xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx

Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.

After Ms. Sohela Ansari told friends in their village in West Bengal state in India that her husband had mumbled "talaq, talaq, talaq" in his sleep, word got to local Muslim authorities, who declared the couple divorced. (A Muslim husband may obtain a divorce merely by the utterance, and the West Bengal clerics ruled that he need not be awake at the time.)

In March, Deputy Fire Chief Leroy Johnson, 52, of Mesa, Ariz., announced his retirement after becoming possibly the highest-status person in the country in recent years to be allegedly witnessed having sex with a barnyard animal (a lamb).

Another possible record-setter was Kimberly Du, 36, who was charged in February in Des Moines, Iowa, with faking her December death to avoid prosecution on several traffic tickets, which might be the pettiest criminal charge anyone has ever tried to avoid by faking death.

People who recently had their sleep disrupted by out-of-control vehicular traffic crashing into their homes and right over their beds:
--Maryella Wallace, Davenport, Iowa, June 2005 (no serious injuries).

--A couple in Altamonte Springs, Fla., December (driver in a stolen car; no serious injuries).

--Juan Diaz, Fairdale, Ky., March (no serious injuries).

--A couple in the Houston suburb of Missouri City, Texas, March (two fatalities).
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or WeirdNews@earthlink.net or go to www.NewsoftheWeird.com.) NEWS OF THE WEIRD