Oddly news around the world

Long way home!

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - A flea-bitten dog rescued from a squalid backyard is to be reunited with her owners 1,000 miles away, nine years after she disappeared.

The dog called Muffy, was found sleeping on a tattered piece of cardboard in a backyard in Melbourne with a bad skin condition and matted coat by the RSPCA after an anonymous call.

RSPCA Victoria spokesman Tim Pilgrim said Muffy was found to have been microchipped which did not fit at all with the circumstances so they decided to try to track down the dog's owners whom they found in Brisbane.

Lucky: Bomb hoax suspect escape jail!

LONDON, England - A British teen-ager who phoned the White House and claimed as part of a "drunken prank" that there was a bomb in the center of New York, escaped jail on Monday.

Thomas Hutchinson, 19, from Sheffield, northern England, made a "giggling" call to the White House switchboard after drinking with friends at a barbecue last May, and claimed there was a bomb in Madison Square Garden.

The operator pressed a malicious call trace button and it was found to have been made in Britain.

Reporting by Michael Holden

What coffee aroma can do!

NEW YORK, United States - The electrical smell that caused a Southwest Airlines Co flight to make an unexpected landing Sunday was caused by a coffee maker in the back of the aircraft, a company spokesman said on Monday.

The coffee maker was in the back galley of the Boeing 737 plane. The aircraft was examined and put back into service by 12:30 p.m. EDT Sunday, said Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz.

Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman

It's not the smoke that kills but!!

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - A restaurant owner in southwest Turkey was shot dead after he tried to prevent his customers from smoking to comply with a new law on the use of tobacco indoors, Hurriyet daily said on Thursday.

A fight broke out after Hidir Karayigit, 46, ordered a group of customers to extinguish their cigarettes when they began smoking at his "meyhane," a traditional restaurant that serves alcohol, in the town of Saruhanli, Hurriyet said.

One of the customers shot Karayigit four times after he took away the group's cigarettes, said witness Hamza Havutcu, Karayigit's business partner who was also shot and wounded.

Turkey's government on July 19 introduced a nationwide ban on indoor smoking, including bars and restaurants, despite the fact that half of Turks aged between the ages of 15 and 49 smoke; one of the highest rates in the world.

Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley

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