News of the Weird
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
Politicians in the German states of Lower Saxony and Bavaria proposed to criminalize “cruel” violent acts in video games when they are directed at “humans” or “human-looking characters.” Bavarian interior minister Gunther Beckstein pointed to a November incident in which an 18-year-old player of the violent game “Counter Strike” went to a school, shot 37 people, and then killed himself.
Following a military coup late last year, Fiji’s army chief Frank Bainimarama took over and placed classified ads in local newspapers to seek candidates to be ministers and senior civil servants. The minimum qualifications: no criminal record and not to be bankrupt. Nigeria’s People’s Democratic Party started screening candidates to run for president this year, ranking applicants on the following criteria: patriotism (10 percent), integrity (15), ethnic neutrality (10), knowledge of law (10), tolerance (5), transparency (10), knowledge of development (10) and leadership qualities (15). (Arithmetic ability was not a criterion.)
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or [email protected] or go to www.NewsoftheWeird.com.) NEWS OF THE WEIRD