Odd News

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Sanitation workers sorted through 10 tons of trash to recover a wedding ring accidentally thrown away by a New Jersey couple. Full Story »

DUBLIN - A Northern Ireland filmmaker has won euro46,000 ($69,000) in damages after a judge ruled that his Irish island home was transformed into a parking lot while he was overseas for six years. Full Story »

LONDON (Reuters) - Beauty pageant winner Miss England gave up her title on Friday after reports she had been involved in a nightclub brawl with another beauty queen. Full Story »

LYON, France (Reuters) - French police are looking for the driver of a security van suspected of driving off with more than 10 million euros ($14.85 million) after the man vanished, apparently after first clearing out his flat. Full Story »

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A T-shirt a day has kept unemployment at bay for an American man who is making about $85,000 a year by selling advertising space on his torso. Full Story »

MIAMI (Reuters) - A man who caught a 14-foot (4.2-meter) python in a Florida drain pipe was charged with perpetrating a hoax after wildlife officers discovered he owned the snake and put it in the pipe in order to stage the capture. Full Story »

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Senior health officials in the Canadian province of Alberta said on Wednesday they had fired an unidentified worker for giving National Hockey League players preferential access to the H1N1 flu vaccine. Full Story »

TYLER, Texas - Police said an East Texas man has outsmarted himself in trying to get a quicker response from officers to an alleged assault. Tyler police said 38-year-old Mark Anthony Johnson called 911 on Monday night and reported that he'd just committed a homicide and was armed with a weapon. Full Story »

TAMPA, Fla. - The driver and the child in her lap survived when a pickup truck slammed into a 1,500-gallon aquarium at Tampa International Airport. The tropical fish were not so lucky. Airport officials said 36-year-old Yamile Campuzano-Martine lost control of her truck and drove into the saltwater tank outside the American Airlines baggage claim Monday night. Airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said the driver had an unrestrained 6-year-old boy in her lap. Full Story »

MANATEE, Fla. - A man was charged with domestic battery and illegal dumping after authorities said he pushed his girlfriend's car into a river. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office reported that a 36-year-old man and his live-in girlfriend were arguing in her car Sunday night when he kicked her out and drove off. Witnesses reported seeing the man a short time later at a nearby boat ramp, pushing the car toward the water. Full Story »

RICHMOND, Va. - A Richmond man will have to live more than a month in one of his neglected rental houses as punishment for failing to maintain his properties. Oliver Lawrence was sentenced Monday to 30 days in jail, followed by 40 days in home incarceration at a small, single-story house owned by his company, Bayou Properties. He also was fined more than $177,000. Full Story »

CHICAGO - Chicago police said a West Side man who allegedly tried to walk out of a store with three expensive bottles of champagne under his jacket now has 63 arrests under his belt. Officers said the 70-year-old man was initially charged with misdemeanor retail theft, but the charge was upgraded to a felony Monday after authorities look over his extensive police record, which included 62 prior arrests. Full Story »

PARIS (Reuters) - Sylvie Razafindrakoto, whose divorce was finalized three weeks ago, came looking for tips on coping with difficult teenagers as a newly single mother. Full Story »

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of poor Hindu villagers in eastern India have refused to hand over a rare turtle to authorities, saying it is an incarnation of God, officials said on Tuesday. Full Story »

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A female Brazilian student who was expelled from a Sao Paulo university after her short dress sparked student protests has been allowed back after federal prosecutors opened an investigation into the case. Full Story »

• Slideshow: Student expelled, readmitted for short dress

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The designer of the Kalashnikov, sometimes called the world's most lethal weapon, was named a "Hero of Russia" Tuesday by President Dmitry Medvedev who lauded him for creating "the brand every Russian is proud of." Full Story »