Odd News

With bad governance and civic distress making us distraught and thoughts on Buddha Purnima (May 19) arriving already for Inner Voice, do let us recall Buddha's famous follower, Emperor Ashoka, whose Dharma Chakra pulls our hard-won flag together.

NEW DELHI (AP) _ The Wadhwas were enjoying a nap after lunch when a team of overzealous New Delhi officials padlocked their gate, trapping the elderly couple inside and inadvertently bringing them to the center of a heated debate about zoning laws and illegal businesses.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) _ Two women were hospitalized after a New Zealand cafe mistakenly served dishwashing liquid as mulled wine, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Patna, May 8 (PTI) In yet another incident of mob justice, a man wanted in connection with the killing of a villager and his grandson was mercilessly beaten up by locals and acid poured into his

New Delhi, May 7 (PTI) Scientists at Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have tweaked a gene to alter the sex life of a plant, a move that could lead sustained

London, May 7 (ANI): A British musician is desperately looking forward to a cure for his hiccups - which have been going on for 15 months.

She predicts Bollywood's reigning superstar Shah Rukh Khan to make a shift to politics soon. The Indian Premier League is 'cricket on cocaine', she thinks. As for the controversy surrounding cheerleaders, her answer is short and simple - 'Fans are not complaining, only the politicians.

Like her name, she exudes light. Not literally, but The Palace School, a Montessori started by princess Diya Kumari in April 2001, is surely spreading the light of education. The royal family of Jaipur has been relentless in their effort to provide quality educational facilities to the students of Jaipur.

By now everyone knows that the rising global food prices are the result of the burgeoning Indian middle class. Don't believe us? Ask Mr George W Bush, President of the United States of America, who says, '...when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up.

London, May 6 (ANI): Thousands of children and their families in Berkshire are hoping to enter record books by building what is thought to be the tallest tower ever made from Lego bricks.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) _ Malaysia's foreign minister says women traveling alone abroad should be required to carry a letter from parents or employers verifying the reason for their journey, a news report said Sunday.

London, May 6 (ANI): Comet, the goldfish is surely on track to become the smartest fish in the world, for it can perform a range of unbelievable aquatic activities.

Washington, May 6 (IANS) Global warming is likely to imperil tropical species much more than fauna in the Arctic regions, even with a slight rise in temperature.

It is welcome news that a Ramakrishna Math bookstall, with its wealth of peace-building, harmonious reading, was just inaugurated at New Delhi railway station. It recalls my feelings two years ago when my guru Swami Ranganathananda of the Ramakrishna Math attained Mahasamadhi on Monday, April 25, 2005 at 3.51 p.m. in Kolkata.

London, May 5 (ANI): Call it a miracle or a full-size produce - a hen has laid an egg equivalent in size to a tennis ball and almost four times larger than normal.

London, May 5 (ANI): It seems that gardening was not Rachel McGarie's cup of tea, for the weeds and brambles in her garden grew so long that they could be seen from space on Google Earth.

London, May 5 (ANI): You must have heard about humans and animals being fitted with artificial limbs, but have you ever imagined a dolphin getting an artificial tail? Well, Winter, the dolphin is the world's first bionic sea creature fitted with a fake tail.

Salem, May 5 (PTI) Thrown into a 60-foot deep well allegedly by her parents, a five-day-old baby girl had a miraculous escape after she got entangled in some thorny bushes inside.

Every tradition has terrible stories about the consequences of anger and this one from Indian mythology haunts me. King Kartavirya Arjuna (aka 'Sahasrarjuna', he of the thousand arms) and his army visited Sage Jamadagni, who fed his guest and all those soldiers by the magic of his divine cow, Surabhi.