News from a Weird World - the Weekly Offbeat News

The latest edition of News From A Weird World (previously known as Offbeat News) is published, with a selection of the most bizarre, strangest, oddest and weirdest news stories from the past week, that have been pulled from news sites around the world.

The stories to be found on News From A Weird World are the kind that are just so bizarre, they make you realize that fact is often stranger than fiction, and make you wonder what on earth people were thinking to get into the news in this way.

This is a selection of weird news stories from the past week that I hope you enjoy, and if you do, please can you help spread the word by sharing the stories with your friends.

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Teenage Burglar Gets Stuck In Air Vent

In a case of what can only be called sweet justice, a 17 year old teenager who tried to rob a business in the town of Mount Isa in Queensland, Australia, climber in through the air conditioning system and got firmly stuck.

Someone who was passing in the early hours of the morning heard his cries for help, and the fire service had to come out and rescue him.

The teenager is now facing charges of breaking and entering the premises.

You can't help but wonder though, whether another course of justice might have been suitable in this case.

Those of you who are familiar with the Disney version of Winnie The Pooh And The Honey Tree may recall that a greedy Pooh Bear polishes off Rabbit's stock of Honey, but then when he tries to leave, he is to fat to fit through the rabbit hole and gets himself firmly wedged. The solution to the problem was one of leaving him there, and waiting for him to lose enough weight, so that he could escape through the hole.

It might have just been more discouraging in this case if they had left the teenager in the vent for a few days. I am sure he wouldn't have attempted anything similar ever again.

Read the full story HERE.

A Ray Of Sunshine For Russian Prisoners

Almost half of the inmates in the Russian prison system are ill, many being infected with HIV or having tuberculosis, according to a report earlier this year.

Inmates held at the fortress of Butyrka in central Moscow, a prison that has seen many famous inmates, including the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Isaak Babel and Adolf Hitler's nephew Heinrich, are set to see some improvements in the medical services that are being offered.

Upgrades to the medical facilities at Butyrka will include sunbeds, and some prisoners will even have access to ultrasound systems, and spa facilities including mud baths.

They may also be allowed to use Skype to contact their relatives.

This is a big change to the prison system in Russia, and the cost of providing these services is expected to be offset by a decrease in the cost of providing medical care to sick prisoners.

Read the full story HERE.

Cell Phone Thief Leaves Behind A Trail

Oh joy, will the criminals in Florida never learn...

A man from St. Petersburg in Florida found that his truck had been broken into and his cell phone had been stolen.

A few days later he bought a replacement phone, but on checking his account, found that three text messages had been sent to someone called "Jewels", including pictures of what is believed to be the thief's face and naughty bits.

Police in St. Petersburg have published the photo of the man's face in the hope that someone will come forward with an identity. Needless to say, they did not publish the other photos.

Read the full story HERE.

And The Father Of The Year Award Goes To...

Don't we all love fathers like this, fathers like Joe Salter of Okaloosa County in Florida, who authorized his son to spend $600 at a strip club last August to celebrate his graduation from Georgia Tech University.

"What a great Dad" I bet all the guys are thinking, however things didn't exactly go according to plan, when the final bill for Tommy Salter's graduation party turned out to be $53,000!

Naturally Tommy's Dad disputed the bill, and during an investigation of the club, it appears that some fraudulent activity was going on.

Having filed reports with the County Sheriff's Office, the club is offering to refund $39,000 of the $53,000 bill.

The sheriff's investigation found that most of the charges (the $39,000) occurred after 4am, which is the cut off time for alcohol sales in the county.

But it sounds like Tommy's Dad is not finished yet, since he is alleging that his son may have been drugged.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out, but I am still left wondering how you can spend $14,000 in a nightclub, unless you are just reckless and naïve.

It seems there are some things that they don't teach you at university...

Read the full story HERE.

Poop Slinger Gets Caught In A Surveillance Trap

Steve Miller of Palm Beach gardens in Florida likes to keep the area around his house neat and tidy, and clean, so he was rather frustrated last year to find that someone had been throwing bags containing dog poop into the shrubs around a palm tree in his front yard.

Sine this was happening on an all too regular basis, Steve decided that it was time to catch the offender in the act, and so he installed a $400 video surveillance system.

Well much to his surprise, a month worth of video showed that the culprit was one of his neighbors, who was daily walking his dog, then slinging a bag of poop into the shrubs.

Mr. Miller told the New York Times "You'd see him come from all directions and even turn around afterwards - like I was his dumping destination and not just a convenient stop on his way".

He showed the video to the community security patrol, who wrote up a citation for the neighbor for improper waste disposal, littering and leash law violations. The neighbor was also ordered to pick up the waste, which he did, but he never offered an apology to Mr. Miller.

And so when the neighbor moved, Steve Miller got his own back, by posting clips from the surveillance video on YouTube, and it's rapidly gaining popularity and lots of traffic. If you watch, it's just amazing how many times he passes Steve's house and just nonchalantly tosses bags of dog poop into the shrubs.

I only hope the neighbor sees this and even better that people who know him recognize him as well.

Read the full story HERE.

This Camera Thief Is Actually A Shark!

A scuba diver and keen photographer who was on a dive off The Bahamas had the shock of his life, when a seven foot long Tiger Shark literally grabbed the camera out of his hands, having posed for several close up snaps.

The Tiger Shark is considered to be one of the most dangerous species of shark, and second only to the Great White Shark in the number of recorded attacks on humans.

The photographer, who is from The Netherlands, could not believe her luck when they came across six or seven Tiger Sharks on their dive, and they were in the middle of getting some amazing photographs, when one of the divers swam towards them to get a better shot, and the shark came up and grabbed the camera.

Fortunately it dropped the camera only a few yards away on the sea bed, and the divers all came up to tell the tale, and what a tale too, and unlike most fish tales, this time they had the evidence to prove it.

Read the full story HERE and see the amazing pictures.

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You can now also find links to all of the News From A Weird World and Offbeat News editions at Squidoo, and if you do enjoy these weekly Offbeat News articles, please could you help share them with your friends etc. I am sure they could use a good laugh too.

For more fun at the expense of victims around the world, take a look at the previous editions of News From A Weird World:

3 November 2010

6 October 2010 - 13 October 2010 - 20 October 2010 - 27 October 2010

1 September 2010 - 8 September 2010 - 15 September 2010 - 22 September 2010 - 29 September 2010

25 August 2010 - 18 August 2010 - 11 August 2010 - 4 August 2010

28 July 2010 - 21 July 2010 - 14 July 2010 - 7 July 2010

30 June 2010 - 23 June 2010 - 16 June 2010 - 9 June 2010 - 2 June 2010

26 May 2010 - 19 May 2010 - 12 May 2010 - 5 May 2010

28 April 2010 - 21 April 2010

31 March 2010 - 24 March 2010 - 17 March 2010 - 10 March 2010 - 3 March 2010

2 February 2010

As always, your comments on any of these news stories are appreciated, and if you enjoy News From A Weird World, please share this edition with your friends.

News Reports Taken From The Following Sources:

Digital Spy

ABC News Australia

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The Bournemouth Echo

The London Evening Standard

The Daily Telegraph

Courthouse News

The Daily Mail