Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe De-thumbed circus master: Show must go on! LE MANS, France, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A circus ringmaster performing in Le Mans, France, heroically carried on with the show despite having just had his thumb bitten off by a crocodile. Advertisement Daniel Renz, 39, of Friedberg, Germany, was on tour with his Renz Universal Circus demonstrating to the audience of 4,000 that crocodiles are not man-eaters, Britain's Sky News reported. As he stroked King, a 5-foot-long crocodile, the animal suddenly snapped its jaws shut. "I saw him chomp down on my left thumb, bite into it, and twist his head to rip it off, before dropping it onto the floor of the cage," Renz said. The audience clapped and cheered, believing the incident was part of an act. "The stump started spurting blood, but I couldn't just run off," Renz continued -- not just because of the "show must go on" tradition but also because "There were five crocodiles out of their cages." Advertisement "I had to go on with the show until we could get them all back in," he said. Hitler race car could set auction record PARIS, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Christie's auction officials say a 1939 German race car commissioned by Adolf Hitler will likely fetch a record $12 million at a Paris auction in February. The car, designed by Ferdinand Porsche, is one of five remaining Auto Union D-types, which is now Audi. It was commissioned by Hitler in 1933 to show off Germany's technological superiority and has a top speed of 185 mph, CNN Money reported. Its twin-supercharged 3-liter V12 engine located behind the driver can produce 485 horsepower and is a prototype of modern Formula 1 and Indy cars, said Rupert Banner, head of Christie's motor cars department. "It's the same as a modern day race car, just without fins," Banner said. As for the car's history, two days after Germany invaded Poland the car Christie's is auctioning won a Grand Prix race in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Banner said. The D-type will be part of Christie's "Retromobile" auction of antique cars in Paris next February, the report said. Report: Kofi Annan living in a firetrap NEW YORK, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The New York townhouse U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has lived in rent-free for the past 10 years is a crumbling firetrap, the New York Daily News reports. Advertisement Documents seen by the newspaper indicate inside the brick 4-story building's plaster walls are crumbling, the electrical system repeatedly overloads and the plumbing leaks. So before South Korean Ban Ki-moon takes over leadership of the United Nations from Annan at the end of the month, the international organization has allotted $4.3 million for an overhaul, including $200,000 for the kitchen, the newspaper said. Other costs include a $2.1 million heating and cooling system and $650,000 in security improvements. During the nine months of renovation, the United Nations will pay $202,500 for a hotel suite for Ban, the newspaper said. The 14,000-square-foot townhouse was built for Anne Morgan, daughter of financier J.P. Morgan, in 1921 and last had major work done in 1950. It was donated to the United Nations in 1972. Dark days in Norway OSLO, Norway, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- As daylight decreases, Norway's "dark time" is darker than usual this year, with little snow to lighten things up and no money to replace streetlights. The weather over most of the country has been gloomy for weeks, with rain and heavy clouds darkening even the few hours of daylight, Oslo's Aftenposten newspaper reports. Experts advise Norwegians to give in to an urge to hibernate. Advertisement "It's natural and healthy that we who live in Norway shift into low gear during the darkest time of the year," says social medicine professor Per Fugelli. "Reconcile yourself with the fact that you are a bit more sad and tired these days," he advises. "It's all about our biorhythms, and in the spring, it will get better again." Fugelli adds he thinks it is "dangerous" for people to "go around and be happy all the time." Making matters gloomier, many Oslo streetlights are out and will not be replaced until January because the current year's budget is used up, the Hafslund utility says. Gassy woman diverts passenger flight NASHVILLE, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A Dallas-area woman has been banned from flying on American Airlines after her flatulence led to a flight being shortened for a security inspection. The unidentified woman was with 98 other passengers on Flight 1053 from Washington's Reagan National Airport bound for Dallas/Fort Worth Monday morning, the Nashville Tennessean reported Wednesday. Several passengers alerted flight crew they could smell the sulfur smell of matches being lit and the pilot decided to make an emergency landing in Nashville. Once the plane was emptied, bomb-sniffing dogs found burned matches near the woman's seat, airline officials said. Advertisement The woman explained she has a medical condition that causes severe flatulence and said she was lighting matches to spare other passengers discomfort. The FBI declined to charge the woman with the federal offense of lighting matches in an aircraft but issued her a warning. American would not allow her back on the flight and told her she was banned from flying with them again, the report said.
