October 21, 2007
Women send panties to Myanmar in protest
BANGKOK, Thailand - Women in several countries have begun sending their panties to Myanmar embassies in a culturally insulting gesture of protest against the recent brutal crackdown there, a campaign supporter said Friday.
"It's an extremely strong message in Burmese and in all Southeast Asian culture," said Liz Hilton, who supports an activist group that launched the "Panties for Peace" drive earlier this week.
The group, Lanna Action for Burma, says the country's superstitious generals, especially junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, also believe that contact with women's underwear saps them of power.
To widespread international condemnation, the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, crushed mass anti-regime demonstrations recently and continues to hunt down and imprison those who took part.
Hilton said women in Thailand, Australia, Singapore, England and other European countries have started sending or delivering their underwear to Myanmar missions following informal coordination among activist organizations and individuals.
"You can post, deliver or fling your panties at the closest Burmese Embassy any day from today. Send early, send often!" the Lanna Action for Burma Web site urges.
"So far we have had no response from Burmese officials," Hilton said.
Posted by ronnie at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2007
Wimbledon sees red over underwear
LONDON (Reuters) - Wimbledon is getting its knickers in a twist. Tatiana Golovin had the Wimbledon referee reaching for his rule book when she sought to appear on court wearing red underwear.
Was she violating the "predominantly white" dress code laid down by the tournament that is such a stickler for sartorial etiquette?
The fashion guardians of good taste at the world's most genteel tennis tournament gave the French player the go-ahead after much discussion about hemlines and where they stopped and started.
Explaining the decision, a Wimbledon spokesman said on Thursday: "They were cleared with the referee in advance by the player. On the basis that they are underwear, they do not have to conform to the predominantly white rule.
"If they are above the hemline they are deemed to be underwear and not shorts."
The 19-year-old Golovin, who beat Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei 5-7 6-3 8-6 on Wednesday, returned to the court on Thursday apparently unperturbed by the headlines her choice of underwear had prompted -- and wearing red knickers again.
Not many post-match news conferences at Wimbledon start with the question "Can I ask you about your knickers?"
Unabashed, the Russian-born player had replied "They say red is the colour that proves that you're strong and you're confident so I'm happy with my red knickers."
Strength and confidence were not enough on Thursday, however and Golovin lost 6-2 3-6 6-1 to Austrian Tamira Paszek.
Posted by ronnie at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)
May 24, 2007
Can you identify those panties, ma'am?
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Police are asking Colorado women a rather delicate question: Are these your panties? As part of an investigation into widespread underwear theft, police have invited women to view photos of about 1,300 undergarments stolen from laundry rooms near Colorado State University.
Chih Hsien Wu, 43, is suspected of stealing $6,000 worth of undergarments between Sept. 23 and May 18. He was arrested on suspicion of felony theft, and his bail was set Wednesday at $15,000. It was not known whether he had an attorney.
Police issued the invitation as part of an effort to see how many victims there are.
But they won't get to reclaim their undergarments — at least not yet. Police say that once the case is closed, the victims can reclaim their underwear — if they still want it back.
Posted by ronnie at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2007
New Jersey thieves snatch $12,000 in underwear
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three brazen New Jersey shoplifters made off with nearly $12,000 (6,100 pounds) in women's underwear by stuffing the goods into bags designed to foil anti-theft equipment at a Victoria's Secret store while the shop was open for business, police said.
Surveillance cameras captured two men and one woman jamming undergarments into large bags and walking past customers and staff into the Newport Centre Mall in Jersey City.
Police said the thieves took over $6,900 in panties and more than $4,900 in bras. Victoria's Secret bras retail from $30 to over $50. Panties cost between $5 and $20, according to the company's Web site.
No arrests have been made since the crime was reported Tuesday night, said Lt. Edgar Martinez, spokesman for the Jersey City police department.
"This isn't something we've seen before. It's a lot of underwear to take," said Martinez.
Posted by ronnie at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)
March 03, 2007
Man pleads guilty to stealing panties
MANCHESTER, N.H. - A Barnstead man has pleaded guilty to stealing three pairs of panties as a Valentine's Day gift for his wife.Ronald Roemer, 39, was fined $240 on a misdemeanor charge of shoplifting. Police say he took $22 worth of women's underwear from Sears.
I wonder if the panties were really for his wife?
Posted by ronnie at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2007
Dame Kiri got knickers in twist over concerts
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian firm is suing opera diva Dame Kiri Te Kanawa for up to A$2 million (789,000 pounds) for pulling out of three scheduled concerts with pop singer John Farnham after she learnt his fans threw panties at him.
A Sydney court heard on Monday that Dame Kiri thought Farnham's live shows were "absolutely horrendous", according to the Australian Associated Press.
