Today's Odd News - Reuters News Headlines - Yahoo! News:
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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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South Africa painting debate exposes racial rifts
Thu,24 May 2012 05:03 AM PDT
Reuters -  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling ANC went to court on Thursday seeking to remove from public display a painting of President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed, saying the work is symbolic of the lingering racial oppression of apartheid. Proceedings were halted after a bizzare scene where Gcina Malindi, lawyer for the ANC, broke down in tears when a judge asked him how the court can halt viewing of an image widely distributed on the Internet. ...
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Mountain lion wanders into California city center, is killed
Tue,22 May 2012 07:25 PM PDT
Reuters -  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A mountain lion ventured into the center of a crowded Southern California city on Tuesday, and was shot and killed when authorities had trouble corralling the animal in the courtyard of a building, police said. It was not immediately clear how the 3-year-old mountain lion weighing about 75 pounds (34 kg) ended up in the middle of the beachside city of Santa Monica, which lies just west of Los Angeles. ...
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South Africa protesters deface Zuma penis portrait
Tue,22 May 2012 07:23 PM PDT
Reuters -  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Two men vandalized a portrait of South African President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed on Tuesday, intensifying a heated debate about the picture that has enraged the ruling African National Congress. Television footage showed a white middle-aged man in a suit walking up to the portrait at a Johannesburg gallery and painting a red cross on president's face and private parts. A younger black man then smeared black paint over the picture while the first man was being taken into custody by security guards. ...
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Are sweaty brokers more ethical?
Tue,22 May 2012 07:44 AM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - If you want to know how ethical your broker is, give them a moral dilemma and see how much they sweat before deciding what to do. It's quite a jump from the laboratory to real-world decisions about asset management but British researchers have found that gut feeling can override rational thought when people are faced with financial offers that look unfair. Even when we could benefit, a physical response like sweating can make people reject a financial proposition they consider to be unjust. The key is how tuned in they are to their own bodies. ... Full Story | Top |
Are sweaty brokers more ethical?
Mon,21 May 2012 04:02 PM PDT
Reuters - LONDON (Reuters) - If you want to know how ethical your broker is, give them a moral dilemma and see how much they sweat before deciding what to do. It's quite a jump from the laboratory to real-world decisions about asset management but British researchers have found that gut feeling can override rational thought when people are faced with financial offers that look unfair. Even when we could benefit, a physical response like sweating can make people reject a financial proposition they consider to be unjust. The key is how tuned in they are to their own bodies. ... Full Story | Top |
Fired for being "too hot," New Jersey woman claims
Mon,21 May 2012 02:55 PM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - A New Jersey woman said on Monday that she was dismissed from a temporary job at a New York lingerie warehouse because her male employers felt she was too busty and dressed too provocatively for the workplace. Wearing a form-fitting sequined black dress and black leather, sequin-studded boots, Lauren Odes, 29, said her Orthodox Jewish employers at Native Intimates told her that outfit and others like it were "too hot" for the warehouse. "We should not be judged by the size of our breasts or the shape of our body," Odes said. ... Full Story | Top |
Cloak and dagger world of spies exposed in NYC show
Mon,21 May 2012 05:18 AM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The mysterious cloak and dagger world of international espionage and its real-life heros and villains are exposed in a new exhibition, the first to be sanctioned by U.S. intelligence agencies. "Spy, the Secret World of Espionage," which opens at the Discovery Times Square on Friday, includes hundreds of artifacts, some from the vaults of the CIA and FBI and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). ...
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Ukraine's topless fighters plot to storm the Euros
Mon,21 May 2012 05:03 AM PDT
Reuters -  KIEV (Reuters) - Anna darts gleefully around the two sparsely-furnished rooms situated through an archway off a steep street that climbs up from Kiev's Independence Square. She is a general showing off her new headquarters. "This is going to be our training room for our Euro strikes," she says. "That's for the girls to get fit on for when they scrap with the police or have to run away from them," she says, pointing to a set of wall-bars and an overhead muscle-tone pulley-bar by the front door. ...
