Today's Odd News - Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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California seller of suicide kits sentenced for tax offense
Mon,7 May 2012 02:42 PM PDT
Reuters -  SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A 93-year-old woman who made headlines by selling suicide kits from her California home was placed on five years of supervised probation on Monday and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for a tax-related offense stemming from her mail-order business. Sharlotte Hydorn, a great-grandmother and retired science teacher, pleaded guilty in December to a federal charge of failing to file income tax returns from 2007 through 2010, a period during which investigators said at least seven customers used her kits to kill themselves. ...
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Want to quit smoking ? Try acupuncture or hypnosis
Sun,6 May 2012 07:20 PM PDT
Reuters -  Acupuncture and hypnosis have been promoted as drug-free ways to help smokers kick the habit, and there is some evidence that they work, according to a research review that looked at 14 international studies. Researchers, whose findings appeared in the American Journal of Medicine, said that there are still plenty of questions, including exactly how effective alternative therapies might be and how they measure up against conventional methods to quit smoking. ...
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Court rejects appeal in wife's attempt to poison mistress
Thu,3 May 2012 09:07 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - A microbiologist charged under an anti-terrorism law for attempting to poison her husband's mistress lost a bid to overturn her conviction on Thursday. Carol Anne Bond had argued that the U.S. federal chemical weapons act, which makes it a crime to acquire or use any chemical weapon, was meant to target terrorist activity, not the crimes of a spurned lover. A Philadelphia-based federal court rejected Bond's appeal, ruling that the government was justified in applying the law, even if it seemed a questionable move. ... Full Story | Top |
Californian jailed 5 days without water seeks $20 million
Thu,3 May 2012 08:27 PM PDT
Reuters - LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California university student left handcuffed in a federal holding cell for nearly five days without food or water has filed a claim for up to $20 million in compensation, saying he suffered kidney failure and nearly died as a result. The five-page notice, a precursor to a lawsuit against the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act, was sent Wednesday to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration by a lawyer for the student, Daniel Chong, who has said he was forced to drink his own urine to stay alive. ... Full Story | Top |
Researcher believed killed by lab bacteria
Thu,3 May 2012 07:48 PM PDT
Reuters - FAIRFAX, California (Reuters) - A young research associate killed by a highly virulent strain of meningococcal disease is believed to have contracted the bacteria from the San Francisco lab where he was working on a vaccine against it, public health officials said on Thursday. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts are seeking to confirm what they already suspect: that Richard Din, 25, died Saturday in an unusual case of a scientist being fatally infected with an agent from his own laboratory. ... Full Story | Top |
Snake blamed for Oklahoma City power outage
Thu,3 May 2012 05:20 PM PDT
Reuters - OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A snake that crawled into an electrical substation on Thursday knocked out power to nearly 14,000 homes on the northwest side of Oklahoma's state capital, utility officials said. The power failure occurred at about 2 a.m. when the snake touched a component that caused a switch to trip, Oklahoma Gas and Electric spokeswoman Karen Kurtz said, adding that the snake was evidently seeking shelter after heavy rains. At the scene of the crime, no one could determine exactly what kind of serpent caused all the trouble. ... Full Story | Top |
Man who dressed as dead mother guilty of fraud
Thu,3 May 2012 03:58 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man who impersonated his dead mother as part of a real estate scam - using lipstick, manicured nails and even an oxygen tank at a meeting - was convicted of fraud on Thursday and faces up to 83 years in prison, prosecutors said. Thomas Parkin, 51, was found guilty of 11 criminal counts, including charges of fraud, grand larceny, perjury and forgery for his scams. Along with the real estate fraud, Parkin and a partner cashed his mother's social security checks every month for six years, stealing about $44,000. ... Full Story | Top |
California student jailed five days without water drinks own urine
Thu,3 May 2012 01:08 PM PDT
Reuters - SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A California university student who was mistakenly left handcuffed in a cell without food or water for five days and survived by drinking his own urine is planning to sue, his lawyer said on Wednesday. Daniel Chong, an engineering student at the University of California at San Diego, ended up hospitalized for five days after being left unattended in one of three cells at a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in San Diego last month, his lawyer, Julia Yoo, said. ... Full Story | Top |
Thieves stealing manhole covers in New York City, utility says
Thu,3 May 2012 01:05 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Manhole covers are being stolen from the streets of New York City, leaving dangerous holes in the roads and sidewalks, authorities said on Thursday. More than 30 manhole covers have been stolen in the city's Brooklyn, Queens and Bronx boroughs since early March, presumably by thieves selling them for scrap metal, said a spokesman for the Con Edison utility company. "Stealing manhole covers is dangerous," said Milovan Blair, Con Edison's vice president for Brooklyn-Queens Electric Operations. ...
