Odd News

LONDON (Reuters) - A rare Bugatti motor car, which has been parked in a garage gathering dust for nearly 50 years, is expected to fetch millions of pounds when it is auctioned next month.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Fears of a prolonged recession in China have triggered a sharp increase in divorce inquiries addressed to lawyers and financial advisers, state media reported on Monday, with timing a key issue.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A computer glitch at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gave gold traders a 23-minute bonanza that cost the bank dearly last week, sparking a debate on Monday as the bank reclaimed the windfall.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Those eager to put 2008 behind them will have to hold their good-byes for just a moment this New Year's Eve.

LIMA (Reuters) - Virgin Mary, a 20-year-old Peruvian woman, gave birth to a baby boy on Christmas day and named him Jesus, Peru's state news agency said on Friday.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Hundreds of Taiwan aboriginals threw eggs at a heavily guarded government office on Tuesday while yelling epithets in protest against what they said was a lack of protection for historic land rights.

SAN FRANCISCO DE PAULA, Cuba (Reuters) - Cuba on Monday made the first of thousands of digitized documents, photographs and books that belonged to writer Ernest Hemingway available to scholars after the items languished for decades in the basement of his home outside of Havana.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A leading Chinese speed skater has been banned for one year after he made obscene gestures towards spectators during a national tournament, local media reported Tuesday, citing sport authorities.

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Sunday he would launch a state-run daily newspaper later this month, saying the paper would act as a counterbalance to the "anti-government" local media.

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - The abduction of a U.S. anti-kidnap expert in northern Mexico last month remains a mystery with no clues to the man's whereabouts and no ransom demanded by his captors, police said on Monday.

PAW PAW, Mich. - Paw Paw's police chief said a heart found at a car wash in the southwestern Michigan village belonged to a deer. Investigators had been trying to determine the organ's origin since Dec. 15, when the owner of Soapy's Car Wash found it in the corner of a manual wash bay.

LONDON (Reuters) - The head of children's services at Haringey Council has launched an appeal against her dismissal over the Baby P case, the local authority said on Tuesday.

MILWAUKEE - A whopper about a devious baby and his diapers is the top lie of 2008, an organization of champion fibbers declared Monday. The Burlington Liars Club bestowed its top award for this line: "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it."

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Increasing obesity has prompted an Australian state to seek larger planes for the country's famous "Flying Doctor" service, ambulance and government officials said Saturday.

VASSALBORO, Maine - A one-time motel in a small central Maine town could soon be offering an eye-opening way to start the day — topless coffee shop waitresses. The Vassalboro Planning Board on Tuesday will consider a business permit request for a topless coffee shop on busy Route 3.

(Reuters) - The global recession manifests itself in big ways and small: most gloomy, some quirky and many reflecting the inventive human spirit. Here is a look at some signs of the times.

HERMAN, Minn. - Deputies investigating a sewer problem at a Minnesota home smelled something amiss — a strong odor of marijuana. Grant County Sheriff Dwight Walvatne said deputies went to the home in Herman this week intending to cite the owner for failing to connect to the city's main sewer line, in violation of a public health ordinance.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish-American dance master Michael Flatley is back on stage after years of suffering from a "mystery virus," thanks to a treatment by an Irish "energy healer," Irish media quoted Flatley as saying on Wednesday.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - A man who allegedly squatted in the attic of a Pennsylvania family's home over Christmas and helped himself to their belongings is "sorry and upset" it happened, his lawyer said Monday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sharks have wimpy bites for their size and can crunch through their prey only because they have very sharp teeth -- and because they can grow to be so big, researchers reported Tuesday.