Editorial: Latest Reports from Reuters 'Oddly Enough'

Here are the latest reports from Reuters ‘Odd News’.

For world records, Indian man removes teeth and gets over 500 tattoos
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – An Indian man obsessed with setting Guinness world records got 366 flags tattooed on his body and had all his teeth removed so he could put nearly 500 drinking straws and more than 50 burning candles in his mouth.

London neighbors engage in ‘battle of the balconies’ ahead of EU vote
LONDON (Reuters) – The debate about Britain’s future in the Europe has taken an unexpected new twist: a “battle of the balconies” between north London neighbors unfurling competing pro- and anti-Brexit banners.

Pro-EU group unveils Soviet-style mural of Trump kissing ex-Mayor Johnson
LONDON (Reuters) – A giant mural of Donald Trump locked in a kiss with former London mayor Boris Johnson in the style of a legendary Soviet-era image has been unveiled by a group campaigning for Britain to stay in the European Union.

Dubai says opens world’s first functioning 3D-printed office
DUBAI (Reuters) – Dubai has opened what it said was the world’s first functioning 3D-printed office building, part of a drive by the Gulf’s main tourism and business hub to develop technology that cuts costs and saves time.

Tanzanian president sacks minister for being drunk on the job
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania’s president has sacked his home affairs minister after he turned up to parliament and answered questions while under the influence of alcohol, the presidency said late on Friday.

Tortoise in a baby stroller a novelty even for New Yorkers
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City is filled with oddities that can surprise even the most die-hard New Yorkers and when Henry the tortoise turned up in a stroller in Central Park this week for his daily outing it turned more than a few heads.

Texas woman and her Chewbacca mask go viral
(Reuters) – A Texas woman found fame this week after filming a Facebook Live video of herself in an electronic Chewbacca mask that racked up over 50 million views in less than 24 hours.

Pizza restaurateur’s recipe for back-taxes : rob banks
LISBON (Reuters) – Saddled with back-taxes and other debts, an Italian restaurateur in Portugal left the pizzas aside, took a plastic replica pistol and held up a dozen banks to pay the tax man, court officials and local media said on Wednesday.

Woman faces deportation from UAE for checking husband’s phone
DUBAI (Reuters) – A woman was fined and ordered to be deported from the United Arab Emirates for breaching her husband’s privacy by checking his cell phone to see if he was cheating on her, Gulf News reported on Wednesday.

Genes tell how the giraffe got its long neck
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have sequenced the genome of the giraffe for the first time, uncovering DNA quirks that help explain how the tallest animals on earth developed their remarkably long necks.

The man who paints cows
EAST SUSSEX, UK – British painter John Marshall has spent the last decade restricting himself to just one subject: the humble cow. The paintings are big, around 2 meters and, Marshall claims, each bovine has its unique characteristics.

Tigers on the loose near Dutch village, police close in
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Two tigers escaped from a big cat shelter near a small Dutch village on Saturday and remained free after a tranquiliser dart fired by police failed to take effect.

UK receptionist petition on high heels at work gets 120,000 signatures
LONDON (Reuters) – A London temporary worker, sent home for wearing flat shoes, has collected more than 120,000 signatures so far in a petition calling for Britain to make it illegal for a firm to require women to wear high heels at work.

Oregon man’s conviction for not changing diaper overturned
(Reuters) – An Oregon appeals court has wiped away a father’s criminal conviction for not changing his son’s diaper for at least 14 hours, overturning a jury’s verdict that the man was guilty of mistreatment.

Faulty door handle sabotages Putin’s inspection of military equipment
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) – An effort to show off the superiority of Russian military equipment backfired on Thursday when the door handle of a jeep fell off just as President Vladimir Putin was inspecting the vehicle.

Alligator bites off the arm of a Florida man fleeing police
TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) – A Florida man was hospitalized after an alligator chomped off his hand and forearm as he sought to elude authorities by running into a lake, police said on Thursday.

Budweiser renames itself ‘America’ to inspire drinkers
(Reuters) – What could be more American than standing in a backyard at a barbecue while holding a beer on the Memorial Day weekend in the United States? Budweiser thinks it has the answer: Holding a beer called America.

Dating site matches Americans fleeing Trump with Canadians
TORONTO (Reuters) – A dating website is pledging to match Americans who can’t live with a Donald Trump presidency to Canadians looking for love, facilitating the pledge often made by U.S. voters to move to Canada if the real estate billionaire is elected.

It’s a twister! Tornado stars in Colorado couple’s prom photo
(Reuters) – A couple of eastern Colorado teenagers posing for a traditional prom photo received a unique memento as the girl’s mother snapped the shot with a tornado in the background.

Russian firm milks chilly US-Kremlin ties with ‘Little Obama’ ice cream
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian company is trying to cash in on chilly relations between Moscow and Washington by releasing an ice cream called “Little Obama”, irritating U.S. officials.

Selfie gone wrong fells 126-year-old statue of Portuguese king
LISBON (Reuters) – A young man’s attempt to take a selfie snapshot with the statue of a 16th century Portuguese king ended badly when the 126-year-old statue crashed to the ground and shattered, police said on Wednesday.

