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Venezuelan Police Tout Raid of Toilet Paper Cache

It had all the makings of a routine bust: an anonymous tipoff to the cops, a raid on a hideout, a triumphant Interior Ministry tweet. The loot? Roll after roll of toilet paper.

The government said police had found 2,450 bales of toilet paper in a working class neighborhood called Antimano, west of Caracas, thanks to an anonymous phone call to a police tipoff line.

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Indonesian Mosques Ordered to Turn Down the Volume

Indonesian mosques have been ordered to cut down on their use of loudspeakers, an Islamic group said Wednesday, a move that may provide some relief to millions who live near the places of worship.

There are some 800,000 mosques in Indonesia, which has the world's biggest Muslim population, and many use speakers to blast out the call to prayer as well as fiery Koranic verses, often at high volumes in the early hours.

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Mexican City's Digital TV Switch Causes Uproar

Mexicans love their televisions and telenovelas, so when thousands of TVs went blank after the city of Tijuana switched from analog to digital broadcasting, some people got off their couches to protest.

The Pacific coast city, which lies at the border with California, went fully digital late Tuesday but 14,000 homes had yet to get the converter boxes needed to continue watching broadcast channels.

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Oops! Miss Universe Canada Crowns Wrong Winner

Losing is never easy, but for one unlucky contestant in Canada's Miss Universe competition the bad news came 24 hours later -- after she'd been crowned the winner.

Red-faced organizers admitted on Wednesday that a typo led to a counting error that resulted in Denise Garrido, 26, being wrongly named the victor at Saturday's event. She was stripped of her sash and crown the next day.

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Bland Wants to Hook Up with Dull and Boring

Fed up with people ridiculing its name, Bland Shire in Australia wants to cash in on it by hooking up with Dull in Scotland and the American town of Boring.

Long considered a dreary destination due to its name, Bland's tourism committee is exploring promoting the area by establishing sister relationships with other towns with odd names.

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Australian Prime Minister Dodges Another Sandwich

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was forced to dodge a flying sandwich for the second time this month Thursday when someone's salami lunch was flung at her during a school visit.

Gillard was greeting children at Lyneham High School in Canberra when the sandwich narrowly missed her.

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Mother of Newborn in Sewer was Present for Rescue

The mother of the Chinese newborn trapped in a sewer pipe in a stunning ordeal caught on video had raised the initial alarm and was present for the entire two-hour rescue but did not admit giving birth until confronted by police, reports said Wednesday.

The state-run, Hangzhou-based newspaper Dushikuaibao said police became suspicious when they found baby toys and blood-stained toilet paper in the 22-year-old woman's rented room, in the building where Saturday's rescue occurred in eastern China.

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Indonesian Governor's Metallica Guitar Confiscated

The Indonesian government will confiscate a Metallica guitar that was a gift to the heavy metal-loving governor of the capital Jakarta due to concerns about corruption, an official said Tuesday.

A beaming Joko Widodo appeared on TV earlier this month strumming the maroon bass guitar that had belonged to the U.S. band's Robert Trujillo and was a gift from a concert promoter.

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Swaziland Judge Loses Dog Custody Battle

A Swaziland court on Tuesday ordered a top judge who has been embroiled in a messy battle over custody of a dachshund puppy to return it to its owner.

The magistrates court in the capital Mbabane ordered Judge Jacobus Annandale to return the furry sausage dog to his neighbor Bhekiwe Dlamini, after he had it seized from her a week ago.

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Report: 'Obama' Surfs Internet from Chinese Cafe

President Barack Obama appears to be a regular customer of a Chinese Internet cafe, reports said, after the manager forged an identity card in the U.S. leader's name to help surfers avoid China's web rules.

The card has a full-face picture of Obama, lists his correct birthday and gives his address as "White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC", while stating his ethnicity as "Kenyan", pictures showed.

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