Weird and Wonderful Weekly

May 16, 2009 5:32 PM

Bizarre Incidents, Quotes and People From Around the World

By GABRIEL O'RORKE, ABC News London

Quotes of the Week

"Super-balanced make-up. All over again, like painting a wall" -- instructions left in a cab on how to achieve the perfect natural look for … British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's make-up.

“Lusting after someone does wonders and is good for the skin” – advises actress/socialite Liz Hurley.

"Death to potatoes" -- a slogan adopted by campaigners against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the lead up to the Iranian election.

WWW News

No More Spinsters: This week in Tokyo, bra manufacturer Triumph unveiled the "marriage hunting" bra. The contraption comes complete with a countdown clock showing the marriage deadline, which must be set by the wearer. When the alarm goes off, the lucky man must insert an engagement ring in a carefully placed slot at which point the “The Wedding March" will play.

The Bling Police: The Gloucestershire Constabulary in England is asking members of the public to report anyone who looks especially glitz and glam. The police force hopes that in these tough economic times, criminals will stick out from the crowd if they flaunt their ill-gotten gains.

Caveman Erotic Art: A 35,000-year-old sculpture carved from a mammoth's tusk has been unveiled by archaeologists in Germany. The two-and-a-half-inch high ivory figurine depicts a woman with a swollen belly, wide-set thighs and large, protruding breasts. It was found in six fragments in Germany's Hohle Fels cave and is believed to be the world's oldest sculpture of the human form.

More in the Head, Better in Bed: Women who are more "emotionally intelligent" have more pleasure in the bedroom, say researchers at King's College London. The researchers believe there is a connection between pleasure and the ability to fantasize. Over 2,000 female twins were interviewed for the survey.

Facts and Figures

$9.4 million. The price fetched by a flawless vivid blue diamond weighing 7.03 carats at Sotheby's auction house.

180,000. The approximate number of Christians in Israel. 50,000 – the approximate number of Christians living in the occupied territories.

13 percent. The amount of anti-terrorism arrests that end in a conviction.

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Weird and Wonderful Weekly

May 08, 2009 9:39 AM

Bizarre Incidents, Quotes and People From Around the World

By GABRIEL O'RORKE, ABC News London

Quotes of the Week

"They wanted to call me grandpa but daddy is better, don't you think?" – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, explaining the reason behind his nickname from an 18-year-old model who calls him Papi.

“Sometimes I wish I had a gold sovereign for every time that phrase is used … so I could put them in a sock to smack over the head the next person who says it.” – Stephen Fry got straight to the point when he told the Royal Geographical Society how he feels about being described as a “quintessential Englishman.”

“Isn’t it clear you’re just not up to the job? The public know it. Your party know it and now the cabinet knows it!” --  said David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

WWW News

Stuck in the … Bath: Rosemarie Batey, a 49-year-old from County Durham, has sworn to lose weight after spending the night wedged in her bath tub. Batey was taking a shower when the bath cracked, and she slipped and got stuck. Her son found her the next morning and called firefighters who used an electronic saw to cut away the bath to free the naked victim.

Lone Porker: The only known pig in Afghanistan has been quarantined due to the recent outbreak of swine flu. Pigs are a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan, because pork is illegal and considered sacrilegious. This little piggy from Kabul zoo normally spends his days munching on grass alongside deer and goats.

Official Misbehavior:
- The Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko was prevented from boarding his flight at Frankfurt, Germany, airport and detained by police on the grounds of drunken and disorderly behavior. Meanwhile, in London a speed camera boss has been banned for speeding. Tom Riall, a senior executive, admitted to driving at 103 mph in a 70 mph limit zone.

Facts and Figures

$120 million. The cost of a typing error. Kenya's Finance Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, told reporters that a typo was behind the six-digit inflation on funds for the 2008/09 fiscal year.

34 years old. The age of the man with the "best job in the world." Ben Southall, a British charity fundraiser, beat 34,700 entrants from 200 countries to become the caretaker of an Australian tropical island.

85 feet. The distance Philip German-Robin threw a biscuit. German-Robin, from Dorset, England, was named biscuit-throwing world champion.

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Weird and Wonderful Weekly

April 25, 2009 11:16 AM

Bizarre Incidents, Quotes and People From Around the World

By GABRIEL O'RORKE, ABC News London

Quotes of the Week

“Had a massive ice cream fight dressing room based, cost me $2,000.” -- Lily Allen wrote this update on Twitter after she was presented a bill for damages for an ice cream fight backstage at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto.

