Reuters: Oddly Enough

New EU president wins fans in Japan -- as a poet

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:43:47 +0000

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Herman Van Rompuy, the European Union's new president, may not be very well known around the world but he's already winning fans in Japan -- as a poet rather than a politician.

New fossils reveal a world full of crocodiles

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:50:46 +0000

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New fossils unearthed in what is now the Sahara desert reveal a once-swampy world divided up among a half-dozen species of unusual and perhaps intelligent crocodiles, researchers reported on Thursday.

Italy collector finds Galileo's lost tooth, fingers

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:23:01 +0000

ROME (Reuters) - An art collector has found a tooth, thumb and finger of the renowned Italian scientist Galileo Galilei who died in the 17th century, Florence's History of Science museum announced on Friday.

All Blacks face dressing down over Twitter leak

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:46:45 +0000

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Neemia Tialata and Cory Jane can expect a talking to from All Blacks coach Graham Henry after revealing on the social networking site Twitter they had been left out of the New Zealand to play England this weekend.

Obama gets five minutes with half-brother in China

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:09:20 +0000

BEIJING (Reuters) - President Barack Obama took time out of his busy diplomatic schedule in China to meet with his half-brother, who lives in the southern part of the country -- but only for five minutes.

U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:03:47 +0000

PERKASIE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.

What's in an unusual name? More than you might think

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:26:10 +0000

LONDON (Reuters) - Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes might have thought twice about naming their daughter Suri if they'd known that it means "pickpocket" in Japanese, "turned sour" in French, and "horse mackerels" in Italian.

Japan ask 2010 hosts South Africa to ban vuvuzela

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:56:12 +0000

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's football chief has joined in the chorus of protestors wanting the noisy vuvuzela trumpet to be banned from next year's World Cup in South Africa.

Italian women disappointed by Gaddafi "party"

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:01:21 +0000

ROME (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in Rome for a U.N. food summit, spent several hours in the company of 200 Italian women recruited by an agency and tried to convert them to Islam, Italian media reported on Monday.

Japan's marathon queen Takahashi to run veggie farm

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:43:36 +0000

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's former Olympic marathon gold medallist Naoko Takahashi has decided to become a vegetable farmer.