Newsworthiest

Italy "dog and cat tax" muzzled after uproar

Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 03:23 PM

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cats and dogs that stunned Italy on Friday turned out to be all bark and no bite after a wave of popular anger saw it withdrawn on the same day it was made public.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. ...

Man with record-breaking 14-foot mustache has some grooming tips

Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 03:17 PM

Ram Singh Chauhan of India has the world's longest mustache, 14 feet, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Chauhan had received attention long before entering the world record books. According to the London Telegraph, his famous facial hair was featured in the 1983 James Bond film "Octopussy" and he has made cameos in [...]

Photographer “blows away” subjects

Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 03:09 PM

Click image to see more photos. (Tadas Cerniauskas) An eye-popping photo series shows that perhaps there is no "good side" when your face is getting blasted by powerful gusts of wind. Lithuanian photographer Tadas Cerniauskas from the Tadao Cern studio created the work entitled "Blow Job."  He took the photos during a design exhibition in [...]

Italy "dog and cat tax" muzzled after uproar

Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 03:01 PM

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cats and dogs that stunned Italy on Friday turned out to be all bark and no bite after a wave of popular anger saw it withdrawn on the same day it was made public.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. ...

Postal employee on workers’ comp caught running Boston Marathon

Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 01:55 PM

A U.S. District Court in Florida convicted a former Florida postal worker of health care fraud after she was caught participating in more than 80 long-distance races, including the Boston Marathon, all while taking workers' compensation for a back injury. Jacquelyn V. Myers, 55, was also convicted of making false statements and faces up to [...]

Cloak and dagger world of spies exposed in NYC show

Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 01:23 PM

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). ...

Man who fathered 30 kids says he needs a break—on child support

Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 10:04 AM

And you thought Octomom had her hands full—a Tennessee man who has fathered 30 children is asking the courts for a break on child support. Desmond Hatchett, 33, of Knoxville has children with 11 different women, reports WREG-TV. The state already takes half his paycheck and divides it up, which doesn't amount to much when [...]

Presidential penis portrait riles S.Africa's ANC

Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 09:16 AM

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. ...

'Psychic' pig to make Euro tips

Published: Friday, May 18, 2012 07:15 AM

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. ...

Car with four kids riding in trunk nearly hit by semi truck (VIDEO)

Published: Thursday, May 17, 2012 09:09 PM

In this video from Romania, a car is driving down a highway with four children riding in the trunk. While the children appear to be having a good enough time, the conditions are obviously anything but safe. In fact, the children are using their arms to apparently hold up the door to the trunk. At [...]

200 buffalo escape Iowa farm, spotted across five counties in two states

Published: Thursday, May 17, 2012 05:12 PM

"Home on the Range," is the state song of Kansas, but after 200 escaped buffalo made their way across five Iowa counties, the Hawkeye State is singing a similar tune. The Press-Citizen reports that authorities are still attempting to round up some of the escaped buffalo that broke out of pen at the Frick and [...]

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Breyer robbed again

Published: Thursday, May 17, 2012 04:46 PM

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. ...

Goodwill sorting through allegedly accidental $14,000 donation

Published: Thursday, May 17, 2012 03:40 PM

A Goodwill Industries outlet in St. Louis received a very generous donation this week: $14,505 in cash. The only problem is it appears to have been unintentional rather than a literal act of goodwill. Store manager Tina Wells was sorting through a box of Christmas donations when she discovered the money, which included 266 $50 [...]

Canadian police waiting for alleged thief to ‘pass’ swallowed diamond

Published: Thursday, May 17, 2012 01:35 PM

All things must pass. At least that's the plan in place for police in Ontario who are waiting for a man to extricate a $20,000 diamond from his body, after he allegedly swallowed the stolen gem last week. The Canada Press reports that Richard Mackenzie Matthews, 52, is being held by police after allegedly swapping [...]

Canada museum kills masturbation video after outcry

Published: Thursday, May 17, 2012 12:20 PM

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. ...

Escaped penguin spotted alive, healthy and free

Published: Thursday, May 17, 2012 12:18 PM

A young penguin that pulled off a miraculous escape from an aquatic park in Japan has been spotted alive and well in the nearby Tokyo Bay. "You can see it's got the same ring around its flipper and identical facial patterns," said Kazuhiro Sakamoto, deputy director of the Tokyo Sea Life Park. "It didn't look [...]

Man tries to corral 300-pound gator using towel; doesn’t go so well (VIDEO)

Published: Thursday, May 17, 2012 12:15 PM

A North Carolina man was bitten on the arm while trying to corral an alligator using a towel. Fred Boyce, a herpetologist at Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium, was called in to move the 10-foot, 300-pound gator, which had been spotted in a ditch near a highway in Stacy, N.C., on Tuesday. Its attempted removal was [...]

Spooked horse swims two miles offshore

Published: Thursday, May 17, 2012 09:58 AM

Beach goers and boaters along the coast of Central California are accustomed to seeing fascinating sea creatures large and small off its shore—but an Arabian horse? Some at first thought the gleaming white animal bobbing up and down on the waves near Santa Barbara was a seagull, but were surprised to learn it was a [...]

Fugitive penguin 337 spotted alive in Tokyo Bay

Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 10:14 PM

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. ...

Man dies at strip club after night of unpaid lap dances

Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 08:53 PM

We've all got to go sometime. But 67-year-old Robert Gene White did so in a way that some men would find enviable, after receiving several lap dances at a Texas strip club. And he managed to pass away before having to pay his bill. Local Fox affiliate KDFW reports that White "enjoyed several lap dances" [...]

Canada museum kills masturbation video after outcry

Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 07:05 PM

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. ...

Sniffer dog nabs smuggler hiding heroin in rectum

Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 03:38 PM

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. ...

Sniffer dog nabs smuggler hiding heroin in rectum

Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 03:37 PM

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. ...

‘Haunted’ L.A. hospital being converted into senior living home

Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 03:29 PM

Would you want your grandma living in an abandoned hospital so well known for its creepy atmosphere and alleged hauntings that it has been used in various Hollywood productions by folks like Rob Zombie and the makers of the horror film "Se7en"? The L.A. Times says the 107-year-old Linda Vista Community Hospital may soon earn [...]

Nats pitcher Strasburg brings the heat, regrets it

Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2012 12:48 PM

(Reuters) - Washington pitcher Stephen Strasburg may read warning labels a little closer in future after some 'Hot Stuff' heat rub ointment got on "the wrong place" and made Tuesday's outing on the mound an uncomfortable one. Strasburg, one of the most promising young pitchers in Major League Baseball, allowed four runs in a 6-1 defeat to the San Diego Padres, the 23-year-old fidgeting his way through four irritating innings on the way to his first loss of the season. Nationals manager Davey Johnson told reporters the ointment had rubbed Strasburg the wrong way. ...