letter Thursday with an apology from the executive director of the Human Resources and Skills Development department, where the error originated.

Department spokeswoman Melissa Hart told the newspaper in an e-mail "a human error was made on a client's file."

Meanwhile, Towles said she's wary and double-checking all of her dealings with government agencies.

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U.N. leader gives up office for renovation

NEW YORK, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The United Nations secretary-general's staff says he doesn't mind moving his New York office into a warehouse in the name of energy-efficient renovations.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's staff said Ban will be moving his office before the end of the month from the 37th floor of the U.N. headquarters on New York;'s east side to vacate the building for $2 billion in renovations scheduled to end in 2014, the Christian Science Monitor reported Friday.

The renovations are aimed at cutting the complex's energy consumption by nearly half. The temporary office will be housed in a windowless warehouse erected on the U.N. headquarters campus.

"I don't think he minds taking a temporary office," a member of Ban's staff said, "especially when the whole purpose is to give the U.N. a more efficient building."