Oddly Enough
Wednesday June 6 11:16 AM ET
Police Seek Unapologetic Flatulent Officer
LONDON (Reuters) - British police sought a flatulent officer Wednesday after a family complained that a policeman broke wind in their London home during a drug raid and failed to apologize.
A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed that the Department of Professional Standards was investigating a charge that an officer broke wind in the complainants' hallway but did not apologize to the homeowners.
``We can confirm that the department is investigating an incivility charge during the search of a home under the Misuse of Drugs act,'' the police spokesman told Reuters.
The Daily Mail newspaper Wednesday printed a letter from Scotland Yard to the officers involved in the drugs raid informing them of the complaint.
``An allegation has been received from a person in the house that one of the male officers broke wind and did not apologize to the family for his action...the complainant felt it was rude and unprofessional,'' the letter stated.
Police did not confirm what discipline the officer might receive if found guilty of breaking wind.

Thursday May 24 9:24 AM ET
Thousands Flock to Boy Wonder for Remedies
GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - Thousands of people have flocked to visit a 12-year-old boy in northeastern India who says the Hindu god Vishnu has taught him to cure any disease with herbal medicines.
Police said they had brought extra forces into Baghara in the state of Assam to control the crowds and local villagers had demanded protection for Tinku Deka, a junior school student.
``Tinku first wanted to give out the medicine everyday to the people coming in to meet him but seeing the crowd, he started distributing it on Sundays only,'' Rina Deka, Tinku's mother, told Reuters.
Eyewitnesses said at least five elderly patients on their way to meet the boy wonder had died before they could reach him.
Tea stalls which have opened around Tinku's house are packed with visitors, and the latest gossip there is that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee (news - web sites), who suffers from a knee ailment, will soon be one of the boy's patients.
The 74-year-old prime minister is expected to undergo an operation to replace his right knee in Bombay on June 7.

Doctors Cut 100-Pound From Girl's Stomach
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian doctors said Wednesday they had successfully removed a 100-pound cyst from the stomach of a 17-year-old girl.
Doctors said the huge cyst had been growing inside Inas Ali Hassan's stomach, causing her breathing problems for the past two years.
``A huge heterogeneous mass was found coming down from the pelvis up to the diaphragm and occupying almost all the abdominal cavity ... pressing everything on its way,'' said Ali Maher Abou Auf, chief surgeon for the operation.
He said Hassan was recovering well from the ``uneventful'' two-hour surgery Tuesday and would be released within days. He said it was the first time Egyptian doctors had been faced with such a condition.


Lovers could not pull apart after sex
IPOH - A pair of adulterers had to be rushed naked from a village here to hospital in an ambulance after sexual intercourse because they could not 'pull apart'.
The 50-year-old woman had taken an aphrodisiac similar to Viagra which caused her to be abnormally excited.
Unfortunately, this not only heightened the couple's sexual pleasure but also resulted in her 60-year-old partner being unable to disengage.
The couple panicked and yelled for help from neighbours who called an ambulance, Malaysia's China Press reported yesterday.
Naked and still joined together at their private parts, the red-faced couple had to be carried up the ambulance like a pair of Siamese twins, according to scores of amused fellow villagers.
The couple was finally separated at the local hospital after being given an injection.
But their embarrassment is not over. They are now having to put up with stares and sniggers from their fellow villagers as news of their 'adventure' is spreading like brush fire.
Friday April 27 12:13 PM ET
High School Ball Players Stumble Off Field
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - A high school baseball team committed its worst error off the field during a road trip last week by hiring strippers to perform in their hotel room, the Columbus Dispatch reported on Friday.
School authorities in Lancaster, Ohio, near Columbus suspended 14 players from school for a week, kicked them off the team and suspended head coach Tim Graham, who resigned his coaching and teaching position at the school on Thursday.
Graham said neither he nor his coaches were with the players when the episode occurred during a road trip in Cincinnati, but accepted full responsibility for not exercising proper supervision.
The players pooled their spending money and hired the strippers after calling a service advertised in the telephone book, the newspaper reported.

Friday April 27 10:29 AM ET
Free Breast Implants for Some Female Soldiers
LONDON (Reuters) - The British army has paid for a small number of female soldiers to have breast enlargements to make them happier, the Ministry of Defense said Thursday.
A spokesman said that four women had received breast-enhancement surgery at one military hospital since the start of last year, and the total number was likely higher.
``We would suggest that there are something like a dozen such cases a year,'' the ministry spokesman said.
In one case, a 27-year-old corporal underwent the $3,600 operation, courtesy of the armed forces, to make her ``a happier soldier.''
The spokesman defended the policy, saying that surgery would only be paid for if there was an overriding physical or psychological reason to do so.
``This is not done purely on cosmetic grounds, but as a last resort,'' he said.

Thursday April 26 9:58 AM ET
Women Want Security, Men Want Sex
LONDON (Reuters) - Women stay in monogamous relationships for security and men stay in them for sex, a science journal says.
``It's a cynical view of human relationships, but researchers now say it is the driving force behind the evolution of monogamy -- and women started it,'' New Scientist magazine said Wednesday.
In most species, females only have sex when they are fertile and males know through visual and chemical cues when the time is right. When it is not, males look elsewhere.
But in birds, porcupines and humans, females have sex whether they are fertile or not, making it more likely that the males will stick around because fertility is no longer an issue.
``There is a search cost. It takes some time to find a female,'' Magnus Enquist of Stockholm University told the magazine.
Enquist and his colleague Miguel Girones of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology in Nieuwersluis developed a mathematical model to test their theory. They found that monogamy is often the top choice when fertility is hidden, even among males who are used to having many partners.
``Classical explanations of sexual behavior always focus on the male. But this gives stronger focus on the woman,'' said Enquist.