A Washington man apparently went way overboard to get out of work. Police say the man had his friend shoot him in the shoulder so that he wouldn’t have to go to work.

Daniel Kuch originally told police that he was the victim of a drive-by shooting while he was jogging on Thursday. Authorities though later said Kuch admitted that he asked a friend to shoot him so that he could get out of work and wouldn’t have to take a drug test.

Kuch is expected to be charged with false reporting and the friend who shot him has been arrested for investigation into reckless endangerment.

A campaign that calls for better etiquette from local policemen was launched in Beijing. Citizens, through the campaign, are calling for law enforcers to use words such as “good morning” and “please” upon pulling over a motorist.

According to reports, this pro-courtesy campaign also asks that policemen greet drivers with salutes and “etiquette words.”

Xinhua reported that Beijing asks that its law enforcers, upon beginning an inspection of a driver, start with the statements “Good Morning. You have violated the traffic rules. Your driving license please.” Also, they are also requested to their inspections with phrases of similar nature, such as “Please abide by traffic rules. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Police will be monitored on their interactions with motorists, and those who fail to comply with the campaign’s regulations are faced with possible termination.

Other regulations that have been enforced upon local law officials, according to UPI, include bans on smoking, eating, and conversing while on duty. The set of new rules started being introduced to the local community last year.

Average worker wastes almost one year of his or her working life puffing away on cigarettes, a new poll revealed.

Three 15-minute smoking breaks a day cost employers 195 working hours a year for each worker. That is equivalent to 8,677 hours in an average 44-year working lifetime or simply put, nearly a whole year smoking instead of working.

“The results will be annoying for employers - who are essentially paying people to puff away. They will irritate non-smokers who wouldn’t get away with disappearing for three 15-minute coffee breaks a day,” John Sewell, from onepoll.com, who released the poll results, has been quoted by local newspapers as saying.

The smoking ban in most offices and building did not help reduce the number of employees who smoke, with 69 percent continuing to light up a cigarette but only has to do it further away from their desks or cubicles.

The smoking ban, in fact, annoys 45 percent of the 6,000 people polled. They do not approve of being forced to smoke outside of the office, restaurants or even bars that have a no-smoking policy.

A map obtained by police from a convicted burglar led to the discovery of buried treasure near the Ronald Reagan Freeway in Los Angeles. The unearthed treasure was a collection of antique watches, necklaces, and diamond rings, including a canary diamond ring suspected to be worth $400,000.

Authorities Tuesday followed the directions on a map taken from Robert Caveda, who was imprisoned on December 18 for several charges including residential burglary. The map, police said, was hand-sketched, and had an “X” marking the area where the treasure was buried.

The loot was located in a plastic pipe underneath the 118 Freeway near White Oak Avenue, authorities said.

“My heart jumped out of my throat,” said Detective Bill Longacre, according to Mercury News.

“Why did he give it up? Why did he keep this stuff?” he said. “For him, it was the thrill of the hunt. It was a lifestyle he chose to excite himself.”

The map, according to authorities, was drawn by Caveda while sitting in his cell.

“I was shocked,” said attorney Mark Bledstein, upon sending a copy of the map to the police via fax. “I mean, to have a map like that, and it’s right there where the guy says it is?”

Police are planning to do an inventory of the unearthed valuables, and afterwards notify people who reported of burglaries during Caveda’s robbery stint, reported the Los Angeles News.

Previous discoveries of Caveda’s other stolen items were made at a North Hollywood storage facility, where police uncovered $2 million worth of stolen jewelry and art pieces. Police also found a particular fine art piece that was priced at about $10 million.

Crews from a Canadian warship involved in an anti-terrorism patrol of the Arabian Sea have found more than four tons of hashish from a Pakistani fishing boat they intercepted on Feb. 18.

The Canadian crews of the frigate HMCS Charlottetown found the cargo of illegal drug hidden under the deck planks and fuel tanks of the dhow named Al Moula Madad after a 17-hour search. The crews boarded the vessel 37 miles (60 kilometers) off Pakistan’s coast to verify reports that it is being used by terrorists.

