Wacky World News Stories from 2006

Here are a collection of some of the bizarre and strange stories over recent times.

Good Samaritan arrested for drunk driving

A German man was arrested for drunk driving after he mistook a police spot check for a breakdown and stopped to help. Officers inspecting a car by the roadside suspected the 37-year-old passing motorist was under the influence of alcohol when he lurched from his vehicle to offer assistance, reports Reuters.
"Obviously his optical assessment of the situation as he drove past was that this was a vehicle breakdown," the police said in a statement. The man was arrested and banned from driving.

Shanghai goes the extra smile

Eager to put on its best face for foreign guests ahead of the 2010 World Expo, Shanghai is sending teams of "smiling volunteers" onto the streets to teach stony-faced citizens to beam at strangers. Forty university students have signed up to smile at people in public places, after a survey showed that only 2 percent of Chinese people smile at strangers, reports Reuters.

Team-leader Xu Xiaohong said: "We ask all the members to practise smiling at home. "We smile at the mirror to determine whether our smiles are acceptable. We not only smile with our mouths but also with our eyes."

Attempts to generate warmth among strangers in China have had mixed success. In October, volunteers offering "free hugs" to people in a busy shopping street in Beijing were detained by police for questioning.

Giant mirror takes village out of darkness

A village in the shadow of the Italian Alps has installed a giant mirror on a mountainside to reflect sunshine into its main square. Viganella, in the narrow Antrona valley, north of Turin, saw no sun for three months of the year before the project, reports CBC News.

The 48 sq metre steel sheet is controlled by computers to follow the path of the sun and reflect its rays down into the village square for at least six hours a day. Viganella, with a population of only 197, formerly suffered from a complete lack of direct sun from November 11 to February 2. Mayor Pierfranco Midali presented the project for approval in January of this year to help lift his community out of darkness, and the 70,000 pound cost was met by local government and a private bank.

999 'for emergencies only' say police

Devon and Cornwall Police have recently revealed some of the time-wasting 999 calls they have received. A woman dialled 999 when she realised her trousers didn't fit. Another woman rang the emergency services to report a pigeon in her garden, while another caller asked for a pizza to be delivered. Other calls included complaints of a phone battery running out, builders making too much noise and a report of a large owl sitting on a telegraph pole.

According to the Sun, Chief Inspector Nick Jarrold said: "There is a funny side, but I don't know what goes through their heads when they dial 999 to ask about changing their trousers. "An emergency call is when it is a life-or-death situation, people are injured or the baddies are still at the scene."
NE manhunt sparked by 'scary noise'

Two men who sparked a manhunt when their tent was found empty have admitted abandoning their camp after hearing a "scary" noise. About 50 volunteers joined the search when the empty tent was found in remote Harwood Forest, near Rothbury, Northumberland, on 5 December. Sniffer dogs and a helicopter with a thermal imaging camera were also used, according to the BBC.

Police had been concerned after finding a jacket and enough food for four days inside the tent. When they were traced on Saturday, the men confessed to driving away in a panic after hearing the noise. The abandoned campsite equipment has now been returned to the men, who do not wish to be named.

Santa vs shoplifters

A German Santa turned crimefighter when he leapt into action to chase two shoplifters. Santa Claus Dieter Thurn, 52, was in his grotto in a department store in Bremen when he saw the crooks filling their rucksacks with expensive cosmetics, reports Ananova.com.
Thurn flew after the pair and managed to hold them down until the police arrived.

Daniel Ingeborg, six, who was visiting the store with his mother, told local press: "Santa's so cool. He gives presents and fights crime. He's like Superman but better."

Raffled lobster wins freedom

A giant lobster has been saved from the cooking pot after persistent lobbying from restaurant diners. The Miami Herald reports that 50 year old monstroa is 37 inches long, and has 15-inch-long claws. He had been living in the lobster tank at a Massachusetts restaurant, and while half the customers wanted to eat him; the other half felt sorry for him.

Restaurant owner Fred Cunha decided to raffle at $1 a ticket to reach Monstroas retail price of $150, and let the winner decide his fate. Winner Claire Lupton returned Monstro to the ocean, saying that a lobster that big and old shouldn't end up on a dinner plate.

Armed robber foiled in Lego heist

Police in Florida are looking for a little girl who pulled a knife on a shop assistant as she tried to steal two boxes of Lego on Tuesday night. The girl, aged about seven or eight, hid the toys under her coat and tried to walk out the door.

A store employee was watching and approached the child, asking her to turn over the Lego blocks. Police say the little girl then opened her jacket and displayed a ten-inch carving knife.

The employee talked the girl into putting down the knife and the toys. The girl then rode away on her bicycle.

Thief leaves police vital tip-off

Criminal stupidity appears to be on the rise.Germany provides another example of illegal imbecility.

A careless burglar provided police with a crucial clue at a break-in when he sliced off the end of a finger on a broken window, Reuters reports. Police wasted no time in matching the piece of finger with existing prints of a 15-year-old from the town of Hildesheim. The youth initially denied breaking and entering, but confessed when police produced the digital remnant.

"We usually find fingerprints at the crime scene, but it's not every day that thieves leave the original there too," said a police spokesman. "I don't know if the fellow asked for it back afterwards."

South African court fines 'pregnant' man

A South African man has been fined $140 for taking a week off work, telling his employers he was pregnant. Charles Sibindana, 27, stole a certificate from a clinic during his pregnant girlfriend's checkup, the BBC reports. He then added his own details to the note, submitted it to his employers and took seven days off work, seemingly unaware that only women consult gynaecologists.

His employers became suspicious and investigated the matter. On passing sentence Magistrate Bruno Van Eeden warned Mr Sibindana "not to walk around faking sick letters from gynaecologists."