STORM2K

This is a thread of the craziest news stories in the world, the name is inspired by a made-up product on E!'s "The Soup". Some news can be serious, some can be hillarious, and some...may leave you speechless. This is picking up where TWW/AussieMark's Crazy News thread left off. I'm only gonna post just a few stories at a time, however if you wanna see all the stories, go to Reuters - Oddly Enough or AP - Strange News.

And yes, I may post a crazy story or 2 from my local sources.
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Mich. boy, 5, takes off in grandma's SUV

YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - A 5-year-old boy hopped behind the wheel of a sport utility vehicle and drove it several blocks looking for his mother following an argument with his grandmother, authorities said.

The child was not injured in his short drive last Wednesday, and his grandmother's 2004 Cadillac Escalade was stopped without incident.

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New Zealand band brings the house down

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand rock band the Mint Chicks won't soon forget the night they brought the house down, or at least part of it.

The four-member group was playing at the historic St. James Theater in the northern city of Auckland last week when chunks of plaster fell onto the heads of two audience members, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported Tuesday.

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Minivan crashes during drivers' switch

FULDA, Minn. (AP) - It's probably not a good idea to switch drivers while the vehicle is moving.

The State Patrol said three young people were in a Chrysler Town and Country minivan on U.S. Highway 59 on Monday when they tried to switch drivers while the cruise control was set.

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Hamwinkies!

A fellow fan of The Soup I see.

A hamwinkie...combo of ham with yellow cake and filling inside?

Skywatch_NC wrote:A hamwinkie...combo of ham with yellow cake and filling inside?

Yep!
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Cleveland takes offense at Fiji Water ad

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) - It's Cleveland vs. Fiji in a war of water and words. Fiji Water, based in Los Angeles and a favorite of Hollywood celebrities, has angered Clevelanders with a new national advertisement that pokes fun at the city that's tried for decades to overcome a muddied reputation when it comes to h20.

"The label says Fiji because it's not bottled in Cleveland," says the full-page ad running in magazines such as Esquire.

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"I like spongecake and ham!"

Restroom art gallery opens in Ohio village

By JAMES HANNAH, Associated Press Writer

YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio (AP) - Call it Chagall in the stall, Picasso in the powder room.

Anyone who uses the public restrooms inside a replica of the 1880 train station in this southwest Ohio village will be treated to a display of original paintings on the walls.

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Hey, that's better than looking at graffiti.
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Man finds $21K in bonds, gets $100 reward

DETROIT, Mich. (AP) - A homeless man searching for returnable bottles in a trash bin found 31 U.S. savings bonds worth nearly $21,000 in a bag of clothes.

Charles Moore, 59, took the bonds to a 24-hour walk-in homeless shelter, where a staffer tracked down the family of the man whose name was on the bonds.

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He could've been rewarded with much more than that, c'mon!!!.
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Reports of big fortune a "huge lie" star says

By Catherine Bremer

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican big-screen siren Salma Hayek Friday dismissed as nonsense reports that she has a $100 million fortune, and said if she did she would retire and use the money to help the poor.

Local media in Mexico and Latin America reported this week that the Oscar-nominated actress had been ranked by Fortune magazine as the second-richest Latin American in Hollywood, with nearly half as much money as singer Jennifer Lopez.

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Just be happy with what you got, Selma Hayek, not everyone's gonna be on top.
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Two killed in Britain as inflatable art takes off

LONDON, England (Reuters) - Two women died and 13 people were injured when they fell from a huge inflatable sculpture after it broke its moorings and flew into the air in a park in northeastern England, police said Monday.

Up to 30 people were inside the walk-in exhibit, which has been shown around the world, when a gust of wind blew it 9 metres above the park in Chester-le-Street Sunday.

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OK, now I changed my mind about walking in one of those exhibits.
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Police detain panda cub fur smuggler

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police have detained a man trying to sell the fur of a young panda -- seen as a national treasure in the country -- for about $30,000, the official Xinhua news agency said Monday.

The man, surnamed Yang, was caught when he was about to finish the 250,000 yuan ($31,310) sale in the southeastern port city of Xiamen, Xinhua said.

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Coming soon to Disney, "101 Pandas".

Are you a woman going solo? Try a blow-up man

LONDON (Reuters) - He fits in a car's glove box, appears at a flick of a switch and when a woman has finished using him, she can just pull the plug and he deflates.

He's the "Buddy on Demand," a blow-up man launched on Tuesday with the aim of making solo female motorists feel less nervous about driving at night.

