As part of DBKP’s endeavor to bring our readers headlines and stories that are unusual, weird, or well, headlines that don’t quite tell the same facts as the story, here’s a few we’ve stumbled upon from across the globe.

Due to the current economic crisis currently unfolding here in the States, we should pat ourselves on the back because we stopped “open defecation” in its tracks several centuries ago while the Echo of India reports that the state of Himachal is “on target” by 2010:

Shimla, Nov 23 /–/ Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said that the state would be made Open Defecation Free (ODF) by the year 2010 and every citizen should actively involve themselves in achieving the target. Addressing a function at Manali, Mr Dhumal said the state has launched the ambitious total sanitation campaign to make the state completely ODF, an official release here said.

Train Ride to Bloodworm Hell

From the Japan Times, a story about a man who “pranked” train passengers by spreading beetle larvae and thousands of blood worms on the floor:

A 35-year-old man was arrested Monday for scattering about 200 beetle larvae on the floor of a train car as a prank, police said.

Manabu Mizuta, of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, was arrested for allegedly obstructing by force the Keihan Line’s business.

When he was arrested, Mizuta had about 3,600 mealworms contained in film cases and other containers in his bag, police sources alleged.

“(The worms) wiggle around and are so weird. I like seeing people surprised,” Mizuta was quoted by police as saying.

Mizuta allegedly spread the 2-cm-long worms on the floor of the car at about 10:05 a.m.

A headline from the British Times Online: “Prince Andrew takes a holiday with gun smuggler in Libya”. What a naughty Prince!

The story revealed who the “gun smuggler” was and how many “guns” he smuggled:

Prince Andrew enjoyed a four-day holiday in Tunisia last week in which he accepted hospitality from a convicted gun smuggler before visiting Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan leader. His office says he is repaying the cost.

Andrew toured desert sights, stayed in top-class hotels and ate meals with Tarek Kaituni, his Libyan-born friend who in 2005 was convicted of buying a machinegun and secretly attempting to transport it from Holland to France.

From the Moscow Times: “Police Looking for Suspects In Break-In at City Morgue”:

Police Looking for Suspects In Break-In at City Morgue
25 November 2008
By Natalya Krainova / Staff Writer
Three men are being sought by authorities after breaking into a city morgue in a botched robbery attempt, city police said Monday.

The three robbers broke into the morgue at City Hospital No. 50 on Ulitsa Vucheticha, near the Timiryazevskaya metro station in northern Moscow, at about 11 p.m. Friday, police spokesman Vladimir Paklin said.

After assaulting the morgue attendant on duty, the suspects unsuccessfully tried to plunder a metal safe and then fled, Paklin said. The morgue attendant, who suffered minor injuries in the attack, reported the incident to the Timiryazevsky district police precinct, he said.

Paklin said he did not know the contents of the safe. A woman who answered the telephone at the morgue Monday declined to comment.

A Fatwa on Yoga!

From the Singapore newspaper, Straits Times:

Sultan rebukes fatwa council
Selangor sultan takes council to task for banning yoga without consulting rulers first
By Carolyn Hong, Malaysia Bureau Chief

KUALA LUMPUR: The controversy over the fatwa on yoga has taken a new twist with the Sultan of Selangor rebuking the National Fatwa Council for the manner in which it announced the religious edict.
Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah issued a statement yesterday making an unprecedented criticism of the council for bypassing the Conference of Rulers in issuing the controversial edict.

He said he hoped that in future, fatwas that affected the public would be referred to the rulers’ conference first ‘to ensure that the method of channelling a fatwa is implemented in a wise manner to avoid any confusion or controversy’.

Canada Courts Rule “Fat People” get Extra Airline Seat for Free!

From the Singapore Straits Times:

Court rules obese get 2 seats

TORONTO- CANADA’S largest airline is trying to figure out which obese and disabled passengers will be eligible for additional seats at no charge after the country’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the airlines.
The Canadian Transportation Agency issued an order last January requiring Air Canada and other domestic airlines to make additional seats free to disabled or obese passengers who need extra room.

The airlines’ appeal was rejected twice – first by the Federal Court of Appeal in May, and then by the country’s highest court on Thursday.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said on Monday they are developing detailed eligibility rules for free seats. The ruling on Thursday applies only to domestic flights and will be implemented on Jan 9, 2009.

And last, but not least, from today’s favorite source of unusual news, Singapore’s Straits Times, comes not one, but three different magnitudes for an earthquake in Russia:

7.7 quake hits Russia

WASHINGTON – A POWERFUL 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck early on Monday an area in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia’s Far East, the US government reported, revising a previous figure of 7.0.
The epicentre of the earthquake, which occurred at 8.02pm (5.02pm Singapore time), was located 315 kilometres west-northwest of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Russia, according to the US Geological Survey.

By LBG

Image – Bear in woods
Image – Blood worms
Image – Garters n Guns
Image – Russian cops
Image – Yoga Man
Image – Maxi-Man in Mini Cooper
Image – Missing Dog Head Poster
Image – Earthquake Potato Chips