Weird news - the fascinating story of a penguin far away from home

In recent years, there was a movie called "Happy Feet" that chronicled the story of a penguin who got separated from the rest of its family and group, and got moved to a enclosure far away. The movie was fairly popular and increased the awareness of penguins to a large degree (increasing the concept of them being seen as cuddly and fun creatures).
So, it became international headlines when an Emperor Penguin was found on the beach outside the New Zealand capital Wellington, at a distance of 3000 km from the traditional location. Medical observation showed that the penguin was weak, and was eating sand and sticks in order to cool down (which was making the penguin even weaker). The penguin became the center of attention, and was eagerly watched by people all over (link to article):

Fattened up on a diet of "fish milkshakes" and escorted by his own personal veterinary team, the world's most famous penguin, Happy Feet, sets sail on Monday for the icy waters he calls home. The emperor penguin washed up on a beach just outside the New Zealand capital Wellington in mid-June -- weak, emaciated and more than 3,000 kilometres (1,900 miles) from the
Antarctic colony where he hatched about three-and-a-half years ago.
The wayward bird's unexpected appearance stunned wildlife experts, who said he was only the second emperor ever recorded in New Zealand, and captivated the public, which closely followed every turn in his struggle for survival. "The level of interest has been incredible, not
just in Wellington or New Zealand, but around the world," Wellington Zoo's veterinary manager Lisa Argilla said. "Everyone's been really curious to see what happens."

Finally, after some treatment, the penguin was taken in a ship and released back in the water near the penguin colony.

Weird news - Husband fined for not having enough sex with his wife

This is a strange case. Would you ever believe that a person could be fined in a court of law because his ex-wife filed a case against him for not having enough sex in the marriage ? Seems a bit strange, isn't it ? Many societies would be aghast that such an intimate discussion / discord is brought out in the public like this particular case. In this particular case in France, the ex-wife used a particular clause in the law which states that part of the duties of a marriage is a shared communal life, and the judge has used this clause to mean that sexual relations must happen in a marriage, and based on the complaint by the wife, awarded compensation to her. It is interesting however to determine how it an be decided whether the amount of sexual relations is enough or not (link to article):

In a unique ruling, a French court has reportedly ordered a 51-year-old man to pay his ex-wife nearly 8,500 pounds in damages for failing to have enough sex with her during their 21-year marriage.
The man, Jean-Louis B, was fined under Article 215 of France's civil code which states that married couples must agree to a "shared communal life", the 'Daily Express' reported. The judge in the south of France's highest court in Aix-en-Provence ruled that this law clearly implies "sexual relations must form part of a marriage".
"A sexual relationship between husband and wife is the expression of affection they have for each other, and in this case it was absent. By getting married, couples agree to share their life and this clearly implies they will have sex with each other," the judge said.

Weird news - 11 year old tried and prosecuted for participating in the recent London riots

The recent riots in London and other cities shocked the people of Great Britain, causing a greater than normal deployment of police. Once the riots and disturbances ended, it resulted in a huge amount of counter-reaction against the rioters; this included calls to ensure that the rioters were evicted from state provided housing; that rioters received quick and harsh sentences as a deterrence; parents were encouraged to turn in their children if these children took part in the rioting, and so on.
But there have been calls after the first series of judgments that came out against some of the rioters that the sentences have been too harsh, that normal norms of sentencing have been set aside in some kind of harsh vigilante mode. What would you call sentencing an 11 year old boy for stealing a waste bin costing around 50 pounds (link to article):

A 11-year-old boy today became the youngest person to be sentenced for stealing a waste bin worth £50 during the recent London riots.
He was given an 18-month youth rehabilitation order at Havering Magistrates' Court in Essex after admitting burglary.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stole a waste bin from Debenhams in Romford, Essex, on August 8 after the windows of the store were smashed by looters.

