Motorists Drove Around Dead Body on Road

More than two dozen Israeli motorists maneuvered around the dead body of a road accident victim lying in the middle of a busy intersection, failing to stop to help in an incident captured by a traffic camera.

In footage broadcast by Israeli television stations on Monday and in a series of photographs on newspaper front pages, motorcyclist Moshe Yisraeli was seen trying to squeeze between two trucks at a junction on a highway near Tel Aviv Sunday.

He never made it. The camera captured his body lying near the centre of the four-way intersection, his motorcycle meters away on its side.

Some 30 cars and trucks slowed down and then carefully drove around the prone motorcylist in a stream of traffic that continued for nearly two minutes before a driver stopped his vehicle and approached the body.

An ambulance crew later pronounced Yisraeli, 63, dead at the scene.

Israelis have a reputation for rushing to the scene of accidents or Palestinian bombings to help victims, and the apparent apathy shown in Yisraeli's case touched off a public debate over whether Israeli society has become uncaring.

"It's hard for me to think that no one helped him. I prefer to believe that people were in shock and didn't understand what had happened," Yisraeli's daughter, Tali, told reporters.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Man takes driving test drunk, fails

A German man failed his driving test after attempting the examination while three times over the legal alcohol limit, police said Tuesday.

When the man arrived for the test Tuesday morning, both his driving instructor and the examiner detected the smell of alcohol on him, though the 27-year-old assured them he had not been drinking, police in the western town of Bendorf said.

"But his driving was rather bad, so the examiner directed him to toward the police station without him noticing," the spokesman said. "Once there, he had to get out and take an alcohol test, which revealed he was well over the limit."

The man will now have to wait "a long time" before he can take another driving test, the spokesman said.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Drunk Deposits Horse in Bank for Night

A German man called on his bank for an unusual service when he was too tired and drunk to go home -- he bedded down there for the night with his horse.

The man, identified as Wolfgang H. by German media, went to sleep next to cash machines in the local branch of the Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse in Wiesenburg southwest of Berlin after unsaddling his horse Sammy and closing the door.

A spokeswoman for the bank said that aside from an undesirable deposit made by his horse inside the building, the 40-year-old account holder had not breached any house rules.

"The horse was otherwise very well behaved and kept a good watch on his master," she said Wednesday. "Perhaps we should have a supply of oats and water on the premises in future."

Another customer discovered the horse and rider as he slept and informed police, who asked the man to leave.

A police spokesman said that since the horse's droppings had been removed, the matter was now closed.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Dentist guilty of Urinating in Surgery Sink

A British dentist was found guilty Thursday of urinating in his surgery sink and using dental tools meant for patients to clean his fingernails and ears.

A medical tribunal said it was satisfied the evidence showed 51-year-old Alan Hutchinson, who routinely did not wear gloves or wash his hands, had risked the health of "himself, staff and patients" for more than 28 years.

A dental nurse who worked for Hutchinson for 16 years said she had caught him urinating in the sink more than once.

"He was tucking something into his trousers before zipping them up hastily. I walked over and I was behind him. He moved to the left and I could smell urine," the nurse told the tribunal.

The tribunal determined that the dentist's poor hygiene habits made him unfit to practice and struck him off the dental register, banning him from work.

"You urinated into a sink in your surgery following which you did not wash your hands and then proceeded to treat a patient. This behavior was clearly inappropriate and is completely unacceptable," the tribunal chairman said.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Grieving couple commits suicide after dog dies

HYDERABAD, India - Unable to come to terms with the death of their pet dog, an elderly couple in southern India committed suicide by hanging themselves, police said on Monday.

The bodies of 67-year-old retired soldier C.N. Madanraj and his wife, Tarabai, 63, were found on Sunday in their home in a suburb of Hyderabad.

Police said the childless couple had held a burial ceremony for their dog of 13 years, called "Puppy," and hosted a feast for friends before hanging themselves in their bedroom.

"The couple described the grief over their pet dog in the suicide note they left on March 29," said police inspector V. Anantaiah.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Live Snakes & Human Foetus as Valentine Gifts?

A spurned doctor is believed to be behind the “gifts” of live snakes and dead human foetus to a 22-year-old undergraduate in Bayan Lepas here.

State CID chief Senior Asst Comm (II) Datuk Abdul Samah Mat said yesterday that police would be calling up the doctor, in his 30s, soon on the matter.

“Ten police reports ranging from intimidation, arson and child abandonment have been lodged against the doctor by the victim since February.

“We are now focusing on the doctor as it is not easy to obtain a human foetus. It would need someone with a medical background to do something like this,” he said when contacted.

SAC Abdul Samah said a post mortem showed that the male human foetus was between four and five months old but its race could not be determined.

