(Reuters) – At a North California supermarket last week, one visitor likely had only one thing in mind – the bear necessities. Shoppers at the Kings Beach Safeway by Lake Tahoe found an otherwise routine trip to the store on Aug. 25 disrupted by an inquisitive... More »
DONG HOA, Vietnam (Reuters) – While coronavirus lockdowns caused many men across the world to grow their hair longer than usual, none compare with Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Chien who has gone almost 80 years without a trim. The 92-year-old from the southern Mekong ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A new rule forcing Germans to take their dog for a walk twice a day has unleashed a debate on whether the state can decide what is best for the country’s 9.4 million pet canines. Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner announced this week she h... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A man strolled down central London’s most popular shopping street on Friday with only a mask to cover his nudity, leaving passerbys astounded, amused and shocked. As the man walked nonchalantly along Oxford Street, naked except for the light... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Day traders seeking help for gambling addiction have tripled in number in South Korea, as COVID-19 social distancing and working-from-home has freed up more time for online stock market trading, data showed. Retail investors, known locally as... More »
LAGOS (Reuters) – Oreoluwa Akinnawo is in his element. Lagos’s bars and restaurants are shut and Nigerians are struggling to socialise. The pandemic is his perfect time to find a soul mate online. “The dating thing during this restriction works perfectly for m... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – With their stadium devoid of fans due to coronavirus restrictions, Japanese baseball team Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have come up with an imaginative replacement: dancing robots. Before their most recent Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) game ag... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – It is being hailed as a major win for democracy in South Korea. After 16 years in exile, a president this week triumphantly returned to claim his rightful place – on the front of a box of green onion-flavoured cereal. The limited edition of t... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – One lucky baseball fan was taken inside the otherwise empty Tokyo Dome for Yomiuri Giants’ win on Tuesday via a monitor mounted on a robot she controlled from home. Nippon Professional Baseball teams have begun their season without fans in st... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The appearance of a mysterious white object in the sky over northern Japan on Wednesday set social media ablaze, with speculation ranging from UFOs to coronavirus and North Korean propaganda. Television footage taken in the northeastern city ... More »
CHONBURI, Thailand (Reuters) – Volunteer pet groomer Kriengkai Thatwakorn is thrilled to be back helping out stray dogs in Thailand, some in urgent need of a shearing after waiting three sweltering months for a trim. A domestic travel ban to contain the novel ... More »
QALQILYA, West Bank (Reuters) – Peacocks, ostriches and baboons joined in an animal baby boom at a Palestinian zoo during the coronavirus closure as they let nature take its course free from human distractions. Fifteen animals were born at the tiny Qalqilya Zo... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French police have taken away an emaciated lion from a circus in Vironvay, western France, following complaints from an animal rights organization. The prefecture for the Eure region said in a statement the lion had been seized as the circus ... More »
(Reuters) – A trooper stopping a car with a suspected “impaired driver” on a U.S. highway on Monday was bemused to find a 5-year-old in the driver’s seat, the Utah Highway Patrol tweeted. After seeing a vehicle driving slowly and weaving in the left lane of th... More »
(This March 17 story corrects stock symbol of Zoom to ZM.O, not ZOOM.PK in the last paragraph) By Jane Lanhee Lee and Paresh Dave OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) – Andre Hilden, a data architecture consultant in Oakland, California, missed a memo from his company la... More »
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – The growls from the caged hyena reverberate through the room as Mohamed Sheikh Yakub slumps silently in a chair nearby, hoping the animal will frighten away the evil spirits he says have troubled him since his divorce. The traditional tre... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Mad Mike” Hughes, a self-styled explorer and daredevil bent on proving that the earth is flat was killed over the weekend when his homemade rocket crashed in the California desert over the weekend. “Michael ‘Mad Mike’ Hughes tragically... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Osaka’s Itami airport is setting up a toilet area for travelling dogs, complete with a pole for them to cock a leg on. The toilet, in a fenced-off yard outside the terminal, will also have a shower and water bowls, operator Kansai Airports sa... More »
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Guinness World Records has named a South African restaurant as the official titleholder for ‘Most Varieties of Milkshakes Commercially Available’. With a total 207 varieties on their menu, Gibson’s Gourmet Burgers and Ribs has a milkshake... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Spoon-bending celebrity psychic Uri Geller, 73, has applied for a job in the British government in response to an advert for “misfits” and “weirdos”, saying no other candidate would possess his powers. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ... More »
