Today's Odd News - Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Wandering Cape Cod bear captured in Boston suburb
Wed,27 Jun 2012 04:11 AM PDT
Reuters -  BOSTON (Reuters) - He's baaack: A male black bear captured on Cape Cod earlier this month, where it was tranquilized and moved to central Massachusetts, showed up again on Tuesday just six miles from downtown Boston. State officials said they had captured the bear in a tree in the Chestnut Hill area of Brookline, just west of Boston, and confirmed it was the same bear which roamed the Cape for about two weeks before being captured and relocated on June 12. The bear was identified by a tag placed in its ear. It had probably traveled about 100 miles. ...
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Venezuelan tribe angry at "sacred" stone in Berlin
Tue,26 Jun 2012 11:29 AM PDT
Reuters -  BERLIN (Reuters) - Wolfgang von Schwarzenfeld's sculptures in a Berlin park were meant to promote world peace, but the 79-year-old German now finds himself at war with a Venezuelan tribe which accuses him of stealing a sacred pink stone known to them as "Grandmother". The Venezuelan government is championing the Pemon Indians of the "Gran Sabana" region by demanding the return of the polished stone from Berlin's Tiergarten park - putting the German government in something of a dilemma. ...
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Reading offers Brazilian prisoners quicker escape
Mon,25 Jun 2012 09:26 AM PDT
Reuters - BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil will offer inmates in its crowded federal penitentiary system a novel way to shorten their sentences: four days less for every book they read. Inmates in four federal prisons holding some of Brazil's most notorious criminals will be able to read up to 12 works of literature, philosophy, science or classics to trim a maximum 48 days off their sentence each year, the government announced. ... Full Story | Top |
Spaniards stomp their heels at bailed-out bankers
Fri,22 Jun 2012 08:27 AM PDT
Reuters -  MADRID (Reuters) - A flamenco troupe bursts into a bank branch in Seville in southern Spain, lampooning bankers in dance and song. Further north, in Galicia, 50 men dressed in prison garb march into a bank shouting slogans against costly state bailouts for lenders. In Barcelona and Madrid, a growing organization of elderly protesters stage regular "occupations" of bank branches, wearing reflective vests and carrying signs decrying the bailouts. ...
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Pakistan cracks down on pot-bellied police
Fri,22 Jun 2012 06:14 AM PDT
Reuters - ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan is cracking down on portly policemen after only a quarter of the 19,000 officers in the Punjab province passed a fitness test. Policemen in the South Asian nation are widely seen as corrupt and ineffective. Now their weight is coming under the spotlight as well. The plump police, responsible for safeguarding the most populous province, were warned in letters to trim their waist-lines to the regulation 38 inches by the end of the month, local newspapers said on Friday. Those who fail may be removed from field duties, The News reported. ... Full Story | Top |
Zimbabwe MPs surrender to scalpel in AIDS fight
Fri,22 Jun 2012 06:12 AM PDT
Reuters - HARARE (Reuters) - Forty-four members of Zimbabwe's parliament were circumcised on Friday as part of a national HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. In a rare show of political unity, the MPs from President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's rival MDC camp chatted calmly with reporters as they queued at a clinic set up inside the parliament complex. "When I went in there I was a bit scared but after they had explained the process I felt at ease," 53-year-old Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP Blessing Chebundo told Reuters within minutes of the operation. ... Full Story | Top |
Breast cancer survivor wins right to swim topless in Seattle
Thu,21 Jun 2012 09:38 PM PDT
Reuters - SEATTLE (Reuters) - A woman who survived a double mastectomy and says wearing a bathing suit covering her chest causes searing pain has won a battle to swim topless at Seattle's public pools. Jodi Jaecks, a 47-year-old fitness buff who had surgery to remove both breasts last year to treat cancer, was initially denied permission this year to swim topless by staff at Seattle's Medgar Evers pool. According to city spokesperson Dewey Potter, a sign at the pool stated, "This is a family recreation facility. Please dress and act accordingly. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. close to seizing disputed dinosaur skeleton
Thu,21 Jun 2012 05:41 AM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - U.S. authorities said they expect this week to seize a 70-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton that was discovered in Mongolia more 65 years ago and now is stored in New York and at the center of an international legal dispute. A federal judge in New York has signed a warrant that allows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to seize the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus bataar - an Asian cousin of the North American Tyrannosaurus rex - from Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. "We should have it by the end of the week," said Luis Martinez, a spokesman for U.S. ...
