Odd News From Around The World.

[tingtongfalang]

Penis theft panic hits city..

By Joe Bavier

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Mary Gabriel)

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRe ... 3620080423

[donthani]

People in the US are reportedly changing their holiday plans - after petrol reached the "ridiculous" price of up to 50p a litre.

The national average for unleaded fuel is $3.53 a US gallon - which works out at just over 47p a litre.

But the price in California, the most expensive state for 'gas' in the US, has reached 51p a litre with diesel even higher at 59p.

US motorists will get little sympathy from their British counterparts where petrol is well over £1 a litre and diesel around £1.20.

But Americans have long been used to cheaper fuel prices and the latest increases are reportedly hitting home hard.

Troy Green, of the American Automobile Association, told CNN that Americans should expect the price to go up another 25 cents over the next month and continue to climb over the summer.

He says rising fuel prices is leading Americans to change their vacation plans. People are expected to stay closer to home, use less expensive hotels, eat at fast-food restaurants and hunt for online bargains.

"It seems many American consumers are being hard hit from multiple directions, and their overall budgets are being maxed to the limit," Mr Green said.

The most expensive city is San Francisco where commuter Debbie Jasmin has stopped driving her gas-guzzling 4WD and started taking the subway to work. She's also curbed summer travel plans.

"I don't really think we have seen the worst of it," she said. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2827125.html?menu=

[donthani]

A Norfolk taxi driver ended up stranded after he followed his sat-nav system's directions - into a river.

The mini-bus driver was on his way to collect a fare in Castle Acre, near individual's Lynn, when he took a wrong turn into the River Nar.

Fortunately he had no passengers aboard - but he did have the embarrassment of having to ring his bosses for help, reports Lynn News.

Streamline Taxis owners Keith Jarvis and Pat Bowles took along a towrope, expecting to find the eight-seater minibus just off the ford.

But Mr Jarvis said: "It took ages to find him and we couldn't believe it when we saw where he was - it was several hundred yards along the river!

"The vehicle still had its engine running and headlights on, and he was sitting in it with his trousers rolled up round his knees. I shone a torch in the river and there were fish swimming around the headlights."

Pat Bowles added: "Normal people would stop and back out but because his sat-nav told him to keep going that's what he did.

"I don't think he did think until he couldn't go any further."

Ms Bowles said it had given the driver's colleagues plenty of amusement: "He's had taxi drivers going into the office with snorkels on.

"We've also had phones calls, texts coming through asking if they can book river trips."

[saint]

STREAMLINE TAXIS, in the river, come on gotta be a wind up.

[arjay]

I wonder if he was driving a Ford!!

[donthani]

Estonian police were shocked after stopping a car in a city centre and finding the driver was not only drunk but also blind.

Traffic police in the southern Estonian city of Tartu said Kristjan Gradolf, 20, who is completely blind, was being given directions by a pal in the passenger seat.

A breath test revealed Gradolf was two and a half times over the legal drink drive limit.

Both men face a £700 fine and Gradolf is also facing a jail sentence on charges of endangering public safety.

But Gradolf said: "Despite the fact that I am blind, driving is something I enjoy, and I am in fact very good at it."

[donthani]

A Romanian man has lodged an official complaint with the local trading standards agency after he got drunk on a single can of beer.

Iancu Boroi, 35, said he had bought the beer at a local supermarket in Arges in southern Romania but was so drunk after drinking just one can that he nearly passed out.

He said: "I am more than capable of holding my drink and it is ridiculous to think one can of beer can get me so drunk.

"There must have been something wrong with it and I am demanding compensation."

He has written to Romania's Consumer Protection Office demanding they investigate the case. =D> =D> =D>http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2837830.html?menu=

[donthani]

A French doctor is urging his countrymen to take a more relaxed view of bodily functions for the good of their health.

Frédéric Saldmann says they should give free rein to farting, burping and sweating to reduce the risk of cancer, reports the Daily Telegraph.

In his book, Le Grand Ménage, Dr Saldmann invites them to embrace the stereotypical British view of the French.

The French, he says, should "dare to fart". Getting rid of the two litres of gas produced each day is a "natural process" and retaining it can be harmful to the intestines.

Similarly, he says his countrymen should feel free to belch at will and certainly after each meal.

This, he says, is the best way to reduce the risk of getting a hiatal hernia, an ailment which affects almost a third of French people.

Keeping air in the stomach leads to more heartburn, which increases the risk of cancer of the oesophagus. The rise of this disease in France, he says, is due to "the burp that we no longer do".

Dr Saldmann also recommends throwing out anti-perspirants.

