Offbeat
Latest stories
'Bronco Bamma and Mitt Romney' Make Little Girl Cry

A four-year-old girl caught on camera crying her eyes out in frustration at "Bronco Bamma and Mitt Romney" has hit a chord with millions of election-weary Americans.

The video -- posted on YouTube by her mother Tuesday -- has garnered more than 2 million views and countless Twitter comments from Americans brought close to tears by relentless campaigning leading up to Tuesday's presidential vote.

W140 Full Story
Korean Elephant Can Imitate Human Speech

An elephant at a zoo in South Korea has learned to imitate human speech and has a vocabulary of several words, researchers said Friday.

Koshik, a 22-year-old male Asian elephant at Everland zoo in Yongin, a city south of Seoul, greeted visiting journalists by "saying" choah (good) and nuo (lie down).

W140 Full Story
British Ministry Rattled by £10,000 Bill to Stuff Snake

Britain's foreign ministry has come under fire after it emerged that it paid £10,000 to re-stuff a giant anaconda named Albert.

The 20-foot (six-meter) snake, which has been in the possession of the Foreign Office for at least 120 years, is believed to have been presented to colonial officials in what is now Guyana in the 19th century.

W140 Full Story
Indonesian Judges Face Drug Tests

Indonesia's judiciary will be randomly tested for drugs after a judge was arrested at a Jakarta nightclub last month on suspicion of possessing ecstasy and crystal meth, officials said Friday.

The arrest of the judge, who was allegedly accompanied by prostitutes when he was caught at the club called Illigals, sparked uproar and is the latest challenge for what critics say is a corruption-ridden judiciary.

W140 Full Story
Foul-Mouthed Parrot Seeks New Home in UK

Everyone has a few faults. In Beaky's case, he swears (a lot) and he bites.

Not good qualities for a parrot seeking a new home.

W140 Full Story
Belgian Prison Loses Key to 180 Cells

Spare keys to 180 cells in Belgium's Leuven prison went missing a week ago, raising fears one of the inmates may have laid hands on them, the daily Het Laatste Nieuws said Wednesday.

Staff have been quietly on the lookout for the prison chaplain's keys since last Thursday, one being a pass-key to 180 cells and another to the doors separating the jail's 20 sections.

W140 Full Story
U.S. Governor Postpones Halloween in Wake of Storm

Abracadabra: Hurricane Sandy has done a lot of damage but won't be ruining Halloween in New Jersey, one of the hardest hit U.S. states.

That's thanks to Governor Chris Christie, who on Wednesday ordered the annual celebrations moved to next week in the wake of the powerful storm.

W140 Full Story
Japanese Woman Crushed to Death by Elevator

A hotel cleaner in Japan was crushed to death in front of her colleague when she stepped into a moving elevator, police said Thursday.

The 63-year-old woman was trapped between the floor of the elevator and the ceiling of the building.

W140 Full Story
Indebted Japanese City Puts its Name on Sale

A debt-ridden Japanese city is offering to rename itself after the highest bidder, an official said Thursday.

The city in the western prefecture of Osaka -- currently called Izumisano -- owes its creditors well over 100 billion yen ($1.25 billion), the official said, adding the presence of nearby Kansai International Airport was partly to blame.

W140 Full Story
Spanish Man in Coma Dies after Winning Decades-Long Legal Struggle

A Spanish man, in a coma for 23 years, has died, just over a year after his family finally won compensation following decades of litigation over the operation that left him in a vegetative state, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Antonio Meno had been in a vegetative state since a cosmetic surgery operation on his nose in 1989 when he was 21.

W140 Full Story