Editorial: Latest Reports from Reuters 'Oddly Enough' - Page 2 of 3

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.

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.

Ohio home of serial killer for rent during Republican convention
CLEVELAND (Reuters) – The Ohio childhood home of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, available for rent in time for the Republican National Convention this summer, could have been had for $8,000 a month until Friday afternoon, when the price went up and references to the infamous criminal came down.

Canada’s Alberta to fly oil via airships, it says on April Fools
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s oil-producing province of Alberta, stymied by the U.S. decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline and by other market access problems, said on Friday it will use zeppelins to bring its products to markets around the world.

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.

Don’t believe it: April 1 is day for dog bras, job site for babies
NEW YORK (Reuters) – In a political year when reality has often seemed stranger than fiction, pranksters had to work particularly hard in coming up with April Fools Day jokes that rose above the daily noise of the U.S. presidential campaign.

Ghost-catching device? April’s Fools Day kicks off
Jokes and pranks of all kind can be expected on Aprils Fool’s Day, and “Ghostbusters” fans got their own this year when Sony said it had “successfully perfected the Proton Pack, a product designed to capture content from a parallel dimension”.

Japan-bound plane returns to Hawaii after passenger does yoga in galley
(Reuters) – An airliner flying from Hawaii to Japan was forced to turn back and land in Honolulu after a passenger insisted on doing yoga in the galley in defiance of the crew, an FBI spokesman said on Thursday.

Who’s a naughty bird? Escaped parrot lands on Australian reporter
SOUTHPORT, Australia – A television reporter on Australia’s Gold Coast screamed out in surprise when an escaped parrot named Lola landed on her shoulder just as she was about to report live on camera.

U.S. fills in the blanks as coloring books sweep market
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Coloring books, once seen only as a pastime for children, have become a growing craze for American adults looking to unwind or test their creativity with coloring pencils.

Microsoft’s artificial intelligence ‘chatbot’ messes up again on Twitter
(Reuters) – Almost a week after being shut down for spewing racist and sexist comments on Twitter, Microsoft Corp’s artificial intelligence ‘chatbot’ called Tay briefly rejoined Twitter on Wednesday only to launch a spam attack on its followers.

Messi boot donation provokes angry response in Egypt
CAIRO (Reuters) – World Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi found himself the unlikely figure of controversy in Egypt after a local politician and a soccer official reacted angrily when he donated a pair of his boots to raise money for charity.

Man arrested in Vermont with equivalent of 1,400 bags of heroin in his body: police
(Reuters) – A New York man was charged with drug trafficking and other crimes after authorities in Vermont discovered the equivalent of more than 1,400 bags of heroin hidden in his body, state police said on Wednesday.

South Africa’s stealthy lion Sylvester escapes from reserve again
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African lion called “Sylvester”, who was on the loose for three weeks last year, has escaped from his game reserve again and is wandering a sparsely-populated mountain region, South African National Parks (SANParks) said on Tuesday.

Seattle’s famously stubborn #ManInTree charged with mischief, assault
SEATTLE (Reuters) – A man who refused for 25 hours to climb down from the canopy of a giant sequoia in downtown Seattle was charged on Monday with malicious mischief and assault over his treetop standoff, which drew national headlines and created a sensation on social media.

North Carolina man arrested over rented VHS tape 14 years overdue
(Reuters) – A wanted North Carolina man was arrested this week on charges he failed to return a VHS tape to a video store 14 years ago, police said on Thursday.

Love is in the armpit at New York’s Smell Dating
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Love at first whiff is the idea behind Smell Dating, a New York matchmaking service that promises to help single people sniff out their perfect match by breathing in the odors from dirty T-shirts.

Radar scan of Shakespeare’s grave confirms skull apparently missing
LONDON (Reuters) – Shakespeare’s skull is likely missing from his grave, an archaeologist has concluded, confirming rumors which have swirled for years about grave-robbers and adding to the mystery surrounding the Bard’s remains.

China to banish ‘bizarre’ foreign names for residential compounds
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will seek to root out geographic names that are foreign and “bizarre”, especially for residential compounds, state media quoted the civil affairs minister as saying on Tuesday.

Mexicans celebrate spring equinox at Pyramid of the Sun
Visitors, many dressed in white, trudge up the steps of the Pyramid of the Sun, north of Mexico City, on Sunday to catch the first rays of the day and to celebrate the spring equinox.

Brazil’s restive rich draft a duck to protest president
SÃO PAULO (Reuters) – If any symbol captures the anger of rich and upper-middle class Brazilians who have taken to the streets to protest against President Dilma Rousseff, it might be a giant, inflatable yellow duck.

Fried cow’s brains? – Italy’s historic cities push local cuisine, produce
ROME (Reuters) – Fried cow’s brains might not be to everyone’s taste, but more people may sample the Florentine specialty now that Italy’s art capital has ordered food outlets in the city center to sell mostly local produce.

China orders probe after polluting factory fined just $90
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s environment ministry has ordered an investigation after a provincial environmental protection body fined a polluting factory just 603 yuan ($90) for dumping waste water, state media said on Friday.

Stray Lion injures man in Kenyan capital: wildlife service
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A male lion that strayed into rush hour traffic in the Kenyan capital on Friday injured one man before being captured and taken back to a reserve that lies on the edge of the city, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said.

Spanish illusionist adds technology to his bag of tricks
Madrid – Spanish illusionist Jorge Blass is incorporating a new kind of magic into his act by using technology and social media to entertain crowds during his shows.

