#OddlyEnough: Trudeau Lookalike Earns Fame

Singer Hopes To Win Contest

It sometimes pays off if you resemble a famous person, as in the case of an Afghan singer, says a report.

Afghan singer Abdul Salam Maftoon’s striking resemblance to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has turned him into an unlikely celebrity in the war-torn country since his debut on a talent show.

The 28-year-old first caught the attention of fans when he travelled to the capital, Kabul, to appear on “Afghan Star”, a televised musical competition that draws contestants from around the South Asian nation.

“People are calling me the Justin Trudeau of Afghanistan… Since I came to Kabul, I have become very popular and people are grabbing photos with me,” he told Reuters at the studio.

The singer’s similarity to Canada’s 47-year-old prime minister could even tip the competition in his favour, according to one of the show’s judges, Qais Ulfat. Maftoon, who began his singing career seven years ago performing at weddings, has even bigger ambitions.

“My only wish is that Prime Minister (Trudeau) takes me to Canada and I can hold a concert there to sing Afghan songs and that the prime minister himself will be at my concert,” he said.

A Drinking Test To Die For

This was an offer which not people would refuse – get drunk for test purposes, says a report.

A Pennsylvania police department’s request for volunteers to get drunk for law and order purposes generated a predictably enthusiastic response, says an AP report.

The Kutztown Police Department sought three volunteers to drink hard liquor to the point of inebriation so officers could be trained how to administer field sobriety tests during traffic stops.

A call for volunteers on Facebook accumulated hundreds of responses and over 1,000 shares in less than a day. The post was soon updated with the news that the department had its volunteers for the April 4 training session.

Volunteers were required to have a clean criminal history and have a responsible party to take care of them after the training. Participants are also required to be willing to drink hard liquor until inebriated.

Sweet Hot Mess Problem For Authorities

Authorities in northern Arizona had a sweet hot mess on their hands to clear up recently, says a report.

A tank trucker’s trailer detached from the truck and rolled on its side on slick pavement, spilling a river of liquid chocolate onto westbound lanes of Interstate 40, says the AP report.

The Arizona Daily Sun reports the wreck on Monday about 18 km east of Flagstaff required cleanup crews to pour most of the 151,412 litres of chocolate into the highway median to lighten the damaged tanker so it could be towed away.

The chocolate was liquid because it was being stored in the tanker at 49 deg Celsius.

Weighty Issue Turns Out To Be Tumour

An Idaho woman who thought she was gaining weight because of menopause discovered she actually had a 50-pound tumour that had been growing inside her for decades, says a report.

Boise television station KTVB reports Brenda Cridland of Meridian chalked up her weight gain to ageing, but when her health started to quickly decline about eight months ago she decided to see a doctor, according to an AP report.

That’s when a CAT scan revealed she had an enormous tumour that had displaced her organs and was cutting off the blood supply to her brain.

Cridland said she underwent two-and-a-half hours of surgery to remove the mass, which luckily was benign. Cridland says she lost 65 pounds in the process, and learned the tumour was caused by undiagnosed endometriosis.

She says she ignored red flags about her health, and hopes her story will remind other women that they shouldn’t avoid seeing a doctor.

Alligator Used For Blackmail

A man who police say placed a 3-foot alligator on top of another man in Connecticut as part of an extortion attempt has pleaded guilty to reduced charges, says a report.

The Connecticut Post reports 30-year-old Isaias Garcia, of Garland, Texas, entered his plea to unlawful restraint, according to an AP report.

Garcia originally faced kidnapping, assault and larceny charges in what police said was one of the strangest cases they have investigated.

Authorities say a 21-year-old man called his aunt in April to say he had been kidnapped and his abductor was demanding $800.

Police say she received a photograph of him face down in a bathtub, with an open-mouthed alligator on top of him.

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