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<p>A group of Muslims was detained Wednesday at Orlando Sanford International Airport, apparently because of a misunderstanding over an Islamic cleanliness ritual, authorities said.</p> <p>The captain of Allegiant flight No.625 from Allentown, Pa., radioed ahead and asked airport police to meet the plane when it landed about 8:30p.m., said Larry Dale, airport director and commander of its 11-member police force.</p>

A pilot who accidentally locked himself in the bathroom of his LaGuardia-bound plane caused a terror scare last night when a helpful passenger with an accent tried to come to his rescue by banging on the cockpit door. The embarrassing comedy of errors began when the captain of a Chatauqua Airlines flight from Asheville, N.Car., decided to take a bathroom break before landing. But when he tried to get out of the men’s room, the door jammed, trapping him in the tight quarters.

The state Senate followed the House this morning in passing a transgender civil rights bill. Unlike the House, where the bill drew vocal opposition, the Senate passed the bill by voice vote with only one speaker, the sponsor. Governor Deval Patrick said Tuesday that he would sign it. “Sure,” Patrick told reporters. “I think we have hate crimes on the books today. They, in the case of transgender people, don’t go far enough.” The bill would protect transgender people in housing, credit, and the workplace, and would include transgender people under hate crimes protections. Opponents have called the bill an...

Chicago-To-Germany Flight Diverted Because Of Unruly Passenger July 8, 2011 6:05 PM Federal agents investigate after a disruption on an international flight from Chicago to Germany that was diverted to Cleveland. (Photo provide by a passenger) Federal agents investigate after a disruption on an international flight from Chicago to Germany that was diverted to Cleveland. CHICAGO (WBBM) – Some Chicagoans have quite a story to tell about a flight from O’Hare to Frankfort, Germany that was diverted Friday to Cleveland when a passenger was found hiding in the bathroom and went ballistic when he was confronted. Joe Shulfer of Woodstock...

Bond Set At $1 Million For Passenger Who Disrupted Flight July 12, 2011 2:42 PM Federal agents investigate after a disruption on an international flight from Chicago to Germany that was diverted to Cleveland. (Photo provide by a passenger) Federal agents investigate after a disruption on an international flight from Chicago to Germany that was diverted to Cleveland. Flight 944, Flight Diverted, Saleh Ali Alramakh, United Airlines CHICAGO (CBS) — Bond was set at $1 million on Tuesday for a United passenger who authorities say caused a disturbance on Chicago-to-Germany flight last week. The flight wound up making an emergency...

Hate crime and battery charges have been filed against three teens accused of hurling anti-gay insults at a man and threatening him with a knife in a confrontation that began in a bathroom at Chicago’s Millennium station. Mack Heard, 17, and Kendrick L. Towner, 18, both of Richton Park, were ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail each when they appeared today before Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on a felony hate crime charge and a misdemeanor count of aggravated battery in a public place.

PLANTATION— A female traffic magistrate was accused of following a man into a courthouse bathroom, taking a picture of him with her cellphone as he stood at a urinal, and then trying to bite the finger of a deputy who questioned her about it, according to an arrest report. Rhonda Hollander, 47, was arrested Thursday after a brief physical struggle with the female deputy at the West Regional Courthouse, according to the report obtained Tuesday from the Broward Sheriff's Office.

A SMALL home-made device exploded in a toilet in the restroom of a fast food outlet in western Sydney but no one was injured, police say. The device was detonated in the men's toilet cubicle at a McDonald's restaurant on High St in Penrith at around 9.10pm (AEDT) yesterday. "The explosion damaged the toilet cistern and an air vent," NSW police said today in a statement. "There was nobody in the restroom at the time. "The remnants of a crudely made explosive device was found and taken for forensic examination."

Anywhere, USA (IMpossible News) - When it comes to public restrooms, is it possible to make everyone happy? America has been a resilient country that has faced so many civil rights and human dignity challenges over the years. By the most part every major social obstacle has been met with millions or billions of dollars of government programs to grease the squeaky wheels. Now we face an issue that can't be flushed away without resolve. We need restrooms for the newly classified Gender Confused. Why not make a federal ordinance that all new public buildings have a third door, or...

Arriving late one night into Tokyo, I checked into my hotel room to discover the world’s most complicated toilet. There were hoses and nozzles where hoses and nozzles probably shouldn’t be, and along the side there was an alarming set of button and switches, which made the entire contraption look like a neat freak’s electric chair. But, you know, when in Rome, right? It’s difficult to convey, in a magazine dedicated to the higher pursuits of political philosophy and national renewal, just how fantastic the Japanese toilet was. It’s impossible, especially, within the civilized parameters set by the editors and...