PARUNG, Indonesia (Reuters) – On the outskirts of suburban Jakarta, housewife Dita Agusta lives with more than 250 cats she has taken in off the streets, creating a shelter for the animals she hopes will one day be adopted. “It is hard to see abandoned cats on... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A performance artist who ate a banana taped to a wall that was an artwork valued at $120,000 said his actions were not vandalism and he does not regret his snack at Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida. “I decided in the morning. But I was no... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A lovelorn singing whale, a world-famous feline sourpuss and ravenous goats credited with thwarting a dangerous California wildfire were among animals whose escapades across the United States made news in 2019. Animal antics drawing attent... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – A group of secondary school students in the Philippines has found a way to convert poo from stray dogs into a mixture for bricks, aiming to rid city streets of excrement and potentially even lower construction costs. As part of a research pr... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – A pigeon has been pinching poppies from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Australia’s national war memorial in Canberra and using them to build a colorful nest in the lead-up to Remembrance Day commemorations. The pigeon has created the ... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – A Bangkok burger joint has become an internet sensation after YouTubers started challenging each other to eat its biggest meal – a near 6kg (13 pound) patty covered in fried onion rings, bacon and mayonnaise. Chris Steaks and Burgers is off... More »
CHENGDU, China (Reuters) – Would you like your dog transformed into a panda? It takes just 1,500 yuan ($212.28) at a pet café in southwest China that dyes pups in black and white streaks to resemble the animal that is considered a national treasure. The cafe, ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian sheep who made headlines in 2015 for the record-breaking weight of his fleece has died, according to the carers of the Merino named Chris. The animal, believed to be aged about 10, was found dead on Tuesday morning by his minde... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Sheep replaced traffic on the streets of Madrid on Sunday as shepherds steered their flocks through the heart of the Spanish capital, following ancient migration routes. The annual event, which started in 1994, allows shepherds to exercise t... More »
BREZE, Bosnia (Reuters) – Zorica Rebernik has spent her life in red and plans to stay that way — even after she dies. After four decades dressing in the color from head to toe, the 67-year-old Bosnian has had tombstones made for herself and husband Zoran — who... More »
(Reuters) – Squirreling away supplies for winter took on a whole new meaning for a couple in the United States, after they discovered a hoodful of walnuts and grass in their car. Holly Persic was driving to a library in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, when she... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Elaborately dressed cats and dogs and even a palm-sized sugar glider were among the animals blessed outside a Philippine mall on Sunday in celebration of the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and World Animal day.... More »
LA PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivia´s “Death Road” might seem an odd place for a septuagenarian grandmother on two wheels. The world´s most dangerous road spirals skyward nearly 11,000 feet, from the country´s lowland jungles to the snow-capped peaks of the Andes. Fog,... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will be cheering on his team from space when they take on South Africa in their pivotal Rugby World Cup clash. Parmitano will be watching Friday’s Pool B match from the International Space Station as it orbits... More »
XIAN, China (Reuters) – Feng Jianhan, 9, puts on his olive-colored army uniform, cap and white satin gloves each morning, and goosesteps across his living room. As the national anthem plays in the background, he stands by a home-made pulley system, solemnly ho... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan may not win their home Rugby World Cup but they have already proved themselves world beaters when it comes to toilets. Going to the loo is a much more futuristic experience in the Land of the Rising Sun and touring fans have been fascin... More »
WIRKSWORTH, England (Reuters) – On a two-acre field in England’s Midlands, Gavin and Alice Munro are taking sustainability to the next level: they harvest trees which they train to grow into chairs. The couple have a furniture farm in Derbyshire where they are... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French literary types aghast at the political turmoil engulfing Britain as it seeks to leave the European Union launched a tongue-in-cheek Twitter campaign on Wednesday to add ‘Brexit’ to the national lexicon. French commentator Bernard Pivot... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, revealed on Monday that they had adopted a rescued Jack Russell puppy. Television footage showed the 15-week-old puppy, named Dilyn, being brought to Johnson’s Downing ... More »