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Talk about people who are desperate for attention.
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Cross-dressing lawyer skirts dress code

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A male lawyer who appeared in a New Zealand court dressed in an ankle-length skirt, lace stockings and a diamond brooch said Tuesday he was protesting against a male bias in the country's justice system.

Rob Moodie, a former New Zealand Police union secretary, stunned the courtroom Monday when he appeared in women's clothing at a hearing related to a long-running case involving the death of a man in a bridge collapse on a North Island farm.

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Need to flush out disturbing images in my mind!!
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Wrong T-shirt giveaway for forged

NICOSIA (Reuters) - An England football shirt gave away a Senegalese man attempting to enter Cyprus on a forged French passport, police on the Mediterranean island said on Monday.

Suspicions were aroused when the man appeared at a checkpoint supervising crossings from the Turkish Cypriot north to the Greek Cypriot south of the divided island, wearing the England shirt and presenting a French passport.

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Uhh................OOPS!

LoL I love the lawyer story. He wanted attention and he sure got it.

Officers put fire out on burning man

FORT WORTH, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Two Fort Worth police officers put out a man who was on fire this morning. They found him fully engulfed in flames around 1:00 a.m. outside a burning house in the 1400 block of S. Jennings Ave.

The victim was first taken to John Peter Smith Hospital, then transferred to Parkland Hospital. He suffered burns over 100 percent of his body. The condition of the victim is unknown.

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There's something you don't see everyday.
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Brinkley's husband: 'I'm sorry, I'm stupid'

NEW YORK (AP) - Christie Brinkley's estranged husband has been silent about recent reports that he had an affair with an 18-year-old employee while married to the supermodel. Now his reportedly desperate apology is receiving a very public airing.

"This is an aberration," Peter Cook, 47, said through a lawyer, according to a column by Cindy Adams published Tuesday in the New York Post. "I'm sorry. I'm contrite. I'm stupid. Foolish. No excuse."

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That's just wrong!
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Inmate includes own name in bomb, anthrax threats

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A prison inmate pleaded guilty on Tuesday to sending letters to the FBI and secret service that included bomb and anthrax threats -- as well as his full name and inmate number.

Donald Ray Bilby, 30, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Trenton to one count of false information and hoaxes after he sent five letters demanding authorities deposit $20,000 in his county jail inmate account because he needed money for bail, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

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He then was forced to write a letter that reads "Dear FBI, I'm sorry, I'm contrite, I'm stupid, and Foolish. No excuse."
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Woman mails five-foot python

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German woman sparked panic at her local post office when a 1.5-meter (5-foot) albino python escaped from a packet she had mailed, police said Tuesday.

The 28-year-old woman, who had sold the snake over the Internet, stuffed it in a package labeled "attention -- glass" to be sent to its new owner.

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In the former owner's defense........

Thanks for auditioning, we'll call you

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - A gun-toting Brazilian actor clad only in swimming trunks stormed a television studio and took a hostage during the filming of the "Snakes and Lizards" soap opera where he was once an extra.

Out-of-work actor Ricardo Dualibi, who was fired from the series in April, fired two shots in the air from a pistol and took one employee hostage in the incident Tuesday, a Globo television spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

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Stay tuned when he stars in a TV Special "When Disgruntled Actors Attack".
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Man saves dog thrown from window

WARSAW (Reuters) - A man was bruised but alive on Wednesday after a Saint Bernard dog thrown out a two-story window landed on him as he was walking down the street in the southern-Polish city of Sosnowiec.

The 110-pound dog was pushed out of the window by its drunken owner Monday, police said.

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Whew! Glad that dog is OK.
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Prison guard charged for inmate tobacco sales

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Everybody knows if smoking doesn't kill you it will at least lighten your wallet. In one New Jersey prison, the price starts at $800 a pound.

A guard at Fort Dix federal prison in New Jersey was charged on Wednesday with conspiracy to smuggle and sell two one-pound (450-gram) bags of tobacco to an inmate for $1,600, federal prosecutors in New Jersey said in a statement.

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Hamwinkies, $5 a pack!

Drivers list cars as hearses to save fees

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - Transport authorities promised swift action Friday after discovering some New Zealanders have listed their cars as hearses to cut their registration fees.

The scam came to light when a Christchurch woman told a local radio station she had paid just 58 New Zealand dollars ($36) to register her car, instead of the usual NZ$183 ($113), by registering it as a "noncommercial hearse" to carry dead animals.

