Today's Odd News - Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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Love-triangle books a headache for France's Hollande
Thu,30 Aug 2012 10:00 AM PDT
Reuters -  PARIS (Reuters) - Stuck with dismal approval ratings for his presidential debut, France's Francois Hollande is now having his private life raked over in a series of books that dissect the alleged jealousy between his current and former companions. Despite Hollande's insistence he wants his home life kept private, public interest has been rife since first lady Valerie Trierweiler sent a "killer tweet" in June that exposed the animosity between her and Segolene Royal, the president's partner up to mid-2007. ...
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Arizona drifter jailed for skinning cat, wearing tail
Wed,29 Aug 2012 05:35 PM PDT
Reuters - PHOENIX (Reuters) - An Arizona drifter who skinned a cat and wore its tail and innards around his neck was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday. An Arizona Superior Court judge also sentenced Russell Christopher Hofstad, 25, to four years probation on his release, the Maricopa County Attorney's office said. Hofstad pleaded no contest last month to a felony animal cruelty charge and guilty to a burglary charge. According to the criminal complaint, police arrested Hofstad in January after he broke into a Phoenix warehouse used as a music venue. ... Full Story | Top |
UK firemen called to rescue cow stuck up a tree
Wed,29 Aug 2012 08:51 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - A cow had to be rescued by fire services in northern England after it tumbled down a 30 meter river embankment and got stuck in a tree. Fire crews in Cumbria were surprised to receive a call to rescue the cow, which had toppled 10 meters down a slope of the river Leith before a tree broke its fall. The bruised bovine was discovered after its farmer noticed one of his cows was missing. The animal was sedated by a vet before being winched out of the tree by firemen using specialist equipment. ... Full Story | Top |
Man apparently attempting Bigfoot hoax killed on Montana highway
Tue,28 Aug 2012 04:14 PM PDT
Reuters - MISSOULA, Montana (Reuters) - A man wearing a bushy, military-style camouflage suit in an apparent attempt to impersonate the mythical creature Bigfoot has died after being struck on a Montana highway by two cars, police said on Tuesday. Randy Lee Tenley, 44, was dressed in a "ghillie" -- an outfit favored by military snipers and game hunters -- and standing in the middle of southbound lanes on U.S. Highway 93 near Kalispell on Sunday when he was struck twice in quick succession, Montana Highway Patrol spokesman Sergeant Steve Lavin said. ... Full Story | Top |
Italy health minister mulls France-style drinks tax
Mon,27 Aug 2012 06:31 AM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - Italy's health minister is considering the inclusion of a tax on drinks deemed unhealthy in a spending bill due to go before the Italian cabinet later this week, a health ministry official said on Monday. The official confirmed Health Minister Renato Balduzzi may propose a drinks tax of 3 euro cents a bottle to raise revenues of 250 million euros ($312.9 million), but did not clarify which beverages would be affected. ... Full Story | Top |
Mud runs draw the fit and their muck-caked friends
Mon,27 Aug 2012 02:24 AM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mud runs, essentially military-style obstacle races in muck, might appall the neat freak but for some people mud is the medium for a challenging test of true grit and fitness. Neal Pire, owner of Inspire Training Systems, in Ridgewood, New Jersey, has trained several people for mud runs, which come in varying lengths and levels of difficulty and appeal to people who enjoy performing and withstanding the elements. "Most of the people I've seen do it are the extreme fitness enthusiasts," said Pire, an expert with the American College of Sports Medicine. ...