SAINT-PIERRE-D’OLERON, France (Reuters) – A loud 4-year-old rooster called Maurice on an island off the French Atlantic shore has pitted a couple of city slickers who bought a second home next door against his owners, and stirred a nationwide debate. Two years... More »
LARNACA, Cyprus (Reuters) – A 96-year-old celebrated his birthday on Saturday by breaking his own record as the world’s oldest active scuba diver for the third year running, plunging to the depths of the equivalent of a 15-storey building to explore a shipwrec... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The number of parents in Britain calling their baby girls Alexa dropped by more than half last year, statistics showed on Thursday, possibly due to the link with Amazon Echo voice-controlled gadgets. The Echo, a smart speaker that can perfor... More »
RACHEL, Nevada (Reuters) – Connie West, co-owner of an alien-themed motel in the tiny U.S. desert outpost of Rachel, Nevada, believes they are coming no matter what. Not aliens, but alien hunters. A whimsical invitation on Facebook has urged UFO enthusiasts to... More »
(Reuters) – A Florida man who was found to have ecstasy pills shaped like U.S. President Donald Trump’s head has been charged with unlawful possession of controlled substances, according Pinellas County court documents. Brendan Dolan-King, 23, was charged on F... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese convenience store chain FamilyMart apologized after video went viral on social media of rats scurrying about one of its stores in Tokyo’s popular Shibuya district, prompting it to close the outlet until further notice. Video clips po... More »
SANGATTE, France (Reuters) – A French inventor will on Sunday make his second attempt to cross the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard he designed, having abandoned a previous bid after failing to land on a refueling platform and falling into the sea. ... More »
(Reuters) – An Indian man who was bitten by a snake got his revenge on the reptile by biting it back and killing it, the man’s father said on Monday. The man, Raj Kumar, was relaxing at home, enjoying a drink on Sunday, when a snake slithered into his house in... More »
MARIA ALM, Austria (Reuters) – Every year around St. Jacob’s Day, men from Austria’s Salzburg region grapple with each other in a natural arena at the top of the Hundstein mountain in a traditional martial arts contest – the Hundstoa, or Jakobi Ranggeln. The C... More »
MOJOKERTO, Indonesia (Reuters) – An Indonesian province has put 50 overweight police on a crash program of aerobics, swimming and jogging, telling them they’d better shape up for the job. The officers in East Java are being closely monitored on the two-week pr... More »
SANGATTE, France (Reuters) – A French inventor failed in his attempt to cross the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard on Thursday when he was knocked into the water as he landed on a boat-mounted refueling platform, his technical team said. Franky Zapa... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A clumsy driver led police to a A$200 million ($140 million) drug bust in Australia after he crashed a van laden with 270 kg (600 lb) of methamphetamines into a patrol car parked outside a police station in suburban Sydney. The man, 28, slam... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – An elusive alligator residing in a Chicago lagoon was caught early on Tuesday after the reptile, thought to be an abandoned pet, captivated locals for nearly a week. The alligator, called “Chance the Snapper” after Chicago-born hip-hop arti... More »
OSTEND, Belgium (Reuters) – A Belgian man sat on a toilet for nearly five days this week in a bid to set a world record. Jimmy De Frenne, a 48-year old who is learning to be a bus driver, set himself a challenge of sitting for 165 hours on a toilet set up spec... More »
SONKAJARVI, Finland (Reuters) – A Lithuanian couple won the World Wife-Carrying Championship for a second time in a row in the Finnish town of Sonkajarvi on Saturday, triumphing in a contest where men complete an obstacle course with their wives slung over the... More »
(Reuters) – Delta Air Lines flight attendants restrained a passenger on a flight from Puerto Rico to New York after he shouted “I am God!” and claimed he would save the world, forcing the plane to return to the airport in San Juan, Puerto Rican police and the ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The body of a suspected stowaway fell hundreds of meters from a plane flying over southwest London, landing in the garden of a man’s home, just missing him as he sunbathed, according to neighbors. Police believe the man fell into the propert... More »
TALLINN (Reuters) – A lot of Europe has felt like a sauna this month, which makes Willem Maesalu’s weird car seem even weirder: the bright yellow Audi 100 Avant is a rolling sauna. Maesalu, 29, got the idea to convert his car a couple of years ago, when he fou... More »
CHESTER-LE-STREET, England (Reuters) – A swarm of bees forced the players of South Africa and Sri Lanka to dive onto the ground during their Cricket World Cup clash at the Riverside Stadium on Friday — but for many on the pitch there was a sense of deja vu. Be... More »
ITO, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan (Reuters) – The Japanese may be known for their neatness, particularly when it comes to making their bed in the morning, but all social norms went out the window on Saturday during qualifying for the All-Japan Pillow Fighting Ch... More »
