Border Blues
A group of Moldovan migrants trying to get into Hungary wasn't crafty enough to convince Ukrainian border guards in Transcarpathia region that they were Romanian citizens: First of all, none of them fit the age indicated in his passport; second, the photographs had been pasted in; and third, all spoke Ukrainian. They used to just sneak through the woods, the head of the Border Service's local public relations office told the newspaper Fakty.
Hospitality & Homicide
In Crimea, two young men have been arrested for murdering
a 72-year-old woman, who had treated them to tea and cookies. She let them into her home because they pretended to be electricity workers. When they announced that they were robbers, she gave them all her valuables and a seat at her table. Suspecting they'd been short-changed, they tortured and killed her. While one was hacking up the body, the other drank cognac in front of the TV, Fakty learned from local police.
Folk Surgery
An 80-year-old woman in Kirovohrad decided to take her feet-problems into her own hands. Troubled by a sore toe for the better part of a year, she cut it off with a chisel. The pensioner was less successful in stopping the bleeding and so had to be taken to an emergency ward, Segodnya reported.
Bated Breath
Three police-laboratory workers in Mykolayiv region have been put out of business. For a fee of up to Hr 300, a drunk driver could get his Breathalyzer results cancelled. Advertising through the grapevine, the men in white coats even catered to law-enforcers, who requested that negative results be made positive. If convicted, the lab men face 10 years in jail, but prosecutors are having a difficult time working out who was drunk and who wasn't, they told Fakty.
Vodka Withdrawals
A bank in Krivy Rih recently decided to expand its portfolio of financial services. Customers were offered to buy a selection of vodka and wine offered by the credit department at discounted prices. The alcoholic beverages had been put up as collateral by an insolvent creditor. However, now the bank itself may find itself in financial straits, as the local tax service has asked to see its liquor license, Segodnya reported.
SUB Let DoWn
Yekaterina P. thought she was being entrepreneurial when the real estate agency she had hired found a tenant willing to pay $230 a month, up front, for her one-room flat in the center of Kyiv. Two months later, she was told off by two husky men from the Caucasus, who identified themselves as sub-letters. When her husband stepped in, he was greeted with a knife and threats to burn the place down. The uninvited guests finally left when the police arrived, but promised Yekaterina that they would "see each other again," Segodnya reported.
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