Odd News

BRISTOL, England, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Students at a high school in England have been forbidden from wearing tinsel to classes to avoid anyone being strangled, The Scotsman reported Thursday.

NEWARK, N.J., Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A bungled training exercise at Newark (N.J.) Liberty International airport allowed a fake bomb to be flown to Amsterdam, the Newark Star Ledger reports.

MINSK, Belarus, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- The Defense Ministry of Belarus is clearing out its attic and will sell its old junk over the Internet.

Jesus slips in British polls ... U.S. defends role in Cuba lights spat ... 'Naked Boys Singing!' show gets an OK ... 11-year-old questioned for making threat ... Watercooler stories from UPI.

Japanese teenagers steal $1M, spend it all ... Girl goes to court to keep pet ducks ... Scotland gets blue robin for Christmas ... French chef owes nothing to 40-year worker ... Mistletoe's link to fertility explained ... The world as we know it from UPI.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- After spending nine months in a San Jose, Calif., jail for a murder he did not commit, Rick Reinhardt was to be freed Thursday.

Today is Thursday, Dec. 16, the 351st day of 2004 with 15 to follow.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Thieves stealing from Salvation Army Christmas kettles in Canada are becoming bolder, like the one who used a stolen pot to collect donations for himself.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Entertainment consumers have embraced DVD technology so thoroughly that the DVD component of the entertainment industry has transformed the business in dramatic

HIROSHIMA, Japan, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Police in Hiroshima, Japan, have a $1 million theft case, but the five teenagers who allegedly took the money say they have spent all of it.

Iqaluit drops buses -- taxis are cheaper ... Second crocodile spotted in campus lake ... Mistletoe's link to fertility explained ... George Bush made monkey of by artist ... Spoon busker may lose livelihood ... UPI Quirks in the News.

FRASER, Mich., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Amanda Troia, a 16-year-old from Fraser, Mich., is praying Santa Claus will come in the guise of a judge and let her keep her eight pet ducks.

MONTREAL, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- A Montreal spoon player has found there are far more admirers of his spoon-playing music than he ever knew.

PARIS, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Famed chef Marc Veyrat cooked up an appeal to overturn $330,000 in damages awarded to a nearly 40-year employee, The Scotsman reported.

NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- While U.S. President Bush is not made of chimpanzees, an artist's impression of him that way has the art world in an uproar, the New York Times reports.