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Bronzed U.S. mom denies taking daughter, 5, into tanning booth
Wed,2 May 2012 04:00 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - A New Jersey mom with a passion for tanning is facing a child endangerment charge for allowing her then 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth. Authorities say Patricia Krentcil's daughter, now 6, turned up at her elementary school in Nutley, New Jersey, with a sunburn on April 24, prompting a school nurse to contact police. The extremely tan Krentcil, 44, appeared on Wednesday in a Newark courtroom where she pleaded not guilty to a charge of child endangerment. ... Full Story | Top |
Clock ticks on Koch case over fake Jefferson wine
Wed,2 May 2012 01:20 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - The clock could be running out for billionaire William I. Koch in a lawsuit against Christie's in which he accused the auction house of fraud over his purchase of wines said to have been owned by third American president Thomas Jefferson. A federal appeals court panel in New York on Wednesday questioned whether Koch had conducted timely due diligence when doubts were raised about four bottles of 1787 wine engraved "Th.J" that were sold to him in 1987 and 1988 by dealer Hardy Rodenstock through intermediaries. In March last year, U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
Pig poo power the answer to China's porky poser?
Tue,1 May 2012 10:32 PM PDT
Reuters -  SYDNEY (Reuters) - Seven hundred million pigs produce a lot of poo. China's love of pork presents a mountain of a problem for the environment, 1.4 million metric tons (1.5 million tons) of pig poo a year to be precise, but an Australian company believes it has part of the answer. Why not turn the pig poo into power? Using a bioreactor called "PooCareTM" and other technology, the pig manure is converted into biofuel for cooking and heating while the residual goes to farmers as nutrient-rich fertilizers. ...
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"Octomom" files for bankruptcy in California
Mon,30 Apr 2012 07:48 PM PDT
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The California mother of octuplets, dubbed "Octomom," filed for bankruptcy on Monday, after previously admitting she was on public assistance to support herself and her 14 children. Nadya Suleman, 36, gave birth to eight babies as a single mother in 2009. But goodwill turned to anger in the media after it was revealed Suleman had undergone fertility treatments when she already had six children, and questions were raised about her ability to provide for her family. Her children became only the second set of octuplets known to have survived birth in the United States. ...
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Bomb-sniffing dogs enlisted to stem Florida python invasion
Mon,30 Apr 2012 01:58 PM PDT
Reuters - ORLANDO (Reuters) - Some bomb-sniffing dogs trained to help fight terrorism are turning their olfactory attention toward a different scourge: Burmese pythons in Florida's Everglades National Park. The dogs are members of "EcoDogs," a three-year-old collaboration at Alabama's Auburn University between the science departments and the school's Canine Detection Research Institute, which trains dogs to detect explosives. "The dogs are really, really good," said Christina Romagosa, a biologist at Auburn. She said in a test of python detection in south Florida, the dogs could cover a search area 2. ... Full Story | Top |
Artist Lucian Freud leaves $156 million in will: paper
Mon,30 Apr 2012 12:24 PM PDT
Reuters -  LONDON (Reuters) - Portrait painter Lucian Freud left a record 96 million pounds ($156 million) in his will, the largest sum bequeathed by a British artist, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported. Freud died in July last year aged 88, by which time his uncompromising, fleshy portraits had made him one of the world's most revered and coveted artists, whose subjects ranged from England's Queen Elizabeth II to the supermodel Kate Moss. His "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping", a 1995 portrait of an obese woman asleep in the nude on a sofa, fetched $33. ...
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Merkel's old Volkswagen sold at auction, second time lucky
Mon,30 Apr 2012 11:54 AM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's old Volkswagen wasn't worth the 130,000 euros ($172,100) bogus online bidders kited it to earlier this month, but the first woman chancellor's 1990 Golf finally went to the highest bidder on Monday for 10,165 euros. Successful bidder Dirk Fricke, who bought the car for his company Frisch-Licht, told Reuters he was happy with what he saw as a low price tag, though he wasn't a fan of Merkel's. "We're politically totally neutral," he said by telephone. "It was just about keeping the car in Germany. ...
