SYDNEY (Reuters) – Two Australian farmers say that they may have found the world’s woolliest sheep, whose estimated 25 kg (55 lb) coat, if confirmed, could shatter the world record currently held by neighboring New Zealand. Shaun the sheep was found on Sunday ... More »
AUSTIN Texas (Reuters) – Beer packaging has just gotten a lot bigger in Texas, where a small brewery is launching a 99-pack of its “Peacemaker” ale. The 7-foot-long (2.13-meter-long) pack consists of three rows of 33 cans that tip the scales at 82 pounds (37 k... More »
SAN ANTONIO DE LOS BANOS Cuba (Reuters) – All that’s missing is the beard. An 8-year-old Cuban boy who likes to dress up as Fidel Castro got to meet his idol after Cuba’s 88-year-old retired leader invited him and his family to his Havana home for a chat. “I f... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Making customers cry may not be most shopkeeper’s goal, but at Sydney’s 101-year-old Doll Hospital workers take tears as a sign of a job well done. In an age of mass-produced plastic dolls, few doll hospitals around the world have survived, ... More »
(Reuters) – California diners can now legally enjoy a meal on a restaurant patio with their dogs in tow, under a law signed Thursday by Governor Jerry Brown that eliminates health code regulations banning restaurant owners from allowing pooches on the premises... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch government paid 461,000 euros ($615,000) to erect a fence around King Willem-Alexander’s seaside villa in southern Greece, RTL News reported on Wednesday, drawing media criticism and demands for an explanation. The Dutch monarch... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – A China Eastern Airlines Corp passenger plane that had started its night-time descent into a Wuhan airport was forced to abort its landing after air traffic controllers had dozed off, an investigation report found. The incident, which took ... More »
(Reuters) – Hunters in Alabama snared an alligator weighing more than 1,000 pounds, the largest ever caught in a legal hunt in the state, conservation officials said on Monday. The alligator, caught with a snare hook in a southern Alabama state park early Satu... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Saks Fifth Avenue has a bone to pick with Snaks 5th Avenchew, an online pet treat company whose name has raised the New York department store chain’s ire. But so far, the doggie snack purveyor is sticking to its puns. Saks, owned by Hudson... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – After a spate of arrests and bad publicity, the costumed characters who pose for tourist photographs in New York’s Times Square in the hopes of a cash tip have formed an association to preserve a livelihood that has come under increasing s... More »
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) – A woman was hospitalized on Tuesday after her car fell into a sinkhole that opened up in a Pittsburgh-area parking lot, officials said. News footage showed the sinkhole in Ross Township, Pennsylvania, was about three times the width of a... More »
ORLANDO Fla. (Reuters) – The evidence is circumstantial but the case looks strong. Multiple cats missing without a trace, a freshly killed body, and one well-fed, 120-pound Burmese python lurking in the Florida underbrush. Four Port St. Lucie police officers o... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A toddler squeezed through the White House gates on Thursday evening, causing a brief security lockdown on Pennsylvania Avenue and amusing White House reporters awaiting late-breaking news on Iraq. “We were going to wait until he learned... More »
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – In a ramshackle old building in Budapest, tourists pay to be locked up in a room and try to escape by solving a series of mysterious clues, opening locks and finding their way out. “Rabbit Hole”, inspired by the 19th Century English novel ... More »
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – A Philadelphia archaeology museum said on Tuesday its researchers have discovered an extremely rare 6,500-year-old human skeleton in its own basement, where it had been in storage for 85 years. The Penn Museum, affiliated with the Univ... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – A secretary who posted nude pictures of herself in the Swiss parliament to more than 11,000 followers on Twitter told a newspaper on Wednesday she did not believe she had broken any rules. Many of the “selfies” were taken in her office in th... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – U.S. planemaker Boeing has teamed up with South African Airways to develop jet fuel from a tobacco plant as part of efforts to cut carbon emissions and promote green energy in Africa’s most advanced economy. The jet fuel will be made f... More »
HOUSTON (Reuters) – A Texas company is offering a unique send off for beloved pets by placing a portion of their cremated remains in a capsule and blasting them off into space. Celestis Inc, which has provided memorial space flights for human remains since 199... More »