Copenhagen - Police in Denmark arrested a suspected possible suicide bomber Friday following a small explosion at a hotel in central Copenhagen, media reports said. Danish daily Extra Bladet showed on its website a photo of the suspect, who had reportedly attempted to blow himself up. Police did not immediately confirm the report. No one was injured in the explosion at the Jorgensen Hotel. Police handcuffed the man after he was seen running away from the hotel and into the nearby Orstedsparken park. The park was evacuated and the surrounding streets were cordoned off as explosive experts were called in....

CHICAGO (AP) - Rod Blagojevich hid in the bathroom, ducked into the back room and left the office early to avoid discussing complex issues with his top aides, his former deputy said Thursday at the ousted governor's corruption trial. Former Deputy Governor Robert Greenlee portrayed Blagojevich as disengaged from daily affairs of state, saying Blagojevich spent on average about two to eight hours a week in his office when he was governor. He said that during working hours, the governor generally was at home or attending high-profile events. Greenlee said he would confer with Blagojevich by telephone when they discussed...

TOKYO, May 19 (AFP) - SNIPPET: "The pilot of the Boeing 747-400 with 407 passengers and crew bound for Minneapolis turned around late Monday about three hours into the flight from Tokyo's Narita airport after crew found the two men who refused to leave the cabin bathroom. Reports said the pair, who identified themselves as Chinese citizens aged in their 20s, had boarded the flight during an earlier stop in Shanghai. Japanese immigration officials were questioning the men, who said they did not have passports."

The pilot of a Nanchang CJ-6A Chinese trainer gives Mesa police an account of the events that led to him crashing the plane into a closed restroom facility at Red Mountain Park after trying to make an emergency landing in the park due to engine failure. Feb. 7, 2010.Ralph Freso, Tribune Crew personnel look over the damage to the CJ-6A trainer aircraft. Feb. 7, 2010. Ralph Freso, Tribune The right wing of the aircraft is sheared off by a light pole fixture in front of the restroom building. Feb. 7, 2010.Ralph Freso, Tribune Crew personnel begin to remove avionics...

A South Jersey woman got the scare of her life when she tried to report suspicious activity on board a plane Philadelphia International Airport. The woman shared details of her terrifying ordeal only with Fox 29 News on Wednesday. Now, she's wondering if it was some kind of sick joke or a test run for a terrorist. Fox 29's Dave Schratwieser reported that 12 days after her red-eye flight from Los Angeles, the US Airways passenger is still upset over an incident on her flight, the reaction to it by the flight crew, and the lack of reaction from authorities....

Boston Police report arresting a Roxbury teen with a bullet wound on illegal gun-possession charges yesterday after he claimed he was shot while walking home from the Ruggles T stop. Police say officers immediately noticed holes in the kid's story, starting with the fact that "the clothes he had been wearing were not wet," which they found hard to believe given yesterday's torrential downpours. Also, there was the bullet hole in his bathroom wall. And reports from neighbors who'd heard gunshots.

SNIPPET: "A Sun Express Boeing 737-800, registration TC-SUO performing flight XQ-973 from Stuttgart (Germany) to Izmir (Turkey) with 62 passengers and 6 crew, was enroute overhead Skopje (Macedonia), when a crew member found a note in one of the lavatories saying "Today we will die, boom"." SNIPPET: "Greek police detained a man carrying a marker pen of the same color as the note written on the lavatory's mirror, but later permitted him to continue the journey. After the airplane arrived in Izmir, Turkish police detained the man again and interviewed him. The man was released without charges after the interview."

We now know the Russian planes were blown up by 1) women 2) from the toilets. This dovetails ominously with a six month old report from US intelligence that Al Qaeda was recruiting female terrorists to smuggle 8-12 ounces of explosives inside their vaginas, then extract them and assemble the bomb and detonate it from toilet. More here, including the likely effect on the racial profiling debate.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Police questioned a passenger on a small commercial plane that flew from Chicago to a northern Michigan resort town on Friday after the crew reported he was acting suspiciously. Crew members aboard United Airlines Flight 6036 said the 28-year-old California man had taken "an article" into the bathroom and left without it, said Traverse City Police Capt. Steve Morgan. The crew found that a panel inside the bathroom had been tampered with, he said. They requested law enforcement assistance while approaching Cherry Capital Airport, Morgan said. A government official said earlier the passenger had made a...