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Australia billionaire to launch "unsinkable" Titanic
Mon,30 Apr 2012 10:53 AM PDT
Reuters -  CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian billionaire announced plans on Monday to build an "unsinkable" version of the Titanic, 100 years after the original sank after hitting an iceberg. Titanic II is expected to make its maiden voyage from England to North America, the old Titanic route, in late 2016. "It is going to be designed so it won't sink," mining and tourism tycoon Clive Palmer told reporters. "It will be designed as a modern ship with all the technology to ensure that doesn't happen. ...
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Report of Mexican woman expecting nine babies a hoax
Fri,27 Apr 2012 05:04 PM PDT
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Reports that a woman in northern Mexico is pregnant with nine babies are a hoax, health authorities said on Friday. Mexico's main broadcaster Televisa and top daily newspapers ran stories about a woman expecting nonuplets late on Thursday after she provided welfare officials with supposed evidence of the multiple pregnancy, including an ultrasound video, said a spokesman for the health ministry of Coahuila state. ... Full Story | Top |
Comic campaigns for Italian default, lira: seriously
Fri,27 Apr 2012 01:34 PM PDT
Reuters -  ROME (Reuters) - An Italian comic who is campaigning for local elections riding a wave of discontent among voters says the solution to the economic crisis is default on the country's enormous debt and a return to the lira. Beppe Grillo isn't joking when he says Italy needs to get out of the euro zone fast and rejuvenate a political system dominated by parties he says are dead. "We need to try get out of the euro zone with as little damage as possible. ...
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Mexican woman pregnant with nine babies: report
Thu,26 Apr 2012 10:18 PM PDT
Reuters - MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Mexican woman is pregnant with nine babies - six girls and three boys - the country's main broadcaster Televisa reported on Thursday night. The woman was identified as Karla Vanessa Perez of the northeastern state of Coahuila, which borders Texas. She is currently being treated at a hospital in the state capital Saltillo, the broadcaster said in the report. Perez, whose age was not given, had fertility treatment leading to the multiple pregnancy, it said. State-owned news agency Notimex also reported the pregnancy, saying Perez was due to give birth on May 20. ... Full Story | Top |
Man jailed for smuggling iguana meat into United States
Thu,26 Apr 2012 05:24 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - A Las Vegas man who tried to sneak 115 oven-ready iguanas into the United States from Mexico has been sentenced to two years in prison for illegally importing the reptiles, authorities said on Thursday. A federal judge ordered Eliodoro Soria Fonseca, 38, to serve 24 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of California said. Fonseca was arrested as he tried to cross into California through the Otay Mesa port of entry, south of San Diego, last June with the iguana meat packed in coolers. ... Full Story | Top |
HIV-positive man fights charge that saliva was deadly
Wed,25 Apr 2012 01:52 PM PDT
Reuters - ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - A gay-rights group is urging New York state's high court to overturn the conviction of an HIV-positive man whose saliva was found to be a "dangerous instrument" in a biting case. David Plunkett was sentenced in 2007 to 10 years in prison for aggravated assault, a felony that requires the use of a "dangerous instrument." Plunkett argued unsuccessfully the charge could not be sustained because HIV cannot be transmitted through saliva. The Court of Appeals, New York's top court, will hear Plunkett's case on Thursday. ... Full Story | Top |
Police arrest 6-year-old who threatens, kicks principal
Wed,25 Apr 2012 12:22 PM PDT
Reuters - INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Police in a small Indiana town hauled a six-year-old from his elementary school and charged him with battery and intimidation after he kicked and threatened a principal, police said on Wednesday. The incident followed one earlier in April where police handcuffed a 6-year-old girl who was screaming and crying and had injured a principal and damaged property at an elementary school in Milledgeville, Georgia. She was not charged. ... Full Story | Top |
Dutch "burqa ban" may go after government falls
Wed,25 Apr 2012 12:12 PM PDT
Reuters -  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - With the collapse of the Dutch centre-right government, the Netherlands may now drop some of its most eye-popping proposals aimed at Muslims and other immigrants and could soften its strong anti-immigration rhetoric. A ban on Muslim face veils, such as the Arabic-style niqabs that leave the eyes uncovered and Afghan-style burqas that cover the face with a cloth grid, is less likely to go ahead after the government collapsed at the weekend. ...