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Japan train with "rice balls" to sharpen soccer skills
Sun,20 May 2012 10:12 PM PDT
Reuters - TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan have come up with a novel way of preparing themselves for this year's London Olympic men's soccer tournament - training with odd-bouncing triangular 'rice balls.' The balls, shaped like the traditional Japanese 'onigiri' rice ball wrapped in seaweed, were fired at goalkeepers during training at the weekend, local media reported on Monday. "It was good practice," goalkeeper Takuya Masuda told the Nikkan Sports newspaper after a dizzying session trying to stop the oversized lunch snacks. "Hopefully we can apply it in matches. ... Full Story | Top |
Italy "dog and cat tax" muzzled after uproar
Fri,18 May 2012 12:23 PM PDT
Reuters -  ROME (Reuters) - A proposal to levy a tax on cats and dogs that stunned Italy on Friday turned out to be all bark and no bite after a wave of popular anger saw it withdrawn on the same day it was made public. Italy was abuzz for hours after local media reported that a parliamentary commission had proposed a tax on domestic "animals of affection" to raise revenue for debt-strapped cities and towns. ...
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Cloak and dagger world of spies exposed in NYC show
Fri,18 May 2012 10:23 AM PDT
Reuters - NEW YORK (Reuters) - The mysterious cloak and dagger world of international espionage and its real-life heros and villains are exposed in a new exhibition, the first to be sanctioned by U.S. intelligence agencies. "Spy, the Secret World of Espionage," which opens at the Discovery Times Square on Friday, includes hundreds of artifacts, some from the vaults of the CIA and FBI and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). ... Full Story | Top |
Presidential penis portrait riles S.Africa's ANC
Fri,18 May 2012 06:16 AM PDT
Reuters -  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling ANC threatened to take legal action against a Johannesburg gallery for displaying art which lampoons President Jacob Zuma and accuses the party of corruption. The African National Congress wants the Goodman Gallery to remove a painting of Zuma called "The Spear", which depicts the president with his genitals exposed, and another work that has a "For Sale" sign superimposed over the party logo. The picture of Zuma is a facsimile of a famous poster of communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. ...
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'Psychic' pig to make Euro tips
Fri,18 May 2012 04:15 AM PDT
Reuters - KIEV (Reuters) - A psychic pig is set to take over where Paul the Octopus left off at the 2010 World Cup by predicting the results of matches at the European championships in Ukraine and Poland. Kiev's city government said on Friday it would wheel out the porky tipster to give daily forecasts once the tournament kicks off next month. "A unique oracle hog, a real Ukrainian pig and a psychic which knows the mysteries of football," a statement said. "Every day at 16.00 it will predict the result of the upcoming match. ... Full Story | Top |
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Breyer robbed again
Thu,17 May 2012 01:46 PM PDT
Reuters -  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who was robbed in February at his Caribbean vacation home by a man armed with a machete, recently was the victim of a burglary at his residence in Washington, a court spokeswoman said on Thursday. Spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said no one was home at the time of the burglary, which was discovered May 4 by a housekeeper. The Washington, D.C., police were investigating, she said. Breyer and his wife, Joanna, have a townhouse in Washington's upscale Georgetown neighborhood, according to the Los Angeles Times. ...
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Canada museum kills masturbation video after outcry
Thu,17 May 2012 09:20 AM PDT
Reuters - OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's federal science museum has removed an animated video showing youth masturbating from an upcoming sex exhibit following a public outcry, a museum spokesman said. The Canada Science and Technology Museum will open the "Sex: A Tell-all Exhibition" on Thursday as planned despite strong criticism from Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore, who has called it an insult to taxpayers. ... Full Story | Top |
Fugitive penguin 337 spotted alive in Tokyo Bay
Wed,16 May 2012 07:14 PM PDT
Reuters -  TOKYO (Reuters) - After Penguin Number 337 made a daring bid for freedom from a Tokyo aquarium and vanished into the waters of Tokyo Bay two months ago, many feared the worst for the adventurous feathered fugitive. But the one-year-old Humboldt penguin has now popped up on video footage in a different part of the bay, frolicking in the water and apparently healthy. The penguin, still too young to determine whether it is male or female and thus known only by a number, scaled a rock wall four meters (13 ft) high and squeezed through a barbed wire fence to escape its harborside aquarium in March. ...
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Canada museum kills masturbation video after outcry
Wed,16 May 2012 04:05 PM PDT
Reuters - OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's federal science museum has removed an animated video showing youth masturbating from an upcoming sex exhibit following a public outcry, a museum spokesman said on Wednesday. The Canada Science and Technology Museum will open the "Sex: A Tell-all Exhibition" on Thursday as planned despite strong criticism from Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore, who has called it an insult to taxpayers. ... Full Story | Top |
Sniffer dog nabs smuggler hiding heroin in rectum
Wed,16 May 2012 12:37 PM PDT
Reuters -  AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A man who tried to smuggle heroin into the United States concealed in his rectum was caught by U.S. officials - with the help of a drug-sniffer dog named Malone - as he walked across the border from Mexico. Paulo Alfredo Macias, 35, was being held in the El Paso County Jail without bond after being caught on Monday at the Paso Del Norte pedestrian crossing with nearly 5 ounces of heroin, officials said. ...