On the numerous vulgar SMS messages allegedly received by the victim’s father, K. Krishnasamy, SAC Abdul Samah said police had identified the service provider and was now tracing the registered owner.

On Sunday, K. Puvaneswary received a dead foetus wrapped in a red plastic bag. The “gift” was placed on her elder sister’s car parked outside the house.

On Valentine’s Day, she received two live snakes in a parcel, which had
a note wishing her “Happy Valentine From Someone Who Cares.”

Her elder sister, Dhanalakshmi, 27, said that in other previous incidents her car was badly scratched while her father’s was splashed with paint. Burning paper had also been thrown into her house, damaging the kitchen, she added.

“My family’s nightmare began about three months ago after Puvaneswary rejected the advances of a doctor who was married,” she said.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Toddlers Learn from Eavesdropping on other People

Never underestimate toddlers.

Even at the tender age of 18 months they are able to observe adults and use the emotional reactions they see to shape their own behavior, according to a new study.

Researchers describe it as "emotional eavesdropping" -- watching and listening to people to understand emotional dynamics.

"This may be a precursor to ‘reading' other people's minds by understanding their emotional and psychological states," said Betty Repacholi, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Washington.

She and her colleague Andrew Meltzoff said their findings, which are published in the journal of Child Development, show how sensitive toddlers are to the interactions of adults.

"They don't need to try out a behavior of their own and get rewarded or punished, they can watch what an older brother or sister does and learn from what happens to them," said Meltzoff, who is co-director of the university's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.

"This study helps fill in a missing piece, because it shows the children engage in ‘emotional eavesdropping.' Children have their emotional antenna up all the time and they learn from eavesdropping on the behaviors of others," he added in a statement.

The researchers observed how babies reacted as they watched as one adult played with a toy and a second person expressed anger or a neutral reaction.

In one experiment the 96 toddlers were allowed to play with the toy and imitate what the first adult had been doing after the second adult had left the room, or had remained and looked at the child with a neutral expression.

In another test 72 babies played with the toy while the second adult either turned her back on the child, looked at the toddler or pretended to read a magazine.

All the children were interested in what the first adult had been doing and imitated the actions most of the time. But if the second adult remained in the room, it took the toddlers longer to take the toy and they were not as successful in imitating the action of the first adult.

Both boys and girls reacted in the same way.

The researchers said the study shows children modify their behavior in response to emotional communications that do not involve them. They learn important lessons from observing others.

"Infants can use emotional eavesdropping to avoid some of the negative consequences that might arise were they to perform an action themselves. It is also a pretty adaptive way of interpreting what is important and what they can get away with," Repacholi added.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Man Shoots at Condo for Blocking Out Sunlight

A Japanese man angry that a new apartment building put his house in the shade was arrested after shooting about a dozen bullets at it with a competition rifle.

Police said the man apparently fired at the 11-storey building, which was completed last October, from a window on the third floor of his house, a distance of roughly 164 feet.

"He felt the building management didn't take a sincere attitude toward his complaints that the building was keeping sunlight from reaching his house," a police spokesman in the western city of Kyoto said.

Nobody was injured in the shootings but walls, railings and two lights on the apartment building were damaged.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

German man chainsaws house in two in divorce split

BERLIN - A 43-year-old German decided to settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and making off with his half in a forklift truck.

Police in the eastern town of Sonneberg said on Friday the trained mason measured the single-storey summer house -- which was some 8 meters (26 feet) long and 6 meters wide -- before chainsawing through the wooden roof and walls.

"The man said he was just taking his due," said a police spokesman. "But I don't think his wife was too pleased."

After finishing the job, the man picked up his half with the forklift truck and drove to his brother's house where he has since been staying.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Teenager Leaves "Deposit" in Bank

BERLIN - An 18-year-old man has been detained for repeatedly defecating in front of a cash machine in a bank vestibule in the southern German town of Eggmuehl, police said on Tuesday.

A police spokesman said man, who left his deposit at the bank eight times, was caught only after the bank installed video monitors to film him in action. A staff worker later spotted the man as he was boarding a local bus.

She alerted police and they then detained him as he was about to get off the bus. He faces charges of vandalism, the spokesman said.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Man Dug Up Grave Trying to Revive Father's Corpse

KARACHI - Pakistani police are hunting a man who dug up his father's two-year old corpse and took it home in a hijacked ambulance to try to bring him back to life.

Abdul Rehman's family say he is mentally ill and has never been able to cope with his father's death, police said on Saturday.

"He dug up the corpse on Thursday night after he had hijacked an ambulance and its driver at gunpoint and took it to his home," Ghulam Murtaza, a duty officer at Ferozabad police station in the southern city of Karachi, told Reuters.