ORLANDO Fla. (Reuters) – A Florida family scavenging for sunken treasure on a shipwreck has found the missing piece of a 300-year-old gold filigree necklace sacred to Spanish priests, officials said on Tuesday. Eric Schmitt, a professional salvager, was scaven... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A major water main ruptured underneath a street near the University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday, unleashing a 20-foot-tall geyser and millions of gallons of water that flooded part of campus and stranded motorists on nearby st... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ditching handshakes in favor of more informal fist bumps could help cut down on the spread of bacteria and illnesses, according to a study released on Monday. The study in the American Journal of Infection Control found that fist bumps, wh... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – Supporters of Venezuela’s late socialist leader Hugo Chavez on Monday unveiled yet another novel way of keeping his memory alive – a font for typing in “El Comandante’s” handwriting style. The distinctive ‘ChavezPro’ font was launched by a ... More »
(Reuters) – Ebay may soon heat up with searches for baseball jerseys honoring Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, after his own team managed to spell the top hitter’s name wrong. The team gave out 15,000 of the shirts to fans attending a home game at C... More »
ORLANDO Fla. (Reuters) – Three bare burglars burgle beef. Only in Florida is that not a tongue twister but the latest true crime. The break-in occurred at Doc’s Beach House in Bonita Springs in the middle of the night on Sunday, according to Lee County sheriff... More »
(Reuters) – A California woman who spooked her small community by anonymously leaving porcelain dolls on the doorsteps of fellow churchgoers that eerily resembled their daughters told police she is embarrassed by the incidents, authorities said on Friday. The ... More »
(Reuters) – The singer Chubby Checker has settled a lawsuit in which he accused Hewlett-Packard Co of using his trademarked name without permission on a software app that purported to measure the size of a man’s penis. HP denied liability in agreeing to settle... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Police said on Thursday they were investigating porcelain dolls that had been left on the doorsteps of at least eight homes in a Southern California beach city that homeowners said bore a resemblance their daughters. The dolls were foun... More »
MILWAUKEE (Reuters) – A Milwaukee barber received a 3-1/2-year prison sentence on Thursday for supplying a stun gun used in the theft of a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin from a concert violinist. Universal Knowledge Allah, 37, was also sentenced by Milwaukee... More »
(Story refiled to correct typographical error on third paragraph) (Reuters) – A Minnesota man and his two sons were asked to leave a Southwest Airlines flight after the man sent a tweet complaining about being treated rudely by a gate agent. Duff Watson said h... More »
SPENCER, Mass. (Reuters) – Tucked off a two-lane highway in a hilly, wooded section of central Massachusetts, a group of Roman Catholic monks has embraced a centuries-old tradition they hope can sustain their aging members in a world of rapidly rising health c... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Want a giant historic order of fries with that? A water tower shaped like a 170-foot-tall ketchup bottle is for sale in southern Illinois, along with an adjacent warehouse, an owner said on Wednesday. Fans fear the 65-year-old landmark, whi... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A German court ruled on Tuesday that some people suffering from chronic pain should be able to cultivate their own cannabis “for therapeutic purposes”. Five people suffering from chronic pain brought the complaint to a court in Cologne after... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – As India’s capital baked in a heat wave, banker Gaurav Gupta sat down for lunch at a new air-conditioned restaurant, to be greeted by a smiling waiter who took his order for a traditional “thali” meal of flat bread, lentils, vegetables an... More »
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Authorities in Washington state were looking for a person who donated three human skulls to a thrift store last month, and said on Monday their pleas for information had instead prompted the handover of yet more human remains. The Seattle a... More »
HARRISBURG Pa. (Reuters) – Buying a bridge is not on most to-do lists, but anyone seeking a historic span need look no further than the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which has 11 of them for sale. PennDOT is trying to save bridges on the National ... More »
(Reuters) – The Chicago Cubs are suing two men accused of posing in bear costumes as mascots for the Major League Baseball team and lurking around Wrigley Field, hustling fans for tips and in one case getting into a bar brawl. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. distri... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Actor Rob Brown of HBO’s “Treme” has settled a federal discrimination lawsuit against Macy’s Inc and the city of New York, the retailer said on Thursday, resolving part of a “shop-and-frisk” controversy over racial profiling in the city. U... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Actor Rob Brown of HBO’s “Treme” has settled a federal discrimination lawsuit against Macy’s Inc and the city of New York, the retailer said on Thursday, resolving part of a “shop-and-frisk” controversy over racial profiling in the city. U... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Actor Rob Brown of HBO’s “Treme” has settled a federal discrimination lawsuit against Macy’s Inc and the city of New York, the retailer said on Thursday, resolving part of a “shop-and-frisk” controversy over racial profiling in the city. U... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Actor Rob Brown of HBO’s “Treme” has settled a federal discrimination lawsuit against Macy’s Inc and the city of New York, the retailer said on Thursday, resolving part of a “shop-and-frisk” controversy over racial profiling in the city. U... More »