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Paris exotic dancers strike, say wages "miserable"
Wed,16 May 2012 09:39 AM PDT
Reuters - * Dancers say are asked to work 24 days per month * Cabaret says takes wellbeing of dancers seriously PARIS (Reuters) - Topless dancers at the renowned Crazy Horse night club in Paris have gone on strike, saying they are not being paid enough to take the shirts off their backs. The Crazy Horse, one of the most popular establishments of its kind in the world, said on Wednesday it was forced to cancel performances on Tuesday and again on Wednesday for the first time since the cabaret was created in 1951. ... Full Story | Top |
Man bitten by rattlesnake at Washington state Walmart
Mon,14 May 2012 06:49 PM PDT
Reuters - SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - When Mica Craig reached down to brush what he thought was a stick off some mulch in the garden section of a Washington state Walmart, it turned around and sank its fangs into his hand. The Friday encounter with a rattlesnake sent Craig, 47, to the hospital, where he said he remained in excruciating pain and may lose feeling in two fingers. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has apologized. "I reached down to grab the stick to move it out of the way, and the snake stretched out, turned around and got its fangs in my right hand," he said. ... Full Story | Top |
Shock-seekers snap up new Aussie art dare
Sun,13 May 2012 06:37 PM PDT
Reuters -  SYDNEY (Reuters) - Smelling excrement may not be everyone's idea of fun, but for those who like to push the boundaries, Australia's most controversial new museum may be just what they are looking for. Dubbed "the subversive adult Disneyland", the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is located in Tasmania and features around 400 works of art from Egyptian mummies to Young British Artists including Chris Ofili and Jenny Saville. But the most talked-about piece is the Cloaca Professional, labeled the "poo-machine. ...
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Topless Ukraine activist grabs Euro soccer cup
Sun,13 May 2012 08:24 AM PDT
Reuters -  KIEV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian women's rights activist stripped to the waist and seized the Euro-2012 soccer trophy while it was on public display in Kiev on Saturday in a protest against the forthcoming month-long championship. The young woman, 23-year-old Yulia Kovpachik, is a member of the Kiev-based Femen women's rights group which believes the Euro-2012 soccer tournament being played in Ukraine next month will encourage sex tourism. ...
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"Subversive" newspaper crossword stirs Venezuela
Fri,11 May 2012 10:03 AM PDT
Reuters -  CARACAS (Reuters) - A veteran Venezuelan crossword-writer has been accused of hiding a coded message to assassinate President Hugo Chavez's brother in the latest surreal twist to election year politics in the South American nation. Neptali Segovia was interviewed by intelligence agents, his newspaper said on Friday, after a state TV pundit said he had disguised a message to gun down Chavez's brother, Adan, in the answers to various clues in a crossword this week. ...
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Stripper fired from newspaper alleges discrimination
Fri,11 May 2012 08:55 AM PDT
Reuters - SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A newspaper reporter who was fired after another publication reported that she worked part-time as a stripper says she has filed a complaint against her former employer with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging sex discrimination. Sarah Tressler, 30, was working as a society and general assignment reporter for the Houston Chronicle and was writing an anonymous blog entitled "Diary of an Angry Stripper" when the weekly Houston Press revealed her part-time profession in an article entitled "Society Writer by Day, Stripper by Night. ... Full Story | Top |
Afterlife comes at a discount for diehard Benfica fans
Fri,11 May 2012 07:29 AM PDT
Reuters - LISBON (Reuters) - Diehard fans of Portugal's Premier League soccer club Benfica can now rest in peace knowing they can be buried at a discount thanks to a deal signed between the club and the country's largest undertakers agency. In addition to a 12.5 percent rebate, the ultimate advantages for card-carrying Benfica fans also include having the club's anthem performed during the funeral ceremony, having the club's official logo chiseled on coffins or urns, as well as having the Benfica flag laid over the receptacle. ... Full Story | Top |
Gambling, drinking monks raise hell in South Korea
Fri,11 May 2012 05:33 AM PDT
Reuters - SEOUL (Reuters) - Six leaders from South Korea's biggest Buddhist order have quit after secret video footage showed some supposedly serene monks raising hell, playing high-stakes poker, drinking and smoking. The scandal erupted just days before Koreans observe a national holiday to celebrate the birth of Buddha, the holiest day of the religion's calendar. The head of the Jogye order, which has some 10 million followers, or about a fifth of the population, made a public apology on Friday, vowing "self-repentance". ... Full Story | Top |
World's biggest boxes of pasta on sale in Turkey
Thu,10 May 2012 11:56 PM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - Shoppers can buy a half-tonne box of pasta from Thursday at supermarkets in Turkey, but not in the world's spaghetti capital of Italy. Too heavy and too big for the shopping trolley, delivery is included in the price. Italy's Barilla, the world's biggest pasta maker, and Turkey's Migros Ticaret supermarket chain teamed up to produce the mega box of penne pasta, which sells for 999 Turkish lira ($560), for charity. ... Full Story | Top |
Divorce courts mirror society as more women pay alimony
Thu,10 May 2012 01:54 PM PDT
Reuters -  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tables have turned in U.S. divorce courts with more women paying their former husbands alimony and child support than ever before, according to U.S. lawyers. As women climb higher up the career ladder and outpace their exes in salary, when love goes wrong and marriages break up they are being compelled to contribute to the livelihood of their former spouses. And some are not happy about it. ...