"To block sweat not only stops the elimination of toxins," he writes, "but also a certain number of messages that are potentially very attractive to the opposite sex."

Dr Saldmann also recommends cutting down on chewing gum, never eating while walking and reducing the intake of fizzy drinks.http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2837827.html?menu=

[saint]

bloody hell, dont the french stink enough already?

[beer monkey]

Man Posed as Paramedic for 18 months, he even had his own Ambulance...and get this his surname is Nurse .lol

See the pictures on the blue link.

Click Here

ODDBALL Ryan NURSE posed as a paramedic for 18 months – with his own ambulance, uniform and forged qualifications, a court heard.

Nurse, 22, lived out his teenage fantasy by attending carnivals and sporting events.

He even persuaded schools to book him to give first aid lessons to pupils.

Nurse – his real name – set up a company called Medina Emergency Medical Services as part of his scam.

In 2005 he was given an award by the duped St John Ambulance for 500 hours of voluntary medical work in a year.

He had worked as a carer at an old people’s home after lying that he was a trauma auxiliary nurse, Isle of Wight Crown Court heard.


Nurse then bought a secondhand ambulance and some old equipment.

He even turned up to work as a paramedic at the international yachting regatta Cowes Week – although he had been hired only as a car park attendant.

Nurse was rumbled after applying to join a firm as a first aider.

The boss was suspicious and told police.

The next day he found Nurse on site, without permission, giving medical advice to a pregnant woman.

Cops raided his home in Cowes, Isle of Wight, where he lived with his mum.

They found medical gear and prescription-only medicines.

Nurse admitted deception and making false representations.

He was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.

[donthani]

A Texan man has been arrested for trying to cash a fake cheque at a bank - for £180 billion.

Employees at the Chase Bank in Fort Worth grew suspicious after seeing the cheque for $360,000,000,000 and called the account holder.

The woman said the suspect, Charles Ray Fuller, 21, was her daughter's boyfriend and did not have permission to take the cheque or cash it.

Fuller was arrested on suspicion of fraud, along with unlawfully carrying a weapon and possession of marijuana, reports the Star-Telegram.

While inside a patrol car, police say Fuller claimed he was starting his own record label and had been given the money by his girlfriend's mother to help him start it.

[polehawk]

well, they do things big in texas

[donthani]

t may look like the most dangerous motorbike in the world but this new invention is actually the latest form of green transport. The electric Uno is the brainchild of 18-year-old Canadian Ben Gulak who spent several years developing the bike, which is controlled entirely by body movements.

The machine actually has two wheels, side-by-side, and uses gyroscopic technology to stay upright. It moves in the direction the rider leans - and the more you lean, the faster you go.

Ben claims that the bike could help beat pollution and he was inspired to design it after visiting China and seeing all the smog there.

He says: "The bike is fairly easy to ride, but takes a bit of getting used to because you have to learn to trust it."

The top speed on the current prototype is 25mph, but this could be increased with the use of a bigger motor.

The Uno weighs just 58kg and has a range of 2.5 hours once it is charged from the mains. Ben is seeking investors to help him put it into full production.

[donthani]

A fireman is facing prosecution for flying a skull and crossbones outside his home for his daughter's pirate-themed birthday party.

David Waterman, 41, faces legal action for refusing to remove the Jolly Roger flag he hoisted to celebrate his daughter's eighth birthday.

The father of four left the 5ft by 3ft flag flying after the party but was ordered to take it down after a complaint from a neighbour, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Under current laws, any flag flying outside a residential property has to have planning permission unless it is a national flag.

Mr Waterman said he is determined to continue flying the Jolly Roger and is paying £95 to apply for advertising consent for the £5 flag at his home in Ashtead, Surrey.

Mr Waterman, who works at Battersea fire station in south London, describes his battle with the council on his internet blog and says he is in a position now where he "couldn't possibly take down the flag".

He said: "It's a £5 flag, not hurting anyone, and they're probably spending hundreds of pounds of our cash getting me to take it down.

That could be spent on improving the local area - it's disgraceful."

A spokesman for Mole Valley District Council said: "We received a complaint about the flag flying outside Mr Waterman's house and are duty-bound to investigate."

[donthani]

One in three employees admitted going to work with a hangover and more than one in 10 has been drunk at their desk, a new poll says.

Staff said they made mistakes, struggled to concentrate and had to go home early as a result of drinking, reports the BBC.

Four out of five employers said alcohol was the biggest threat to the well-being of their staff, according to the survey for Norwich Union Healthcare.

One thousand people and 250 businesses were interviewed about drinking habits for the survey. Of those who had had a hangover or been drunk at work, 85% confirmed it affected their performance or mood.