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Norway men asked to don condoms for "Sex Hour"
Thu,21 Jun 2012 05:11 AM PDT
Reuters - OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian sexual health charity has asked the men of the country to don condoms for a "sex hour" on Thursday evening to raise public awareness about safe-sex. Non-profit sex education organization RFSU would like Norwegian men to tear themselves away from the television coverage of the Euro 2012 soccer quarter final game between Czech Republic and Portugal for an hour of prophylactic-protected pleasure with a willing partner starting at 1900 GMT. ... Full Story | Top |
World's largest lasagne marks Italy visit
Wed,20 Jun 2012 12:57 PM PDT
Reuters - KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) - A Polish restaurant in Krakow has set a Guinness World Record for cooking the biggest ever lasagne in honor of the Italy soccer team staying nearby. Italy are in Poland for the 2012 European soccer Championship and have reached the quarter-finals. The lasagne weighed in at more than 4.8 metric tons (5.29 tons) and took 10 hours to bake before being sliced into 10,000 portions. ... Full Story | Top |
Same-sex couple wed to mark comic book superhero marriage
Wed,20 Jun 2012 12:43 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A same-sex couple tied the knot at a comic-book store in New York on Wednesday to celebrate the first gay nuptials in the superhero world in a new edition from Marvel Comics. Midtown Comics delayed the opening of its downtown store for the wedding of Scott Everhart, a healthcare site manager from Columbus, Ohio, and 33-year-old architect Jason Welker. ...
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Indonesia special forces to toughen up tax collectors
Tue,19 Jun 2012 09:41 PM PDT
Reuters - JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian tax collectors will get three weeks of military physical training from the president's security forces in an effort to build up the muscles and moral fiber of an organization seen as ineffective and corrupt. Indonesians were shocked last year by revelations of tax official Gayus Tambunan, who bribed his way out of jail while awaiting conviction for taking kickbacks to cut companies' taxes. "It is very important to build character," said Dedi Rudaedi, a spokesman at the tax office. ... Full Story | Top |
Erotic hotel's guests oblivious to G20 summit stress
Tue,19 Jun 2012 08:24 PM PDT
Reuters - LOS CABOS, Mexico (Reuters) - Just a few hundreds yards from where global powers worked around the clock this week to ease Europe's debt crisis and revive the world economy, the customers at one hotel were oblivious to the stress and letting it all hang out. The adults-only Desire Resort and Spa combined business and pleasure as usual, even as leaders from the world's biggest economies took over Mexico's Los Cabos beach resort, troops patrolled the streets and beaches and Navy vessels sat just off the coast. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. sues to return Tyrannosaurus skeleton to Mongolia
Tue,19 Jun 2012 06:27 AM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. authorities filed a lawsuit seeking to return to Mongolia a 70-million-year-old piece of its cultural heritage - fangs and all. The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus bataar - a smaller Asian cousin of the Tyrannosaurus rex - has been the subject of a months-long legal battle and is now being sought by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who announced the federal government's lawsuit on Monday. ... Full Story | Top |
Mexico ruling party candidate floats new vote ploy: sex
Mon,18 Jun 2012 07:46 PM PDT
Reuters -  ATLIXCO, Mexico (Reuters) - Sex sells - at least that's what the ruling party candidate is hoping as she seeks to rescue her fading chances in Mexico's upcoming presidential election. Sitting well behind the frontrunner, Josefina Vazquez Mota of the National Action Party (PAN) has appealed to women voters to use their wiles to ensure their husbands vote on July 1. First she urged them on her Twitter account to withhold "cuchi cuchi", or hanky panky, for a month if the husbands don't vote. Then, challenged by a disgruntled man, she upped the ante on Monday. ...
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Wolves kill worker at Swedish wildlife park
Sun,17 Jun 2012 09:22 PM PDT
Reuters - STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A pack of wolves attacked and killed a worker in their enclosure at one of Sweden's most popular wildlife parks on Sunday, said police, who did not know what had triggered the attack on the 30-year-old woman. "She was so badly hurt in the attack that she died of her injuries," said a police spokesman for the Ostergotland district, where the Kolmarden park is located. "We do not know why they attacked." Police remained on the scene to investigate the incident at the biggest wildlife park in the Nordic region, located around 150 km (93 miles) south of Stockholm. ... Full Story | Top |
"Forest boy" made up story: German police
Fri,15 Jun 2012 09:17 AM PDT
Reuters -  BERLIN (Reuters) - A young English-speaking male who showed up in Berlin last year saying he had lived in woods for five years with his father and knew only his first name and age has now acknowledged making up the story, German officials said on Friday. The case made international headlines and the young male was dubbed "forest boy" when police first released his story. ...
