The Odd Truth, Oct. 15, 2004

The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum.

Taxi Struck By Falling Turtle

HONG KONG - Turtles are considered a symbol of good luck in Hong Kong, but try telling that to the taxi driver whose car was hit and damaged by a big one that plummeted from a high-rise building.

The pet turtle climbed through an apartment window on Thursday and fell more than 10 stories onto the taxi's roof, which was scratched and dented, police spokesman Anson Lo told The Associated Press on Friday.

Newspapers ran pictures of the turtle, splashed with blood and its shell broken, but Lo told the AP it had somehow survived.

The driver, surnamed Tong, was quoted as telling the Apple Daily newspaper that Thursday had been a particularly unlucky day.

Tong said his mobile phone was stolen by a passenger, and then his car was struck by the turtle, which newspapers described as being about 1 foot in length.

Apple Daily quoted relatives of the turtle's owner as saying he would release it into the wild.

Hong Kong Chinese traditionally view turtles as a symbol of longevity.

Uncle Sam's Stash

SAN DIEGO - Uncle Sam is responsible for the hidden pot in an SUV. That's the gist of a ruling from a federal judge in San Diego.

Francisco Rivera of Tijuana, Mexico, is suing the U.S. government over some marijuana missed by U.S. Customs inspectors. Rivera bought a Nissan Pathfinder that had been seized by customs. But the agents missed the marijuana that was hidden in the gas tank. Rivera was busted in Mexico and sentenced to five years in prison. He was released on an appeal after a year and sued Uncle Sam.

U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster has ruled the Customs inspectors were negligent for overlooking the pot. But the ruling doesn't necessarily mean the government will have to pay Rivera for his suffering.

Judge Brewster has yet to issue a final ruling but notes the U.S. government is usually considered exempt from lawsuits in which the harm occurs outside the country.

Smelly Litter Box Drives Woman To Set Home Ablaze

PORT ANGELES, Wash. - Prosecutors have charged a 63-year-old woman with arson for a fire in her Port Angeles apartment.

Papers filed in Clallam County Superior Court says Marie Adeline Calkins started the fire Tuesday because she was upset that her kitty litter box was full and smelled.

The judge ordered a mental health assessment. Calkins will be arraigned October 22nd in Port Angeles.

No one was injured in the fire. Firefighters rescued a cat that was trapped in the apartment.

Drunk Frenchman Takes Plane For Joyride

PARIS - A young man who stole a plane and took a joyride in the night sky over France then slipped from the grasp of police has been found and detained for questioning, police said Thursday.

Despite strict anti-terrorism measures at airports all over the country, a young man in a "visible state of drunkenness" broke into an airport terminal in Coulommiers, east of Paris, at about 2:00 a.m. Wednesday and took a single-engine aircraft for a joyride.

He was detected by a French Air Force center after some 30 minutes in the sky, then signaled by radio that he had a fuel problem, police officials said.

A helicopter was sent up to escort the young pilot to Charles de Gaulle Airport, the main Paris-area airport north of the capital. There, he was immediately detained by airport personnel - before managing to flee, police said.

From the beginning of the investigation, the police said they had a "serious lead" - the young man left keys to an apartment and numerous fingerprints in the cockpit.

Police would not immediately provide the young man's identity or specify when and where he was caught. He was being questioned at the police station in Coulommiers.

Lawyer Loses Bid For Mom's Estate

LONDON - A lawyer cut out of his mother's will lost a bid to win a share of her estate Thursday - as judges cited his letter to her saying he "would rather sit in the gutter than ask you for a penny piece."

Mark Parker had argued that his terminally ill mother, Joan Parker, was not in full command of her mental faculties and that his brother had influenced her to cut him out of her will when she redrafted it in October 2001.

However, judges in the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling by a lower court that the will should stand, citing Parker's letter as evidence his mother knew what she doing.

In the letter sent to his mother as she fought cancer, Parker also said of his mother and late father: "Neither of you had the emotional capacity to bring up a dog, let alone a child."

He signed off: "I am, regrettably, your son."

A few days after receiving the letter, Joan Parker, a champion bridge player who was in her 70s, changed her will and left almost all of her $450,000 estate to another son, Christopher.

Justice John Lindsay said it was "always sad" when a parent disinherited a child but, particularly in light of Mark Parker's "deeply hurtful" letter to his mother, her decision to cut him out of her will could not be described as "irrational."

Mark Parker had argued that to disinherit a son was not the ordinary act of a rational testator, but Lindsay said: "The blunt answer to that is that Mark's letter was not an ordinary letter for a son to write his widowed mother."

Streaker Sentenced To Two Years

TOWANDA, Pa. - A high school graduate was sentenced to up to two years in jail for streaking at a graduation ceremony from which he had been excluded.

Russell Chmieleski, 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree indecent exposure and must serve six months to two years. Because the charge is a misdemeanor, he can stay in a county jail, rather than state prison.

The first-degree charge was made because children were in the crowd when Chmieleski ran across the football field where the Towanda High School graduation ceremony was held in June.

Police said Chmieleski was upset that school officials excluded him from the ceremony because he graduated in January.

Ain't No Way To Hide Your Lyin' Eyes

WASHINGTON - Can you always tell when somebody's lying? If so, you might be a wizard of the fib.

A California psychology professor says there's a tiny subculture of people that can pick out a lie nearly every time they hear one.

Maureen O'Sullivan calls them "wizards" - and says out of 13,000 people tested, only 31 could detect the fib in almost every case.

The University of San Francisco professor says liars betray small signs that they're making something up - things so subtle, most people don't even notice. But she says wizards pick up on them.

Among those that can use the help - FBI and CIA agents, who O'Sullivan says are only average in knowing when somebody is lying.

O'Sullivan discussed her findings at the American Medical Association's Science Reporters Conference.