WORLDLY UNWISE

Netting a killerMEXICO CITY: The police are investigating classified ads posted on the Internet by people offering their services as hired killers for $6,000. One post on a website advertises the services of an “ex-military hitman, professional and discreet”. The man promises a “job guaranteed in 10 days or less”. Mexican drug gangs aired radio spots in Guatemala earlier this year seeking ex-soldiers to work as smugglers, and an armed wing of the Gulf cartel hung banners in towns near the US border advertising for new recruits.
-Reuters

Officer Jimmy: a Lab
LEESBURG: She’s a rookie with Virginia’s Loudoun County Fire Marshal’s Office, having arrived in March. But already she has sniffed out 17 key pieces of evidence in 13 fires that accounted for $2.3 million in damage, authorities say. Her name is Jimmy. Just Jimmy. Because dogs don’t usually have last names. “Jimmy has been a tremendous asset to our department,” her partner, Assistant Fire Marshal William “Bud” Herndon, said. With two daily practice sessions, the 21-month-old Labrador retriever’s human partner keeps her busy. Said Herndon, 28, “I might put a single drop of an ignitable liquid on the ground, and she’ll find it. I might put a drop of gasoline on a rock, and she’ll find it.”
“Because of the inhalation hazards they face, it’s recommended that these dogs only work five or six years,” Herndon said. Jimmy will be examined at least twice a year by the nonprofit Briggs Animal Adoption Center in Jefferson County, which is providing the lifetime free food and veterinary care.
(LATWP)

Bug-bust goes boom
NEW YORK: A New Jersey man trying to exterminate insects in his apartment blew it up instead, The New York Daily News reported. Isias Vidal Maceda was unhurt in the incident, but 80 per cent of his apartment was destroyed, Eatontown, New Jersey police told the newspaper. The accident occurred as Maceda was spraying for pests in his kitchen. Somehow the bug spray ignited a blast that blew out the apartment’s front windows and triggered a fire that quickly spread. Police said the July 19 blaze also caused smoke damage to the apartment above.
-Reuters