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Here's another money-saving tip...just take the bus!
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Profanity-laced letters found on churchgoers' cars

By GARY REAVES / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - On Tuesday at Woodin Boulevard Church of Christ, Brother Marlon Reaves said he found a second letter on his car that was laced with profanity. That was when he said he decided to call the police.

The note rambled, didn't seem to make much sense and since it didn't threaten to harm anyone, police said it could not be labeled as a hate crime.

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If you don't have anything nice to write, don't write anything.
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Deadbeat Pete's shut for not paying taxes

TOWNSEND, Tenn. (AP) - A Mexican restaurant named Deadbeat Pete's was closed Thursday by state revenue agents because its taxes have not been paid, officials said.

The popular restaurant in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains mostly serves tourists passing along the town's main thoroughfare to the national park.

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Talk about a "Deadbeat" restaurant.

Nothing is rotten in the state of Denmark...

LONDON, England (Reuters) - If you're looking for happiness, go and live in Denmark.

It is the happiest country in the world while Burundi in Africa is the most unhappy, according to a report by a British scientist released Friday.

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Something's rotten, and it ain't in Denmark.
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Woman in doghouse over Jehovah's Witness sign

LONDON, England (Reuters) - A British woman has been ordered by police to take down a sign on her garden gate which read "Our dogs are fed on Jehovah's Witnesses."

Janet Grove, who owns a terrier puppy called Rabbit, insisted the sign was a gentle joke to discourage callers at her front door.

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If you thought that was bad, just think what would happen if they did it at a major apartment complex.
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Like taking candy from a bobby

LONDON, England (Reuters) - Two British police officers have been arrested by colleagues on suspicion of stealing candy from the staff confectionery shop.

An investigation was launched after "a significant stock loss" from the sweetshop at Hailsham Police Station in southern England, Sussex Police said Friday.

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Just when Donuts aren't enough...

i dont want to go to burundi

Net closes on conger cuddling

LONDON, England (Reuters) - An English fishing town has banned the sport of conger cuddling after an animal activist complained.

The tradition, once described as the most fun a person could have with a dead fish, involves one team trying to hit another with a conger eel tied to a rope.

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That's just plain ol' sick!!!
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Gucci, Gucci, gone

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Armed police removed a woman from a Cathay Pacific flight after she refused to stow her Gucci handbag under the seat in front of her or in the cabin overhead, Apple Daily reported Monday.

The flight this month from Hong Kong to Tokyo was delayed for about an hour as the woman contested the cabin crew's instructions to put her luxury handbag on the floor or in the compartment above her seat, a Cathay Pacific spokeswoman said.

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Why doesn't she just simply put it away....or does he have to hold it like a baby?
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Man lifts car off trapped cyclist

PHOENIX, Arizona (Reuters) - A hefty bystander at a road accident in southern Arizona heaved a car clean off a trapped teenage cyclist, possibly saving his life, police said on Friday.

Eighteen-year-old Kyle Holtrust was struck by a car as he pedaled along a Tucson highway late on Wednesday and pinned beneath it, city police said.

Tucson paintshop worker Tom Boyle grabbed the Chevrolet Camaro car and lifted it, allowing the driver to haul the injured cyclist clear.

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Kudos Tom!!
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Man blows up flat after being evicted

LISBON (Reuters) - An 80-year-old man blew up his flat on Monday to retaliate for being evicted by his landlord, bringing down part of his five-floor central Lisbon block and setting it alight.

"He had threatened neighbours that he would blow up the place if he ever got kicked out," Carlos Pinto, a fireman with the Lisbon fire brigade, told Reuters. "I guess he kept his promise."

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Don't go away mad, just go away!!
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Australian town can't stomach recycled sewage water

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A drought-hit Australian town could not swallow the idea of drinking recycled sewage water and rejected the water-saving option in a referendum on Saturday.

Toowoomba, 140 km (85 miles) west of the Queensland state capital Brisbane, would have become the nation's first town to supplement drinking water with recycled waste water, a practice used in Israel, Singapore, the U.S. and parts of Europe.

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Elderly woman fires gun at Fort Worth neighbor

By REBECCA RODRIGUEZ / WFAA ABC 8

FORT WORTH, Texas - Some residents in one Fort Worth neighborhood said they are scared to be outside after a 71-year-old woman fired a gun at one of them last week.

Charlesetta Davis was arrested, charged and then released on bond. However, police were called back to NW 35th after neighbors claimed Davis was making threats.

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I just can't understand some people these days.