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"Go-Topless Day" in New York seeks equal rights to bare chests
Sun,26 Aug 2012 01:51 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some two dozen topless women protested in a New York City park on a hot, sweaty Sunday as part of what they called "National Go-Topless Day" to draw attention to inequality in topless rights between men and women. There were topless men in the park, too, but nobody paid them much attention, a disparity, organizers said, that demonstrated the need for the event. The topless women drew crowds of onlookers who took pictures and video with their cell phones. ... Full Story | Top |
Norwegian gallery loses a Rembrandt in the mail
Thu,23 Aug 2012 05:24 PM PDT
Reuters - OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian art gallery lost a Rembrandt etching worth up to $8,600 in the mail after trying to save money on courier and insurance costs, the gallery's chief said on Thursday. The Soli Brug Gallery in Greaaker, about 80 kilometers south of Oslo, purchased a copy of Rembrandt's 'Lieven Willemsz, van Coppenol, Writing-Master' made in around 1658 from a British dealer, only to have it lost in the Norwegian postal system. "Using a courier or special insurance is quite expensive so we have used regular mail until now," Ole Derje, the gallery's chairman said. ... Full Story | Top |
Nepali man bites snake to death in revenge attack
Wed,22 Aug 2012 11:10 PM PDT
Reuters - KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A Nepali man who was bitten by a cobra snake bit it back and killed the reptile in a tit-for-tat attack, a newspaper said on Thursday. Nepali daily Annapurna Post said Mohamed Salmo Miya chased the snake, which bit him in his rice paddy on Tuesday, caught it and bit it until it died. "I could have killed it with a stick but bit it with my teeth instead because I was angry," the 55-year-old Miya, who lives in a village some 200 km (125 miles) southeast of the Nepali capital of Kathmandu, was quoted by the daily as saying. ... Full Story | Top |
Gibbons on helium sing like opera stars
Wed,22 Aug 2012 09:30 PM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Gibbons are jungle divas. The small apes use the same technique to project their songs through the forests of southeast Asia as top sopranos singing at the New York Metropolitan Opera or La Scala in Milan. That was the conclusion of research by Japanese scientists who tested the effect of helium gas on gibbon calls to see how their singing changed when their voices sounded abnormally high-pitched. Just like professional singers, the experiment found the animals were able to amplify the higher sounds by adjusting the shape of their vocal tract, including the mouth and tongue. ...
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Finn throws Olympic distance with old Nokia
Sat,18 Aug 2012 01:06 PM PDT
Reuters -  SAVONLINNA, Finland (Reuters) - A Finnish teenager won a mobile phone throwing contest on Saturday by hurling his old Nokia phone 101.46 meters. The annual contest is one of many offbeat events such as wife-carrying that are held in the summer when normally reserved Finns like to celebrate the warmer weather with silliness and outdoor sport. Ere Karjalainen, who beat around 50 contestants, including some who had travelled from England and India, said he had practiced only once and prepared mainly "by drinking". ...
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Pigs and squatters threaten Peru's Nazca lines
Fri,17 Aug 2012 02:21 PM PDT
Reuters -  LIMA (Reuters) - Squatters have started raising pigs on the site of Peru's Nazca lines - the giant designs best seen from an airplane that were mysteriously etched into the desert more than 1,500 years ago. The squatters have destroyed a Nazca-era cemetery and the 50 shacks they have built border Nazca figures, said Blanca Alva, a director at Peru's culture ministry. ...
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Brooklyn bar owner accuses police of draining his liquor stock
Thu,16 Aug 2012 04:16 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - The owner of a Brooklyn bar is suing New York City after police emptied the bar's entire stock of alcohol down the drain in a liquor license dispute, according to court papers. David Kelleran, 51, claimed in his lawsuit that the police's Prohibition-style tactics violated state law and trampled on his rights. And, in any case, the police got the wrong address. Kelleran, who owns the restaurant called 68, is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for the loss of alcohol worth "thousands of thousands" of dollars, his attorney Craig Trainor said on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
Smoke, donkey mascot for U.S. Marines in Iraq, dies in Nebraska
Thu,16 Aug 2012 10:04 AM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Smoke, the Iraqi donkey whose journey from a desert battleground to a peaceful retirement in the United States captured the attention of the world, has died in Nebraska. Smoke became lethargic and died this week after frolicking with miniature horses at Miracle Hills Ranch and Stable north of Omaha. Smoke had served as an equine therapy animal to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Smoke's Facebook page has friends from around the world. Smoke was taken in by U.S. Marines after he showed up malnourished and wounded at Camp Taqaddum in Anbar province in 2008. ...
