MICHIGAN MAN TURNS IN BANK ROBBER MOM: BYRON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The FBI says a Michigan man who recognized his mom in surveillance photos of a bank robbery called police to turn her in. MLive.com reports the man told police his mother was at his home in Kent County’s Byron Township. Authorities say 53-year-old Dee Ann Sanders of Martin was charged Tuesday with robbing a Bank of America branch on June 18. Her arraignment is scheduled Thursday in Grand Rapids. A teller says the robber handed her a note demanding $2,500 for her children and grandchildren. She got $1,092. Surveillance photos show a woman wearing a bright red T-shirt with a large American flag on the front. FBI special agent Adam Van Deuren says Sanders confessed. It’s unknown if she has a lawyer yet. She doesn’t have a phone listing.
2 ARMED MEN ROB ANOTHER OF CONDOM: ERIE, Pa. (AP) — Emergency dispatchers say a northwestern Pennsylvania man reported being robbed at knifepoint by two men who took only a condom from the victim. Erie police tell The Associated Press they have no new information to release about the incident. The Erie Times-News reports the incident happened about 10:30 p.m. on the city’s East Side. Erie County emergency dispatchers confirmed the report, but offered no additional details.
JAPAN CONVERSATION ROBOT READY FOR SPACE: TOKYO (AP) — The world’s first space conversation experiment between a robot and humans is ready to be launched. Developers from the Kirobo project, named after “kibo” or hope in Japanese and “robot,” gathered in Tokyo Wednesday to demonstrate the humanoid robot’s ability to talk. “Russia was the first to go outer space, the U.S. was the first to go to the moon, we want Japan to be the first to send a robot-astronaut to space that can communicate with humans,” said Yorichika Nishijima, the Kirobo project manager. The experiment is a collaboration between advertising and PR company Dentsu Inc., the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo, Robo Garage and Toyota Motor Corp. Tomotaka Takahashi, CEO of Robo Garage Co. and associate professor at the University of Tokyo, said he hopes robots like Kirobo that hold conversations will eventually be used to assist astronauts working in space.
BIEBER MONEY RELEASED: BERLIN (AP) — Mally the monkey, Justin Bieber’s former pet, has emerged from quarantine at his new German home three months after the pop star brought him to the country. The 6-month-old capuchin monkey moved Wednesday into a new enclosure at the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, in northern Germany. Mally will soon be introduced to the zoo’s other capuchin monkeys. Zoo manager Fabrizio Sepe said: “Mally is a clever little guy and we’re confident that he will settle in quickly.” Mally was transferred to the zoo last month from a Munich animal shelter where he had been since being seized by German customs March 28. Bieber failed to produce the required vaccination and import papers after arriving for a European tour. Mally’s ownership was transferred to the German state May 21.
‘LONE RANGER’ STARS HAVE ROOTS IN JUSTICE: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer fight for justice in their upcoming film, “The Lone Ranger,” but their ancestors did it for real. Genealogy research website Ancestry.com revealed Wednesday the two actors descend from historic American freedom fighters. Hammer plays the Lone Ranger and Depp portrays his Native American sidekick, Tonto. Yet the site’s historians discovered that it’s Hammer with the native roots. The 26-year-old actor is a descendent of Cherokee leader and peace advocate Chief Kanagatucko, who was known as “Old Hop” or “Stalking Turkey” because of his age and gait.
Researchers said Depp’s eighth great-grandmother was Elizabeth Key, the first slave in the American colonies to sue for her freedom and win. It happened in 1656 in Virginia, where some of Depp’s ancestors have lived since the early 1600s.