(Reuters) – A Southern California couple who scaled back watering their lawn amid the state’s drought received a warning from the suburb where they live that they might be fined for creating an eyesore – despite emergency statewide orders to conserve. Michael ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese artist who made figures of Lady Gaga and a kayak modeled on her vagina said on Wednesday from jail she was “outraged” by her arrest and vowed a court fight against obscenity charges. Megumi Igarashi, 42, says she was challenging a ... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – With many Indians worrying about the threat of tough measures in their new government’s first budget next week, a Facebook post suggesting the finance minister might be pondering less earthly matters quickly roused anger on Wednesday. Aru... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – With many Indians worrying about the threat of tough measures in their new government’s first budget next week, a Facebook post suggesting the finance minister might be pondering less earthly matters quickly roused anger on Wednesday. Aru... More »
SALVADOR, Brazil, June 21 (Reuters) – The suspension of captain Robin van Persie for Monday’s World Cup Group B decider against Chile means the Netherlands will play an international without a player whose surname begins with ‘Van’ for the first time in almost... More »
BERCHTESGADEN (Reuters) – An injured explorer trapped in Germany’s deepest cave system for 12 days was finally brought to the surface on Thursday after a complex rescue operation, Bavaria’s mountain rescue service said. Johann Westhauser, a 52-year old speleol... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A professional singer said on Monday she sang through a throat surgery carried out under hypnosis in France to ensure that doctors did not harm her vocal cords. Singer Alama Kante, 31, who is from Guinea and specializes in traditional African... More »
SANTA CRUZ Bolivia (Reuters) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon got an unusual treat for his 70th birthday on Friday when the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, presented him with a cake made with coca leaves. The UN chief was in Santa Cruz, Bolivi... More »
(Reuters) – Gold, the hard asset long seen as the ultimate hedge against risk, has fallen so much out of favor in recent years that the owner of a mine in Canada’s historic Yukon gold belt wants to sell the property for $2 million in bitcoin, a virtual currenc... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – There was something old, something new, something borrowed and something double-ply for 10 designers who battled it out on Thursday for $10,000 and the top prize in the 10th annual toilet paper wedding dress contest held in New York City. ... More »
LA PAZ (Reuters) – An indigenous man in Bolivia whose reported age would have made him the oldest person ever known, died on Monday night in his village near Lake Titicaca, his only living son said. Carmelo Flores, an Aymara Indian, claimed to be 123 years old... More »
SANTOS Brazil (Reuters) – Cab please! Stranded when their bus broke down outside their hotel in Brazil’s Santos on Monday, Mexico’s squad had to pile into taxis to get to practice. “Our bus has shrunk, hahahahaha,” Mexican captain Rafael Marquez said on his Tw... More »
PORTLAND Oregon (Reuters) – Thousands of bicyclists, many of them stark naked, poured into the streets of Portland, Oregon on Saturday night for the 11th annual World Naked Bike Ride, a protest that promotes bike riding as an alternative to driving cars. Nude ... More »
(Reuters) – A Florida man who feels he is being unfairly treated by local code enforcement officials has mounted an unusual protest – he painted his house like the American flag. “It’s just total government abuse. This is still America,” said Brent Greer, who ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Luxury jeweler Fabergé filed a copyright lawsuit on Thursday against a New York City restaurant for what it called a “shameless” appropriation of Fabergé’s name and distinctive storefront facade of repeated gold and purple diamonds. The re... More »
DALLAS (Reuters) – It took a Texas man five days to polish off what has been hailed as one of the most expensive drinks produced at Starbucks, a several-thousand calorie frozen concoction that included 60 shots of espresso and was topped with whipped cream. “I... More »
(Reuters) – An infamous red carpet prankster struck actor Brad Pitt in the face as he signed autographs at the Hollywood premiere of a film starring his partner Angelina Jolie on Wednesday, police said. Pitt, a Golden Globe-winning actor, was at the premiere o... More »
(Reuters) – An infamous red carpet prankster struck actor Brad Pitt in the face as he signed autographs at the Hollywood premiere of a film starring his partner Angelina Jolie on Wednesday, police said. Pitt, a Golden Globe-winning actor, was at the premiere o... More »
(Reuters) – An infamous red carpet prankster struck actor Brad Pitt in the face as he signed autographs at the Hollywood premiere of a film starring his partner Angelina Jolie on Wednesday, police said. Pitt, a Golden Globe-winning actor, was at the premiere o... More »
KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Nepal said on Tuesday it was investigating whether a Chinese woman, this season’s sole climber of Mount Everest from the Nepalese side, used a helicopter to reach a high camp after a deadly avalanche last month washed away part of the rou... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secret Service police on Friday arrested a man who stripped naked outside the White House fence and fought with officers. A Secret Service spokesman identified the man as Michel Bechard and said he was charged with assault and indecent e... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Agriculture Department is known for its army of statisticians packing yardsticks and calculators to measure wheat and count soybeans. But the agency needs more firepower for another kind of rural reckoning and is gearing up with th... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s national rail company SNCF said on Tuesday it had ordered 2,000 trains for an expanded regional network that are too wide for many station platforms, entailing costly repairs. A spokesman for the RFF national rail operator confirmed ... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – McDonald’s restaurant chain says its new “Happy” mascot will bring “fun and excitement” to its children’s meals, but social media contend the toothy, red box-shaped character will have the opposite effect. Twitter responses to McDonald’s ma... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. political adviser David Axelrod spelt British opposition leader Ed Miliband’s surname wrongly in a Tweet on Friday erroneously linking to a spoof account that pokes fun at his new client instead. The gaffe, which came down to Axelrod, a... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – He’s dark and lumbering, crashing through cities and destroying them with swipes of his massive tail and blasts of radioactive breath. Godzilla is back on the rampage, roaring and stomping, for the first time in ten years. But the much-antici... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One U.S. Supreme Court justice referred to Netflix as “Netflick.” Another seemed not to know that HBO is a cable channel. A third appeared to think most software coding could be tossed off in a mere weekend. These and other apparent gaff... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tina Chen has her hands full as a New York City actress, director and now surrogate mother to 16 ducklings that have hatched on her high-rise apartment roof deck. Local mallards, seeking safe spots for their nests, have an eye for prime re... More »
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – When a full-grown Amur tiger peers down on people just a few feet below, it’s a new experience for cats and humans alike. The Philadelphia Zoo, the nation’s oldest, is unveiling an exhibit that allows its large cats to walk along enclo... More »
DENVER (Reuters) – The Colorado legislature on Wednesday voted to create the nation’s first state-run financial cooperative for marijuana sellers, with the aim of giving newly legalized cannabis retail outlets access to key banking services through the U.S. Fe... More »
DENVER (Reuters) – The Colorado state Senate passed a bill on Wednesday to create the nation’s first state-run marijuana financial cooperative, with the ultimate aim of opening newly legalized cannabis retail outlets to key banking services through the Federal... More »
(Reuters) – A two-month-old bear cub that bit and scratched at least 18 students at a Missouri college poses no rabies threat and won’t be killed, school officials said on Friday. The college earlier said that the cub, named Boo Boo, would have to be euthanize... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will jail people who eat rare animals for 10 years or more under a new interpretation of the criminal law, state media reported, as the government seeks to close a legal loophole and better protect the natural environment. China lists... More »
MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) – Uruguayans will be able buy up to 10 grams of pot a week, enough to roll 20 joints, under new rules governing the recently legalized marijuana trade in the country, a government source said on Thursday. The source, who spoke on condition... More »
JAKARTA/PERTH (Reuters) – An Australian passenger mistook the cockpit door for the toilet, triggering Friday’s hijack scare on a Virgin Australia flight from Brisbane to the Indonesian holiday island of Bali, police said. Matt Lockley told Bali police after hi... More »
(Reuters) – The Somali mother of a teen stowaway who survived a flight from California to Hawaii in the plane’s wheel well said in a radio interview from a refugee camp in Ethiopia that she had not been able to speak to her son for years before his risky adven... More »
IRWINDALE, California (Reuters) – A Southern California city council put off voting on Wednesday on whether to declare a popular hot sauce maker’s factory a public nuisance, as the two sides sought a settlement over residents’ complaints of tear-inducing fumes... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Southern California makers of the popular Sriracha brand of hot sauce faced another potential showdown on Wednesday with the city of Irwindale over a peppery smell emitted from the company’s chili-processing factory in town. The cit... More »
(Reuters) – A Tennessee man looking for a place to sleep found a bed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where the Rev. Martin Luther King was shot and killed in 1968. But the motel is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum, and Dexter Anderson, 33, was ar... More »
(Reuters) – A teenage stowaway who survived a flight to Hawaii in the wheel well of a passenger plane told investigators he spent the night sleeping in the jet’s cramped compartment at a California airport before the flight took off, an FBI official said. The ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York Police Department campaign to burnish its image via social media instead produced a flood of pictures of apparent police brutality and tweets critical of the force being shared at a rate of thousands an hour. Police Commissioner... More »
