WEIRD STUFF

Bear chills in spa

A bear chilled out in a Florida resident's hot tub for six hours on June 8.

Hazing techniques were used to move the bear out of the Punta Gorda property. However, it ended up climbing up a tree near an empty car park.

The beast climbed down the tree and was lured into a trap by doughnuts on June 9.

Wildlife officers said the bear was taken to a state park near Punta Gorda.

Scientists uncover breath 'fingerprint'

Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel said they were able to identify individuals based on their breathing patterns with 96.8 per cent accuracy

They declared nasal respiratory "fingerprints" can identify people as successfully as voice recognition.

The scientists could also see the link between the brain and breath to get an insight into people's mental and physical health.

Professor Noam Sobel, from the Weizmann Institute of Science, said: "We stumbled upon a completely new way to look at respiration.

"We consider this a brain readout."

Toilet thieves get prison time

(AP) --

Two men who stole a $6.4 million golden toilet from an English mansion were sentenced last Friday to more than two years in prison.

The 18-carat fully functioning toilet was on display as a piece of contemporary art at Blenheim Palace -- the country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born -- when five burglars smashed a window and yanked it from its plumbing in a brazen early morning raid in September 2019.

It was never recovered and was believed to have been chopped up and sold.

The toilet weighed just over 215 pounds and was worth more than its weight in gold.

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(AP) --

Excavator outruns cops in bizarre slow chase

Police in South Carolina engaged in a not-so-hot pursuit as they chased a tractor excavator down a main highway for more than an hour at the speed an average adult walks.

The chase reached speeds of 3 mph (4.8 kph) early Sunday morning in North Charleston, police said.

The excavator was going so slow that the cruisers had to briefly stop several times a minute to not pass the construction equipment.

They had their blue lights and sirens on and told the excavator driver over their loudspeakers that he was under arrest and needed to stop.

The chase went on for an hour and 12 minutes before the excavator drove on to the Charleston County Fairgrounds property, where it got stuck. The driver tried to run, but was followed by a drone until a police dog and handler caught up, authorities said.

The 53-year-old driver of the excavator was charged with failure to stop for a blue light and two counts of malicious injury to real property.