Odd News

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German village was on Saturday unveiling a monument to the Scottish-born Prussian Field Marshall James Keith, in a rare act of remembrance in a country that has spend decades distancing itself from its military past.

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - A senior official in South Sudan who ordered a crackdown on young women wearing tight trousers has been sacked, officials said Saturday.

MANAGUA (Reuters) - Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega, a U.S. foe since the Cold War, said God was punishing the United States with the financial crisis for trying to impose its economic principles on poor countries.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The Swedish Academy is concerned its decision to award Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio the Nobel Prize for Literature may have leaked ahead of the announcement, a prominent member of the academy was quoted as saying on Friday.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Culture fans thousands of miles from Beijing can now visit its famous Forbidden City, through a three dimensional recreation of the vast palace that also allows them to dress up as an imperial eunuch and meet a courtesan.

LONDON (Reuters) - Great scenery and wildlife but financial situation in need of repair -- collect in person.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists using DNA testing have confirmed the second-known instance of "virgin birth" in a shark -- a female Atlantic blacktip shark named Tidbit that produced a baby without a male shark.

FREETOWN (Reuters) - Demolition teams wielding axes and machetes this week smashed up popular beach bars, one still bearing a sign saying "Paradise," as part of an improvement scheme to develop tourism in Sierra's Leone's capital Freetown.

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - All over sunny San Diego, tough economic times have forced people to cut back on their $4 lattes and sushi dinners.

LONDON (Reuters) - Police could one day predict the surname of male suspects or victims of crime from DNA alone, researchers said on Wednesday.

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnamese authorities are hunting for a brazen masked criminal who robbed a district police station, state media reported on Thursday.

KARALETI, Georgia (Reuters) - Two Russian soldiers almost missed their unit's withdrawal from Georgia on Wednesday after spending the night sobering up in a police cell, Georgian police said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is distantly related to the late Princess Diana and late U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, genealogy experts said on Wednesday.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - How long will an unchained bicycle last on a city street before someone steals it?