A plane was stopped from taking off from Los Angeles International Airport, and two men on board were taken into custody, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. LAPD Lt. John Romero said the men, who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, were acting suspiciously. A law enforcement source said at least one of the men ran into a restroom on the plane and appeared to hide while the New York-bound jet was taxiing on the runway, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing. The flight crew confronted the two...

AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Human Rights Commission says a restaurant discriminated against a transgender woman by asking her to use the men’s room until she had sex reassignment surgery. The manager of a Denny’s restaurant in Auburn made the request of Brianna Freeman of Lewiston after a female customer complained of having to share a restroom with "a man." Chad Cloutier, a lawyer representing the restaurant, says the woman threatened to call police.

London, Jan 15 (PTI) Actor Dustin Hoffman has named a bathroom after him at the college where he was once thrown out of. The 71-year-old actor just his attended his first year in Santa Monica Junior College in California. Hoffman revealed that he was not a very good student in his teen years but about nine years ago the college authorities asked if they could honour him in their new theatre, Contactmusic reported.

While the Iowa Hawkeyes were scoring at will on the field Saturday night, two fans from the Hawkeye State also were scoring elsewhere in the Metrodome. Police say that a man and woman were "having relations" in one of the bathroom stalls as a crowd cheered them on. The man, 26 and from Linden, Iowa, and the woman 38 and from Carroll, Iowa, were cited for misdemeanor indecent conduct. He was released to his girlfriend and she to her husband, police said. A security guard came upon the scene in the handicapped stall, police said. Police were summoned, and they...

A reader writes: "Last night we were out with friends and went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at Bella Terra/Huntington Beach. We were eating outside as my 5 year old daughter got an uncontrollable urge to use the bathroom and began crying and screaming 'diarrhea, diarrhea.' I ran into the store with her in my arms, begging to use the bathroom and they refused multiple times." I explained she had diarrhea and couldn't hold it and told them she was about to go on the floor. They refused again and never offered me any alternatives. I begged them to...

Clinton press corps tries toilet journalism...no, really Tribune Co. reporters Rick Pearson, in foreground, and Glenn Thrush doing their business in a setting where doing one's business is common. Did they wash their hands after they filed their stories? by Rick PearsonAUSTIN, Texas---Perhaps a better dateline would be the Texas flush-handle.Yes, it was a night where journalism turned into urinalism for the traveling Hillary Clinton press corps, which is covering the Democratic presidential candidate making a speech at a rally at a sports facility.Ann Compton, the veteran ABC News radio correspondent, said the press digs were among the more...

MINNEAPOLIS - Embattled Sen. Larry Craig asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday to overrule a county judge who refused to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea in connection with an arrest in an airport bathroom sex sting. Craig's appeal was filed at the court in St. Paul less than two weeks after Hennepin County District Court Judge Charles Porter refused to overturn the guilty plea, saying it "was accurate, voluntary and intelligent, and ... supported by the evidence." Craig, a Republican from Idaho, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August after he was accused of soliciting sex...

Hold it: How long can a man wait?Bathroom break is part of Jefferson case Wednesday, October 10, 2007 By Bruce Alpert WASHINGTON -- In a case already fraught with precedent-setting legal questions, attorneys for Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, are seeking perhaps another first in judicial opinions. Is it reasonable, the lawyers ask a federal judge, to believe that a 58-year-old man could wait more than two hours after awakening in the morning before taking a bathroom break? The issue is raised in motions intended to cast doubt on the Justice Department's contention that FBI agents did not restrict Jefferson's...

October 10, 2007 -- A Manhattan woman is suing a West Village restaurant for allegedly having her tossed out of the ladies' room for looking too manly. In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Khadijah Farmer says she's seeking an undisclosed amount for "embarrassment, humiliation and emotional distress" when she was bounced out of the Caliente Cab Company ladies' room this past June.

Barrett: "What brings you back to the Capitol today?" Craig: "Go to work." Barrett: "Are you intending to vote today, sir?" Craig: "That's my plan." Barrett: "Why decide to come back today?" Craig: "Because I'm a serving United States Senator from Idaho." Craig then stepped into the senators' dining room on the first floor of the Capitol. On the way he passed a visibly surprised Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, who gave Craig a big welcome back handshake.

When you go to Minneapolis, you might put the Mall of America, the statue of Mary Tyler Moore or maybe even the zoo on your list of things to see. Now tourists are asking about a new destination in the Twin Cities, says Karen Evans, information specialist at the information counter at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. A common request is, "Excuse me, can you please tell me where the Larry Craig bathroom is?" Evans was just 15 minutes into her shift Friday afternoon and already had heard the request four times. "It's become a tourist attraction," Evans said with a...

"Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?" - Senator Ted Kennedy, 1973 -Saturday, September 1, 2007 Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) resigned from the United States Senate effective September 30. He did so after it was revealed that he had plead guilty to a charge of "disorderly conduct" in a public restroom at the Minneapolis airport. In his statement announcing his resignation he said: Statement of Senator CraigSenator's Official Web site September 1, 2007 ...To the Idahoans I represent, to my...

"DK: Have you been successful in these bathrooms here before? LC: I go to that bathroom regularly "

A Hennepin County court docket showed Craig pleading guilty to the disorderly conduct charge Aug. 8, with the court dismissing a charge of gross misdemeanor interference to privacy.[Just what was the Senator doing in a known pickup spot (airport restroom) for homosexual activity?]

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Was the astronaut really wearing a diaper? It depends on which story you believe. Late-night comedians had a field day with the story of an astronaut who drove more than 900 miles from Houston to Orlando to confront a romantic rival -- while wearing diapers so she wouldn't have to stop. But now, an attorney for former astronaut Lisa Nowak says his client wasn't wearing diapers during the trip, calling the story "an absolute fabrication." He made the remarks after filing motions to suppress evidence in Nowak's criminal case. The tidbit that Nowak wore diapers during...

Proposal Would Have Doors Swing Out, Not In BOSTON -- If Bellingham resident Douglas Flavin has his way, all public bathroom doors in Massachusetts will open outward, not inward. The Legislature's Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight reviewed the bill Wednesday. State Rep. James Vallee (D-Franklin) filed the bill on Flavin's behalf. Survey: What Do You Think? "[Think] how easy it would be to prevent germs and disease," Flavin's wife Tracy told BostonNow. "If state residents could open bathroom doors with a knee or elbow instead of a handle." Flavin also claimed it would prevent litter resulting from people...

What reading material do you have in your "home of the seat"? We have quite an eclectic collection, thanks to a long vanity counter that can hold a lot of books! You will never be bored with the selection in our reading room. Nora Roberts, Night Shift/Night Shadow German-French dictionary German-Chechen Dictionary Yves Simon, Philosophy of Democratic Government Chicken Soup for the Mother & Daughter Soul Farber, The Foundation of Phenomenology Michael Savage, the Compassionate Conservative The How and Why Book of Science Experiments Everything your baby would ask National Geographic (assorted issues) American Baby (assorted issues) Sudoku puzzles Fourier...

Italy's first transsexual MP, a flamboyant 41-year-old television star, has caused a storm in the houses of parliament by using the female lavatories.Vladimir Luxuria, 41, an MP for the Communist Refoundation party, was born a man but dresses in women's clothes and prefers to be addressed as a woman. She says she considers herself "neither male nor female". She was found in the ladies' lavatory by Elisabetta Gardini, a former showgirl who is now a spokesman for Forza Italia, the party led by Silvio Berlusconi. Miss Gardini allegedly told Ms Luxuria: "This is the ladies', you cannot come in here,...

In this photo released by CBS, Cable News Network anchor Kyra Phillips presents the "Top Ten List" on the set of the "Late Show with David Letterman," in New York, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006. Phillips made headlines earlier this week when her microphone was left on during a bathroom break, unknowingly catching her conversation with a friend. The conversation ended up being broadcast live on the air during a speech by President Bush. (AP Photo/CBS, JP Filo)

Writing the history of our time in song. http://monya1.tripod.com/midis2.html MIDI - TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR (click on Margie Harrell, then the song) Tinkle, tinkle, little star...viewers wonder where you are Maybe in stall number one...this is really getting fun Tinkle, tinkle, little star...viewers wonder where you are Kyra was there to hear our leader speak Her sister-in-law we learn's a real controlling freak Then there was a television moment quite profound I hope everybody got to hear the zipper sound Come on, put it on your website, CNN We are waiting anxiously to hear the clip again Tinkle, tinkle, little...

NEW YORK - Kyra Phillips, anchor of CNN's "Live From...," unwittingly upstaged President Bush's speech in New Orleans with on-the-air analysis of her husband and the marriage of her brother — all live from a CNN ladies room. Unaware that her wireless microphone was "live" during her break, Phillips could be heard overriding Bush's prepared address Tuesday as he was seen marking the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The Atlanta-based Phillips, in conversation with an unidentified woman in an echoey room, dismissed most men with a vulgar term, but called herself "very lucky in that regard. My husband is handsome...