The hashish was valued at $65 million.

The Canadian crews turned over the dhow and its 11 crews to Pakistani authorities.

A man already arrested for running naked up and down a local street was further charged for kicking puddles of urine on deputies questioning him on his streaking.

Early Wednesday morning authorities of Arapahoe County received reports of a man running naked in the street. The police responded by going to the house of 28-year old Kevin Lininger, who was clothed in his home when they arrived.

According to Sheriff Grayson Robinson, Lininger refused to answer questions, and stayed quiet throughout the entire time.

At one point, however, Liniger started to get angry, and according to the Denver Post, he urinated on the floor and kicked the urine onto a deputy’s pants and shoes.

The authorities said that there was nothing to help them determine the cause of Lininger’s actions.

“He didn’t demonstrate any signs of alcohol or drug abuse,” said Robinson.

Lininger’s act of kicking urine to the deputy reportedly earned him another charge for assault and indecent exposure. The UPI reported that he is currently detained at the local detention center, with a bail of $10,000.

Doctors in England restored the eyesight of a blind man by inserting his son’s tooth into his eye. Bob McNichol, 57, was blinded two years ago at an aluminum explosion.

“I thought that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life,” McNichol told RTE state radio, AFP reported.

When doctors at University College Hospital Galway were unable to provide any help to him regain his eyesight, McNichol found out about a unique surgery called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP).

OOKP was first performed in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating an artificial cornea by using the patient’s tooth and surrounding bone as a support. He found out that the surgery was now performed by Dr. Christopher Liu at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton, east Sussex.

McNichol’s 23-year-old son Robert donated a tooth, its root and part of his jaw for his father’s surgery. The tooth was removed, chiseled through and a lens was placed in its core. It was then inserted into McNichol’s right eye after a series of operations lasting a total of 15 hours.

The procedure is applied to patients where a corneal transplant is impossible so doctors use a tooth (usually a canine) to reshape it to grip a tiny lens. Doctors suggest using a tooth as there are chances the eye would reject a plastic equivalent. The entire unit is then stitched into place behind a skin graft over the eye.

After a series of surgeries lasting months, McNichol’s sight was finally restored in his right eye. His left eye could not be repaired as it was badly damaged.

Officials who apprehended a drunk driver after he lost control of his vehicle and slammed it into a stop sign discovered that the driver’s car was missing one of its wheels.

The driver, 24-year old Jeffrey Ho, was found behind the wheel of his car, after police were notified by a local convenience store of the car leaving their area with one of his car’s wheels detached.

Upon the authorities’ discovery of Ho and his car not far off, the driver was obviously drunk, and the police addressed the fact. Ho, whose car had at the time slammed into the stop sign, responded that it was alright, because “he wasn’t driving,” reported the News-Times.

He was also reportedly unaware of his car’s missing wheel, and did not know how it had been detached.

The UPI reported that officials attempted to locate the missing wheel, using scratch marks left on the pavement by the car, to no avail.

Lucky gambler, still unidentified, bet only 98 cents to win a windfall $1.97 million, beating odds of two million to one. The man, who has yet to collect his winnings, correctly guessed the outcome of eight horse races in London.

He placed wagers on eight horses in eight different contests in what is called ‘accumulator bet’. Even the name of his bets, horses ‘Isn’t That Lucky’ and ‘A Dream Come True’, forebode good luck for the bettor.

As of Sunday, the man has not picked up his winnings. His check is still waiting for him in Thirsk, North Yorkshire where he placed his bets on Friday. Bookmakers say that the bettor may still not be aware that he won because on Saturday he went to another betting shop to place more bets.

He finally found out about his win when he asked staff in the shop to check his previous day’s wagers. When bookmaker William Hill Plc inform the winning bettor, who is in his 50s, about the almost $2-million win, he reportedly went pale. He is the third person to win one million pounds in the betting shop.