“Often times when you face such an overwhelming challenge as global climate change, it can be somewhat daunting. It’s kind of like trying to lose weight, which I know something about.” -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a speech to the U.S. State Department Wednesday.

WWW News

Indian Barbie From London: Katrina Kaif from Finchley, London, has become the face of Indian Barbie. Her British upbringing – her father is Kashmiri and mother is English -- meant that the 24-year-old has had to take classes in dancing or singing and Hindi, according to The Telegraph newspaper Katrina is now accomplished in all of these things and says she feels "honored" to be chosen as the face of Barbie.

Saved By the Bra: A 57-year-old woman from Detroit was saved from gunfire thanks to the underwire in her bra. With a stroke of luck, the bra wire deflected a bullet shot at her by a group of men breaking into her neighbor's house, Reuters reported.

World's Most Expensive Suit: The world's most expensive suit was unveiled in Pall Mall, London, this week. The 'Alexander Amosu' is going on sale for just over $100,000, the designer told ABC News. As part of customer service, Alexander Amosu and his tailors will travel to clients anywhere in the world to take measurements and fit the suits. The luxury designer creates the garments from gold and platinum threads, precious stones and a mixture of the world's finest wools: Vicuna, Pashmina & Qiviuk.

Facts and Figures

560,000 The total number of Iraqi police; 270,000 the total number of Iraqi soldiers.

32 percent The amount of work completed on the stadium for the 2012 Olympics in Stratford, near London.

10 jobs Researchers say these are the jobs safest from layoffs in these tough economic times: teachers, doctors, public service workers, public transport workers (e.g contractors building roads or railways), home insulation and other 'green' initiatives, energy, IT, human resources, interim managers and accountants officers.

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Weird and Wonderful Weekly

April 17, 2009 4:15 PM

Bizarre Incidents, Quotes and People From Around the World

By GABRIEL O'RORKE, ABC News London

Quotes of the Week

"This is the first cloned camel in the world," --Nisar Wani, a researcher at the Camel Reproduction Center in Dubai, about Injaz, a female one-humped camel. Injaz was born after more than five years of work by scientists at the Camel Reproduction Center and the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory.

“The presence of livestock is intended to help deter the abuse of this land." –Hampshire County Council, when it placed eight cows on playing fields to deter youngsters from riding their motorcycles on the grass in Southampton, England.

"Maybe I inhaled the [fir tree] bud somehow, but I don't remember." –Artyom Sidorkin, speaking on Russian state television after surgeons reportedly found a fir tree growing inside his lung during an operation for what they believed was a tumor.

WWW News

Saved by the Cash: A 58-year-old Brazilian woman survived gunfire thanks to a stash of money in her bra. Ivonete Pereira was shot aboard a bus in Salvador, Brazil by one of two attackers who tried to rob the bus. Aware of the frequent bus attacks in the region, Pereira had wedged 150 reals ($69) in 20- and 10-real notes inside the left side of her bra. Luckily, the cash took most of impact and the bullet was later removed at the hospital.

Cash Treated like Trash: In Taiwan, police were faced with the opposite problem when a 55-year-old man threw bank notes worth $29,600 from a taxi, causing disorder in the streets. Changhua police put the man’s actions down to a nervous condition, adding that he will be charged with public endangerment and destruction of currency.

Facts and Figures

87 percent. The percentage of illiterate women in Afghanistan.

60.6 percent. The amount of Twitter users who are 35 years old or older worldwide.

20 percent. Both UBS and Citigroup have shed 20 percent of their work forces since 2008.

3 ears. A man with a third ear surgically implanted on to his forearm appeared at Edinburgh's Napier University. Austrialian performance artist Stelios Arcadiou, known as Stelarc, had the third ear created from cells in a lab in 2006.

1 day. The family of Bethlehem, made up of about 40 nuns and 20 monks, is only allowed to touch and kiss one another on one day per year, Easter Sunday. They describe it as one of the happiest days of the year.

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Homo Sapiens for Supper?

April 13, 2009 7:40 AM

By GABRIEL O'RORKE, ABC News London

A 32-year-old German woman jumped into a polar bear enclosure at feeding time Saturday.

Six zoo-keepers fought for her life, using all their efforts to prevent the four inhabitants from eating the woman as she swam across the enclosure.

An older polar bear took a particular interest in trying to get a bite of the soggy intruder. But Knut, the bear who came to fame after being hand-raised by a zoo-keeper, resisted the temptation to nibble on human flesh. 

