Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


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World's tallest man struggles to fit in

PODOLYANTSI, Ukraine - Leonid Stadnik's phenomenal height has forced him to quit a job he loved, to stoop as he moves around his house and to spend most of his time in his tiny home village because he cannot fit in a car or bus.

But Stadnik, who according to the Guinness World Records is the world's tallest human, says his condition has also taught him that the world is filled with kindhearted strangers.

World Tallest Man
©(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Ukrainian veterinarian, Leonid Stadnik, 2.59 meter (8,5 feet) tall, the world's tallest living man according to the Guinness Book of Records, rides a bicycle specially made for him, in the village of Podoliantsy, Ukraine's northwestern Zhytomyr region, 212 kilometers (131.74 miles) west of the capital Kiev, Sunday, March 23, 2008. Stadnik's growth spurt started at age 14 after a brain operation apparently stimulated his pituitary gland. Stadnik, 37, is still growing up.

Eye 1

Pickpocket chooses worst possible victim

A pickpocket made a big mistake when he robbed the justice minister... and then ran into a bus full of police officers.

The dumb criminal mugged MP Bridget Prentice as she boarded a bus in south London.

However, little did pickpocket Kenneth Cooper know that his target, the justice minister, had an off-duty detective standing behind her.

Stop

Australia: Man Reports Marijuana Theft, Gets Busted

An Australian man's complaint of an break-in at his home went to pot Friday when police arrested him for growing marijuana.

The 35-year-old man in the central Australian city of Adelaide called police to report that six men had broken into his house through a window and stolen parts of his cannabis plants, South Australia Police said.

Bizarro Earth

Nearly half of Japanese bathe with cellphones, poll finds

Hi-tech mobile phones and leisurely baths are well-known passions of the Japanese -- and apparently they're not mutually exclusive.

A survey released Monday showed that 41.2 percent of people in the country have at least once taken their mobile phones to the bathtub to make calls, type e-mails, listen to music or play games.

The practice extends across all sexes and ages, although teenagers were the most likely to have bathed with their phones, according to the poll of 16,250 people carried out by video-game maker Sega.

Take 2

UK: ATM gives shoppers double-money windfall

London - A cash machine became a big hit this week after it started paying out twice as much money as it should.

Mail

No Yoke: Giant Easter egg cracks up on the way from Italy

When a five-foot chocolate Easter egg arrived in Northern Ireland after travelling from Italy it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Unknown
©Unknown
Cracking Easter: £300 egg smashed on way from Italy

Magic Hat

UK: Fire-eating magician was a benefits cheat

A magician with a talent for fire-eating, sword-swallowing and bathing in broken glass is facing bankruptcy after being exposed as a benefits cheat.

To his audiences Nigel Hardman was Prince Razaq, who appeared on stage in flowing robes, a turban and curly-toed sandals.

Image
©Peter Lovas
Hardman was claiming incapacity benefit, but astounded audiences with his stunts

Recycle

Canada's elite counter-terrorism squad security trashed

Canada's military is probing how detailed plans for its new elite counter-terrorism squad headquarters ended up in a trash bin on the streets of the capital, an official said Thursday.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said an investigation was underway after the daily Ottawa Citizen identified the 26 top secret blueprints, brought to them by a curious passerby who spotted them in a curbside garbage can.

"If a security breach of some kind has taken place, then clearly that's a huge concern for me," Day told reporters.

The Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit is the Canadian Forces's main responder in the event of a terrorist attack of mass destruction, trained to deal with chemical, biological and radioactive threats.

Calculator

SKorean mum held after daughter, 6, pulls off bank job

South Korean police said Friday they had arrested a woman accused of telling her six-year-old daughter to steal some 140,000 dollars from a bank.

The girl took cash and cheques on Thursday from a small safe under the desk in the VIP room of a bank in the southern island of Jeju, they said. The room was temporarily empty apart from the child.

Take 2

From the 'I'm bored' files: Man auctions his life

A man in Australia is auctioning his life -- his house, his job, his clothes and his friends -- on eBay, after his marriage broke up, saying he wants to start a new life.

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©Reuters
Ian Usher is seen in an undated handout photo, released to Reuters on March 19, 2008.