Reuters: Oddly Enough

Ageing Santa gets $100,000 facelift for Christmas

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:23:56 -0500

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A Santa in New Zealand with a droopy eye has received a NZ$100,000 ($74,000) face-lift in the run-up to Christmas so that his aging face does not scare children.

Gang accused of killing to sell human fat

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:23:54 -0500

LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian police said on Thursday they had broken up a gang that allegedly killed dozens of people and sold their fat to buyers who used it to make cosmetics.

Diplomats arrested for cigarette smuggling

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:21:37 -0500

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish police have arrested two North Korean diplomats on suspicion of smuggling 230,000 cigarettes into the Nordic country, the Swedish Customs Office said Friday.

New fossils reveal a world full of crocodiles

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:21:13 -0500

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New fossils unearthed in what is now the Sahara desert reveal a once-swampy world

U.S. election, iPhone among decade's top 10 Internet moments

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:27:59 -0500

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The launch of Wikipedia, emergence of the iPhone and the election of U.S. President Barack Obama were among the 10 most influential moments on the Internet in the past decade, according to the annual Webby awards.

Lost man drives nine hours to get newspaper

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:56:07 -0500

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An elderly man who went out to fetch a morning newspaper ended up driving nearly 400 miles after getting lost and taking a wrong turn onto a major Australian highway, police said on Wednesday. The man, 81-year-old Eric Steward, eventually stopped and asked for directions after driving for nine hours, from the New South Wales country town of Yass to Geelong in the southern Victoria state.

Johnny Depp named People's "sexiest man alive"

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:48:21 -0500

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp was named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" on Wednesday, reclaiming a title he first won in 2003.

Lawmaker apologizes for insulting rival on Twitter

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:27:05 -0500

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian member of Parliament learned the hard way on Tuesday that insulting a rival legislator by Twitter is not a good idea, especially if you're sitting around the same table at the time.

Make toilets cool to fix sanitation woes?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:10:40 -0500

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization, has a theory about why governments and people are so reluctant to talk about hygiene: it isn't cool.