Kazakhstan bars smartphones at government offices to prevent leaks: leaked memo
ASTANA (Reuters) – Kazakh officials and their visitors will have to leave their smartphones at the door of government buildings from March 24 in line with a new policy aimed at preventing leaks of sensitive documents, a leaked document showed on Thursday.

Australia opposition shirt-fronts govt over ‘wasteful’ wombat diplomacy
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s opposition Labor Party’s launched a “Waste-pedia” booklet and Waste Watch website on Thursday, accusing the coalition government of over-lavish spending – including $400,000 on “koala and other marsupial-related events”.

Horse dressed in tweed suit ahead of Cheltenham Festival
LAMBOURN, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM – Veteran race horse Morestead upped the style stakes for this year’s Cheltenham Festival by modelling the word’s first Harris Tweed suit designed for a race horse.

Egypt jails Facebook administrator for three years after unfaithful wives comments
CAIRO (Reuters) – An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced a prominent Facebook user to three years in prison with hard labor after he asserted on television that many married women in the conservative country were unfaithful.

Rampant roosters rounded up in Australian city
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Roosters running rampant in an Australian city were rounded up on Saturday in a campaign to curb the crowing cocks.

Germany catches woman smuggling cocaine in breast implants
BERLIN (Reuters) – A 24-year-old Colombian woman was arrested at Frankfurt airport after she was found to be carrying 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of cocaine inside her breasts, German customs officials said on Wednesday.

Death Valley comes alive with super bloom of flowers
Death Valley National Park, famous for its hot, dry climate, is experiencing a rare super bloom profusion of wildflowers.

Dogs have their day at Australian surfing festival
NOOSA, Australia – Dogs were the stars of a surfing festival on Australia’s Sunshine Coast as they showed their skill riding the waves.

Ohio man who ate roommate’s brain denied parole for sixth time
(Reuters) – An Ohio man who killed his roommate and ate part of his brain almost 40 years ago was denied parole for the sixth time, prison officials said on Thursday.

Good year for deaths drives profit rise for British funeral firm
LONDON (Reuters) – A sharp increase in the number of deaths in Britain in 2015 compared with the previous year helped funeral services firm Dignity post a 16-percent profit increase, the firm said on Wednesday.

Twice lucky: Michigan family welcomes second leap year daughter
(Reuters) – A southeast Michigan couple is twice lucky after the birth of their daughter on Feb. 29, the second time the mother has given birth to a baby girl on that day in a leap year.

Trap snaps shut on drug dealers who guarded cash with crocs
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A gang of suspected drug-dealers in Amsterdam gave the task of guarding their loot to unusually ferocious guards: a pair of fully-grown crocodiles.

Oregon city fires its grounds-keeping goats with ‘barnyard aroma’
(Reuters) – A crew of goats brought in to devour invasive plants at a popular park in Oregon’s state capital, Salem, have been fired because they ate indiscriminately, cost nearly five times as much as human landscapers and smelled far worse, a city official said on Friday.

Canadian banned from owning turtles after smuggling 38 in pants
TORONTO (Reuters) – A Canadian man who smuggled 38 turtles in his pants has been given probation, a fine and has been banned from owning such reptiles for 10 years.

Minnesota apologizes, revokes ‘FMUSLMS’ vanity license plate
(Reuters) – Minnesota officials seized a “FMUSLMS” license plate and apologized for issuing it at a driver’s request, saying on Wednesday that approval procedures for so-called vanity plates were under review.

Mysterious high-pitched tone keeps Oregon residents up at night
PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) – An unexplained high-pitched tone has kept residents of a Portland suburb awake at night for at least a week, confounding the best efforts of police and firefighters to pinpoint its source, officials in the community said on Monday.

UK cathedral moves statue to avoid texting mishaps
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A British cathedral sought to reassure visitors on Monday that they could still view a massive sculpture following a Facebook post by the statue’s creator saying the church had moved it because people kept bumping into it while texting.

Hungry mice thwart fix for Brussels’ traffic chaos
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – As if the European Union does not have crises enough, now traffic chaos in its congested capital Brussels is being blamed on… hungry mice.

Egypt orders arrest of Facebook administrator after unfaithful wives comments
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s top prosecutor has ordered the arrest of a Facebook page administrator whose assertion on a popular television talk show that a third of married women in the conservative country are unfaithful caused a social media uproar.

Racy night with handcuffs lands Arkansas man in handcuffs, again
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) – An Arkansas couple’s evening of “kinky” entertainment ended with one pair of handcuffs used for fun being replaced by another used for real in an arrest, police said on Friday.

Indian scientists express doubt over meteorite death attribution
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian scientists have expressed doubt that a man in the southern state of Tamil Nadu was the first person to have been confirmed killed by a meteorite strike, as the state’s top official has declared.

Wild elephant rampage in Indian village caught on video
(Reuters) – A wild elephant went on a rampage in a village in India’s eastern West Bengal state on Wednesday, damaging around 100 structures, villagers said.

Do you want fries with that? Man charged with throwing alligator into fast food restaurant
(Reuters) – A Florida fast food restaurant got a customer it wasn’t expecting when a live alligator was tossed through a drive-thru window by a patron.

Wisconsin couple, too drunk to drive, give keys to 9-year-old: court
MILWAUKEE (Reuters) – A Wisconsin couple allowed their 9-year-old daughter to drive them and their 11-month-old baby because they were too drunk to do so themselves, according to Polk County Circuit Court records.