Nascent Drama

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Authorities say the man then ran up a $23 bill when he had a steak dinner at Applebee's. He again pretended to have a heart attack.

 

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This time the fire department took him to a hospital. A doctor there recognized the man as having pulled the same stunt in the past few weeks.

 

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He was charged Thursday with defrauding a restaurant as a habitual criminal. He could get up to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

 

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AP: Odd News

UK court: Pringles
are potato-light,
tax-free ​

Fri Jul 4, 6:48 PM ET

LONDON -

 

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Britain's High Court has ruled that Pringles are not a potato snack, and thus are not subject to value-added tax.

Friday's ruling by Justice Nicholas Warren is expected to save millions for the manufacturer, Procter & Gamble Co.

 

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Warren overruled a VAT Tribunal decision that Pringles should be subject to the 17.5-percent tax because it met the definition of "potato crisps, potato sticks, potato puffs and similar products made from the potato, or from potato flour, or from potato starch."

 

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The judge found that Pringles were only 42 percent potato, and thus exempt.

 

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P&G spokeswoman Marina Barker says the company is pleased with the ruling.

 

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Reuters: Oddly Enough

Bush summons Canadian
leader with a "Yo Harper!" ​

 

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Mon Jul 7, 5:18 AM ET

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) -

 

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(Reporting by David Ljunggren, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

 

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Reuters Photo: U.S. President George W. Bush speaks at a
joint news conference with the Prime Minister...

 

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U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday kept up his tradition of informal relations with fellow world leaders by summoning Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper with a brusque "Yo Harper!"

 

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Bush and Harper, a rather stiff and shy figure, are in northern Japan for a summit of leaders of the Group of Eight major industrialised countries.

 

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Television footage of a G8 lunch with African leaders showed Bush talking to Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua and saying "Yo Harper! The president of Nigeria."

 

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At a G8 summit in 2006, Bush landed ally Tony Blair in some trouble by calling out "Yo Blair!"

 

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Critics said the greeting showed what they described as the unequal nature of Bush's relationship with Blair, then the British prime minister.

 

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And at the same summit, Bush shocked German chancellor Angela Merkel by briefly massaging her back as he walked behind her chair.

 

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Harper's ties with Bush are sensitive, since critics of Canada's right-wing Conservative government regularly accuse it of taking orders from Washington.

 

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It was not the first time that Bush has surprised Harper in public. In July 2006, after the two men met at the White House for the first time, Bush publicly called the Canadian "Steve".