Forsooth! Joy for Richard III as Leicester shock world
LONDON (Reuters) – There was no shortage of superlatives on Tuesday after little Leicester City were crowned champions of the world’s richest soccer league. New fans sprung up worldwide overnight, but few could explain the season’s extraordinary events.

Arizona school unwittingly distributes yearbook photo of student’s penis
PHOENIX (Reuters) – An Arizona student who showed his penis in his football team’s photograph was arrested briefly after his high school unwittingly sent the image to hundreds of his Phoenix-area classmates as part of its yearbook, officials said on Monday.

Ready, Steady, Mow! British lawnmower racing season gets under way
LONDON (Reuters) – Behind a start line in a field in southern England, a group of drivers rev their engines, raring to open the throttle on noisy machines more used to cutting grass than racing across it.

Dutch ‘horror dentist’ sent to jail for eight years in France
PARIS (Reuters) – A Dutchman dubbed the ‘horror dentist’ by French media was sentenced to eight years in jail on Tuesday for mutilating patients’ mouths and defrauding social security services.

French baker fires his savior instead of giving him his business
PARIS (Reuters) – A French baker who promised to give his business to the homeless man that saved his life has fired him instead.

Venezuela scraps half-hour time difference set by Chavez
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela on Friday reversed a half-hour time change that was one of the signature measures of former president Hugo Chavez’s idiosyncratic 14-year rule.

On the run: Chacha the chimp escapes from Japan zoo
TOKYO (Reuters) – Chacha the chimpanzee made his own great escape on Thursday, fleeing from a zoo in northern Japan and leading authorities on a dramatic chase.

Escaped Texas inmate found hiding in apartment dishwasher
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A Texas county jail inmate who escaped custody while receiving treatment in a hospital was found in the dishwasher of his girlfriend’s apartment in boxer shorts and wearing handcuffs with the chain severed, a sheriff’s department said on Thursday.

UK airport sniffer dogs good at finding sausages, but not drugs
LONDON (Reuters) – A team of sniffer dogs set up at a British airport at a cost of 1.25 million pounds ($1.7 million) have proved adept at discovering small amounts of cheese and sausages but not so good at finding smuggled drugs, a report said on Thursday.

Drone hunt for Loch Ness Monster finds its film double
LONDON (Reuters) – A high-tech marine drone scouring the depths of Scotland’s Loch Ness for one of nature’s most elusive beasts has found a “monster” – but not the one it was looking for.

Drug-sniffing rabbit, cannon-firing kittens mark U.S. April Fools’
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Kittens firing a cannon, a rabbit sniffing for drugs, attempts at humor on the fraught presidential campaign trail and a failed prank by Google competed for attention in the United States on Friday.

Executive quits over Iceland’s cameo in Rhode Island ad: governor
BOSTON (Reuters) – A botched promotional campaign for Rhode Island that included a video that showed Reykjavik, Iceland, rather than the state capitol of Providence, has led to the resignation of a top marketing official, Governor Gina Raimondo said.

Not funny: Google removes April Fools’ Day prank email feature
(Reuters) – Google hastily removed an April Fools’ Day feature on Friday that allowed Gmail users to send emails and not see the replies, after the joke fell very flat with some people.

United flight attendant leaves packed plane in Houston on emergency slide
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A United Airlines flight attendant deployed an emergency evacuation slide on an airplane after it arrived in Houston and used it to exit a plane packed with passengers, an airline official said on Tuesday.

South Africans try to see funny side of Zuma crisis
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – With their economy flatlining, currency on the ropes and politics in turmoil, many South Africans are turning to humor for relief, mainly at the expense of President Jacob Zuma and his $16-million home improvements.

Slapping row pushes Portuguese minister to resign
LISBON (Reuters) – Portuguese Culture Minister Joao Soares resigned on Friday, a day after threatening to slap critics who had called him incompetent and rude.

New Jersey man faces jail for refusing to take down Trump flag
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump appears to have a passionate supporter in Joseph Hornick, a New Jersey man who faces a $2,000 fine or 90 days in jail for flying a flag emblazoned with the billionaire candidate’s name over his home.

Defense Against the Dark Arts: UK spies guarded against Harry Potter leak
LONDON (Reuters) – Usually concerned with top secret matters affecting national security, Britain’s eavesdropping spy agency GCHQ was also on the lookout for leaks of a yet-to-be-published Harry Potter book, its publisher has revealed.

Woman seen in Texas funeral home video stealing rings off corpse
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Police in west Texas are searching for a woman seen in a surveillance video at a funeral home in Odessa stealing a ring from the body of an 88-year-old in an open casket.

Morbidly plump Texas wiener dog loses weight and ‘Fat Vincent’ name
(Reuters) – A morbidly obese Texas dachshund once dubbed “Fat Vincent” because his belly was so large it hit the ground when he walked, has found its way out of animal shelter care by dropping half its body weight, on track to become healthy enough for a new owner.

Minister of what? Portugal culture minister wants to slap critics
LISBON (Reuters) – Critics of Portugal’s culture minister are calling on him to be fired for doing something, well, uncultured.