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Inmate mails own severed finger to French minister
Thu,16 Aug 2012 08:53 AM PDT
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - An inmate in a French jail has mailed part of his own severed finger to the justice minister hoping the desperate gesture would help his plea to be moved to another prison, officials said on Thursday. An envelope containing the chunk of finger was delivered on Thursday to the offices of Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, accompanied by a letter arguing for a transfer to a jail nearer to the inmate's family, a police official said. A Justice Ministry spokesman confirmed a piece of finger had been delivered. ... Full Story | Top |
Driver swerves to avoid moose, hits bear instead
Thu,16 Aug 2012 05:38 AM PDT
Reuters - OSLO (Reuters) - A Norwegian driver who swerved his car on a rural road to avoid running into a moose hit a bear instead, authorities said on Thursday. The driver spotted the moose on a country road near Hanestad, 225 kilometers north of Oslo, around midnight on Wednesday, and tried to go around the animal, not realizing that a bear was also nearby. "The driver had lost a bit of speed as he tried to avoid the moose before hitting the bear," said Svein Erik Bjorke of the local wildlife authority, who was out in the forest searching for the wounded animal. ... Full Story | Top |
Obama finally beats Bieber as Klout score admits real world
Wed,15 Aug 2012 07:47 AM PDT
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Until recently, Justin Bieber was more influential than Barack Obama -- at least in the world of Klout, the controversial Web startup that claims to measure people's online influence using an algorithm. Not anymore. Klout said it has overhauled its website and rejigged its algorithms, mostly by pulling in data from Wikipedia entries, to better reflect a person's status in the real world. The move toward calculating offline influence is a tricky but expected step for a company that divides opinion, and gets tongues wagging, like practically no other in Silicon Valley. ...
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South Africa goes big on birth control for elephants
Wed,15 Aug 2012 04:23 AM PDT
Reuters - JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African province home to thousands of elephants is planning a birth control campaign for the pachyderms to prevent a population explosion that could threaten plants and wildlife. Unlike other parts of Africa where elephant stocks have dwindled to dangerously low levels due to poaching and a loss of habitat, South Africa has seen its populations steadily grow through conservation, with the country pressed for room to house the massive animals with hefty diets. ... Full Story | Top |
Giant Burmese python sets Florida record for size, fertility
Tue,14 Aug 2012 12:36 PM PDT
Reuters -  ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A Burmese python found in Florida set records as the largest such snake ever captured in the state at 17-feet, 7-inches and the most prolific reproducer carrying a record load of 87 eggs, according to researchers. The previous Florida record setters were a 16-foot, 8-inch python and 85 eggs. "It was huge," said Paul Ramey, spokesman for the Florida Natural History Museum at the University of Florida in Gainesville. ...
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Man believed killed in attempt to escape East Germany is alive
Mon,13 Aug 2012 12:39 PM PDT
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - For 31 years, Rene Seiptius had been counted among the thousands of people killed while trying to escape the confines of communist East Germany. As it turns out, he was alive all along. "I can't explain how it could have happened," Seiptius told Reuters on Monday. Seiptius first attempted to cross the deadly strip of land that once separated East Germany from the West in 1981, when he was 17. He and two friends managed to tiptoe past a row of minefields but they triggered fire from an automatic spring gun. One of Seiptius' crew died, and their cover was blown. ... Full Story | Top |
For Italy mafia fugitive, trip to the beach proves costly
Fri,10 Aug 2012 11:38 AM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - Alleged mafia boss Roberto Matalone evaded the police for two years, but a trip to the beach in southern Italy on Thursday proved to be his undoing. Accused of being part of the inner circle of the Pesce clan, one of the most powerful branches of the Calabria mob, he is married to the sister of boss Francesco Pesce, who was arrested last year hiding in an underground bunker. But Matalone, 35, turned out to be less shy than his brother-in-law. ... Full Story | Top |
Teddy-bear stunt leads to EU slap of Belarus
Fri,10 Aug 2012 10:20 AM PDT
Reuters - BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belarus's relations with the West took a turn for the worse on Friday as EU governments agreed to reprimand Minsk for expelling the Swedish ambassador in a row over a pro-democracy stunt involving an air drop of teddy bears on Belarus's territory. At an emergency meeting in Brussels, senior envoys of European Union states said the dispute, in which Belarus also withdrew its embassy staff from Sweden, would damage the bloc's already strained relations with the government of President Alexander Lukashenko. ... Full Story | Top |
Steal a little, but don't loot- Indian minister sparks outcry
Fri,10 Aug 2012 08:43 AM PDT
Reuters - LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - A minister in India's most populous and politically crucial state, Uttar Pradesh, has said bureaucrats can steal a little as long as they work hard - sparking national outcry in a country whose ruling class has long been mired in corruption scandals. "If you work hard, and put your heart and soul into it ... then you are allowed to steal some," Shivpal Singh Yadav told a gathering of local officials in comments caught on camera. "But don't be a bandit." The comments on Thursday were caught by a local TV camera and then played on newscasts across the country. ... Full Story | Top |
Russian sect found after nearly a decade
Thu,9 Aug 2012 10:32 AM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - Seventy members of an Islamist sect who have been living in an underground bunker without heat or sunlight for nearly a decade have been discovered living on the outskirts of the city of Kazan in Russia, local media reported. The sect members included 20 children, the youngest of whom had just turned 18 months. Many of them were born underground and had never seen daylight until the prosecutors discovered their dwelling on August 1 and sent them for health checks. A 17-year-old girl turned out to be pregnant. ... Full Story | Top |
Belarus fines two for toy bear photos after airdrop
Thu,9 Aug 2012 09:06 AM PDT
Reuters -  MINSK (Reuters) - Authorities in Belarus arrested and fined two journalists for posing for photographs holding teddy bears after hundreds were dropped by air on the country in a pro-democracy stunt, the Belarussian Association of Journalists said on Thursday. Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president, also suggested on Thursday that the Swedish embassy in Minsk had been involved in planning the July 4 escapade, in an outburst likely to widen a diplomatic rift with Sweden over the incident. ...