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Bulgaria backs battered Brussels with metro stop
Fri,15 Jun 2012 04:46 AM PDT
Reuters - SOFIA (Reuters) - The European Union's reputation may be taking a battering from the debt crisis, but Brussels can at least be grateful for a vote of confidence from its newest and poorest member, Bulgaria. Sofia's city council voted to rename one of the stops on a new metro line through the capital "European Union" in a gesture of thanks for helping with financing the project. The EU is paying more than 80 percent of the 1 billion levs ($644 million) costs for the second line of the Sofia underground, said Malina Edreva, who heads the ruling GERB party's group on the city council. ... Full Story | Top |
Kozlowski's $6,000 shower curtain to find new home
Fri,15 Jun 2012 02:44 AM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dennis Kozlowski's infamous $6,000 shower curtain will soon have a new home. The custom gold-and-burgundy curtain, which helped turn Kozlowski into a poster boy for corporate greed, has been held in storage by prosecutors since before his conviction in 2005. On Thursday, a New York judge ruled it should be released to Tyco International Ltd, the firm Kozlowski, as chief executive, looted of more than $100 million. ... Full Story | Top |
Arizona fights highway dust storms with haiku
Fri,15 Jun 2012 02:42 AM PDT
Reuters - PHOENIX (Reuters) - Dust storms that turn day into night are a hazard to Arizona drivers. But this year, authorities are throwing down a novel literary challenge to raise awareness of the dangers. The Arizona Department of Transportation is inviting budding poets to take to Twitter and pen haikus - a concise Japanese literary form consisting of 17 syllables - to highlight the peril from the summer storms, known as haboobs. ... Full Story | Top |
Public swearing outlawed in Massachusetts town
Wed,13 Jun 2012 12:47 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Lobbing F-bombs and other curses across the leafy streets of Middleborough, Massachusetts is now an offense punishable by a $20 ticket. The ordinance outlawing public swearing, approved by town residents on Monday night, was the brainchild of Mimi DuPhily, a member of the town's beautification committee. She pushed for the law after becoming upset over loud swearing by teenagers hanging around the small town about 50 miles south of Boston. "We're not talking about just conversation but screaming it across the street," DuPhily, 63, a former selectman, said in an interview on ... Full Story | Top |
Lungs found on L.A. sidewalk not human: coroner
Tue,12 Jun 2012 08:46 PM PDT
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A pair of lungs found on a Los Angeles-area sidewalk over the weekend came from an animal and were not human as initially feared, authorities said on Tuesday. The lungs were discovered by a woman walking in an area just outside the city limits on Sunday night, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokeswoman said. The woman alerted police, who turned the organs over to the Los Angeles County Coroner for analysis. "We have examined the lungs and determined that they are not human and not of forensic value," coroner's investigator Lieutenant Fred Corral told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
Australian court rules dingo killed baby, ends 32-year mystery
Tue,12 Jun 2012 04:00 AM PDT
Reuters - CANBERRA (Reuters) - A 32-year legal mystery over the death of a baby in Australia's outback came to an end on Tuesday when a coroner found a dingo was responsible for killing infant Azaria Chamberlain, a case that split national opinion and attracted global headlines. The coroner's finding ends a three-decade fight for justice by Azaria's parents, Michael Chamberlain and Lindy Chamberlain, who was jailed for three years over her daughter's death before she was later cleared. ... Full Story | Top |
Bulgaria puts "vampire" skeleton on display
Mon,11 Jun 2012 09:36 AM PDT
Reuters -  SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's history museum plans to display a "vampire" skeleton next week after unearthing the 700-year-old remains of two men stabbed through the chest with iron rods. Archaeologists, excavating a monastery near the Black Sea city of Sozopol, discovered the skeletons which were buried in a pagan ritual that they said was aimed at keeping the men from turning into vampires. "This was a pagan belief widespread in the Bulgarian lands in the 12th to 14th centuries. People were very superstitious then," National History Museum head Bozhidar Dimitrov said. ...