Heiner Kloes, a Berlin Zoo spokesman, released a statement explaining how challenging it is to enter the enclosure, since it is surrounded by a fence, a wall and a line of hedges.

Kloes continued to explain that the keepers had to push back the attacking bear before pulling the woman to safety.

It is not known why the woman took the dangerous leap which left her with several bites on her limbs.

She is now in the hospital undergoing surgery for her wounds.

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Weird and Wonderful Weekly

April 10, 2009 6:35 PM

Bizarre Incidents, Quotes and People From Around the World

By GABRIEL O'RORKE, ABC News London

Quotes of the Week

"We didn't pay 37 million zlotys [$11 million] for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there." -- Michal Grzes, a conservative Polish politician, complaining that his local zoo acquired an elephant that prefers male companions and, therefore, will not procreate.

"He hasn't got the best teeth in the world, but you can afford to go and get them done now if you like." -- BBC presenter Clare Balding, who caused a stir after making this comment to Grand National-winning jockey Liam Treadwell.

WWW News

U R Divorced: Last week, we saw a woman divorce her husband for being too clean. This week, men took revenge when Saudi Arabia saw its first known divorce by text message. The Arab News reported that the man was in Iraq taking part in ‘jihad’ when he sent the terminal message. Under Islamic Sharia law, a man can divorce his wife by saying, "I divorce you," three times.

Stalking Your Son: Still on the phone theme, a 73-year-old Austrian woman who called her son as much as 49 times a day has been fined by a court for stalking him. A penalty of $480 was issued to the woman for “stalking” over a two-and-a-half year period.

Facts and Figures

200 years. Twenty decades later, an egg collected by Charles Darwin during his voyage on HMS Beagle has been rediscovered at Cambridge University. The small dark brown egg has Darwin's name written on it.

51 chillies. An Indian woman is heading for the record books after eating 51 chillies in two minutes. British chef Gordon Ramsay witnessed the feat by 26-year-old Anandita Dutta Tamuly in the northeastern state of Assam.

5 weeks. The amount of time a cat named Felix spent under a pile of rubble after a six-story building collapsed in Cologne, Germany. Miraculously, the 12-year-old cat was pulled out alive and well.

4 months. The time that passed before a castaway dog was found on a remote Australian island. The dog survived a long swim across shark-infested waters after losing its owners on a sailing trip off Queensland last November.

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Field Trip to the DMZ and North Korea

April 10, 2009 12:52 PM

By Lama Hasan, ABC News correspondent, North Korea 

As we drive down a South Korean freeway lined with cherry blossoms, the landscape quickly changes to barbed wire and fences dotted with military outposts.  Less than an hour’s drive from the capital of Seoul is the Demilitarized Zone, also known as the DMZ.

It is the world’s most heavily militarized area where hundreds of thousands of troops are stationed on the southern side of the Korean peninsula.  They’re mostly South Korean, but there are also some 28,000 U.S. troops supporting them.  With Chinook helicopters flying over our heads, security is stringent here with landmines, barbed wire and bunkers. 

Before driving into the area we, along with a pack of other journalists, were loaded onto a bus and given blue arm bands with the word “media” written on them.

You get the feeling you’re going into a potentially hostile area. And there’s good reason, because this is where you find the demarcation line that splits the country, dividing north from south.

After being taken through a large glass building called the Peace House, we arrived at the Panmunjum area, or JSA, which is often called the Truce Village.  Standing on the steps of the Peace House, our guide points out the North Korean soldier on the opposite side -- he's staring back at us through his binoculars.  We were given strict instructions not to communicate or gesture to the soldier.

Beneath the steps is a compound of several small blue houses, where the Armistice talks of the early 1950s that established the DMZ took place.  We were quickly ushered into one of houses, called the T2 building.  Inside the building were lacquered tables, chairs, a UN flag and two soldiers wearing shades who stood guard in a martial arts pose, hands clenched, poised for action.  It’s a pose that is designed to intimidate.

The demarcation line is literally a long slab of concrete, and the line itself is a no man’s land buffer zone.  For a brief moment, we were allowed to cross over the line which technically meant we were in North Korea.