More than a third (36%) found it hard to concentrate, 35% were less productive, 42% felt tired to the point of being sleepy and 25% did the minimum amount of work and went home as soon as possible.

Forty-one per cent of people working in media and creative jobs said they had been to work while still drunk - four times the average.

The number who admitted to have been drunk at work was also high in the construction industry (24%), professional and business services (23%), and information technology (15%).

Don Shenker, from Alcohol Concern, said that with so many people drinking at harmful levels, it was not surprising that it was having an effect on the workplace.

"After-work or lunchtime drinks are the norm for many and in some cases this is promoted by companies as a way to build teams or just as the way to do business."

Cary Cooper, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at Lancaster University, said excessive drinking was a manifestation of stress, and it was endemic in certain industries

[donthani]

England is a nation of "overweight, binge-drinking reality TV addicts", according to the latest edition of a top travel guide. The new edition of the Rough Guide to England accuses the English of being quarrelsome, contradictory and "obsessed with toffs and C-list celebrities".

But it also says England is "also a country of animal-loving, tea-drinking, charity donors, where queuing remains a national pastime and bastions of civilisation, like Radio 4, are jealously protected".

It is described as deeply conservative yet having "a richly multi-ethnic culture" and where "warmth is in the humour, a sort of national solidarity that is bred in the bone".

The guide concludes: "Of the 200-plus destinations across the world that Rough Guides covers, there is none so fascinating, beautiful and culturally diverse, yet as insular, self-important and irritating, as England."

The warts-and-all assessment by the £15.99 guide, which is published around the world, was taken in good part by the tourism body, Visit Britain.

"Our sense of humour is one of the many reasons, along with heritage and culture, that people come here," a spokesman told the Daily Mail.

The guide lampoons the national obsession with the weather, saying: "A two-day cold snap is discussed as if it were the onset of a new Ice Age and a week above 25 degrees starts rumours of a drought."

It also highlights contradictions, pointing out: "It's a nation that prides itself on its patriotism - yet has a Scottish prime minister, an Italian football coach and a Greek royal consort."

The English are "the most contradictory people imaginable", the book says, adding: "However long you spend in the country you'll never figure them out". http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2846429.html?menu=

[beer monkey]

The guide lampoons the national obsession with the weather, saying: "A two-day cold snap is discussed as if it were the onset of a new Ice Age and a week above 25 degrees starts rumours of a drought."

How true..!!!!

[beer monkey]

Thailand.

Crazed man seeking TV stardom steals fire truck in Naklua.

Police units were called into action in the early hours of Thursday Morning following reports of a young man who had attempted to steal a fire rescue truck from a station in Naklua. The attempt was successful and the crazed man, Khun Sitipon aged 36 drove away and eventually crashed the vehicle and was caught by Police.

He explained that he was desperate to get himself on TV and decided to steal the truck so he would be on the news here in Pattaya.

He is now behind bars awaiting a court appearance but is apparently happy that his dream of being on the news has been fulfilled.

[donthani]

The mummified remains of a Croatian woman have been found sitting in her armchair at home in front of a black and white TV set 42 years after she was reported missing.

Croatian police say Hedviga Golik, who was born in 1924, had apparently made herself a cup of tea and sat down to watch the television which at the time was regarded as a luxury item.

They say that would have been in 1966 when she was last seen by neighbours. They said one day she seemed to have just disappeared and they thought she had moved out of her flat in the capital Zagreb.

But police who broke in with baliffs after local authorities said they wanted to check on its ownership found her remains in the small 13 square metre flat.

A police spokesman said: "So far we have no idea how it is possible that someone officially reported missing so long ago was not found before in the same apartment she used to live in ............................................................................................... They awarded her the 1966 Croatian hide and seek gold medal, then sold the medal to pay the electric bill

[donthani]

A Chinese restaurant has been criticised - for keeping ornamental fish in a urinal. The restaurant in Changchun city has around 20 fancy carp in the four-metre long trough in the gents' bathroom.

The Eastern Asian Economic and Trade Daily says experts have condemned the move as harmful to the fish and "disrespectful to China's fish culture".

A spokesman for the restaurant insisted the urinal contained a mixture of urine and water which was not harmful to the fish.

"The water is running, and each day we change the water at least twice and add oxygen into the water. It's not much different to a fish tank," he said.

The owner added that the fish were intended as an attraction for diners and were not used in dishes.

Guests seemed surprised to find fish swimming in the trough which has sign saying "Please urinate here" above it.

"If they didn't have the sign here I would have thought it was a new fish tank," said one diner, Mr Wang.

"It's really interesting," added another, Mr Sun, who said he was planning to use the bathroom again, just to repeat the experience.