It gives a completely new meaning to the phrase 'rock 'n' roll'. For boffins have invented a cutting-edge gadget combining a portable music player and a toilet paper dispenser. The state-of-the-art device - called an iCarta - makes it easier for people to listen to beats while using the bathroom. It is designed, according to the US manufacturers, to "enhance your experience in the smallest room". The gadget, which costs around $99, or £54, merges an iPod docking station with a loo roll dispenser. After music lovers have downloaded songs from the internet on their iPod, they can place it...

The old song lyrics “I need a place to hide away” traditionally have applied to the bathroom in conventional culture. It was the one comfort zone in which to be alone. Don’t count on it. The New York Times says attitudes about privacy are changing, and cutting-edge bathrooms have translucent glass or acrylic walls that make the interior visible from other rooms. Joel Sanders, an architect and professor of architecture at Yale, has designed several see-through bathrooms. The shame about the body is not a factor for many clients, he told the Times. Ideas about privacy are more relaxed. Some...

Fla. Office Manager Arrested After Restroom Cam Found POSTED: 8:30 am EST March 3, 2006 UPDATED: 8:38 am EST March 3, 2006 A mortgage company manager in Hobe Sound, Fla., was arrested after a worker found a camera connected from an office restroom to a monitor on his desk, according to a Local 6 News report. Investigators in Martin County said Rex Largent mounted the camera under the sink at his mortgage company to apparently film people in the restroom. A woman in the office spotted the camera and reported him. Largent claimed he bought the camera as a toy...

Cleaning bathrooms may become a thing of the past with new coatings that will do the job for you. Researchers at the University of New South Wales are developing new coatings they hope will be used for self-cleaning surfaces in hospitals and the home. Led by Professor Rose Amal and Professor Michael Brungs of the ARC Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, a research team is studying tiny particles of titanium dioxide currently used on outdoor surfaces such as self-cleaning windows. The particles work by absorbing ultraviolet light below a certain wavelength, exciting electrons and giving the particles an oxidising quality stronger...

A New York City teenager fell out the window of a moving bus while using the restroom Tuesday and landed on the New York State Thruway. State police said Jose Gonzales, 17, lost his balance when the chartered bus swerved to change lanes. It was unclear how fast the bus was going. Gonzales was taken to Albany Medical Center for treatment. Police said he'll recover. Gonzales fell onto the shoulder of the thruway near Exit 23 southbound. He had been at the Capitol on Tuesday to lobby with a group on the issue of AIDS.

An East High freshman faces expulsion for something the district says never should have happened. Monday Charles Rogers discovered a camera in the foyer of the boy’s bathroom. "The camera there period surprised me. It was a little spy camera, I didn't think anything like that was in the bathroom. I didn't think it was the schools, I thought it was a perverted janitor," Charles said. He took the camera. He says it was in a little hole in the ceiling tile. He also took the receiver which was in the schools auditorium. "It looked like an irregular setup. It...

Ford has a better idea: shorter bathroom breaks. Managers of the motor company's truck plant in Wayne, Mich., said excessive breaks are slowing down production of SUVs. Ford said its contract with the United Autoworkers union allows 48 minutes of bathroom breaks per shift. A memo this week warned workers are spending too much time in the restroom and said supervisors are going to be keeping close tabs on break time. The memo cites what it said are "risks associated with safety, quality, delivery, cost and morale." A union spokesman said managers are being petty.

Claim: Photograph shows a bathroom with an unusually painted floor. Caption on photo making rounds on internet states: This is a painted floor!!!! I don't think I could even step into the room Status:False "IMAGINE . . . you are at a party. You have to go to the bathroom. There's only one at the house you're in. This is the bathroom you enter." Origins: The image shown above may qualify as a genuine artwork, but not of the type claimed (i.e., a bathroom with its floor painted to make it appear open to the sky from thousands of feet...

Bathroom Gunshot Stations: Note nature of the following Gun falls and fires when officer drops pants SAN ANTONIO (AP) _ This is a story they'll be telling around the San Antonio Police Department for a long time. A police spokesman says an off-duty officer was at a San Antonio auto auction house yesterday when nature called. Officer Craig Clancy strolled to the appropriate facility and was lowering his trousers when his pistol fell from his waistband. When Clancy fumbled for the falling firearm, it went off -- twice. One of the bullets nicked a bit of floor tile into the...

Bogota, Feb 1 (EFE).- The mayor of a northern Colombian town was wounded in the buttocks when a pistol in his pocket accidentally discharged while he was taking down his pants to use the toilet at a small general store, the local press reported Tuesday. Rafael Augusto Galan, mayor of Ramiriqui, was recovering in a hospital in the provincial capital of Tunja following the embarassing mishap Monday.