Naked Man Found Near His Severed Arm

Alabama police are trying to determine the identity of a naked man who was found several yards from his severed arm.

A truck driver found the man, who is believed to be in his 20s, near the shoulder of Woodward Avenue in Muscle Shoals across from Lowes Home Center.  Detectives said the man had several broken bones, including both legs, and a head injury.

The man told police he had been thrown from a railroad overpass just south of where he was found. He also reported that a train hit him. Officers found his missing arm near the railroad tracks.

Police believe he crawled up the embankment where he was found. The man was taken to Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence and is expected to be transferred to Huntsville Hospital.

Naked Man Hijacks Atlanta School Bus

An angry, naked man commandeered a school bus full of teenage students in Atlanta.

The man drove the bus for less than a mile before a student confronted him and the bus crashed into a wall off the road, according to police.

The incident started when the bus stopped to let students out, said Atlanta police officer James Polite.

Arris Pitmon, 23, darted toward the bus and hoisted himself in through an open window, Polite said.

Pitmon took control of the bus as the frightened driver ran to the back of it, the officer said. While the bus was moving, the man abandoned the steering wheel and walked toward the back of the bus, Polite added.

A student then ran toward the steering wheel, prompting the man to fight the student. The unmanned bus continued until it left the roadway and crashed.

Students fled the bus, many using the back door emergency exit, and onlookers subdued the man until police arrived.

Some students were taken to area hospitals.

Chiquita Rogers told CNN affiliate WXIA that the man had tried to hit some of the students, including her 16-year-old, Donte.

“He pushed my son, and that’s when my son hit him. I guess everybody started swinging, and everybody just started out the back door, jumping. I’m just grateful that my son is still alive, because it could have been worse.”

Onlooker Corey Turner told WXIA, “Children were jumping out the emergency door … jumping off the bus. … They were saying, ‘Help, help, help! … Somebody hijacked the bus.’”

Chinese Kung Fu Artist Ends Hair-Raising Career To Become Nun

A Chinese kung fu artist who tows cars and cuts paper with her braided hair has given up her crowning glory to officially become a Buddhist nun.

Zhang Tingting completely shaved off the hair that she says has “kung fu power” and extraordinary strength so that she can enter a temple as a nun.

“I really always wanted to cut my hair off, but I couldn’t because of the performances. But this time I’ve given it up for good,” Zhang told Reuters. “It feels great.”

The 52-year-old artist has performed across China for decades, after taking up martial arts when she was 17. She began living the life of a nun two years ago.

Before bidding her meter-long braid farewell, she pulled six passenger cars some 50 meters (164 ft) through a Beijing suburb, then repeated the feat with ten cars, for about 30 meters, in her hometown of Kaifeng, Henan Province.

Although Zhang and her plait are now permanently separated, the hair has been preserved. Authorities are considering sending it on a pilgrimage to sacred Buddhist sites in Tibet, or displaying it in a local museum.

The Guinness World Record for the heaviest single vehicle to have been pulled by a person’s hair is held by He Jianma from China, who dragged an 8.28-tonne bus 30 meters this May.

Today’s Top Dog

Is it real or is it a stuffed toy? Real – it’s an Akita puppy.

Big-Name Celebrities To Appear On Shalom Sesame

Jake Gyllenhaal and Christina Applegate are among the stars slated to appear in a new Sesame Street-style production geared at teaching Jewish-American children about Jewish culture.

“Shalom Sesame,” a 12-part series for preschoolers featuring the globe-trotting Muppet Grover, will explore Jewish identity and traditions and will film on location at several Israeli sites, including the Western Wall.

Big-name guest stars, including actors Debra Messing, Greg Kinnear and Cedric the Entertainer, will join puppets and children in segments filmed in Israel and the U.S., according to the series’ producers. A spokeswoman for the series said actor Ben Stiller is also expected to join, but he has not given final confirmation.

Anneliese van der Pol, a Broadway actress and star of Disney Channel’s “That’s So Raven,” had never been to Israel before arriving Wednesday to film her scenes with the Muppets.

