Oddly Enough - Reuters UK

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lingerie creator Heather Thomson got a jump-start on the New York Fashion Week, turning to some of the city's best pole dancers to display her new line of Yummie Tummie underwear on Thursday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Fans of classical music and jazz are creative, pop lovers are hardworking and, despite the stereotypes, heavy metal listeners are gentle, creative types who are at ease with themselves.

MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Maasai warrior Lempuris Lalasho went to Kenya's tourist haven Mombasa to find a white woman to marry, but he ended up working as a hairdresser, a profession that is taboo in his culture.

ROTTERDAM (Reuters) - A club where dancers generate power to light the floor, drinks come in recyclable cups and toilets flush with rain water opened in the Netherlands on Thursday, hoping to lure environmentally conscious clubbers.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was unpopular with voters but T-shirts printed with his huffy parting shot are now a hit.

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Authorities in central Taiwan have turned off the red light at the county's last legal brothel after the death of its pimp aged 87, newspapers said on Friday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - He has set world records for transatlantic crossings in a powerboat and balloon and now billionaire Sir Richard Branson is aiming to make the fastest crossing of the Atlantic in a mono-hull sailing yacht.

LONDON (Reuters) - A father mistakenly declared dead after going missing eight years ago has been reunited with his family after his son spotted him on television, police said on Thursday.

LONDON (Reuters) - A specialist armed police officer is facing investigation after leaving a loaded gun in a Starbucks cafe in central London, police said on Thursday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - More than two thirds of Americans would rather be stranded on a desert island with their pet than with their partner, a poll showed on Thursday.

BELGRADE (Reuters) - A Serb agency is offering tours following the footsteps of Radovan Karadzic, until recently one of the world's most wanted fugitives.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A once drug-addled elephant fed heroin-laced bananas by illegal traders will return home after emerging clean from a three-year detox programme on China's tropical island province of Hainan.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Furious commuters in Argentina set fire to a train on Thursday over delays during the morning rush hour, incidents the government later blamed on leftist activists.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek anarchists stormed a supermarket on Thursday and handed out food for free in the latest of a wave of raids provoked by soaring consumer prices.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A pirate Hong Kong radio station run by democratic activists was ordered to cease broadcasting days before a city-wide legislative council election after the broadcasts were deemed a risk to air traffic control.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Rio de Janeiro police found two caimans in a raid on one of the city's slums on Wednesday, saying the crocodile-like reptiles were used by drug traffickers to intimidate their enemies and dispose of bodies.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Police are trying to track down a man filmed riding a skateboard down a steep stretch of south German motorway at 100 km an hour (62 mph), far above the speed limit.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A huge hailstorm turned parts of central Kenya white, thrilling residents most of whom had never experienced such conditions, officials said on Wednesday.

CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The challenge is simple enough -- run away as quickly as possible.

PARIS (Reuters) - French scientists have devised a way of using particle accelerators to authenticate vintage wines, one of France's top research bodies said this week.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A naked German hiker has vowed to carry on rambling in the nude despite spending 10 days in jail for breaking public nudity laws.

Greek postmen beat zombies to win oddest book title

LONDON (Reuters) - "Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers" benefited from a late surge in public support to win the title on Friday of oddest book title of the past 30 years, The Bookseller magazine said. The book -- a comprehensive record of Greek postal routes by Derek Willan -- grabbed 13 percent of the 1,000 international public votes cast to chose the oddest title from the winners of the annual competition that began in 1978.

OSLO (Reuters) - Rare outbreaks of plague in the United States seem to match climate shifts over the Pacific Ocean in a hint that global warming may make the region too hot and dry for the disease, scientists said on Wednesday.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Regular, moderate exercise may help improve memory in older people and delay the onset of dementia, a study in Australia shows.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The online prediction market Intrade sees a 14.6 percent chance Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be withdrawn as the Republican vice presidential nominee before the U.S. presidential election on November 4.

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia this year as inflation has put other meat beyond the reach of poor people, officials said on Wednesday.

LIMA (Reuters) - Dog lovers beware.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Fuelled only by used cooking fat, eight teams completed a 2,500-mile car rally from London to Athens on Wednesday in a bid to promote awareness of cheap and environmentally-friendly bio-fuels.