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Cow goes to new heights to flee bull's advances
Wed,8 Aug 2012 01:21 PM PDT
Reuters - MOSCOW (Reuters) - A cow which was not in the mood ambled to the top storey of a Siberian apartment building to escape a bull which was, and had to be led back down by firefighters, authorities said. The cow was discovered bellowing on the top of a stairwell in the five-storey building in the village of Lesogorsk last month, with the probable cause of the cow's distress an amorous bull at the bottom. "The bull was very loving and had paid excessive attention to the cow during the summer grazing," the Irkutsk regional branch of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement. ... Full Story | Top |
Johannesburg snow fulfils couple's white wedding dream
Wed,8 Aug 2012 04:25 AM PDT
Reuters -  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African couple married this week after a bout of unusually cold weather allowed them to fulfill a light-hearted promise to tie the knot the next time Johannesburg was covered in snow. Portuguese emigre Rui Moca and Monique Joubert had planned to wed next year, but when South Africa's biggest city was shrouded in a rare blanket of snow on Tuesday, Joubert's sister called Jacaranda FM to tell them about the couple's dream of a "real" white wedding. ...
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Belarus charges two over teddy bear air drop
Tue,7 Aug 2012 02:48 PM PDT
Reuters -  MINSK (Reuters) - Two Belarussians have been charged with involvement in a pro-democracy stunt in which a Swedish light aircraft dropped hundreds of teddy bears over Belarus last month, the KGB state security service said on Tuesday. The stunt, mounted by a Swedish public relations company, led to Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko sacking his air defense chief and the head of the border guards, and caused a diplomatic rift in which Belarus expelled Sweden's ambassador. In a statement on its website www.kgb. ...
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Vermont man arrested after crushing police cruisers with tractor
Tue,7 Aug 2012 12:40 PM PDT
Reuters - LITTLETON, New Hampshire (Reuters) - A Vermont man was arrested after allegedly running over seven police cruisers with a tractor, police said on Friday. Roger Pion, 34, of Newport, Vermont now faces seven counts of unlawful mischief and three other charges after being arrested by state police for crushing cruisers belonging to the Orleans County Sheriff's Department in the town of Derby on Thursday. "I felt like I was in a monster jam rally or something," said Rene Morris, an eyewitness told local television station WCAX. ... Full Story | Top |
Some Turks call foul over Obama-Erdogan bat photo
Tue,7 Aug 2012 12:37 PM PDT
Reuters - ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A photograph of U.S. President Barack Obama holding a baseball bat while talking on the phone to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was intended to show their close relationship, a White House spokeswoman said, after the photo caused a stir in Turkey. The two leaders spoke on Monday to discuss the crisis in Syria, after which the photograph of Obama seated at his desk, talking on the phone while holding a bat autographed by black-American baseball great Hank Aaron, was released by the White House. ... Full Story | Top |
Pakistani policemen suspended for parading people naked
Tue,7 Aug 2012 12:31 PM PDT
Reuters - ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Four Pakistani policemen have been suspended after allegedly parading a man and two women naked in a town in the deeply conservative Muslim country, police officials said on Sunday. It was unclear clear why the three were naked while being escorted to the police station in the southern town of Gambat on July 28. The man, businessman Mumtaz Mallah, 52, told Reuters police were punishing him for refusing to pay him a bribe. ... Full Story | Top |
Splash! Cracks show in Chinese diving machine
Tue,7 Aug 2012 12:28 PM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - The sound of thwacks resonated around the Olympic diving pool on Monday, with the powerful Chinese showing that even they are not infallible. An evening of dramatic flops and mighty splashes during the men's three-meter springboard heats was capped by the unexpected sight of world champion and runaway gold medal favorite Qin Kai stepping off the board wrong, over rotating and entering the water on the diagonal. Qin, who won the synchro gold medal five days ago, scored just 39. ...
