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The skinny

By TIMES WIRES
Published April 21, 2007

NO WELCOME MAT

IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY, AND HE'LL COME IF HE WANTS TO

Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is coming to Guatemala today whether it wants him or not. "It has been predestined and angels will make it happen. He is, after all, God himself," said Axel Poessy, Miranda's media director. Miranda, the leader of the Doral-based Growing in Grace church, calls himself the Antichrist, wears the number 666 tattooed on his arm and claims a following of 2-million people. He often takes aim at the Catholic Church - the most powerful faith in Latin America - and is banned from Guatemala, which has labeled him a terrorist. It wasn't clear, however, if the government would be able to block the Puerto Rican-born Miranda's private jet from landing today, which is the former evangelical priest's birthday.

TO ERR IS DIVINE

Mistake-prone? There's hope

Clerk Wayburn Allen accidentally rang up two duplicate Powerball tickets Tuesday for a customer at a store in Conover, N.C. At the end of the day, she was still stuck with the second ticket, unable to sell it to anyone. So she paid for it herself. The next day, she returned to the store and found the ticket matched all five numbers, earning her a $200,000 jackpot. The customer also will receive a $200,000 jackpot.

A NANNY'S LAMENT

A day in the park is so punishing

San Fernando Valley parents can rest easier. A man is not roaming around Encino Park asking to buy babies after all. Turns out it was a hoax, dreamed up by a nanny who told police about the man in the hope that she no longer would have to go to the park with the baby she cared for, police said Thursday. The woman's tale was spread by other nannies and mothers on Web sites, causing widespread concern in the neighborhood and beyond. It wasn't clear why the nanny didn't like going to the park - perhaps she missed her soap opera?

EMPHASIS ON PROSPERITY

That's my feng shui fortune

It's a case of charity vs. feng shui. Nina Wang, a ponytailed Hong Kong businesswoman, was Asia's richest woman at the time of her death this month. Chan Chun-chuen, a 48-year-old real-estate investor whom the Hong Kong media has described as a feng shui master, says she left her $4-billion fortune to him in a 2006 will. Feng shui is the ancient Chinese practice of trying to achieve health, harmony and prosperity through timing and the placement of objects. Chinachem Charitable Foundation Ltd., named after Wang's company, also claims the loot. In a purported 2002 will, Wang says she wanted the charity to set up a Chinese version of the Nobel prizes. We're sure things will be settled harmoniously.

[Last modified April 21, 2007, 02:44:17]