Thursday August 4, 2011
Police in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, smashed a car window to save what they believed was a baby on a hot day only to find it was a lifelike doll. Sergeant Robert Holmes said: "Drivers need to think about what they leave on view in their cars."
Thursday July 28, 2011
An 80-year-old South African man this week awoke to find himself in a Johannesburg morgue fridge - 21 hours after his family thought he had died from an asthma attack and called in an undertaker.
Thursday July 21, 2011
Two men in Springfield, Georgia, got so stoned, they hallucinated an early-morning break-in, called police and were promptly busted for manufacturing and possessing hard drugs.
Monday July 11, 2011
A sozzled boy racer has been banned from getting behind the wheel - of a ride-on lawnmower. Joel Maunder, 18, was more than twice the legal limit when he was stopped driving his parents' mower to meet friends near Cardiff, Wales.
Wednesday July 6, 2011
Plans to kill wild camels on the grounds that their flatulence adds to global warming has angered scientists. The International Society of Camelid Research and Development says the idea is stupid ... and a scientific aberration.
Tuesday July 5, 2011
Russia's interior ministry has issued a warning to its pudgy police officers - lose weight or face the sack. The move comes as Russia seeks to cut its bloated police force and improve its image among foreign tourists and investors. 12,000 of the city's 40,000 officers are overweight.
Monday July 4, 2011
A tiny water bug that "sings" by rubbing its penis against its belly has been dubbed the loudest animal on Earth, relative to its body size. The average song of the two-millimetre-long Micronecta scholtzi reaches 78.9 decibels, comparable to a passing freight train.
Saturday July 2, 2011
A burglar offered to repair the screen he damaged breaking into a New Jersey home after he was confronted by the home owner. He told her he meant to break into a neighbour's home. Maria Cardona said the man was really polite, but made her nervous. Nothing was stolen.
Friday July 1, 2011
An 89-year-old woman used her cane to dent the bonnet of a getaway car used by two people who stole her 82-year-old friend's purse outside a Pennsylvania pizza shop. Police were able to track it down because of the cane's imprint.
Wednesday June 29, 2011
A Massachusetts man facing a criminal complaint for failing to appear for jury duty apparently had a good excuse. He's been dead for five years. The state last week said it would not proceed with serving a criminal complaint against Michael Wylie.
Monday June 27, 2011
A 39-year old woman was arrested last week on a train bound for Oakland, California, after refusing to halt a 16-hour mobile phone conversation. When she lost her temper with staff who asked her to stop, the train was stopped and she was arrested for disorderly conduct.
Wednesday June 22, 2011
A San Diego County Fair vendor's latest creation, deep-fried Kool-Aid, sold 500 orders a day in its first weekend. Charlie Boghosian said he had gone through 70 kilograms of Kool-Aid cordial powder and 700 kilograms of flour since the fair began.
Tuesday June 21, 2011
Israelis have launched a Facebook-fuelled revolt against the price of cottage cheese. More than 75,000 people have joined a group vowing to boycott the cheese until prices drop. The price has soared 39 per cent since 2008.
Monday June 20, 2011
New York City plans to capture geese that threaten planes and send them to Pennsylvania to be cooked for meals for the poor. The plan is aimed at avoiding incidents like the forced landing of a US Airways plane in the Hudson River in January 2009.
Saturday June 18, 2011
Escaped convict James Russell fled Washington state penitentiary this week, but rued a decision to knock on a cabin door to ask to use the phone. The man renting the lodge was an off-duty guard at the prison he had just fled. The fact Russell was in prison uniform might have gone against him.
Friday June 17, 2011
More than 20,000 Britons are admitted to hospital each year after falling out of bed. According to the National Health Service another 12,000 are admitted after falling from a chair, 6400 after falling from or onto ladders and 1200 after falling out of a tree.
Thursday June 16, 2011
Police in Germany were stunned when they pulled over a van that was lurching from side to side on an autobahn - and found a car packed on its side in the back. Two men from Kazakhstan had decided to save on trailer costs after snapping up the silver Mazda 626 to ship back home.
Wednesday June 15, 2011
A UK circus is offering free clown phobia courses. John Lawson's Circus decided to take action following negative reactions from some spectators. It says films such as Stephen King's It, the Joker in Batman and even Krusty the Clown are to blame for the negative perception.
Tuesday June 14, 2011
Two 2000-metre mountain peaks in the Austrian Alps are up for sale for €121,000 ($A166,015) for the pair. Austria's federal real estate company's website boasts that the peaks offer the "most stunning views". Interested? You have until July 8 to place a bid.
Monday June 13, 2011
Three robbers in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, made off with plenty of dough but no cash. The knife and hatchet-wielding trio were nabbed on video holding up a Dunkin Donuts shop. They demanded staff hand over a bag they believed was full of cash. They fled to find it full of doughnuts.
Saturday June 11, 2011
A woman in New Mexico has been reunited with a $30,000 diamond engagement ring that she lost while making dinner in 1997. Santa Fe police say the ring was returned to its owner yesterday. It had been in a police evidence room for more than two years.
Friday June 10, 2011
Japanese inventors have created fluffy cat's ears for humans that read their brainwaves. The cute-meets-high-tech headwear detects when the wearer is concentrating and the ears perk up like an alert feline. When they relax the ears lay flat against the head.
Thursday June 9, 2011
British police have apologised to a carpenter for arresting him after he left blood behind when he mended a door broken by a burglar. Jason Gaspard cut himself on some glass after being asked by the owner to fix the door. Police held him in custody before releasing him without charge.
Wednesday June 8, 2011
More than half of British drivers have at some point forgotten where they parked, according to a poll. And 3 per cent of these forgetful motorists have called their breakdown service to help find their car. Women (63 per cent) appear to have more memory lapses than men (43 per cent).
Tuesday June 7, 2011
A German teen has outdone Melbourne party pest Corey Worthington - her 16th birthday party attracted 1500 gatecrashers, as well as 100 police officers. A Hamburg policeman said the birthday girl, identified as Thessa, fled and hid, but that "nonetheless the party was quite a hit".
Monday June 6, 2011
Kansas City police, responding to a rare alligator sighting, acted quickly and shot it in the head, as instructed, while it lurked in weeds near a pond. It wasn't until a second shot bounced off its head that they realised they had mortally wounded a concrete lawn ornament.
Saturday June 4, 2011
Rare sheet music signed by Mozart has been found in a charity donation box. The child prodigy wrote the piece in 1765 when he was nine and there is only one other surviving copy. Oxfam volunteer Elestr Lee spotted the signature in Reading. It could fetch £2000.
Friday June 3, 2011
Ocean acidification caused by fossil fuel emissions may be turning fish deaf. Clownfish reared in seawater acidified by carbon dioxide have impaired hearing, a UK study found. This could have devastating consequences for the colourful star of animated movie Finding Nemo, say scientists.
Monday May 30, 2011
Dan Reeves spent nine years and $US40,000 building a two-seater aeroplane, piece by piece, via the mail, in the basement of his Pennsylvania home. He then had to pay another $5000 to knock out a wall and excavate a trench to drag it out using chains, a truck and several neighbours.
Wednesday May 25, 2011
Texas is passing a law to make noodling, or catching catfish by grabbing the feisty creatures by their jaws, legal again. If Governor Rick Perry approves, ''hillbilly hand-fishers'' can return to the creeks without risking a $500 fine.
