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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Believing they had a botched burglary on their hands, police in Hayward, California, called to a house instead found a naked man wedged in its chimney, a police officer said Monday.

"He didn't have a stitch on," Lt. Gary Branson of the Hayward Police Department said, referring to Michael Urbano.

The 23-year-old man came home early Saturday morning and, finding himself locked out and without his keys, tried to enter the single-story house through its chimney.

"He told us he took off his clothes because as he was going down the chimney the clothes would rub up against it and slow him down," Branson said. "If it was skin on cement he felt he would go down easier."

Urbano's effort ended disastrously when a cable-television wire he used to lower himself snapped. He fell and was wedged in a section of the chimney tapering into the home's fireplace.

For the next four hours he cried out for help. A neighbor called police and fire fighters, who dislodged Urbano, Branson said. Officers booked Urbano for being under the influence of drugs, he added.

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Originally posted by Gromit:
Unleash your inner zombie.

Well, it makes a change from ninjas and pirates...

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BEIJING (Reuters) - Some Chinese tourists have been warned that while spitting, slurping food and cutting in line may merely disgust people at home, they are sometimes not tolerated abroad, Xinhua news agency said Friday.

The increasing number of Chinese tourists traveling abroad may be a huge new source of income to destination countries, but that won't prevent complaints against individuals from reflecting badly on all of China, Xinhua said.

"The media in Singapore reports that hotel staff are upset with Chinese tourists spitting in their rooms and smoking in bed," it said.

"...Singapore airline companies also criticized Chinese tourists for talking loudly and being very rude. Even Hong Kong newspapers have pointed out that some mainlanders lack manners and social graces."

Beijing residents said last year spitting in public was what they could not stand most about living in the Chinese capital, followed close behind by dog owners who fail to clean up after their pets.

Beijing has launched a campaign to make its citizens more "civil" in the run-up to hosting the 2008 Olympics. Games organizers have repeatedly said the city needs to teach its people to stand in line, stop spitting and littering and generally be better mannered.

Past efforts to stamp out the spitting habit, like a 2003 campaign to help curb the spread of SARS, have not been very effective, partly because many people believe clearing the lungs and firing away is good for your health.

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Originally posted by Gromit:
Nasty surprise in barrel of rum...

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"It is kind of ironic that this whole dispute is about a smiley face," said Mr Simley.

Days after 9/11, a senior Pentagon official lamented the lack of good targets in Afghanistan and proposed instead U.S. military attacks in South America or Southeast Asia as "a surprise to the terrorists," according to a footnote in the recent 9/11 Commission Report. The unsigned top-secret memo, which the panel's report said appears to have been written by Defense Under Secretary Douglas Feith, is one of several Pentagon documents uncovered by the commission which advance unorthodox ideas for the war on terror...

They argued that an attack on terrorists in South America"”for example, a remote region on the border of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil where intelligence reports said Iranian-backed Hizbullah had a presence"”would have ripple effects on other terrorist operations.

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Originally posted by Gromit:

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Originally posted by Nilcypher:
I like pigeons! You have to admire any animal that can survive entirely on spare bread!

You mean like this?



A statue of a woman made out of bread is proving popular with pigeons in a park in Santiago.