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Kangaroo condoms get a hop on London organisers
Tue,7 Aug 2012 12:20 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - London Olympic organisers are investigating how a bucket of Australian-tagged condoms found its way into the athletes' village without official consent. Australian BMX cyclist Caroline Buchanan tweeted a photograph from the athletes' village of a container of condoms with a placard reading "Kangaroos condoms, for the gland downunder" with the picture of a boxing kangaroo. ... Full Story | Top |
UK's BSkyB to launch 24-hour James Bond TV channel
Tue,7 Aug 2012 11:34 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - British pay television broadcaster BSkyB will launch a new 24-hour channel dedicated to showing James Bond films on repeat in October to mark the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise, the company said on Tuesday. The channel, to be called Sky Movies 007, will show 22 original Bond films in high definition from October 5 for a month, beginning with the 1962 Bond film, 'Dr. No', it said. It added that it will also screen independent titles 'Never Say Never Again' and 'Casino Royale. ...
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Kangaroo condoms get a hop on London organizers
Tue,7 Aug 2012 06:09 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - London Olympic organizers are investigating how a bucket of Australian-tagged condoms found its way into the athletes' village without official consent. Australian BMX cyclist Caroline Buchanan tweeted a photograph from the athletes' village of a container of condoms with a placard reading "Kangaroos condoms, for the gland downunder" with the picture of a boxing kangaroo. ... Full Story | Top |
Getting "randy" on the trampoline
Sun,5 Aug 2012 04:14 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - If you've overheard the trampolinists at the London Games talking about a randy, rudolph and a barani you might be forgiven for wondering who is this amorous, red-nosed reindeer hungry for a spicy Indian meal? Although randy is a colloquial English term for the amorously inclined, in trampoline-speak it describes one of the various moves in the set of 10 skills performed consecutively in a routine by the muscular men and women who have been fighting it out in amazing aerial battles at the Games this week. ...
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We're only making songs for Nigel on London transport
Thu,2 Aug 2012 12:08 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - A British man is making sweet music out of conversations he overhears on London transport at the Olympics and posting a song on the Internet every day of the Games for the world to hear. Charity director Nigel Parkes said his bizarre musical project came out of a conversation with some young people he met on the train, who did not know who his hero Bob Dylan was. ... Full Story | Top |
Air intruders must be shot down, Belarus leader says
Thu,2 Aug 2012 08:52 AM PDT
Reuters -  MINSK (Reuters) - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, smarting after a pro-democracy stunt in which teddy bears were dropped into Belarus, told his new border guards chief on Thursday to use weapons to stop any more unlawful air intrusions by foreigners. About 800 toy bears were dropped near the town of Ivenets from a light aircraft, chartered by a Swedish public relations firm, which crossed into Belarussian air space from Lithuania on July 4, the day after Belarus marked independence day. ...
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Call me Brawny: Iran defends tankers alias game
Thu,2 Aug 2012 07:24 AM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - New names for Iran's oil tankers are part of its national tanker company NITC's defense against tighter United States sanctions which target it, the company says. NITC ships are taking to the seas with colorful new identities, swapping Farsi names for those that cover a range of human virtues. Freedom, Truth, Honesty, Justice and Leadership should resonate nobly in international waters; Brawny, Valor and Mars carry with them a hint of steel. ...
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Ancient dopers got their kicks from raw testicles
Wed,1 Aug 2012 08:51 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Forget anabolic steroids in easy-to-swallow tablets, or EPO in clean syringes. Ancient Olympic dopers got their pre-Games hormone boost from chewing on raw animal testicles. The problem of some Olympic competitors taking potions, medicines and supplements to boost performance is as old as the Games themselves. Even athletes of the 19th century thought nothing of fortifying themselves with coca leaves, cocaine and alcohol. ... Full Story | Top |
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