SMOKING RAGE: A restaurant owner in southwest Turkey was shot dead after he tried to prevent his customers from smoking to comply with a new law on the use of tobacco indoors, Hurriyet daily said.
A fight broke out after Hidir Karayigit (46) ordered a group of customers to extinguish their cigarettes when they began smoking at his “meyhane,” a traditional restaurant that serves alcohol, in the town of Saruhanli, Hurriyet said.
One of the customers shot Karayigit four times after he took away the group’s cigarettes, said witness Hamza Havutcu, Karayigit’s business partner who was also shot and wounded. —— Reuters.
BOTCHED SUICIDE: French police called off their search for a woman who threw herself in front of a speeding train when they found that she had dragged herself home and gone to bed, a court source told Reuters.
The 58-year-old, who suffered from depression, jumped in front of the train as it sped through the station at Herrlisheim near Strasbourg at around 150km/hr, prompting the driver to alert the police.
But the search was called off when the woman’s partner, returning from a night shift, found her lying in bed with a broken arm and other injuries and rang the emergency services. – Reuters.
DOZY THIEF: An Australian man has been arrested after police caught him asleep at the wheel of a stolen car – in a car wash.
South Australia Police say the 30-year-old drove the Audi convertible into an automatic car wash in the early hours, and then nodded off.
The police said the car had two different licence plates, and that it had been reported stolen in July.
They woke the man and arrested him on charges of illegal use and theft of the car. He has been released on bail and will face court in September. —— Ananova.
SUED: A New York City woman who says she can’t find a job is suing the college where she earned a bachelor’s degree.
Trina Thompson filed a lawsuit last week against Monroe College in Bronx Supreme Court. The 27-year-old is seeking the US$70 000 she spent on tuition.
Thompson says she’s been unable to find gainful employment since she received her information technology degree in April.
She says the Bronx school’s Office of Career Advancement hasn’t provided her with the leads and career advice it promises. —— Msnbc.
BIRTHDAY THRILL: A boy celebrating his third birthday was unhurt and apparently unfazed after he floated nearly eight miles down a river riding atop his toy truck, police said.
The boy’s family was camping at a popular park near Fort St John, in northeastern British Columbia last Sunday when the boy wandered off unnoticed and somehow entered the nearby Peace River, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday.
After a nearly two-hour journey down the swift-moving river, the boy had no injuries and was apparently unaware of the danger he had been in. —— Msnbc.
PERFECT CANDIDATES: People with bad breath, body odour or runny noses have been banned from becoming astronauts in China.
Would-be astronauts competing for China’s next space programme must comply with a list of 100 rules, reports the BBC.
The list, intended to recruit “super human beings”, also prohibits those with tooth cavities or scars which may “burst open” in space.
Any candidate with a history of serious illness in the last three generations of their family is also barred. And those with drug allergies or ringworm are also prohibited.
Successful candidates must possess a “pleasant and adaptable disposition”, the guidelines make clear. – Ananova.