Newsletter BOX: Reuters Oddly Enough Report

09/23/2013

Reuters Election 2012 Daily round-up of the day's top news from the campaign trail, the White House and all the politics in between

"I'm not Tarzan," Pope Francis tells young crowd

CAGLIARI, Sardinia (Reuters) - Pope Francis brought laughter to a crowd of young people on Sunday when he told them he was not "Tarzan" but gets his staying power during times of difficulty from his faith.

Venezuela orders temporary takeover of toilet paper factory

CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan state agency on Friday ordered the temporary takeover of a factory that produces toilet paper in what it called an effort to ensure consistent supplies after embarrassing shortages earlier this year.

Jackson auction halted by another Jackson's possibly fake signature

(Reuters) - The U.S. Marshals Service on Friday canceled an auction of assets forfeited by convicted former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr concerned that one item - a guitar signed by Michael Jackson and Eddie Van Halen - might be faked.

French court fines mother for 3-year-old's "Jihad...I am a bomb" T-shirt

PARIS (Reuters) - A woman who sent her three-year-old son - called Jihad - to school in a T-shirt marked "Jihad, Born September 11, I am a bomb" was fined and given a suspended jail sentence by a French court on Friday.

NYC Health Department headquarters is bugged - with ones that crawl

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has a problem -- and it sounds more like one for which it might issue a citation than find in its own backyard.

Berlusconi would not have been tried if gay: Putin

VALDAI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin rallied behind his old friend Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday, saying the former Italian prime minister would not have faced trial for having sex with a minor if he were gay.

New York town finds 850 snakes in man's home

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Authorities in the New York town of Shirley found 850 snakes, including two illegal 6-foot-long (2-meter) Burmese pythons, in the home and garage of an animal control officer suspected of dealing in the reptiles, local media reported.

New Jersey judge cannot moonlight as stand-up comic: court

(Reuters) - Being a judge in New Jersey is no laughing matter.

Hong Kong couple jailed for torturing maid who was 'forced to wear diaper'

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong couple were jailed on Wednesday for torturing, beating and abusing their Indonesian maid, who said they once dressed her in a diaper and tied her to a chair for five days while they went on holiday.

Tokyo man to lose home to make way for stadium: again

TOKYO (Reuters) - Kohei Jinno fans out the black and white photos of his family posing proudly in front of their central Tokyo home, a house they were forced to leave ahead of the 1964 Olympic Games to make way for construction of the main stadium.