Doctors offer to maim beggars in TV sting

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Three Indian doctors caught on camera apparently agreeing to amputate the healthy limbs of beggars are to be questioned by the Indian Medical Council, an official said Tuesday.

Secretly filmed footage taken by the CNN-IBN news channel and broadcast Saturday showed one of the doctors asking for 10,000 rupees (about $215) to amputate a lower leg, leaving a stump that may draw sympathy -- and a few rupees -- from passersby.

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Coming up next, "Desperate Doctors".
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"Welcome...you've got death..."

By Belinda Goldsmith

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A social networking Web site for Americans aged 50-plus went live on Monday -- complete with an online obituary database that sends out alerts when someone you may know dies and that plans to set up a do-it-yourself funeral service.

The founder of Internet job site Monster.com, Jeff Taylor, launched Eons.com, a similar site to the popular online teen hang-outs MySpace or Facebook for the 50-plus crowd.

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Just when I thought I've seen everything...
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National treasure, huh?

LONDON (Reuters) - Fish and chips, Sherlock Holmes and Monty Python have joined cricket, pubs and red double-decker buses on a growing list of England's national treasures.

More than 350,000 people have voted in a government-backed project to catalog the icons which capture the essence of England.

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Interesting.
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brinkley lost to an 18 yr old, yikes

Apparently "forever" has been over-rated

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Diamonds are no longer a girl's best friend, according to a new U.S. study that found three of four women would prefer a new plasma TV to a diamond necklace.

The survey, commissioned by U.S. cable television's Oxygen Network that is owned and operated by women, found the technology gender gap has virtually closed with the majority of women snapping up new technology and using it easily.

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(Imitating Ron White) "Diamonds.....that'll shut 'er up.....for a minute."
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Town wants $384,000 for pee by the sea

DUBLIN (Reuters) - A ramshackle public toilet could fetch 300,000 euros ($384,000) -- the price of a new house -- if politicians in western Ireland get their way.

The town of Lahinch reckons property-hungry buyers will snap up the dilapidated, out-of-order toilet because of its great location -- a surfing beach on Ireland's rugged Atlantic coast.

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That sounds like a great idea!
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Shredded euro confetti scandalizes town

PARIS (Reuters) - A lavish wedding where newlyweds were sprinkled with shredded euro-note confetti has provoked outrage in a French town, a newspaper reported Tuesday. Liberation said angry locals in the southern town of Sete scrambled on the ground to scrape up the bits of 5, 10, 20 and 50 euro notesscattered at the July 8 nuptials.

"People chucking money away in the street for everyone to see, when there are so many struggling to get by!" said Frederic, a resident quoted by the newspaper.

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You tell 'em Fredric!
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Well, I guess that's enough freedom for now...

ROME (Reuters) - Two Italian prisoners released under a national pardon celebrated their freedom with such gusto in a bar that they were back inside within five hours after getting into a fight with police.

Freed from Macomer jail on the island of Sardinia under a nationwide pardon to relieve prison overcrowding, Massimiliano Formula, 32, and Raimondo Muntoni, 28, were arrested for punching police who asked to see their papers, police said.

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Guess they must've liked it in prison.

Ah, this should certainly put him in the mood...

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Police in the German city of Aachen received an unusual call for help late Wednesday when a woman telephoned to complain her husband was not fulfilling his sexual obligations.

After the couple had been sleeping in separate beds for several months without intimate contact, the 44-year-old woman woke the husband, 45, in the middle of the night and demanded he satisfy her needs, police spokesman Paul Kemen said Thursday.

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Uuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......................................................................
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Hound dog mauls Elvis's teddy bear

LONDON (Reuters) - Barney the guard dog went berserk at a teddy bear exhibition in England and ripped the stuffing out of Elvis Presley's beloved bear Mabel, exhibitors said on Thursday.

Wookey Hole Caves, a popular holiday destination in Somerset, southern England, was drawing children with its display of 1,000 precious teddy bears, including Mabel, beloved bear of the King of Rock and Roll.

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The collection was so valuable that the insurance company insisted the exhibitors guard it with dogs. Barney, a sleek and handsome Dobermann, was dutifully dispatched.

BIG MISTAKE!!!
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What if you're too jittery to read the leaflet? 18 minutes ago

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Coffee shop chains in Taiwan added caffeine-content advisories to their drink menus this week after health authorities warned about having one cup too many.

Coffee chains are putting red marks next to coffee drinks with more than 200 mg of caffeine, yellow marks beside caffeine levels of 100-200 mg and green marks next to drinks with less than 100 mg.

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I think i'll take the ones with the green marks.