Reuters: Oddly Enough

London commuters baffled by sex broadcast

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:57:32 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - London commuters listening out for the latest news about train services got a broadcast with a difference when the noise of a couple apparently having sex was blasted out over a station's loudspeaker system.

Miss England gives up crown over brawl reports

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:54:33 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Beauty pageant winner Miss England gave up her title on Friday after reports she had been involved in a nightclub brawl with another beauty queen.

Malaysia irked by pregnant athlete's pull-out

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:15:08 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A 16-week pregnant athlete faces sanction from Malaysian sports authorities for pulling out of December's Southeast Asian Games, local media reported Friday.

Miss England gives up crown over brawl reports

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:00:29 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Beauty pageant winner Miss England gave up her title on Friday after reports she had been involved in a nightclub brawl with another beauty queen.

Driver suspected in Bank of France van heist

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:41:42 GMT

LYON, France (Reuters) - French police are looking for the driver of a security van suspected of driving off with more than 10 million euros (8.97 million pounds) after the man vanished, apparently after first clearing out his flat.

Day of the locusts for German investor critic

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:23:13 GMT

BERLIN (Reuters) - Back in 2005, German politician Franz Muentefering likened unscrupulous financial investors to locusts that chewed up firms and moved on. Now he is eating the winged insects.

Who built Berlin Wall? Most Russians don't know

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:11:57 GMT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - More than half of all Russians do not know who built the Berlin Wall, one of the most enduring symbols of the Cold War, an opinion poll showed Thursday.

Giant snake capture was a hoax - Florida agents

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:56:11 GMT

MIAMI (Reuters) - A man who caught a 14-foot (4.2-metre) python in a Florida drain pipe was charged with perpetrating a hoax after wildlife officers discovered he owned the snake and put it in the pipe in order to stage the capture.

Wife's free handbag a "symbol of derision," says Warner

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:57:14 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - FIFA vice-president Jack Warner is returning a handbag given to his wife by England's 2018 World Cup bid because he says it has become "a symbol of derision, betrayal and embarrassment."

FAT players get free burgers in sponsorship deal

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:55:37 GMT

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's top footballers will feast on free burgers as part of a three-year sponsorship deal with American fast food giant McDonald's worth almost $900,000 (543,000 pounds), the country's football president said Wednesday.

Welcome to the sportsdirect.com@St James' Park stadium

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:13:43 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Newcastle United have angered fans with plans to rename their ground the sportsdirect.com@St James' Park Stadium until the end of the season.

FAT players get free burgers in sponsorship deal

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:01:12 GMT

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's top soccer players will feast on free burgers as part of a three-year sponsorship deal with American fast food giant McDonald's worth almost $900,000, the country's soccer president said Wednesday.

Kazakhstan urges citizens to use planes over cars

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:26:15 GMT

ASTANA (Reuters) - The government of Kazakhstan, an ex-Soviet country the size of Western Europe with an average weekly wage of $114 (69.75 pounds), has urged its citizens to make more use of small planes to replace the "anachronism" of long car journeys.

Somali rebels ban musical ringtones on phones

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:56:12 GMT

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Sacdiyo Sheeq used to love listening to Bollywood movie songs on her mobile telephone.

Scared of flying? Press the iPanic button

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:57:32 GMT

SYDNEY (Reuters) - People scared of flying can now press a button on their iPhone to help them deal with their panic.

CSKA Sofia suspend nine players for late night

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:56:50 GMT

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia suspended nine players for an unspecified period for staying out too late, the club said on Monday.

Meet Helen and Aphrodite, Cyprus's indigenous cats

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:55:17 GMT

NICOSIA (Reuters) - The island which gave the world its first domesticated cat 9,500 years ago is about to bag two breeds of its own, the slinky Aphrodite and the stocky Helen.

Space hotel says it's on schedule to open in 2012

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:53:27 GMT

BARCELONA (Reuters) - A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

World's fastest man adopts world's fastest animal

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:48:38 GMT

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Olympic and world sprint champion Usain Bolt on Monday adopted a cheetah cub in Kenya's Nairobi National Park.

Bitten by the marathon bug? Pro offers tips

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:57:02 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The ING New York City Marathon of 2009 is history. But if those sleek runners and cheering crowds have inspired you to gear up for 2010, a top runner advises easy paces and soft landings.

Thousands queue for last Big Mac in Iceland

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:29:28 GMT

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Thousands of Icelanders lined up at McDonald's restaurants to order their last Big Macs before the U.S. fast-food chain abandons the crisis-hit island at midnight Saturday due to soaring costs.

Amazon Indians find Brazil plane crash survivors

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:27:22 GMT

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Nine people of 11 on a small plane survived a crash landing on a river in Brazil's Amazon rain forest after native Indians notified authorities, who dispatched a rescue mission, the government said on Friday.

Divers probe Mayan ruins submerged in Guatemala lake

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:15:19 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Scuba divers are exploring the depths of a volcanic lake in Guatemala to find clues about an ancient sacred island where Mayan pilgrims flocked to worship before it was submerged by rising waters.

I could have been making sushi, says Kobayashi

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:59:18 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Kamui Kobayashi feared his career was leading more to the kitchen of his father's sushi restaurant than Formula One until Toyota gave him the break that changed everything.

No eternity with Marilyn as crypt auction fails again

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:05:31 GMT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A second attempt to sell a crypt on top of Marilyn Monroe's final resting place has failed, with not a single bid received for the burial spot in a celebrity-filled Los Angeles cemetery.