Following is a summary of current odd news briefs.
Tunisian kids' magazine to be prosecuted for petrol bomb
TUNIS (Reuters) - A popular Tunisian children's magazine is
to be prosecuted for telling its young readers how to make a
petrol bomb, officials said on Tuesday. The latest edition of
"Qaws Quzah", Arabic for "Rainbow", featured a piece about the
history of petrol bombs in its "Knowledge Corner", including
detailed instructions and a diagram.
Swiss police arrest two after mock kidnap incident
ZURICH (Reuters) - Police in Zurich started a manhunt to
find the victim of an armed kidnapping only to discover it was
a re-enactment by two fans of scenes from detective films using
replica air guns, authorities said. Passers-by called the
police late on Monday after seeing a man pulled into a car.
After a widespread search, authorities found the car and two
Airsoft guns, which they said looked very similar to real
Lost diaries help solve "young Mona Lisa" mystery
GENEVA (Reuters) - A package of diaries said to have been
posted to the United States from Britain in the 1960s could
provide a vital clue to the origin of a controversial portrait
presented in Geneva last month as Leonardo da Vinci's original
"Mona Lisa." But in a twist typical of the intrigue-prone world
of art, the diaries -- notes by early 20th century British
connoisseur and collector Hugh Blaker -- disappeared and the
Washington address they were sent to seems never to have
Expletives-laden marriage guidance gets Singapore union
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - An ethnic Chinese Singapore trade
union executive was sacked after she posted expletives-laden
comments about Malay weddings on Facebook, remarks so offensive
they prompted the prime minister and other politicians to
complain. Amy Cheong, until Monday an assistant director at the
National Trades Unions Congress, had asked how many (expletive)
days did Malay weddings go on for at the foot of public housing
Gambia says cures more HIV patients with herbs
BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh said that
dozens of HIV/AIDS patients in the tiny West African state have
been cured using his secret concoction of boiled herbs. Jammeh
first announced he had found a natural remedy to cure AIDS in
2007, stirring anger among Western medical experts who claimed
he was giving false hope to the sick.
UK nitrogen cocktail drinker has stomach removed
LONDON (Reuters) - British surgeons removed a teenager's
stomach to save her life after she drank a cocktail made with
liquid nitrogen during a night out with friends, police said.
The 18-year-old woman, named by newspapers as Gaby Scanlon,
complained of breathlessness and gastric pain before being
rushed to a hospital in the northern English city of Lancaster
on Thursday where she was diagnosed with a perforated stomach.