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World's biggest boxes of pasta on sale in Turkey
Thu,10 May 2012 09:29 AM PDT
Reuters - ROME (Reuters) - Shoppers can buy a half-ton box of pasta from Thursday at supermarkets in Turkey, but not in the world's spaghetti capital of Italy. Too heavy and too big for the shopping trolley, delivery is included in the price. Italy's Barilla, the world's biggest pasta maker, and Turkey's Migros Ticaret supermarket chain teamed up to produce the mega box of penne pasta, which sells for 999 Turkish lira ($560), for charity. ... Full Story | Top |
Prince Charles turns weatherman for Scotland
Thu,10 May 2012 08:45 AM PDT
Reuters - (Reuters) - Television audiences watching the weather forecast in Scotland received an unexpected surprise on Thursday as Britain's Prince Charles delivered the local weather report for the region. Dressed in a dark suit, blue shirt and striped tie, Charles looked the consummate professional as he gestured towards the map behind him, describing the wet and cold conditions in store for Scotland over the coming days. "There will be snow for the higher grounds of the highlands and Aberdeenshire. ... Full Story | Top |
Scientists may recreate beer from 1840's shipwreck
Thu,10 May 2012 08:39 AM PDT
Reuters -  HELSINKI (Reuters) - Want a 170-year-old beer? Finnish researchers say they may be able to recreate beer from the 1840s after finding living bacteria in beer from a shipwreck near Aland islands. The 2010 discovery of the ship, believed to have sunk in the 1840s, also included the world's oldest champagne considered drinkable which has since been auctioned off. Researchers analyzed two bottles of beer, which they admitted "had not stood the test of time well" but retained a pale golden color and could originally have had hints of rose, almond and cloves. ...
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German man has last laugh with "new home" obituary
Thu,10 May 2012 08:20 AM PDT
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - A man who announced his change of address in a local newspaper sparked national media attention on Thursday due to the unusual location of his "new home" - six feet under the ground. Karl Albrecht, who died last month at the age of 88, penned the obituary himself in the style of a moving notice, inviting friends to a "lively" celebration at his new lodgings in a cemetery in Hamburg, northern Germany. "I have moved house. My new address: Olhsdorf-Ruhewald cemetery, plot Bx 65/28C," the announcement in the Hamburger Abendblatt paper said. ... Full Story | Top |
Foreigners can't pick new German names, court rules
Wed,9 May 2012 11:58 AM PDT
Reuters - BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court has refused to allow a family to shed their "foreign-sounding" names for new German ones they said would protect them from discrimination and aid integration into a country becoming attractive for immigrants. The family, living in Germany under asylum after fleeing Azerbaijan, were given the opportunity to take on German versions of their names, some of which carry Islamic associations, the administrative court in Goettingen, in the state of Lower Saxony, said in a document. ... Full Story | Top |
Florida nabs white supremacists planning "race war"
Tue,8 May 2012 08:45 PM PDT
Reuters -  ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Ten alleged members of a white supremacist group training near Orlando and Disney World for a "race war" have been rounded up in a series of arrests in central Florida, authorities said on Tuesday. The arrests were based on evidence from a confidential informant who infiltrated the neo-Nazi organization known as the American Front 17 months ago, according to an arrest affidavit. "The American Front (AF) is a military-styled, anti-Semitic, white supremacist, skinhead organization and is known as a domestic terrorist organization," the affidavit said. ...
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Want to quit smoking? Try acupuncture or hypnosis
Tue,8 May 2012 01:09 PM PDT
Reuters -  (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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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 |
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