Really???????

TOKYO - A Japanese monk trying to rid his temple of a hornets' nest panicked when the hornets attacked him and dropped a torch, burning his temple to the ground, police said Thursday.

The Buddhist monk had put lighted rags on a stick into the nest in the temple, but dropped it and ran when the hornets flew out and attacked him, Niigata state police official Yuichi Ozaka said. The fire occurred Wednesday.

He said the monk, Atsushi Sato, 41, suffered burns on his ears, face and left hand, but he was not stung.

The temple in Ojiya City, northern Japan, was burned to the ground, along with the nest, Ozaka said.


At least he wasn't stung and he got the job done. The nest was burned to the ground and took the temple with it.


BEIJING - A once drug-addled elephant fed heroin-laced bananas by illegal traders will return home after emerging clean from a three-year detox program on China's tropical island province of Hainan.

The four-year-old bull elephant, referred to alternately as "Big Brother" or "Xiguang" in state media reports, was captured in 2005 in southwest China by traders who used spiked bananas to control him.

After police arrested the traders and freed Xiguang a few months later, the elephant was confirmed to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms and sent to a wild animal protection center in Hainan for rehab, Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

A year of methadone injections at five times the human dosage had helped wean Xiguang off his addiction.

Now clean, Xiguang was expected to arrive on Saturday at a wildlife park in Kunming, capital of the elephant's home province of Yunnan on the mainland.

Xiguang's return would cap a 1,500-km journey home, Xinhua said, and mark another step in the elephant's triumph over addiction

I just hope the Elephant doesn't relapse. I'm sure there will be a lot of temptation out there in the wild. I hope the pressures of elephant life aren't too much for him to handle. Just remember Xiguang, hugs not drugs.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Police in Port St. Lucie are on the lookout for a cross-dressing man who snatched a 74-year-old woman's purse. As if that weren't odd enough, they're depending on a strange clue. The suspect left behind a condom filled with water he had been using as a fake breast.

The woman said she believed the thief followed her while shopping. A witness told investigators he was wearing a short denim skirt and black tube top, and fled in a silver car with two other male crossdressers.

Police are processing the condom for fingerprint and DNA evidence.

Condoms? Really? Those had to be some odd shaped boobies. Hasn't this guy ever heard of water balloons?

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Iowa City police said a man who was driving drunk tried to bribe a police officer — with a sandwich.

Police said a 25-year-old man was charged with drunken driving early Sunday morning after an officer saw him driving with his headlights off.

Police said the man was riding with a police officer in a squad car when he offered the officer free sub sandwiches if he could go home.

The officer declined.

Only in Iowa.