CUTUD, Philippines (Reuters) – Nearly 20 Filipinos and a Danish filmmaker were nailed to crosses to re-enact the crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday, a practice the Roman Catholic Church frowns upon as a distortion of the Easter message. The annual Philippine... More »
(Reuters) – Call him juror K-9. A computer glitch is likely to blame for a summons that called a German Shepherd to report for jury duty, court officials in New Jersey’s Cumberland County said on Wednesday. Barrett Griner IV, of Bridgeton, said he opened a jur... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – North Korea failed to see the joke when a London hair salon used a picture of its leader Kim Jong Un to try to attract more customers and has written to Britain’s Foreign Office asking it to stop what it calls a “provocation”. A hair salon i... More »
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – When French film actress Brigitte Bardot began a campaign to spare the thousands of stray dogs in Romania’s capital from being put down, she did it with a $150,000 donation scheme. A similar campaign is being waged by Ana-Maria Ciulcu, a ... More »
(Reuters) – US Airways said it was investigating a pornographic tweet on Tuesday sent on its Twitter account in response to a customer complaint about a flight delay, which went viral on social media. US Airways issued an apology on Monday immediately after de... More »
CLEVELAND (Reuters) – An Ohio man sentenced by a judge to spend Sunday wearing a sign reading “I AM A BULLY” at a busy suburban Cleveland intersection was greeted by a boisterous stream of honking car horns, jeers and insults. Edmond Aviv, 62, clad in a hat an... More »
(Reuters) – For 46 years, a canoe thought to date to the 1700s sat in the back of a display case as a minor exhibit at a small museum run by a volunteer historical group in Minnesota. But this week, archaeologists who conducted radio carbon tests on the canoe ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – “You’re virtually there” is a common shout of encouragement to ailing runners in the London marathon but thanks to a new “interactive 3D experience” athletes the world over will be able to navigate the course from the comfort of their own tr... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The small Southern California town of Irwindale has opened a new front in its battle against what it says is a pungent, tear-inducing odor from a chili processing factory owned by the makers of Sriracha-brand hot pepper sauce. The City ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A singer is the star of the show in a new exhibition of mummies at the British Museum for which modern medical scanners have been used to examine eight bodies and find out what they looked like, how they lived and how they died. The technolo... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Two World War One artillery shells packed in the checked baggage of two American teenagers returning from a European trip were confiscated by security officers at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The 75-mm military grade shells, whic... More »
KARIBA, Zimbabwe (Reuters) – Crocodiles are some of the most feared predators in Africa, ruthless reptiles renowned for tearing their prey to pieces before swallowing hunks of meat raw. But in the baking sun at Nyanyana crocodile farm on the shores of Zimbabwe... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Convicted gangster James “Whitey” Bulger has a message for members of Boston’s criminal underworld: If you confess to a crime you committed, he’s not coming for you. Bulger was known for killing criminal associates he suspected of talking to... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A Fabergé Imperial Easter Egg made for Emperor Alexander III of Russia and not seen in public for more than a century will go on show in London after being saved from the melting pot by an American scrap dealer who only accidentally realized... More »
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Queen Elizabeth met Pope Francis for the first time on Thursday and gave a bemused pontiff culinary delights from the royal estates, including a dozen eggs and a bottle of whisky. “I’ve also brought something from all our estates, whic... More »
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Scores of garment workers have fallen sick this week at factories in Cambodia, including two that produce clothing for sportswear groups Puma SE and Adidas, workers and the companies said on Thursday. A total of 118 employees passed out ... More »
LONDON/SYDNEY (Reuters) – He may still be in nappies but Prince George embarks on his first official tour this weekend as Britain’s younger royals ride a wave of popularity that is expected to dampen republican movements in Australia and New Zealand. The eight... More »
SIHEUNG, South Korea (Reuters) – Chinese shoppers already have a seemingly insatiable appetite for South Korean pop music, TV dramas, cosmetics and fashion. Now they’re after another must-have item: a driver’s license. In China, would-be drivers can wait up to... More »
MILFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) – A Connecticut woman whose face and hands were ripped off in an attack by a friend’s pet chimpanzee in 2009, on Wednesday was denied a bid to sue the state for up to $150 million to cover her medical expenses. The state legislat... More »