Stricter absenteeism rules had little effect on British students after truancy rates rose 33 percent. The British government has spend almost $2 billion to overcome the problem, but 63,000 more British students skipped classes in the ‘06-’07 school year, compared to ‘05-’06.

Family holidays and ailments topped the list of the reasons why British pupils skipped school. Schools Minister Kevin Brennan said 3.47 percent of the absences were attributed to illness, especially among female students and poor pupils on free school meals. This was followed by family holidays which accounted for 0.7 percent of the absences. The family holidays ate up 6.8 million schools days, although 90 percent of the students who availed of this had the school’s permission.

Overall, more than 270,000 school children were considered persistent absentees. They missed at least 20 percent of their classes.

Brennan sad he will write to all local authorities to step up the pressure on students fond of missing their classes. The schools must probe into the causes of the frequent absenteeism, make sure the pupils follow school regulations on attendance and make parents accountable for their children’s tardiness and absences.

The schools minister said by 2011, the schools should target to reduce truancy rates by at least one-third of current levels.

The Shadow Children’s Secretary Michael Gove took the release of the truancy data as an opportunity to hit the government. “Ministers have completely failed to get a grip of the problem. Yet again the latest figures have prompted more excuses and complacency,” he said.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said the school had done its part, but “there continues to be a hard core of a few persistent truants, because these are the children and young people who are totally disengaged from school, often with difficult and chaotic home lives and from families with financial problems.”

Bousted added, “Their reluctance to go to school is further compounded by continuous testing which repeatedly brands them as failures from seven upwards.”

A man got locked inside an HSBC bank branch after he entered the still closed establishment, surmising from its unlocked door that it was already open.

Jay Whitmarsh, 47, said that when he entered the bank and saw it was empty, he merely thought that the staff had stepped out, and would return in a few minutes. Then suddenly heheard the door slam shut, and the latch lock. He tried opening the door, but had no luck getting free.

“I tried all the buttons and tried releasing the lock, but it wouldn’t budge,” Whitmarsh told the UPI. “I didn’t have my mobile on me to call anyone but they have these red phones on the wall for telephone banking so I rang through and got hold of a fella.”

The person on the other line, according to Whitmarsh, primarily thought that he had been trapped in the lobby, until Whitmarsh responded “No, no I’m actually in the branch.”

Upon successfully contacting outside help, Whitman waited inside the establishment, until an apologetic employee arrived an hour and a half later, opened the door and freed Whitmarsh and his Labrador, Sumi.

The Metro reported that while locked inside, Whitmarsh had received a parking ticket, and a crowd had gathered outside the Swinton, Greater Manchester bank.

“I did take it in good heart and the HSBC have offered me a full apology and compensation, but the repercussions could have been horrendous if things had turned out differently,” he said. “What would I have done if there was a fire?”

Whitmarsh’s experience was reportedly the third incident of a similar nature, with the same bank but at a different branch.

In an effort to minimize the number of paw injuries in its canine force, police officials in Germany have mandated that all 20 members start wearing shoes. The German and Belgian shepherds of Dusseldorf police are currently being trained to walk in plastic fiber shoes designed by Wilhelm Fennen.

Spokesman Andre Hartwich isn’t sure if the dogs like wearing the new boots, but says the canine unit would have to get used to it.

Hartwich explains that the PVC boots are not a fashion statement, rather a necessity due to the high rate of paw injuries. This is on account of Germany’s historical old town being famous for both its pubs and drunken revelers.

While walking the cobblestone streets, he says the dogs often step into broken beer bottles and frequently get injured by little pieces of glass, sticking deep in their paws.

The dogs will start wearing the shoes this spring but only during operations that demand special foot protection. The shoes comes in sizes small, medium and large and were ordered in blue to match the officers uniforms.

Besides outfitting the K9 unit, businessman Wilhelm Fennen also makes miniature Wellington boots for sheep.