DUBAI (AFP) – An Arab ambassador called off his wedding after discovering his wife-to-be, who had worn a face-covering veil whenever they met, was bearded and cross-eyed, the Gulf News reported Wednesday.

The envoy had only met the woman a few times, during which she had hidden her face behind a niqab, or facecovering veil, the paper said.

After the marriage contract was signed, the ambassador attempted to kiss his bride-to-be, upon which he discovered she had facial hair and was cross-eyed, it said.

The ambassador told an Islamic Sharia court in the United Arab Emirates that he was tricked into the marriage as the woman’s mother had shown his own mother pictures of her sister instead of her, the report said.

He sued for the contract to be annulled and also demanded the woman pay him 500,000 dirhams ($136,000) for clothes, jewelry, and other gifts he had bought for her.

The court annulled the contract but rejected the ambassador’s demand for compensation.

Thief threatens clerk with cup of coffee

BERLIN (Reuters) – A thief in the German town of Hamelin robbed an amusement arcade by threatening the attendant with a cup of coffee, authorities said on Tuesday.

“He wasn’t going to pour coffee over her, he was going to hit her with the cup,” a spokesman for local police said.

Brandishing the steaming cup he had just ordered, the thief forced the 26-year-old to open the till then fled with the cash.

Police refused to disclose how much money he had taken from the attendant, who was alone in the arcade at the time. “We don’t want to encourage others to try this,” the spokesman said.

Mind your manners! Man beaten up for burping

ROANOKE, Virginia (AP) – A man is claiming that sheriff’s deputies beat him in the city jail because of his burping. Thomas Scott Vandegrift made the allegations in a federal lawsuit filed last week against several deputies, the city, the sheriff’s office and the sheriff.

According to the lawsuit, the deputies were annoyed by Vandegrift’s burping, which was caused by acid reflux.

Vandegrift was being detained on a drunken driving charge. He pleaded no contest in 2008 and received a six-month suspended sentence, a $750 fine and a year of driving restrictions.

The lawsuit charged the law enforcers with excessive force, conspiracy to violate civil rights, assault and battery.