英出现"停车罚单圣诞老人" 圣诞快乐需交30英镑

　　新华网消息 随着圣诞节脚步的临近，英国中部城市伯明翰街头出现了一些圣诞老人，但这些圣诞老人不是给人们送礼物的，相反，他们的任务是对违规停车开罚单。

　　据英国《每日电讯报》报道，这些神秘的圣诞老人会将圣诞卡片夹在违规停车车辆的档风玻璃雨刷上，假如您收到这样的圣诞卡片意味着要缴纳30英镑的违规停车罚款。

　　每张卡片上都有这样一句话：“别让这罚单破坏了您美好的圣诞，支付这30英镑吧，祝您圣诞快乐！——违规停车罚单圣诞老人”

　　现在已有14名车主收到了这样的“礼物”，却连圣诞老人的面也没见过。这些未曾露面的“圣诞老人”一系列“坏圣诞老人”的故事又加上了一笔。

　　在最近几天中，一些圣诞老人打扮的男人在许多国家遭到责骂。在德国，他们进行武装抢劫，在英国南部，他们自我裸露，而在新西兰，他们则酗酒闹事。（潘霏）

　　Reuters Odd News Summary

　　Following is a summary of odd news briefs compiled from

　　stories that have run separately and are available in full on

　　the file.

　　This Santa has just the ticket for cheer

　　LONDON (Reuters) - A "Parking Ticket Santa Claus" has been

　　spreading cash as well as Christmas cheer around the English

　　city of Birmingham， a newspaper reported Wednesday.

　　The mystery Santa has placed Christmas cards containing 30

　　pounds ($53) on the windscreens of drivers who have received

　　parking tickets， the Daily Telegraph said.

　　"Don't let this ticket spoil your Christmas，" declares a

　　note in each card. "Here's #30 to pay it off. Merry Christmas -

　　Parking Ticket Santa."

　　Fourteen drivers are believed to have received gifts from

　　the unseen Father Christmas， who has given his profession an

　　image boost after a string of stories about "Bad Santas."

　　In recent days， men in Santa outfits have been accused of

　　committing armed robbery in Germany， exposing themselves in

　　southern England and going on a drunken rampage in New Zealand.

　　Drunk had twice the lethal alcohol level

　　RIGA (Reuters) - A drunk Latvian had a blood-alcohol

　　content more than 17 times the legal driving limit in the

　　Baltic state when he was run over and killed， police said

　　Tuesday.

　　The 50-year-old unnamed pedestrian， who also had more than

　　twice the alcohol level considered lethal for most humans， was

　　lying drunk on the road near his home in a remote part of

　　eastern Latvia in the early hours.

　　Police said the man had probably been drinking home-made

　　alcohol for several days because of the impossibility of

　　reaching his blood-alcohol level of 0.9 percent in just a day.

　　They said the man was alive when he was run over by a car，

　　creating a probable although unenviable record for alcohol

　　consumption in hard-drinking Latvia.

　　"The cause of death has been marked down as a road

　　accident， although the alcohol level would most likely have

　　killed him anyway，" said state police spokeswoman Kristine

　　Mezaraupe.

　　Police called to convince lottery winner

　　BERLIN (Reuters) - A lottery company had to call the police

　　to convince an elderly German woman that she had hit the

　　jackpot， police said Tuesday.

　　"The woman had quite a sizeable win but was worried that

　　she was having her leg pulled，" said Joachim Gerhardt， a police

　　inspector in the eastern German city of Gera.

　　"We were fortunately able to convince her so she could

　　celebrate her good fortune，" he said， adding that the woman

　　would probably receive her winnings before Christmas.

　　Fall in love and risk a police thrashing

　　NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Outrage and protests mounted in India

　　Wednesday after TV channels showed police officers repeatedly

　　slapping， punching and pulling the hair of young women on a

　　date in a public park in a north Indian city.

　　Indian media reported one couple was so humiliated by the

　　police action in front of TV crews they have not returned home.

　　"Is falling in love wrong? Who gave the police the right to

　　beat and hit people and misbehave in such a manner，" a woman in

　　Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh state told Aaj Tak television

　　news.

　　Since Tuesday， shocked TV viewers in India have been

　　watching images of female officers pummelling and abusing

　　crying young women in Meerut in what the media is calling

　　"moral policing."

　　TV footage also showed male policemen with sticks

　　surrounding the scared women and taking them to women officers

　　who beat them. Several of their male companions were beaten

　　also.

　　Italy's Berlusconi sends wine to soothe Swedish PM

　　ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi sent his

　　Swedish counterpart 24 bottles of Italian wine on Tuesday，

　　saying it was to help him recover from having to drink British

　　wine at a European Union summit last week.

　　British Prime Minister Tony Blair hosted the summit in

　　Brussels and offered Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson and

　　his other guests Welsh white wine and English red wine.

　　"(Persson) was so aghast at the English wines at the summit

　　that I promised to send him some of our wines，" Berlusconi told

　　a group of foreign journalists， adding that he had dispatched

　　24 bottles of cabernet sauvignon.

　　"Up to 24 bottles is fine. More than that is corruption，"

　　Berlusconi joked.

　　REUTERS

　　

　　0502 221205 GMT

　　2005-12-22 13:14:16

　　2005-12-22 13:16:45

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