“I think it’s really important to educate children in a fun way and a not too confusing way,” said the 24-year-old musical star, who is Jewish and is named after teenage Holocaust victim Anne Frank.

“Shalom Sesame” was first produced in 1986, selling more than 1 million copies on video and DVD. The new incarnation will tackle more issues of diversity for Jewish children and be accompanied by an interactive Web site and other outreach materials.

“For so much of the Jewish community outside Israel, they may never come here, this is a great way to have a virtual experience” of the place, said the project’s executive director Danny Labin.

The series is expected to debut around the Hanukkah holiday in December 2010.

Blunder Lets Porn Be Sold Legally To Kids

Retailers who sell children violent or pornographic videos will be immune from prosecution for the next three months after the discovery of a government blunder 25 years ago.

Britain should have notified the European Commission of the existence of the Video Recordings Act 1984 (VRA) — which regulated the industry — but failed to do so.

“Unfortunately, the discovery of this omission means that, a quarter of a century later, the VRA is no longer enforceable against individuals in United Kingdom courts,” said Barbara Follett, Minister for Culture and Tourism.

Follett said people currently being prosecuted under the act would not be convicted until a new act can take legal effect in three months, the period required for consultation with other EU member states.

In the interim, people will be able to sell pornographic and violent videos to children under the age of 18 without fear of prosecution.

However anyone previously convicted for offences under the act will not be able to appeal their case.

The British Video Association said distributors would continue to submit their works to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and asked its members to comply with the provisions on a voluntary basis.

Britain’s Entertainment Retailers Association, which represents more than 90 percent of the UK video market, said “This is extraordinary. For 25 years retailers have been faithfully administering the system and now this happens.”

No Muslims Allowed At Black Eyed Peas Concert

Muslims in Malaysia have been barred from attending a concert by U.S. hip hop band the Black Eyed Peas sponsored by Guinness which is owned by the world’s biggest spirits group Diageo.

The move comes after a Malaysian Islamic court sentenced a 32-year Muslim woman to be caned after she was caught drinking beer in a hotel and at a time when an opposition Islamic party has moved against beer sales.

The concert, part of celebrations of Guinness 250th birthday, asks on its website “Are you a non-Muslim aged 18 years and above?” and if the response is no, access is not allowed.

Muslims account for 55 percent of the 27 million people in this Southeast Asian country and are barred from consuming alcohol although the rules are regularly flouted, especially in big cities like the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Nude Model Arrested At The Met

It seems the only nudes allowed at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art are the ones in the collection.

Police say they arrested a 26-year-old woman who was posing naked for a photographer, and in full view of visitors, in the museum’s arms and armor department.

Model Kathleen “K.C.” Neill faces a charge of public lewdness.

Defense attorney Donald Schechter says the museum is full of nude art, and to call what the model and her photographer were doing obscenity “is ridiculous.”

Photographer Zach Hyman directed the shoot. He’s been getting some attention locally for photographing nude models on subways.

Hyman has said he’s inspired by nude paintings at the Met and his photos are not pornographic.

Today’s Top Dog

Remember Buck Bundy? He was nominated for a Blimp Award for Favorite Animal Star in 1995. His birth name was Michael and his nickname was Mike. He is a briard sheep dog who sadly passed away in 1996.

Chicken Owner Shoots Himself While Hunting Opossum

A northwest Washington man is recovering after accidentally shooting himself in the leg while hunting an opossum that had been snatching his chickens.

Larry Tenbrink of Mount Vernon was watching TV when he heard his chickens “carrying on” late on afternoon.  He figured the problem was the opossum that had already killed more than a dozen of his chickens over the past few months.

Tenbrink grabbed his .22 caliber pistol, headed outside and spotted an opossum the size of a large cat wandering his property. But he accidentally pulled the trigger too early, sending a bullet through his lower right thigh.

The 61-year-old handyman told the Skagit Valley Herald that he’s back home after a trip to the hospital. And though the opossum is free for now, he’ll be hunting it again.  But next time, he says he’ll use a trap.