She had been scheduled to appear with Farnham in 2005 at Melbourne and Sydney concerts billed as "Two Great Voices", AAP said, but cancelled in March 2004 despite assurances by concert organisers Leading Edge Events that no underwear would be thrown on stage.
English-born Farnham, 57, is one of Australia's best-known performers with a career spanning four decades. But he lacks the international renown of New Zealand's Dame Kiri who sang at the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles to Diana Spencer.
Posted by ronnie at 09:40 AM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2006
New Zealand vicar comes to rescue with "knicker run"
WELLINGTON (AFP) - A clergyman dubbed the "knicker-vicar" has come to the rescue of a small New Zealand town after the local clothing shop stopped selling women's underwear.
Reverend Gary Husband is starting a "knicker run" from his small North Island town of Inglewood to the nearby city of New Plymouth.
"We get all the essentials here -- apart from the ladies' essentials," Husband told Radio New Zealand Friday.
The problem was revealed in discussions after morning communion recently and Husband snapped into action, proving he could fulfil more than spiritual needs.
The first run is planned before Christmas, offering transport for women to travel to New Plymouth to stock up on delicates.
Husband said the knicker run would not be restricted to followers of his Anglican denomination.
"We're offering it for the community," he said.
"We've had one other denomination get in touch with us, so it is spreading."
Posted by ronnie at 07:28 AM | Comments (0)
September 12, 2006
Man charged with stealing underwear
DURHAM, N.H. - Police thought the young man found in a video store wearing nothing but a pair of women's underwear was the victim of a college prank.
It turned out that Joseph Greenquist, 18, of Londonderry, was later arrested on charges of breaking into apartments near the University of New Hampshire campus, stealing underwear and attempting to assault a woman. Police said a knapsack full of lady's undergarments was stashed nearby.
In one of the apartments, a woman was awoken by the intruder, police said.
"She was awoken by a male climbing on top of her while she was in bed," Deputy Chief Rene Kelley said. "She confronted this man, and after a short conversation, he fled the apartment."
Police said they don't know how Greenquist wound up in the video store.
"And they found the gentleman asleep on our couch, wrapped up in a pair of our drapes and basically naked except for a pair of women's underwear," store employee Maureen Paquette said.
Greenquist was scheduled to be arraigned in Dover District Court on Wednesday.
Posted by ronnie at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)
September 02, 2006
Ore. man faces 11 years for panty thefts
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Sung Koo Kim, a 32-year-old Tigard man who stole college women's underwear, has been sentenced one more time for the thefts.
After the fourth part of a four-county plea agreement, Kim faces a total of 11 years in prison.
In Benton County on Wednesday, Circuit Judge Janet Holcomb sentenced him to 31 months in prison for burglary, charges stemming from the theft of underwear and other personal items from Oregon State University residences in 2004.
He has previously been sentenced in Washington, Yamhill and Multnomah counties.
Joo and Dong Kim were at Wednesday's hearing, where their son quietly apologized. Joo said her son is mentally ill and having a difficult time in prison.
"He says most of the time he stays in his cell with a cellmate who is also mentally ill," Joo said. "He's getting medication, but he needs expert mental-health care as soon as possible."
The Kims maintain their son is no danger to anyone and has never been violent.
But Benton County prosecutors said Kim targeted the OSU women's swim team and labeled underwear and personal hygiene items with the names of the women from whom they were stolen. He also photographed himself wearing some of the underwear.
Prosecutors said that behavior, along with thousands of violent pornographic images downloaded onto his computer, is evidence of his violent obsession, prosecutors said.
In one document on Kim's computer, "we see the defendant making a list of horrific torture steps that lead to murder," according to court documents, "followed by a list of supplies to bring along to complete the tasks."
Posted by ronnie at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2006
Woman accused of heroin-soaked panties
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese woman has appeared in court accused of transporting panties and long johns soaked in heroin, state media said Friday.
Wang Zhiqin, 42, from Wuhan, capital of China's central province of Hubei, was charged with transporting 1.44 kg (3.2lb) of heroin soaked into 15 items of underwear, the China Daily said.
"Drug tests apparently detected heroin on them and Wang was arrested after a tip-off," the China Daily said.
Wang pleaded innocent during her trial at a Shanghai court Thursday, saying the tainted underwear had been planted in her luggage, a pink trunk, after two men in Kunming, capital of the southwestern Yunnan province, offered her a job and a plane ticket to Shanghai.
Wang's lawyer queried the investigating police's methods, who derived the quantity of heroin by weighing the drug-soaked underwear, the paper said.
"There is no evidence of the exact purity and quantity of the heroin, and there is no evidence proving Wang was aware of what she was carrying," the paper quoted the lawyer as saying.
If convicted, Wang could face the death penalty, the paper said.
The trial continues.
Posted by ronnie at 02:50 PM | Comments (0)