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Ukraine government's office art swapped for fakes
Wed,25 Apr 2012 09:56 AM PDT
Reuters - KIEV (Reuters) - Two valuable paintings in the offices of the Ukrainian government have been mysteriously swapped for replicas, the former Soviet republic's Culture Ministry said on Wednesday. The landscape paintings by 20th century Ukrainian artist Mykola Hlushchenko have been on display in the government building since August 2001. "Chemical tests have shown that both paintings are replicas of Hlushchenko's works," the ministry said in a statement. Insurers have valued the paintings at about $144,000 combined. The ministry said the replicas appeared to be 5-10 years old. ... Full Story | Top |
New York woman fired after donating kidney to help boss
Tue,24 Apr 2012 03:46 PM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York woman who donated a kidney so her ailing boss would move up the transplant waiting list says she was fired shortly after the operation, according to a complaint she filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights. Deborah Stevens said her former employer, Atlantic Automotive Group, discriminated against her over disabilities brought about by complications from the surgery, and she plans to sue the company for lost earnings and damages. The company, which runs car dealerships on Long Island, said Stevens's complaint is groundless. ... Full Story | Top |
Virginia woman wins $1 million - twice in same lottery
Tue,24 Apr 2012 05:30 AM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - A Virginia woman found out on April 7 she won $1 million in a lottery drawing. And then she won again. Virginia Fike of Berryville, Virginia, had the good luck to buy not one but two lottery tickets from a truck stop that both turned out to be $1 million winners, matching five of the six Powerball numbers. Lottery officials presented her with a $2 million check on Friday. Fike said she found out that she had won - and won again - while sitting in a hospital room with her mother, according to a statement distributed by the Virginia lottery. ...
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Saudi man spends 15 years in jail on father's order
Mon,23 Apr 2012 09:23 AM PDT
Reuters - JEDDAH (Reuters) - A Saudi Arabian man who was jailed for three years in 1997 has spent a further 12 years behind bars waiting for his father to pardon him, a local human rights group has said. Eid al-Sinani, 43, was originally sentenced to three years in prison and 200 lashes for beating up his step mother, Musab al-Zahrani, a researcher at the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), told Reuters. However, when the sentence had been served the father asked a judge to keep his son in prison "until he is proven to be righteous by his father". ... Full Story | Top |
Soccer ball swept up by Japanese tsunami found in Alaska
Sun,22 Apr 2012 06:39 PM PDT
Reuters -  A soccer ball that bobbed onto the shore of a remote Alaska island is likely the first salvageable debris from last year's Japanese tsunami that could be returned to its owner, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The ball, found on Alaska's Middleton Island, bears writing that identifies its place of origin, said Doug Helton, operations coordinator for NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration, which is tracking debris from the tsunami. ...
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UK firm's 1,300 staff accidentally given marching orders
Fri,20 Apr 2012 03:07 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - Workers at investment firm Aviva Investors got a shock on Friday when the company accidentally sent an email with leaving instructions intended for one departing employee to the entire worldwide staff of 1,300 people. The firm's human resources department realized its mistake and recalled the offending message 25 minutes later and soon afterwards sent out another email apologizing to staff for the error, company spokesman Paul Lockstone said. ... Full Story | Top |
South Korean bullfighting is for bulls only
Fri,20 Apr 2012 01:08 AM PDT
Reuters -  CHEONGDO, South Korea (Reuters) - There is no blood, nor much gore. No matador, either, or even his colorful cloak. In South Korea, bull fights bull. Weighing in at 600 kg to over 800 kg (1,322 to over 1,764 lb), dun-colored Korean Hanwoo bulls clash heads and horns in a sand bullring under the warm sunshine of Cheongdo, a rural town in the hills about two hours from the capital of Seoul. ...
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Starbucks to phase out coloring from crushed beetles
Thu,19 Apr 2012 05:39 PM PDT
Reuters -  (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp said on its blog on Thursday that it will stop using a natural, government-approved coloring made from crushed beetles in its strawberry flavoring by late June, bowing to pressure from some vegetarian customers. Starbucks has been using the extract in its strawberry frappuccinos and smoothies, as well as some deserts like raspberry swirl cake. "After a thorough, yet fastidious, evaluation, I am pleased to report that we are reformulating the affected products to assure the highest quality possible," Cliff Burrows, president of Starbucks U.S., wrote in a blog post. ...