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Cameron left 8-year-old daughter in pub
Mon,11 Jun 2012 08:44 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron accidentally left his daughter behind in a country pub after Sunday lunchtime drinks with friends following a mix-up over which car she was meant to be going home in, his Downing Street office said on Monday. Cameron was swiftly reunited with 8-year-old Nancy, one of his three young children, but the incident will add fuel to critics who accuse him of being overly fond of relaxing, or "chillaxing" as he has called it, when not dealing with affairs of state. ...
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Can bolting bovine replace Germany's oracle octopus?
Mon,11 Jun 2012 06:58 AM PDT
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - Could a runaway celebrity cow replace the late Paul the "oracle" octopus as the next animal with the ability to foretell the fortunes of Germany's national soccer team? German football fans were delighted that Yvonne the cow's decision to tip Portugal to beat Germany at the Euro 2012 soccer championship in the Ukrainian city of Lviv on Saturday turned out to be wrong. ... Full Story | Top |
Blow darts just a breeze for Japanese old folk
Sun,10 Jun 2012 07:39 PM PDT
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - In the concrete jungle of Tokyo, some 600 retirees have gathered to fight for supremacy - with blow darts. The ancient Borneo rain forest tradition of blow darting is picking up new fans thousands of kilometers away in Japan, where it is a rapidly growing sport among the nation's elderly. In just five years, nationwide membership in a blow dart club has tripled, on target to hit 30,000 members this year. The average age of enthusiasts is 70. ... Full Story | Top |
Corrected: On U.S. car license plates, DAMNIML8 is OK, TOILET is not
Fri,8 Jun 2012 03:01 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - When Whitney Calk sought a personalized license plate from a Tennessee state agency to tout her vegetarian ideals, she was annoyed when she was told no. Turns out the letters ILVTOFU can be construed to mean more than enjoying bean curd. "When I see T-O-F-U, I see tofu," says Calk, who requested the so-called vanity plate from the Tennessee Department of Revenue last September. "I can't control the way anyone else interprets that," said Calk, 26, an animal rights activist from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. ...
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German minister chided for flying carpet from Kabul
Fri,8 Jun 2012 06:17 AM PDT
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's overseas aid minister has received a stiff customs bill and a reprimand for getting the country's top spy to fly home a rug from Afghanistan for him without declaring it, officials said on Friday. Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Dirk Niebel bought the carpet for personal use on a trip to Kabul in May but could not take it on board his scheduled flight home and left it at the German embassy, his spokesman said. ... Full Story | Top |
Damp bomb shelters now trendy Shanghai hot spots
Fri,8 Jun 2012 04:29 AM PDT
Reuters -  SHANGHAI (Reuters) - From the outside, The Shelter looks like any other building along Yongfu Road, a favorite hangout for Shanghai bar-goers. But walk through the doors, down a narrow stairway and through a winding tunnel to the main room with its bare cement walls and smell of mold, and it's clear this is a night club like no other in this trendy Chinese city. For The Shelter is one of a handful of former bomb shelters finding new life as commercial venues, ranging from clubs to clothing shops and even wine sellers. ...
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Indiana refinery workers find dead monkeys in crate
Thu,7 Jun 2012 11:23 AM PDT
Reuters - HOUSTON (Reuters) - Indiana refinery workers got a surprise when they opened a crate of valves from India and found the remains of two small monkeys, which had been there for at least a year. "Sadly in this age of global transport of goods and materials, sometimes wildlife finds its way into overseas shipments," BP Plc spokesman Scott Dean said on Thursday. "We believe this is just a sad case of the animals becoming trapped in a large shipping container." Workers at BP's 405,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Whiting, Indiana, refinery found the remains on Wednesday in a large crate of valves, Dean ... Full Story | Top |
Rectangle Oreos and cucumber gum, made in China for China
Thu,7 Jun 2012 09:27 AM PDT
Reuters -  SUZHOU, China (Reuters) - There are no bad ideas inside Kraft Foods' biscuit research lab in China, according to director Maggie Wang. Not even the chewing gum Oreo cookie that a colleague asked her to bite into one day. Instead of creamy white "stuff" in the centre, a glob of gum was sandwiched neatly between a pair of Oreo's iconic dark chocolate biscuits. "The taste was ok. The problem was that you could not swallow it," said Wang, a Kraft food scientist with two decades of experience in the biscuit industry. ...
