TABUK, 15 December 2006 — Passengers of a Tabuk bound evening flight of Saudi Airlines 1563 were frightened by countless rats scurrying on the floor of the aircraft on Wednesday while they were cruising at a height of 25,000 feet. The flight captain immediately informed ground crews at Tabuk airport of the rodent infestation. On landing at the airport, officials discovered that the rats were the possessions of a particular passenger who had kept 80 of them in a leather bag. He did not know how they managed to escape from the bag. The passenger was handed over to security authorities to continue investigations.
Too Tall for My School: Principal
MADINAH, 15 December 2006 — A middle school principal here told a parent that his son is too tall to be admitted, the daily Al-Madinah reported yesterday. The father was outraged that the school’s headmaster was more concerned about the kid’s height than about his attendance record or academic qualifications. The principal said he didn’t want a giant walking among his students because nobody would believe that the kid was the same age as his classmates. Oddly enough, the newspaper report failed to mention what, if anything, was being done to resolve this odd dispute — or, more importantly, how somebody who judges students more by their natural-born characteristics than their academic performance became the principal of a school.
Air Conditioner Saves Man From Wife’s Burning Rage
RAS TANNURAH, 15 December 2006 — On the evening before a divorce court hearing, a woman doused the place where her husband was sleeping with gasoline and set the room on fire, according to a report yesterday in Al-Riyadh. The husband managed to escape unharmed by pushing the room’s window air conditioner out of its place and then wiggling out. Police later found the woman hiding on the roof of the house. An investigation commenced, undoubtedly putting a damper on whatever the woman might have won in divorce court, including custody of the couple’s three children.