Police raided the house on Friday after a complaint from the trust that owned the ambulance and from Rehman's brother.

"He kept the corpse, which was nothing but a skeleton in his bedroom, for well over 12 hours. He escaped when we raided the house. We have buried it again," Murtaza said.

Rehman had also kidnapped a vagabond who slept in the graveyard and locked him up at home, police said.

"He told us he saw Rehman chanting magic spells and pouring rose water on the corpse to bring it back to life and was crying bitterly," Murtaza said.

Rehman faces a year in jail for defiling a corpse, police said.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Parents beat up Principal over Grades

BARI, Italy - An irate Italian family beat up a principal because they were unhappy with the grades a young relative had received and a ban on cell phones at school.

Three male relatives, including the father and grandfather of the student, punched and pushed principal Ugo Castorina at the Lombardi middle school in Bari on Saturday, police said.

They were angered by grades on the latest report card and by a recent ban by Castorina on cell phones at the school he has run for the past 22 years.

Castorina was taken to hospital and treated for mild contusions. Police escorted him back to the school.

"Some people may not like it but standards must be set and rules must be respected if a school is to function," Castorina told reporters.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Teacher cuts Pupil's Tongue with Scissors

MILAN - A Milan teacher cut a unruly 7-year-old pupil's tongue with scissors to silence him, police and school officials said on Tuesday.

The child, of North African origin, needed to go to hospital for five stitches to close the wound.

The boy's family has filed suit against the teacher, who has been suspended after last week's incident.

Police are trying to find out whether the injury was inflicted intentionally or was a joke gone wrong, a police source said.

"We are carrying out a full inquiry to find out what really happened," said Anna Maria Dominici, in charge of schools in the Lombardy region.

The teacher, a support tutor on a temporary contract, risks being fired from the elementary school.

"She is a young teacher but the episode is so serious that inexperience has nothing to do with it," Dominici added.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

Get a Chance to "KICK" Bush Butt in New York

NEW YORK - New Yorkers got to kick President George W. Bush's butt on Thursday, sort of.

Performance artist Mark McGowan kicked off his bid to crawl for 72 hours across Manhattan dressed as the president, offering the opportunity to kick his backside.

The controversial artist from London began his odyssey from New York's Lincoln Centre wearing a rubber George Bush mask, a business suit, knee pads, work gloves and a sign stuck to his cushioned posterior reading simply: "Kick My Ass".

Though few ordinary New Yorkers, other than fellow artists, cameramen and photographers, were present for the launch on a wet workday afternoon, some people gave him a kick.

"It felt real good to kick Bush," said Casmirr Sharp, 52, of New York's Queens borough. "He really deserves more than a kick."

McGowan told Reuters he hopes his performance proves therapeutic to the city's denizens. But he insisted his work was no publicity stunt but art: "It's definitely an art form. A lot of the things I do are a bit silly but they always have a political edge to them."

McGowan said he does not have any particular political stance on the Republican president, who has seen his approval ratings plunge in the face of an unpopular war in Iraq.

McGowan made his name in Britain with a series of controversial acts including a performance called "Dead Soldier" where he dressed up in army fatigues and lay in the streets for a week. He also crawled 60 miles from London to the town of Canterbury.

McGowan's latest act is part of the Scope International Art Fair at the Lincoln Centre performing arts complex.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]

How to Get More in Donation Boxes? Leave Some Cash!

WELLINGTON - People will not give money if they are thanked in advance or presented with an empty donation box, but will dig deep if they see banknotes, according to a study by New Zealand academics released on Wednesday.

The research by Victoria University of Wellington's economics department showed that how much is already in a donation box, the mix of coins and notes, and what sorts of signs are present will influence how generous the public will be.

The behavior of people faced with a clear donation box at the entrance to the city's art gallery was filmed by a hidden camera.

"The most important thing is to never leave the box empty," said senior lecturer John Randal.

"But it is also important to ensure there is a balance of notes and coins so that whether people want to make a large or small donation, that they feel it is appropriate to do so."

The researchers used various combination of banknotes and coins, various amounts of money, and signs thanking people as well as telling them they were being filmed.

More banknotes than coins led to larger individual donations, but a fall in the number of donations, while more coins saw more donations but of a lower value.

"It appears that people will make bigger donations when they perceive that others have made large donations," Randal said

"But when the box was always empty, the total amount donated was significantly less, which suggested that people saw the lack of donations as indicating that the norm was not to donate."

Thank you signs led to fewer donations, especially if the donation box already had a large amount in it, which was apparently reinforcing a natural instinct not to give.

The results of the study are to be published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

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[tags : unusual wierd bizzare]