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Egyptian protesters take long walk to Tahrir
Thu,19 Apr 2012 02:13 PM PDT
Reuters - CAIRO (Reuters) - A group of Egyptians are marching 125 km (77 miles) along a major highway to Cairo to take part in a demonstration in Tahrir Square, stretching the boundaries of the country's flourishing culture of political activism. Fifteen activists decided to walk from their hometown of Suez across the desert to Cairo to show commitment to their cause: political reform and an end to the rule of army generals who have been running Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was removed from power by a mass uprising last year. ... Full Story | Top |
China's Ai Weiwei hits Catch 22 in tax lawsuit
Thu,19 Apr 2012 02:07 PM PDT
Reuters -  BEIJING (Reuters) - Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is learning a frustrating lesson about challenging Chinese authorities - he is welcome to sue the government over a festering tax case, but must first produce a company seal confiscated by police that he has no way of recovering. Ai sued the tax authorities over a 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) tax evasion penalty on the company he works for, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd. ...
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No monkeying around for Japan man, fastest on four legs
Wed,18 Apr 2012 05:58 AM PDT
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - In the suburbs of Tokyo lives Kenichi Ito, the world's fastest man on four legs. For nearly a decade, the 29-year-old Ito, long a fan of simians, has been perfecting a running style based on the wiry Patas monkey of Africa, winning himself a Guinness World Record in the process. "You know, my face and body kind of look like a monkey, so from a young age everybody used to tease me, saying 'monkey, monkey,'" Ito said in his neat apartment, sitting in front of a large poster of a chimpanzee. ... Full Story | Top |
No need for kangaroo harvest reports: California governor
Tue,17 Apr 2012 02:24 PM PDT
Reuters -  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California lawmakers won't be briefed any longer on kangaroo harvests in Australia under a plan to scrap more than 700 reports required by state law that Governor Jerry Brown unveiled on Tuesday. Australia's annual kangaroo harvest report, which California's Department of Fish and Game is required to track and provide to lawmakers, is one of 718 "unnecessary bureaucratic" reports discovered in audits of state agencies and departments ordered by Brown in December, according to a statement from his office. ...
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Player's dad breaks Alabama's championship crystal football
Tue,17 Apr 2012 01:57 PM PDT
Reuters -  BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - The championship dream is intact, but the $30,000 crystal football trophy has been shattered at the University of Alabama. A player's father accidentally broke on Saturday the Waterford crystal football awarded to the Crimson Tide after the team defeated Louisiana State University in January for the national collegiate title, an athletics official said. The team was celebrating A-Day, an intra-squad scrimmage that marks the end of spring training, and trophies were on special display to allow people to take photographs with them. ...
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Human-made earthquakes reported in central U.S
Tue,17 Apr 2012 01:50 PM PDT
Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of earthquakes in the central United States rose "spectacularly" near where oil and gas drillers disposed of wastewater underground, a process that may have caused geologic faults to slip, U.S. government geologists report. The average number of earthquakes of magnitude 3 or greater in the U.S. midcontinent - an area that includes Arkansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas - increased to six times the 20th century average last year, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey said in an abstract of their research. ... Full Story | Top |
Dutch bug cookbook launched to stir taste for insects
Tue,17 Apr 2012 08:02 AM PDT
Reuters -  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Need more protein in your diet? Try adding worms to your chocolate muffin recipe mix, or spice up a mushroom risotto with a sprinkling of grasshoppers. "The Insect Cookbook", which comes out on Tuesday and is written in Dutch, contains these and other unusual recipes and is intended to promote insects as a source of protein. "I see this as the next step towards the introduction of insects on restaurant menus in the Netherlands. ...
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Faith motivates tongue piercing in Nepal village
Mon,16 Apr 2012 08:57 PM PDT
Reuters -  BODE, Nepal (Reuters) - Pressing his palms together, Jujubhai Basan Shrestha raises his hands, acknowledging greetings from the cheering crowd of devotees and onlookers. Sporting a white turban, the 31-year-old sits on a chair as a man inserts a 13 inch metal skewer through his tongue in a centuries-old ritual in this poor settlement, 12 km (8 miles) east of Kathmandu. ...
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