UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

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Hundreds of skaters gather in Detroit

DETROIT, June 22 (UPI) -- Organizers of the Wild in the Streets event in Detroit, part of international Go Skateboarding Day, said hundreds of skaters gathered in downtown Detroit.

The skaters started Thursday in Hart Plaza and continued on a 5-mile group skate up Woodward toward Comerica Park, The Detroit News reported Friday.

The organizers said similar events have previously been held in New York, Vancouver, Montreal, Madrid, London and Los Angeles.

Woman charged with fraud for fur coat scam

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., June 22 (UPI) -- Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said she filed insurance fraud charges against a woman who claimed she lost her mink coat.

Samiha Guirguis, 59, was charged with insurance fraud Thursday, marking the third time she has been accused in a fur-related fraud in 11 years, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

In 2005, Guirguis put a mink coat in a storage facility in King of Prussia and was given a receipt indicating the coat was worth $1,000. She came back four years later and claimed the coat the company gave to her was not hers although her name was monogrammed inside.

She claimed the coat she put in the storage facility was worth $10,000 and filed a claim for the coat under her homeowner's policy. Guirguis attempted to run the same alleged scam on a different storage facility in 2001.

Guirguis has been charged with forgery, insurance fraud and theft.

Sweden moves to curb strawberry fraud

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, June 22 (UPI) -- Swedish authorities said strawberries are being analyzed in a German lab in an attempt to stop foreign fruits from being passed off as local.

Waldemar Ibron of the Swedish Board of Agriculture told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper officials are trying to stop foreign strawberries from being passed off as Swedish ahead of midsummer, when locally grown strawberries are part of traditional festivities, Swedish news agency TT/The Local.se reported Friday.

"We have taken a few samples and they're on the way to Germany for analysis," Ibron said.

Growers in southern Sweden said the counterfeit strawberries are hurting their business by offering the fruits for lower prices.

Mail service suspended due to crows

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, June 22 (UPI) -- Canada Post said it has suspended mail delivery to a neighborhood due to birds dive-bombing a letter carrier.

The postal service delivered a notice Tuesday to about 30 residents of Ralph Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba, explaining mail delivery has been suspended due to crows dive-bombing the neighborhood's letter carrier, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday.

"Due to the ongoing safety concern caused by the aggressive crows attacking your letter carrier, all mail delivery is temporarily suspended until Canada Post and the city of Winnipeg can determine a solution," the notice read.

Canada Post said the residents can pick up their mail from the depot.

Resident Len Chapko said the birds in question are nesting in a tree in front of his house and have been attacking him when he goes outside.

"He come so close, he raised the hair on the back of my head. So I looked up and the neighbours are laughing because he came after me!" Chapko said.

Manitoba Conservation said the birds may have become aggressive to protect their young, which are likely hear the point when they leave the nest and learn how to fly. The agency said the period can last anywhere from a day to about a week, or longer if the young birds are injured.