Our trip today has some significance because North Korea’s supreme council has re-elected Kim Jong Il as their leader for a third term.  The vote ended months of careful planning. It’s no coincidence the country test-fired a rocket earlier this week, a show of force meant to illustrate its technological prowess and military might.   So, no surprises or changes in Pyongyang today.  And the “Dear Leader” is rarely seen or heard in public, but today he appeared in parliament, visibly looking older, but he did not speak.  There has been speculation about his health after he reportedly suffered a stroke last summer.

Back on the southern side of the border, we were given a briefing by the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (the NNSC), with members from Sweden, Switzerland and Poland. According to Swiss MG Jean-Jacques Joss, their mission includes “supervising, observing, inspecting and investigating the rotation of units personnel and replacement of combat aircraft, armored vehicles, weapons, and ammunition.”  All these points were agreed on in 1953, when the Armistice was finalized. As for their future and how long they’ll remain there, MG Joss says it all depends on “Pyongyang’s regime, its nuclear program, regional balance, and the six part talks.”

After North Korea’s last rocket launch in 2006, the North Korean guards were described as having a slight swagger, they could be seen smiling as if to show how proud they were of their country’s achievements.  But that’s not the case following this recent launch. MG Joss said they have not noticed a change in their demeanour.  Just business as usual on the Northern side of the DMZ.

Following the briefing, we were carted off to another site that showed another North Korean military watch tower and again were cautioned not to communicate with them.  Our guide pointed out towers in the distance, which turned out to be the nation’s jamming devices. These stop residents from receiving TV signals, effectively cutting them from the outside world.

Our tour of the DMZ lasted for only 90 minutes, but it gave us a sense of just how these two nations, once united are now divided and how deep these divisions still run.

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Indonesia Election to Determine Presidential Candidates

April 09, 2009 12:31 PM

By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Jakarta, Indonesia

Today’s Indonesian parliamentary election is crucial for the country's upcoming presidential election scheduled for July.

After weeks of campaign rallies, platform promises, and media blitzes across the sprawling archipelago of about 235 million people, it was the public’s turn to cast their ballots.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democrat Party is favored to win today’s voting, clearing the way for him to win a second five-year term.  Yudhoyono has been largely credited with instilling stability and improving security in the country, which is the world’s third largest democracy and most populous Muslim nation.

Early results show the Democrats in the lead but not by enough to ensure Yudhoyono can rule without forming a coalition.

Only political parties (or a coalition of parties) that garner at least 25 percent of today’s popular vote, or a fifth of the 560 seat parliament, can place a presidential candidate on the ballot for the next election set for July 8.

“Setting aside three decades of fraudulent elections during the Suharto dictatorship, no Indonesian president has ever been re-elected,” said Jeffrey Winters, author and professor of politics at Northwestern University.  “It would be a sign of greater democratic stability if SBY,” as Yudhoyono is known locally, “won a second term.”

Former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Sukarno and of the Democratic Party–Struggle, is the incumbent’s main opponent, and vice president Jusuf Kalla of the Golkar Party may also run against him, leaving open the possibility of a new running mate for Yudhoyono.

These elections will set the tone for the future, domestically as well as internationally.

“The country sits on three of the world's most strategic straits, and nearly all of the oil and gas flowing to Northeast Asia flows through the archipelago,” explains Winters. “It is crucial for American security that Indonesia remains a moderate, pluralist, democratic nation.”

In sync with Indonesia’s national motto “Unity in Diversity,” voters had 38 parties to choose from. 

“Every citizen has the right to express their politics, their vote,” says political analyst Sri Budi Eko Wardani of the University of Indonesia.

Turnout was expected to be high, with more than 170 million registered voters and offices and banks closed for the public holiday.

More than 500,000 election booths were spread across more than 900 islands, including the far-flung region Papua, where army helicopters were used to transport ballots.

Throughout capital city Jakarta, large color-coded paper ballots are stacked on tables at various poll locations, some set up inside tents. 

Officials stood watch with police vehicles at several locations, and voters left the polling stations marked with an inked finger.  The ink, estimated to last three days, was used to protect against voter fraud.

The  area’s analysts are keeping close watch on the results of the smaller Islamic parties during this election.

“The irony is that the momentum of the conservative Islamic movement is stronger than ever,” says Winters, “while the Islamic parties themselves are fraught with problems of leadership, organization  and corruption.” 

“The consequence is they don’t have significant solid numbers to be in power,” says Chusnul Mar'iyah, former election commissioner, with the reminder that Indonesia is still a mostly moderate country.

Ensuring the legitimacy of this complicated voting process is another area in question  in a country struggling to cope with corruption.

“The transparency of the results becomes an important issue,” says Mar’iyah.

