Offbeat
Latest stories
British Tunnel Thieves Dig for Months to Raid ATM

Thieves spent six months digging a tunnel to steal money from an automatic teller machine -- but probably only got away with £6,000 ($9,200, 7,200 euros), British officials said Saturday.

The gang excavated the 30-meter long tunnel under a car park and part of a video shop in Manchester, northwest England, in order to raid the cash machine inside the building, police said.

W140 Full Story
Police Ticket Boy after Toy Motorcycle Hits SUV

Police in this border city repented Thursday over ticketing a 6-year-old boy for reckless driving, driving without a license and not having his vehicle registered after he drove his miniature motorcycle into an SUV.

The boy's mother, Karla Noriega, said police impounded the miniature gasoline-powered motorbike that her son got for Christmas after he crashed into an SUV on Dec. 27.

W140 Full Story
U.S. Woman Sparks Bomb Hoax to Stop Errant Husband

A U.S. woman called in a bomb threat to an airline to stop her husband flying from Los Angeles to Atlanta to see another woman, the FBI said Thursday.

Johnna Woolfolk, 50, pleaded guilty to making a bomb threat after calling AirTran Airways in November to report that her husband was carrying a bomb onto a flight at LAX international airport.

W140 Full Story
Buzz Around Beyonce as Fly Named in Diva's Honor

It might not be the most flattering accolade for the "bootylicious" American pop star, but new mother Beyonce now has a fly named after her.

Just days after the singer and actress gave birth to a baby girl, Australian scientists said Friday they had named a rare horse fly from far northern Queensland in her honour because of its impressive golden lower abdomen.

W140 Full Story
Italian Shock Photographer Launches Penis Calendar

Italian shock photographer Oliviero Toscani has done it again -- this time with a calendar featuring 12 penis close-ups in an ad for a group of companies that make naturally-tanned leather.

The flamboyant photographer launched the calendar at an event in Florence also attended by famously well-endowed Italian porn star Rocco Siffredi, who said that people should "de-dramatize" sex and put an end to "bigotry".

W140 Full Story
Sexy Undies Yes, G-Strings No, Say French Women

Men may find it the ultimate turn-on, but the G-string is on its way out in France, ditched by droves of women who have found comfier -- and more flattering -- ways to look sexy, a study showed Thursday.

"Back in the 1990s, the G-string was the key lingerie item for French women, but its star has faded," said Cecile Guerin, exhibition director for the International Lingerie Fair taking place in Paris next week.

W140 Full Story
French Parents Win Case Over Son's 'Demonic' Name

A court in France on Thursday rejected a prosecutors' request for a couple to be barred from naming their son Daemon after a character in television series "The Vampire Diaries".

Prosecutors had brought Lionel and Blandine Defontaine, from Busigny in northern France, to court under a French law that prevents parents from giving names that would be "contrary to the interests of a child".

W140 Full Story
Motorized Shoes Ready to Roll Into Stores

Tired of walking? An American inventor has designed a pair of motorized shoes.

The battery powered high-tech footwear called "spnKiX" resemble a cross between a ski boot and a roller skate with oversized wheels and are among the gadgets on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

W140 Full Story
Austrian Bank Error Not in Your Favor

When 45,000 euros ($57,180) mysteriously landed in their joint bank account last year, an Austrian couple wasted no time asking questions, deciding instead to spend it quick and pay off their debts.

But their luck ran out on Wednesday as a court in Graz, southern Austria, handed them both a five-month suspended jail sentence for fraud after the firm that made the erroneous transfer claimed its money back.

W140 Full Story
Swastikas Land New York Shop in Trouble

A New York store was told by a city politician Wednesday to stop selling swastika earrings, although the shop manager said they were an ancient Indian symbol, not the Nazi emblem.

Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president in New York, said on his website that swastikas could not be a "fashion statement. It is the most hateful symbol in our culture and an insult to any civilized person."

W140 Full Story