News from around the world

BRAZIL
People in the town of Pirapora do Bom Jesus were confined to their houses after the area was flooded by detergents and shampoos discarded into the River Tiete, covering the town with six feet of foam.


RUSSIA
A giant statue of a nose, which vanished 10 months ago from a house in St. Petersburg, was found by police in a city apartment block. Said a police spokes- man, "Both the residents and the police, who found the nose, treated it with affection."


CHINA
According to news reports, employees in Guangzhou who are owed back pay prefer, instead of suing, to threaten suicide in public. Said one construction worker who dangled from a high rise, "There was no other way to get what the company owed us."


ITALY
An Italian prisoner who was given a 72-hour pass for good behavior asked to go back to his cell after spending less than a day with his wife. Said a spokesman at Vigevano prison: "We got a call from him saying he couldn't stand being with his wife and was it possible to go back to his cell."


WALES
A man tried to steal a till from a corner shop in Blackwood while wearing a pair of underpants on his head, but midway through the holdup the shorts slipped, covering his eyes and blinding him. The man then hit himself on the head with the till as he tried to pull it from the counter, cutting himself above his left eye and causing him to drop the cash.


SCOTLAND
A Glasgow repairman replaced a flickering light bulb on a hotel sign, not realizing that it was central to the design of a $300,000 work of modern art, which consisted entirely of a sign with a flickering light bulb.


CALIFORNIA
In Corona a waiter, angry at some customers who requested vegetables with their meal, became so mad that he followed the customers home, smashed eggs on their house, dribbled maple syrup over their hedge and sprinkled powdered sugar and instant mashed potato flakes on their lawn.


-- Reuters; The Age; Associated Press; Bizarre Magazine; Boston Globe; Universal Press Syndicate; ananova.com; The BBC