Odd news

A man who allegedly photographed more than 3,000 women's bottoms as they toured Venice has been arrested. The man was stopped after police became suspicious of a large bag he was carrying as he followed women through St Mark's Square.
He has been charged with infringement of privacy. It is a cheeky crime, which could earn this 38-year-old Italian from six months to four years in jail.

MSNBC/AP: Holyhead, Wales May 13, 2008 - A man who dressed up as Darth Vader, wearing a garbage bag for a cape, and assaulted the founders of a group calling itself the Jedi church was given a suspended sentence Tuesday.
Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, attacked Jedi church founder Barney Jones - aka Master Jonba Hehol - with a metal crutch, hitting him on the head, prosecutors told Holyhead Magistrates' Court. [...]
Hughes claimed he couldn't remember the incident, having drunk the better part of a 2 1/2-gallon box of wine beforehand. [...]
In the 2001 United Kingdom census, 390,000 - 0.7 percent of the population - listed Jedi as their religion.

Associated Press: May 18, 2008 - Boulder, Colo. - It wasn't exactly pistols at 30 paces, but police say a security company supervisor and a restaurateur shot each other with Tasers in a "bonehead" confrontation over parking.
[...]
Epstein told police Dane put his hand on a holstered pistol and threatened to shoot him. Dane told The Associated Press by telephone that he did put his hand on the holstered pistol but never threatened to shoot Epstein.
Both men drew Tasers.

A street-sweeping truck has sucked a dog up through its bristles on a New York street, leaving its horrified owner holding nothing but the lead.

A last drink proved one too many for a 78-year-old Swede who fell asleep while trying to row home - from Denmark.

Police in Papua New Guinea have been ordered to shoot criminals wearing police uniforms, following robberies at two banks.

A British teenager has said she was "shaking head to toe" when she discovered a baby bat curled up in her bra after investigating "vibrations" she believed to have come from her mobile phone. Abbie Hawkins, 19, of Norwich, south-east England, said she was quietly doing her job as a hotel receptionist when she decided to examine the "strange movements" in her underwear.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A family court judge in New Zealand has had enough with parents giving their children bizarre names and did something about it.

Just ask Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii.

He had her renamed.
In a ruling made public Thursday, judge Rob Murfitt made the nine-year-old girl a ward of the court so that her name could be changed.
He said the girl was involved in a custody battle.
The new name was not made public to protect the girl’s privacy.
...
In his ruling, Murfitt cited a list of other unfortunate names.

Registration officials blocked some names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, he said. But others were allowed, including Number 16 Bus Shelter “and tragically, Violence,� he said.

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -- Alexandru Ionce and his wife never planned to have 18 children in 23 years.

But when they welcomed little Abigail Ionce into the world, that's just what happened.

Abigail weighed in at seven pounds, 12 ounces last Tuesday, making her the 18th child for 44-year-old Livia Ionce and her husband Alexandru, 51.

The couple immigrated to Canada from Romania in 1990 and now live in Abbotsford, B.C. Their 17 other children range in age from 20 months to 23 years old.

Alexandru Ionce does not know if the couple will be having more children.

"We never planned how many children to have," he said. "We just let God guide our lives, you know, because we strongly believe life comes from God and that's the reason we did not stop the life.

The family now has 10 girls and eight boys.

"We would have liked a boy to be even," he said. "We thank God all of them are healthy and happy."

He said the birth was not an overly difficult one and that mother and child are doing well.

An Austrian man is demanding substantial damages after he was blasted off the toilet when hundreds of thousands of hail stones exploded out of it.

"There was an avalanche of ice that quickly filled the toilet, then the entire flat, and eventually the entire building."

[...]

Local council spokesman Wolfgang Leinner said: "The pressure was too great, the hailstones had to go somewhere and they came out through the toilets it seems."

A wanted poster featuring Robbie Coltrane is being used by police in New Zealand to try to catch a teenage burglar who resembles the actor.
Detectives stressed the Cracker and Harry Potter star is not suspected of any crimes, but said the thief looks like a 16-year-old version of him.
The poster has been distributed to homes in the Christchurch area of the South Island.
New Zealand law bans the publication of pictures of juvenile criminals.
Below the heading 'Wanted' is the picture of Coltrane, underneath which are the words 'Active burglar in this neighbourhood'.
The text below explains that the photo is of Coltrane and continues: "Robbie Coltrane is not the burglar but imagine him aged 16 with lank greasy hair and you have the picture."

Warning - Fake Euro coins in circulation!

Doh!