GRIMBERGEN, Belgium (Reuters) – Belgian monks at the Grimbergen abbey are on the verge of brewing beer again after a break of more than 200 years. The abbey, whose emblem is a phoenix with the Latin motto “Ardet nec consumitur”, meaning “Burned but not destroy... More »
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Cambodia’s royal oxen predicted a plentiful harvest of rice, the country’s biggest crop, at an ancient plowing ceremony on Wednesday. King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the televised annual ritual in which two oxen are given offerings a... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Rescuers successfully talked down a man who scaled the upper heights of the Eiffel Tower on Monday, forcing the monument’s evacuation, and handed him over to police. Television channels ran live shots as rescuers perched on the 324-metre (1,0... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s political establishment is in chaos over Brexit and Prime Minister Theresa May’s days in office are numbered but the kingdom and the Tower of London appear safe from legendary doom after the birth of four raven chicks at the famous... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A Belgian court has ordered the country’s former king to pay 5,000 euros ($5,600) a day until he takes a DNA paternity test to resolve a long-running case brought by a woman who says she is his daughter. A judicial source said the 84-year-... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Millions of A$50 ($35) banknotes in Australia have an embarrassing typographical error that was overlooked by the country’s central bank before they were printed and circulated. The goof first became known on Thursday when a listener on radi... More »
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania wants to boost tourist numbers by putting a cable car on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain, and is in talks about the project with a Chinese and a Western company. Around 50,000 tourists climb Kilimanjaro annually.... More »
MOGOSOAIA, Romania (Reuters) – “Repeat after me! To be together with who I want,” a family of Romanian witches chant via a video call to a client in India paying for a love spell. The session, in a decorated shed in a back yard 15 km (9 miles) north of Buchare... More »
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis has often warned against gossiping among friends and neighbors, but now he says it should also be avoided in those modern temples of cheap talk: beauty parlors and hair salons. The pope exhorted some 230 Italian Catholic h... More »
REUTERS (April 17) – A Thai animal rescue group welcomed a dog who was rescued nearly 220 kilometers (136 miles) from shore Monday. The dog, named Boonrod – a Thai word which roughly translates to “the saved one” – was brought to shore for a health check after... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland on Wednesday announced plans to abolish the nation’s emergency stockpile of coffee, in place for decades, after declaring the beans not vital for human survival, though opposition to the proposal is brewing. Nestle, the maker of ... More »
(Reuters) – An April Fools’ Day resignation prank? One Texas civil court judge wishes it were so. A newly elected judge in Houston accidentally resigned on Monday, according to local media and a county official, after he shared plans online to run for the stat... More »
KRASNOYARSK, Russia (Reuters) – “Anyone but Poroshenko!” cried the crowd in a Russian zoo on Thursday as a brown bear made its way toward a butternut squash bearing a picture of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Buyan, resident of a zoo on the outskirts of... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A man stripped down to skimpy underwear and took a stroll through Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery on Wednesday evening in what it called an “unsanctioned performance,” the RIA news agency reported. This was the third incident involving a vi... More »
BURGDORF, Switzerland (Reuters) – Exposing cheese to round-the-clock music could give it more flavor and hip hop might be better than Mozart, Swiss researchers said on Thursday. Nine wheels of Emmental cheese weighing 10 kilos (22 pounds) each were placed in s... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – An Australian man had a lucky escape while confronting a man armed with a bow outside his home, as a loosed arrow pierced the mobile telephone he was holding to take a photograph of the incident, Australian police said on Thursday. The 43... More »
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – A young lion captured after being on the run for almost a month spent the night in a South African police cell before being moved back to its national park home. The juvenile male apparently escaped from the Karoo National Park through a ... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Knocked overboard in rough seas off New Zealand, a German yachtsman credited his jeans with saving his life after fashioning them into a make-shift life jacket that kept him afloat for over three hours before his rescue by coastguards. A... More »
LLANUCES, Spain (Reuters) – After tending to his cows all day, Pablo Pato swept the hay off the floor and transformed, almost Cinderella-like, into a freestyle roller skater without leaving the cowshed in the remote mountain village of Llanuces in northern Spa... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Hundreds of people descended on the town of Ashbourne in central England on Tuesday to play a traditional football game in which the rules are hazy and the goals three miles apart. The Royal Shrovetide Football Match involves teams called th... More »