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On U.S. car license plates, DAMNIML8 is OK, TOILET is not
Tue,5 Jun 2012 09:40 AM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - When Whitney Calk sought a personalized license plate from a Tennessee state agency to tout her vegetarian ideals, she was annoyed when she was told no. Turns out the letters ILVTOFU can be construed to mean more than enjoying bean curd. "When I see T-O-F-U, I see tofu," says Calk, who requested the so-called vanity plate from the Tennessee Department of Revenue last September. "I can't control the way anyone else interprets that," said Calk, 26, an animal rights activist from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. ...
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Radiation: Shall I compare thee to an angry Japanese wife?
Tue,5 Jun 2012 01:37 AM PDT
Reuters -  TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese research agency has dropped a controversial public relations campaign aimed at educating women about nuclear safety that compared radiation to the screaming voice of an angry wife. The Japanese Atomic Energy Agency devoted a page on its website to an effort to "make the hard words used in the nuclear power industry" more easy to understand, particularly for women. The page, which included a cartoon of an angry, fist-waving wife and her cowering husband, compared the wife's yell to radiation. ...
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Pot smoking mother drives off with baby on car roof
Sat,2 Jun 2012 07:54 PM PDT
Reuters -  PHOENIX (Reuters) - A marijuana-smoking woman was arrested on Saturday in Phoenix after she accidentally drove away with her five-week-old son in a child safety seat on the roof of her vehicle, police said. The baby fell off the car in the middle of an intersection and was found unharmed and strapped into the seat, said Phoenix police spokesman James Holmes. The mother Catalina Clouser, 19, was booked into jail on child abuse and aggravated assault charges, he said. The infant was taken to a local hospital as a precaution and is in the custody of state Child Protective Services. ...
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Squat-down toilets will boost Nomura, shareholder says
Fri,1 Jun 2012 07:31 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - With investment banks facing an uncertain future, one Nomura shareholder has come up with a novel suggestion to help to boost its share price: replace all office toilets with Japanese-style squat facilities. "All toilets within the company's offices shall be Japanese-style toilets, thereby toughening the legs and loins and hunkering down on a daily basis, aiming at achieving four-digit stock prices," the shareholder said on the bank's website ahead of this month's annual meeting on June 27. ... Full Story | Top |
Probation for Colorado woman who slid buttocks across $30 million painting
Thu,31 May 2012 06:29 PM PDT
Reuters -  DENVER (Reuters) - A woman who punched, scratched and slid her buttocks against a $30 million painting by abstract expressionist Clyfford Still at a Denver museum has been sentenced to two years of probation, and will have to undergo mental health treatment, prosecutors said on Thursday. Carmen Tisch, 37, pleaded guilty earlier this month to felony criminal mischief for striking at and leaning against the oil-on-canvas painting "1957-J No. 2" at the Clyfford Still Museum last year, the Denver District Attorney's Office said. ...
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Brazil burns mystery panties found in Congress
Thu,31 May 2012 09:19 AM PDT
Reuters - SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A pair of women's underwear that fell out of a Brazilian legislator's briefcase on the floor of Congress two weeks ago has been incinerated after no one stepped forward to claim them, O Globo newspaper reported on Thursday. A group of five legislators was rushing into the Chamber of Deputies to vote on a cybercrimes-related bill on the evening of May 15 when one of them apparently dropped the offending red and white panties, O Globo said. Security guards quickly, but discreetly, swooped in to pick up the panties and turn them over to the chamber's lost and found office. ... Full Story | Top |
Saudi ghost-hunters raid "haunted" hospital
Wed,30 May 2012 04:33 AM PDT
Reuters - RIYADH (Reuters) - The dingy corridors and gloomy wards of a long-abandoned Saudi Arabian hospital have drawn hundreds of amateur ghost hunters who believe it to be haunted by jinn, the malevolent spirits of the Koran and Arabian mythology. The macabre fascination with Riyadh's Irqa Hospital, which treated Gulf War combatants in 1991, began with tweeted rumors and escalated to the point where hundreds of youths broke into the grounds, smashing windows and starting fires. ... Full Story | Top |
Mexican mother arrested after son's eyes gouged out
Thu,24 May 2012 06:01 PM PDT
Reuters -  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A mother in Mexico has been arrested on suspicion of gouging out the eyes of her 5-year-old son during a ceremony. Police said on Thursday they had arrested seven people, including the boy's parents, after his eyeballs were pulled out during the ritual in Nezahualcoyotl, a working-class neighborhood on the eastern flank of Mexico City. "There was some kind of ceremony inside a house," said Laura Uribe, a spokeswoman for state prosecutors in the State of Mexico, a populous region that borders much of the capital. She did not give details of what the ritual involved. ...
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