Odd News

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- South African police will crack down hard on anybody throwing old fridges from high-rise buildings during the New Year's holiday.

NEW YORK, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- If there is one performance that demands to be seen on the New York stage this season it is Kevin Kline's deeply conceived characterization of Shakespeare's tosspot philosopher Falstaff in a production that combines the two "Henry IV" plays into one seaml

Sick woman finds 15 doctors on her flight ... Priest admits to stealing for mistress ... Packrat buried two days under books ... Trucker balks at theft of chickens

COLOGNE, Germany, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- German publisher Taschen Books next month will release a 75-pound, $3,000 book about the life and times of boxing great Muhammad Ali.

LONDON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Having a heart attack on a trans-Atlantic flight is risky at best, but a British woman had 15 cardiologists rush to her aid, The Sun reported from London.

ORANGE PARK, Fla., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A former priest accused of swindling thousands of dollars from a Florida church has pleaded guilty, the Times-Union reported Wednesday.

NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A New York man is recovering Wednesday from being buried for two days under hundreds of pounds of books and magazines he hoarded in his apartment.

TORONTO, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Toronto police are searching for two armed men who hijacked a tractor-trailer load of frozen chicken from a trucker in Montreal.

LONDON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Days after fatally mauling one of Queen Elizabeth's prized corgis, Princess Anne's bull terrier Florence has attacked one of the queen's maids.

A U.S. court has upheld an artist's right to take nude photos of Barbie dolls being menaced with kitchen appliances, despite objections from Mattel.

A book-loving pack rat tried to squeeze even more tomes into his tiny New York City apartment and ended up buried under an avalanche of books, magazines and other stuff.

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 31, the 365th and last day of 2003.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Music, always prominent at the Rose Parade, is the main theme of the 2004 parade, with Oscar-winning composer John Williams serving as grand marshal.

Hunters shoot killer Australian crocodile ... M&M's to go black-and-white, for a while ... Castro resembles Hitler in news photo ... Marathon 'Moby Dick' reading scheduled

NEW BEDFORD, Mass., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Herman Melville fans won't want to miss a two-day annual marathon reading of his classic seafaring novel, "Moby Dick," in Massachusetts this weekend.