PETERSFIELD, England (Reuters) – A Tinder-inspired app is helping farmers match up potential partners for their cattle. Called “Tudder” – a mix of dating app Tinder and udder – it lets farmers swipe right on cattle they like the look of. They are then directed... More »
TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto police said on Monday they are investigating an incident of a woman hurling a chair from the balcony of a high-rise condominium that was captured on a video that went viral. The video, captioned “Good morning,” shows a woman with lo... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s deputy health minister has told the European Union’s top health official to butt out after getting a reprimand for smoking in public. Deputy minister Pavlos Polakis was caught on video footage this week holding a cigarette while dan... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – An Indonesian variety of the durian – a pungent, spiky fruit considered a delicacy across many parts of Asia — has been sold in a store on the island of Java for a hefty $1,000 per fruit. The “J-Queen” durian was selected by a panel of farm... More »
LISBON (Reuters) – Portuguese archaeologists digging near one of Lisbon’s most iconic restaurants, the Solar dos Presuntos (Manor of Hams), have discovered a large Roman cemetery holding 2,000-year-old skeletons and various ancient artifacts. The necropolis wa... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Dozens of domestic rabbits have been killed and left outside their hutches in rural Brittany in western France since last summer, but police have found no clues to help them find those responsible. In a message on their Facebook page, police ... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Dogs, cats and birds were blessed at a church in Madrid on Thursday on the feast day of St. Anthony, the patron saint of animals, with many of the owners making an annual pilgrimage for their pets. St Anthony the Abbot’s church priest Angel ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – It took Smash customer Qiu Siyu just a few sharp blows with a baseball bat to wreck what looked like an old car radio, after which two friends battered telephones, audio speakers, rice cookers and even a mannequin. All three paid 158 yuan (... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian man triggered an emergency police response after a noisy exchange with a spider startled a passerby into reporting what sounded like a violent disturbance to the authorities, media reported. A neighbour was walking past a house... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Korean Air Lines Co Ltd said on Tuesday it will raise refund penalties after K-pop fans got on a plane only to take pictures of a boy band on the flight, then demanded to get off before it departed and got refunds on their tickets. The three ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A hive of honeybees in the heart of New York City, a monkey with a photographer’s eye, a brothel full featuring robotic sex dolls and a political candidate who carried the day from his grave were among the characters featured in the strang... More »
(Reuters) – Police in New Jersey on Thursday urged people who grabbed banknotes that spilled out of the back of an armored truck during rush-hour traffic to return the cash, no questions asked. East Rutherford police began receiving calls at around 8:30 a.m. E... More »
(Reuters) – An Arkansas city council candidate who twice showed up too late to vote for himself in a contest that ended in a tie wound up losing the race on Thursday in a dice roll to decide the winner. Becky Linebaugh, an incumbent alderman in the small town ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A beluga whale that was first spotted nearly three months ago in the River Thames is still feeding healthily east of the British capital and facing a lone Christmas hundreds of miles from its normal Arctic habitat. The white cetacean, which ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Firefighters in the town of Werl in western Germany tackled an unusual emergency late on Monday when a tank at a local firm making liquid chocolate overflowed and poured out onto a street. “About a ton of chocolate ran out into the yard and ... More »
BEIJING/JIAXING, China (Reuters) – Several times a week, kung fu teacher Ren Ruzhi enters a ring to spar with a bovine opponent around five times his weight and capable of killing him. Ren’s mixing of martial arts and bullfighting worries his mother, but the 2... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City police sought on Saturday for an unlucky suitor who dropped an engagement ring down a Times Square grating while proposing to his fiancee, who nonetheless told him yes. Video shared on social media by the New York Police Depa... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Superstition and looking for luck are a part of daily life in Thailand. In one temple in central Bangkok, visitors hope to find it hidden in the bark of an ancient tree. Hundreds flock to the Kunnatri Ruttharam temple every week to pay resp... More »
(Reuters) – Players set more than just their arrows flying at the Grand Slam of Darts this week, with opponents rowing over who had emitted noxious smells during their match, media reported on Saturday. Twice world champion Scotsman Gary Anderson, 47, won Frid... More »