“It is a logistical nightmare, because each citizen must cast four complicated ballots, each of which, when unfolded, is too large to be laid flat in the voting booth,” says Winters.  “This totals nearly 700 million ballots cast by ...voters who are poorly educated in general and were not treated to very informative campaigns by the parties.”

Despite mostly peaceful voting, there was violence in Aceh pre-election and in Papua overnight, where at least five people were reportedly killed.

“It would also be an important achievement if Indonesia could once again hold peaceful elections,” says Winters, “despite being in the middle of a global economic crisis.”

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The Bulgogi Brothers

April 08, 2009 3:04 PM

By LAMA HASAN, CORRESPONDENT, ABC NEWS SEOUL

If you like spicy food then Seoul is your city.  Most of the dishes here are either infused with chilli or drizzled with some type of hot sauce. Even salads fall victim to the eye watering spice. 

The country is famous for its national dish of cabbage fermented in garlic, chilies and vinegar.  You may have heard of it, it’s called kimchi. It’s considered a national icon so much so that last year when a South Korean astronaut packed for her mission, she took a packet of kimchi with her, naturally.

But South Korea is also known for its meat dishes, or bulgogi, which means simply beef. The dish consists of thinly sliced meat marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar, which you can then cook on a grill usually found on your table.

For me, the thought of Korean cuisine conjures up images of barbecued meat, and for the full experience we decided to dine at a restaurant called the  Bulgogi Brothers,  mainly because it was on the map my producer, Clark Bentson bought and with set menu prices for as little as $8, it was too much of a bargain to pass up.

We ventured into the Myungdong district, an area packed with restaurants and shops.  The restaurant itself has a modern setting with tables that have a grill to cook your food.  Also on the tables are side dishes of pumpkin and sweet potato mash garnished with thinly sliced almonds, boiled sweet potatoes and chunks of corn, a plate of local greens, acorn jelly and radish all in hot sauce. In case you were wondering, the acorn jelly has a jelly consistency and that's about it.  It's tasteless.

The menu is foreigner-friendly complete with visual aids. The names of the dishes are in English and pictures are placed next to them.  We chose the Seoul Beef set menu, which comes with either glass noodles or rice and black beans. 

The slivers of raw meat marinated in a sweet sauce arrive with spring onions on a big dish.  All of the contents are placed on the grill and almost immediately the color of the meat changes.  Since we’re novices, our helpful waiter took over and acted as chef. 

Within minutes we began sampling the meat which is sweet tasting and tender.

There isn’t much on offer for vegetarians on the menu, which consists of beef with pine nuts,  beef wrapped in lettuce, raw beef, seafood pepper noodles and seafood dumplings.

If you’re in Seoul and all of the above doesn’t sound appetizing, then fret not because you can still get a little taste of home. On the way to the restaurant were several Starbuck stores, a Burger King, Krispy Kreme and a Bennigan’s.

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Shoe throwing

April 08, 2009 1:02 PM

By Karen Russo

New Delhi, India - Whatever happened to objective journalism? Now we have journalists throwing objects.

Today another reporter threw a shoe at a politician during a press conference. This time, the man was allegedly angry about a confrontational exchange with India’s top security official.

The shoe did not hit India’s Home Minister P. Chidambaram, nor did it encourage the minister to answer the journalist’s question. The reporter was quickly taken into police custody and let go after questioning.

In recent months, political protestors have tossed shoes at President George W. Bush in Iraq and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Britain.

What’s going on here? Isn’t objectivity the first lesson in fourth estate? When did journalists become activists?

Throwing a shoe is an insult in some cultures, but it’s also a giveaway that some premeditation is involved. Untying shoelaces can take a little while. Isn’t it easier to chuck a pen or a microphone?

I remember being a young sports writer proudly displaying my press badge for the first time when my mentor pulled me aside before I entered Boston’s Fenway Park.

“There’s no cheering in the press box,” he said.

I’d heard the phrase a hundred times before, but he was serious and so were the other beat writers. I sometimes pursed my lips and feigned indifference as Pedro Martinez masterfully struck out the Yanks. When the national TV reporters would arrive at the end of the season to cover the playoffs, the writers would groan as the rules were ignored and the cheering began.

It’s not that I don’t have an opinion, it’s impossible not to. But cheering, clapping, yelling…it’s not acceptable. And in every other news venue, “no cheering in the press box” means checking your personal baggage – and shoes - at the door.

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