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KIEV, Ukraine - A man was killed by a lion after he climed into its enclosure at the Kiev zoo. The 45-year-old man, who was not identified, apparently told witnesses that he believed God would keep the lions from harming him. "The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," a zoo official said. Police spokesman Volodymyr Polishchuck said that the man acted aggressively, prompting one of the lions to seize him by the throat. He died at the scene. The incident occurred Sunday evening when the zoo was packed with visitors.

 

BELOGORSK, Russia - Russian police say a boss allegedly chained an employee naked to a tree in the forest for doing his work poorly. Last month, a 39-year-old man was found beaten and chained with handcuffs to a tree near Belogorsk in Russia's Far East, MosNews reported. There were conflicting reports to how long he had been there. Interfax said the man spent almost 24-hours in the forest before he was found by railway workers, while Regnum news agency reports he spent several hours at the tree. The man told the police he had been punished by his boss for refusing to engage in illegal actions. Police, however, say the boss had been angered by the man's poor work. The boss faces up to two years in prison for the attack, MosNews said.   
 
NEW YORK - Thomas Everett, a teacher in Brooklyn, was convicted of stealing from elderly women and submitted his request for an unpaid leave lasting 60 to 90 days. In the request, he wrote that he had "problems with the State of New Jersey Judicial System" and "must fulfill an obligation to the State." School officials at Sheepshead Bay High School, where Everett taught social studies, said that he will not be welcome back in the classroom. "We get some strange ones, but this one is a little different," said Richard Condon, the lead schools investigator. Needless to say, Everett's leave request was denied.

 

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - A convicted robber in New York is suing over the reported beating he received from the two AutoZone employees he robbed. Moments after Dana Buckman brandished a 9mm semiautomatic pistol to steal cash from an AutoZone store in Rochester, N.Y., employees Eli Crespo and Jerry Vega beat him with a metal pipe and held him at bay with his own gun, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported. Buckman escaped when Crespo and Vega recovered the money and went to call 911. He was arrested a week later, pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a repeat violent felon. Buckman is suing AutoZone and the two employees, claiming they committed assault and battery and intentionally inflicted emotional distress, the newspaper said.