Wide World of Weird

A weekly roundup of unusual news stories from around the globe, compiled from Times wire services:

Cowboy Rabbi at Nude Bar: Jerusalem seminarians want their rabbi fired because he was spotted at a nude bar dressed as a cowboy, according to an Israeli newspaper. Seminary officials described the rabbi’s visit as an “educational mission.” He “gave up his soul and went to this abominable place to check whether students from the seminary tended to go there,” one official said.

Pig to the Rescue: A potbellied pig named Honeymoon saved the lives of a New Jersey couple by waking them during a fire. The swine pawed at Pam and Fred Abma’s door until they awoke, Pam Abma said. “Our two dogs slept through the whole thing.”

This Story Sucks: Swedish appliance maker AB Electrolux said it has created the world’s first self-operating vacuum cleaner. The machine uses sound waves to detect objects in its path and then changes direction. In a demonstration on TV, the vacuum stopped in front of a champagne flute without knocking it over. The company hasn’t decided when or if it will go into production.

Witch Hunt: The last woman to be jailed in Britain for witchcraft may win a pardon 42 years after her death, officials said. In 1944, Helen Duncan spent nine months in jail under the 1735 Witchcraft Act for claiming she conjured the spirit of a sailor killed on a battleship. Because the sinking of the ship wasn’t publicly known at the time, authorities feared she could be a security risk and might “see” and reveal the sites for D-Day landings in France.

Another Sex Scandal: President Clinton should steer clear of Kenya. This week, a pastor there had his hand chopped off by villagers who caught him committing adultery, according to news reports. The clergyman, 43, said he was on the road to attend a funeral and “decided to visit the home of my lover.” While he slept there, villagers burst in and chopped off his hand with a machete.

Big Mac Attacks Explained: If you think you can stop eating ice cream, cheeseburgers and other fatty foods altogether, forget it. Not only is hunger against you, so is biology. Humans have been succumbing to fatty cravings as a matter of survival for millions of years, said LuAnn Wandsnider, an anthropology professor at the University of Nebraska: “We’re sort of like fat-seeking missiles.”

Ironic Deaths Department: A man who was an expert on the interaction between humans and machines was struck and killed by a van as he crossed a busy street in Newport Beach.

Neither Rain nor Sleet nor Tiny Steps: A New York letter carrier who was fired for taking “baby steps” while delivering the mail won back a job--as a window clerk. Postal officials said 5-foot, 5-inch Martha Cherry’s small steps slowed her efficiency.

Quick Hits:

* The newspaper in Springfield, Ill., the state capital, declared Wednesday’s edition Monica-free. The State Journal-Register didn’t even run “Doonesbury” because it would have violated the one-day moratorium on coverage of the White House sex scandal.

* They never saw it coming: The Baltimore company that owns the Psychic Friends Network filed for bankruptcy this week.

* A Buddhist monk was charged with assault in Hong Kong for kicking a worshiper at a Taoist temple. “Kicking a man on his knees [is] a no-no for a monk,” a temple administrator said.

* A white pelican that was swept into northern Illinois by bad weather was flown home to Florida on a jet last week.

* In Oakland, dozens of police officers were called to quell a chair-swinging brawl that broke out at a clergyman’s funeral.

* A recording of the voice of a German Formula One driver helped a devoted Italian fan emerge from a coma.

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* Wide World of Weird is published every Friday. Off-Kilter appears Monday through Thursday.