| Here are a collection of some of the bizarre and | | | | Police had been concerned after finding a jacket and |
| strange stories over recent times. | | | | enough food for four days inside the tent. When they |
| Good Samaritan arrested for drunk driving | | | | were traced on Saturday, the men confessed to |
| A German man was arrested for drunk driving after | | | | driving away in a panic after hearing the noise. The |
| he mistook a police spot check for a breakdown and | | | | abandoned campsite equipment has now been |
| stopped to help. Officers inspecting a car by the | | | | returned to the men, who do not wish to be named. |
| roadside suspected the 37-year-old passing motorist | | | | Santa vs shoplifters |
| was under the influence of alcohol when he lurched | | | | A German Santa turned crimefighter when he leapt |
| from his vehicle to offer assistance, reports Reuters. | | | | into action to chase two shoplifters. Santa Claus Dieter |
| "Obviously his optical assessment of the situation as | | | | Thurn, 52, was in his grotto in a department store in |
| he drove past was that this was a vehicle | | | | Bremen when he saw the crooks filling their rucksacks |
| breakdown," the police said in a statement. The man | | | | with expensive cosmetics, reports |
| was arrested and banned from driving. | | | | Thurn flew after the pair and managed to hold them |
| Shanghai goes the extra smile | | | | down until the police arrived. |
| Eager to put on its best face for foreign guests ahead | | | | Daniel Ingeborg, six, who was visiting the store with his |
| of the 2010 World Expo, Shanghai is sending teams of | | | | mother, told local press: "Santa's so cool. He gives |
| "smiling volunteers" onto the streets to teach | | | | presents and fights crime. He's like Superman but |
| stony-faced citizens to beam at strangers. Forty | | | | better." |
| university students have signed up to smile at people in | | | | Raffled lobster wins freedom |
| public places, after a survey showed that only 2 | | | | A giant lobster has been saved from the cooking pot |
| percent of Chinese people smile at strangers, reports | | | | after persistent lobbying from restaurant diners. The |
| Reuters. | | | | Miami Herald reports that 50 year old monstroa is 37 |
| Team-leader Xu Xiaohong said: "We ask all the | | | | inches long, and has 15-inch-long claws. He had been |
| members to practise smiling at home. "We smile at the | | | | living in the lobster tank at a Massachusetts restaurant, |
| mirror to determine whether our smiles are acceptable. | | | | and while half the customers wanted to eat him; the |
| We not only smile with our mouths but also with our | | | | other half felt sorry for him. |
| eyes." | | | | Restaurant owner Fred Cunha decided to raffle at $1 |
| Attempts to generate warmth among strangers in | | | | a ticket to reach Monstroas retail price of $150, and let |
| China have had mixed success. In October, volunteers | | | | the winner decide his fate. Winner Claire Lupton |
| offering "free hugs" to people in a busy shopping | | | | returned Monstro to the ocean, saying that a lobster |
| street in Beijing were detained by police for questioning. | | | | that big and old shouldn't end up on a dinner plate. |
| Giant mirror takes village out of darkness | | | | Armed robber foiled in Lego heist |
| A village in the shadow of the Italian Alps has installed | | | | Police in Florida are looking for a little girl who pulled a |
| a giant mirror on a mountainside to reflect sunshine into | | | | knife on a shop assistant as she tried to steal two |
| its main square. Viganella, in the narrow Antrona valley, | | | | boxes of Lego on Tuesday night. The girl, aged about |
| north of Turin, saw no sun for three months of the | | | | seven or eight, hid the toys under her coat and tried to |
| year before the project, reports CBC News. | | | | walk out the door. |
| The 48 sq metre steel sheet is controlled by | | | | A store employee was watching and approached the |
| computers to follow the path of the sun and reflect its | | | | child, asking her to turn over the Lego blocks. Police |
| rays down into the village square for at least six hours | | | | say the little girl then opened her jacket and displayed |
| a day. Viganella, with a population of only 197, formerly | | | | a ten-inch carving knife. |
| suffered from a complete lack of direct sun from | | | | The employee talked the girl into putting down the |
| November 11 to February 2. Mayor Pierfranco Midali | | | | knife and the toys. The girl then rode away on her |
| presented the project for approval in January of this | | | | bicycle. |
| year to help lift his community out of darkness, and the | | | | Thief leaves police vital tip-off |
| 70,000 pound cost was met by local government and | | | | Criminal stupidity appears to be on the rise.Germany |
| a private bank. | | | | provides another example of illegal imbecility. |
| 999 'for emergencies only' say police | | | | A careless burglar provided police with a crucial clue at |
| Devon and Cornwall Police have recently revealed | | | | a break-in when he sliced off the end of a finger on a |
| some of the time-wasting 999 calls they have | | | | broken window, Reuters reports. Police wasted no |
| received. A woman dialled 999 when she realised her | | | | time in matching the piece of finger with existing prints |
| trousers didn't fit. Another woman rang the emergency | | | | of a 15-year-old from the town of Hildesheim. The |
| services to report a pigeon in her garden, while another | | | | youth initially denied breaking and entering, but |
| caller asked for a pizza to be delivered. Other calls | | | | confessed when police produced the digital remnant. |
| included complaints of a phone battery running out, | | | | "We usually find fingerprints at the crime scene, but it's |
| builders making too much noise and a report of a large | | | | not every day that thieves leave the original there too," |
| owl sitting on a telegraph pole. | | | | said a police spokesman. "I don't know if the fellow |
| According to the Sun, Chief Inspector Nick Jarrold said: | | | | asked for it back afterwards." |
| "There is a funny side, but I don't know what goes | | | | South African court fines 'pregnant' man |
| through their heads when they dial 999 to ask about | | | | A South African man has been fined $140 for taking a |
| changing their trousers. "An emergency call is when it | | | | week off work, telling his employers he was pregnant. |
| is a life-or-death situation, people are injured or the | | | | Charles Sibindana, 27, stole a certificate from a clinic |
| baddies are still at the scene." | | | | during his pregnant girlfriend's checkup, the BBC |
| NE manhunt sparked by 'scary noise' | | | | reports. He then added his own details to the note, |
| Two men who sparked a manhunt when their tent | | | | submitted it to his employers and took seven days off |
| was found empty have admitted abandoning their | | | | work, seemingly unaware that only women consult |
| camp after hearing a "scary" noise. About 50 | | | | gynaecologists. |
| volunteers joined the search when the empty tent | | | | His employers became suspicious and investigated the |
| was found in remote Harwood Forest, near Rothbury, | | | | matter. On passing sentence Magistrate Bruno Van |
| Northumberland, on 5 December. Sniffer dogs and a | | | | Eeden warned Mr Sibindana "not to walk around |
| helicopter with a thermal imaging camera were also | | | | faking sick letters from gynaecologists. |
| used, according to the BBC. | | | | |