Dateline: ThailandSocial media users in Thailand are buzzing over a new plastic surgery fad—penis whitening. A Bangkok clinic is claiming that it performs its penis whitening service to around 100 men a month. A manager for the Skin and Laser department at Lelux Hospital told reporters last week that the clinic began offering the treatment last year when a patient came to them with a complaint about “dark parts” on his genitalia. According to the manager, doctors at the clinic perform the service on three to four clients a day. Although whitening or bleaching skin is not an uncommon practice around the world, Thailand has come under fire in recent years over skin lightening ads that seem to illustrate the country’s obsession with lighter skin, causing accusations of racism to abound. One ad in particular caused a stir in 2016 when it depicted a light-skinned model whose expression worsens as her skin color is digitally turned black. A voice states, “Just being white, you will win.” The penis whitening service costs around $620 for five sessions. The same clinic made headlines last year when it began offering surgery for “3D vaginas” which takes unwanted fat from the patient’s body and injects it into their mons pubis to make the area more plump.Dateline: SpainAn airline passenger upset over delays opened a plane’s emergency exit and walked out onto the wing. According to witnesses, a man taking a Ryanair flight from London to Malaga told his fellow passengers that he was “going via the wing” while waiting to be let off the plane delayed on the tarmac. He then forced his way out through an emergency exit and went out onto the wing with his luggage. Video footage of the incident was captured by another passenger which shows the man setting down his luggage on the wing before sitting on the ledge to wait. A number of onlookers can be heard laughing from inside the cabin. At least one other passenger claims the man was suffering from an apparent asthma attack and had stopped cooperating with security. Airport authorities eventually convinced him to get back on board, where he was held until local police could arrive to arrest him. Authorities say the man’s plane was held up for an hour during departure and had been further delayed for about 30 minutes on arrival. The man is expected to pay a fine.Dateline: RussiaA woman accidentally fell into a sewer and discovered a missing boy who was on the verge of dying. Last month, a number of volunteers began searching for a missing 10-year-old boy in Tatarstan, Russia. While searching for the boy during a blizzard, Gulia Yarullina—head of the Cheremshan District’s Civil Protection Directorate—reportedly fell into an open sewage manhole after she failed to notice it. To her surprise, she found the missing boy asleep in the sewer. She told reporters that, at first, she thought he was dead, and started screaming. The sound woke the boy up, and he also began screaming, according to Yarullina. She said he cheered up once she explained that she had been looking for him. She called for help and the boy was rushed to a hospital and treated for hypothermia. According to the boy, he had fallen in the sewer while sledging and had exhausted himself calling for help. He decided to go to sleep and laid down. Authorities later said the boy could have died within an hour if Yarullina hadn’t stumbled upon him. She is currently recovering from a back injury she suffered during the fall.Dateline: IndiaA man who was arrested for making a bomb threat at a Mumbai airport claims he was misheard while saying “Bombay.” Vinod Moorjani was accused by Mumbai International Airport authorities of saying “bomb hai” [there is a bomb] during a phone call last week. Moorjani claims the the incident was a misunderstanding and he was only trying to ask about the status of his flight to New Delhi, leaving from Mumbai—which used to be called “Bombay.” However, Sahar police officials say they believe Moorjani was attempting to disrupt flight schedules so he wouldn’t miss a flight to Rome from Delhi if his plane from Mumbai was delayed. He was arrested for “criminal intimidation” and “intent to cause fear or alarm to public.” In court,his lawyer argued that Moorjani had only asked about the status of his flight, and that his words had been misunderstood by the operator. As to claims that Moorjani had hung up directly after making the alleged bomb threat, the attorney told the court that a disturbance on the line had caused the phone to disconnect. Police allege CCTV footage shows Moorjani making the telephone call in a phone booth at the airport. He was reportedly scheduled to travel from Mumbai to Delhi and take a connecting flight to Rome en route to Virginia. His final judgment has yet to be determined.
Compiled by Joshua Lee. Email your weird news to josh@alibi.com.
