Odd News

OLDSMAR, Fla. - A Florida teenager has been charged with assaulting his father, reportedly because the man was snoring too loudly. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office reported that the teen, 18, first threw a magazine at his father, who was sleeping on a living room couch Tuesday evening. When that didn't work, deputies said the teen pushed his father onto the floor and punched him in the face. Full Story »

SHIRLEY, N.Y. - A Long Island convenience store owner who showed mercy to a would-be robber said he's received an apology note and $50 in the mail. The unsigned note said it was from the man who tried to rob Mohammad Sohail. It said the would-be robber has a new job, a new child, and is staying out of trouble. Full Story »

STOCKHOLM (Reuters Life!) - Designer jeans labeled "Made in North Korea" will go on sale this Friday at a trendy department store in the Swedish capital, marking a first foray into Western fashion for the reclusive communist state. Full Story »

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Beverage can tops are still finding their way into the stomachs of some children, especially teens, despite being redesigned in the 1970s to keep people from swallowing them, U.S. researchers said on Monday. Full Story »

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Parents used to save for their children's weddings but now there's another major rite of passage to fund before they even leave home -- the school formal or prom, a booming industry which seems recession-proof. Full Story »

LONDON (Reuters) - Jonathan Littell, who won France's prestigious Prix Goncourt in 2006 for "The Kindly Ones," has picked up another prize for the same work -- the Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Full Story »

ROME (Reuters Life!) - Rome's largest taxi cooperative is trying to improve the bad name of the city's cabbies, notorious among tourists to one of the world's best loved cities. Full Story »

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Oops! In an embarrassing blunder, Gov. Charlie Crist mistakenly directed parents of uninsured children to call a toll-free sex line. Full Story »

CHANTILLY, Va. - Customs inspectors at Dulles International Airport say a man from Guatemala was detained after he tried to carry a cooked chicken stuffed with more than $4,000 worth of cocaine. Full Story »

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - An Iowa woman is accused in a South Dakota shoplifting case that authorities say involved more than just a few items stuffed in a pocket. Sioux Falls police said a 51-year-old woman allegedly took $2,200 worth of items from the Lewis Drug Store, hauling stolen merchandise to her car in bags and then returning to the store for more. Full Story »

CINCINNATI - Talk about sticky fingers: Police arrested a man they say tried to take their candy bars. Full Story »

FAIRFIELD, Ala. - Fairfield police said a Mississippi man took holiday shopping to another level by hiding in a Wal-Mart and trying to leave with cash. Police said the man hid inside the Walmart on Nov. 25 after it closed at 11 p.m. and took $54,000 in cash and checks. A guard subdued the man when he tried to leave through locked doors. Police said money bags started falling from his clothes as he shook the doors. Full Story »

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. - Police said a pack of bubble gum bandits is walking into suburban Detroit gas stations and chewing through the candy aisle. Police said the latest heist happened Nov. 21, when two suspects chatted up the clerk of a Speedway gas station in Sterling Heights, while a third suspect filched $318 worth of gum. Full Story »

LOS ANGELES - What do cats do when their owners are away? There was one way to find out — "cat cams." Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Maryland groom has created an viral story storm after he interrupted his wedding last month to update his Facebook and Twitter accounts from the altar. Full Story »

LONDON (Reuters) - Gone are the days of shepherds in tea towels and tinsel-clad angels. Britain's competitive parents are forking out on luxury pashmina shawls and velour dressing gowns to make their child the star of the annual nativity play. Full Story »