Following is a summary of current odd news briefs.

Guantanamo ex-prisoners get jobs on golf course

Four Guantanamo prisoners who were released to Bermuda in June have been given jobs tending a public golf course on the tiny Atlantic island. The four members of China's Muslim Uighur minority began working last week to help prepare the lush, seaside Port Royal course to host the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in October.

Chinese bride trains eye on wedding dress record

A Chinese bride is hoping to enter the record books after getting married in a wedding dress with a train more than 2 km long trailing behind her. It took guests more than three hours to roll out the gown, complete with 9,999 silk red roses attached to it, in the northeastern province of Jilin, state news agency Xinhua said.

Swiss seek Pope's blessing to stop glacier melting

After centuries of praying for a local glacier to stop growing, Swiss villagers are now seeking an audience with Pope Benedict to get his blessing for prayers against the global warming that is causing it to recede. In 1678, the inhabitants of the Alpine villages of Fieschertal and Fiesch made a formal vow to live virtuously and to pray against the growth of the Aletsch glacier, Europe's longest, which had caused a lake to flood into their homes.

Spain acquits sole black man in ID parade

A Nigerian convicted of assault in Spain was acquitted when he was found to have been the only black man in an identity parade used as key evidence in his conviction, the government-run news agency EFE reported on Tuesday Henry Osagiede was facing 10 years in prison after being found guilty in 2008 by a Madrid court for attacking one woman and sexually assaulting another in 2005, EFE reported, citing the Supreme Court ruling which acquitted him.

Free radios to perk up "untouchables"

Authorities in eastern India are distributing free radio sets to lower-caste villagers so that they can listen to music and news after a hard day's work and improve their awareness, officials said Wednesday. Officials of Bihar state are distributing transistors costing 400 rupees ($8) each among hundreds of "Dalits" or the formerly "Untouchables" who remain oppressed at the bottom of India's ancient Hindu caste system.

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