Yahoo! News: Oddly Enough - Reuters

Oddly Enough - Reuters

• Man bites police over a pet peeve (Reuters)

  Reuters - Police arrested an 82-year-old man after he bit and kicked officers who had arrived to mediate in a dispute with a neighbor over a domestic pet.

  
  

• Canadian parents more lenient than Italians and French (Reuters)

  Reuters - Canadian parents are more lenient with their children than mothers and fathers in France and Italy, according to a new study.

• Finance Ministry says defrauded by staffer (Reuters)

  Reuters - The Dutch Finance Ministry Thursday acknowledged it was defrauded out of more than 160,000 euros ($204,800) earlier this year by an employee of the ministry unit that handles the state's financing needs.

• Dutch colleges angry over sex job ads for freshmen (Reuters)

  Reuters - A number of Dutch colleges are considering legal action against the publisher of a move-in guide for new freshmen, after the company included an ad recruiting students for jobs as online sex workers.

• Cup of tea forces jet to make emergency landing (Reuters)

  Reuters - A British airplane en route to Poland was forced to make an emergency landing in Germany after a 56-year-old woman spilled a hot cup of tea on herself, German police said on Wednesday.

• Vuvuzelas banned from European soccer competition (Reuters)

  Reuters - Vuvuzelas have been kicked out of European competitions after UEFA said that the controversial plastic trumpets drowned out supporters and detracted from the emotion of the game.

  
  

• Man arrested for trying to dazzle pilots with laser (Reuters)

  Reuters - A man appeared in court on Tuesday accused of trying to dazzle pilots with a laser beam as they were landing at France's second-busiest airport Paris Orly, aviation authorities said.

• Older people enjoy reading negative stories about young (Reuters)

  Reuters - Older people like reading negative news stories about their younger counterparts because it boosts their own self-esteem, according to a new study.

• Long-lived Dutch might be bad news for insurers (Reuters)

  Reuters - The Dutch are set to live longer -- good news for them but bad news for insurers that are expected to suffer from higher capital requirements and tighter profit margins as a result.

• Malaysia uncovers nearly 100 live reptiles in bag (Reuters)

  Reuters - Malaysian airport security arrested a convicted wildlife smuggler after finding almost 100 live reptiles in his luggage, the country's Wildlife and National Parks Department said.

• Mushroom hunter "massacre" claims 18 lives in Italy (Reuters)

  Reuters - At least 18 mushroom-lovers have been killed in accidents while hunting for their favorite fungi in the mountains and forests of northern Italy.

• John Lennon's toilet sells for $14,740 at auction (Reuters)

  Reuters - A toilet that belonged to late Beatle John Lennon fetched 9,500 pounds ($14,740) at auction on Saturday, around 10 times its estimate, the sale organizers said.

  
  

• Politician raffles breast implants (Reuters)

  Reuters - A Venezuelan politician is offering breast implants as a prize in a raffle to raise funds for his parliamentary election campaign.

  
  

• Permission to laugh at election -- for now (Reuters)

  Reuters - Brazil's election is a laughing matter again, at least for now.

  
  

• T-shirt explains Philadelphia's blunt speech (Reuters)

  Reuters - For Mike Monteiro, a transplanted Philadelphian who now lives in California, his T-shirt says it all.

  
  

• Britain being "overrun" by street signs (Reuters)

  Reuters - The British government has declared war on the profusion of unnecessary road traffic signs, railings and advertising boards, saying they blight towns' English character.

  
  

• "Ordain women," London bus ads will urge Pope (Reuters)

  Reuters - Pope Benedict will be confronted by posters on London's famous red buses during his trip to the British capital next month which will call for the ordination of women priests.

  
  

• Police guard home of woman who put cat in bin (Reuters)

  Reuters - The home of a woman filmed picking up a cat and throwing it into a rubbish bin is under police guard in Britain after her actions sparked outrage from animal lovers and even death threats.

• Alternative tours draw travelers to Mexico (Reuters)

  Reuters - While most travelers flock to Mexico to sip margaritas on white-sand beaches, a hardy few choose lesser-known tourist sites where they are chased down by immigration agents or risk their lives in dangerous slums.

  
  

• Man, shot in head, notices five years later (Reuters)

  Reuters - A Polish man living in Germany went about his business for about five years without noticing he had been shot in the head because he was drunk when it happened. Police in the western city of Bochum said on Tuesday doctors found a .22 caliber bullet in the back of his head after the 35-year-old went to have what he thought was a cyst removed.