Weird news - Lady strips in Bermudas airport after security check

Modern aviation suffers from increasing security issues. Hijacking of planes has happened for many decades now, and as a result, security measures have only increased over the years. As technology has advanced, and the concealment and miniaturization of terrorist technology has increased, the level of security scanning has become more intensive. Further, earlier hijacking still ended up killing at the maximum, only a few of the passengers of the plane, but the 2001 New York attacks showed up a breed of terrorists who were determined, who were not averse to killing all the passengers of the plane, and who were hard to totally exterminate. Then, in 2001 again, there was the shoe bomber who tried to blow up a plane by setting fire to his shoes. And in the recent past, there was the case where explosives were sought to be smuggled onto a plane in the form of printer cartridges.
This has in turn led to a much higher level of security before a plane can take off, and this security is getting more intense, and seemingly much more invasive of the privacy of people. When explosives can be hidden in body cavities, it gets much more difficult; however, this increased security (including devices such as deeper penetrating X-rays that reveal the outline of the body) also puts off a lot of people. This in turn led to a weird reaction from one lady (link to article):

A 36-year-old woman faced with a customs search at Bermuda's LF Wade International Airport rather brilliantly responded by instantly shedding her clothes and telling officers: “If you want to see me naked, you can do it right fucking here.”
Loukai Phillips, a Bermudian native now living abroad, had just flown in from London on 19 August to close her bank account, but had to schedule in an appearance before magistrates on a "indecent exposure in a public place" rap following her protest strip.
Her lawyer, Charles Richardson, explained to the court that because of an unspecified "past association", his client had been strip-searched every time she faced customs operatives.

Weird news - An agency in Germany declares the 'Facebook like' button as illegal

For software companies, especially in the area of web, the different standards followed by Government agencies the world over can make their job very difficult. What works in one area does not work in another area, and these restrictions can cause problems to the companies.
Consider the case of Facebook. It is one of the most widely used platforms in the area of social networks, and one of the most important tools is the 'Like' button that is there in the Facebook page. These allow items to become popular, and get more people access to such news / updates. For Facebook, the Like button is a very important tool, and any restrictions on such a tool can be significant. Well, a data protection agency in Germany is threatening the 'Like' button (link to article):

A German data protection authority is "unliking" Facebook's "Like" button.
The state of Schleswig-Holstein's data protection commissioner, Thilo Weichert, on Friday ordered state institutions to shut down the fan pages on the social networking site and remove the "Like" button from their websites, saying it leads to profiling that violates German and European law.
Facebook insisted on Friday that is in full compliance with European data protection laws.
On Friday, Weichert issued a statement saying technical analysis by his office shows Facebook violated German and European data protection laws by passing content data to the social network's servers in the U.S.

Weird news - Precious items stolen, even after death

One of the biggest fears that people have with respect to airline travel is not about the fear of some accident, but more about losing their luggage. So, consider that you reach a different location after a long flight, and then find that your luggage has not made it, or something has been pilfered from your luggage (and the airline authorities are not really concerned about what has happened). What would you do ?
In this case, something even more horrific happened. When somebody dies in a different land, their relatives are worried about the process of getting the body back to their native land, and then, if they find that things have been stolen from inside the coffin, they would be shocked. This is what happened in the current case, where items were actually stolen from inside the coffin, including valuables that belonged to the person who dies (link to article):

Conception D'Souza died of natural causes in Singapore on June 5, while on her way back from New Zealand after visiting her daughter, Zulfiya Chawdhary.
After the post-mortem, the body was sent to Mumbai in a coffin, which also contained some of her other belongings- jewellery, cash, clothes and some chocolates she had bought during her trip.
When the coffin reached Mumbai on June 7, it was kept at the morgue at the Bhabha Hospital in Bandra, where it was opened by D'Souza's son, only to find that the cash and jewellery was missing.

Weird news - Man sucked into a plane engine at maintenance bay

Once in a while, you would have seen stories of how powerful a jet engine is, and in an occasional movie, you would see a fight between a hero and villain (typically in a plane) being terminated by somebody or something being sucked into the engine of the plane. You might wonder about whether such a thing really exists, and can people really be sucked into a plane engine.
You need to consider that a plane engine has so much power that it pushes out gases at such a high speed that it can propel a heavy plane at very high speeds. To this effect, it sucks in air from the front part of the engine, and this creates a powerful sucking force when the engine is at full operating speed (article).

SAFE Air did not detail how the man died but Fairfax Media said it was informed by sources that the man was sucked into the engine of a C-130 Hercules. The engine had been removed from the aircraft and was installed in the airline's testing bay.
The man had apparently walked into the testing bay while the engine was running, Fairfax reported.