Organisers of a travelling exhibition about the human body breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday after an anonymous telephone tip off led to the recovery of a stolen lung. The caller, who did not claim the posted $2,000 reward, directed staff at "Bodies Revealed" to a car park, where the organ was found in a plastic bag.
The lung was stolen on Monday, but organisers said there was little concern it may rot or otherwise spoil, thanks to chemical treatment.
The exhibition, billed as "a phenomenal exhibition about the amazing and complex machine we call the human body," includes real life specimens and has travelled the world. Since June it has received 90,000 visitors in Peru alone. (AFP)
Close shaves
A soldier was branded "one lucky idiot" by comrades for cheating death three times during a stint in Afghanistan.
Private Daniel Britton, 22, from Nantwich, Cheshire, said he was fortunate to be alive after an action-packed six-month tour in Helmand Province. He contracted dysentery after nearly drowning in a fast-flowing river, had a bullet brush past his head in an attack by the Taliban and was shot in the chest during a separate strike. (PA)
'Unlucky' metro line
Taiwanese transport authorities are planning to rename a metro line plagued by mechanical problems over concerns that its name is unlucky, according to officials.
The "Zha-Hu" line, named after the Muzha and Neihu districts in Taipei city which it connects, has experienced repeated malfunctions since it was inaugurated three months ago. "We are planning to rename the line as some city councillors have expressed concerns that 'Zha-Hu' sounds bad and unlucky," said an official at the Department of Rapid Transit Systems.
"Zha" is the homophone for "scam" in Mandarin while "Hu" sounds the same as "bluff."
The department has picked a new name, "Wen-Hu", which sounds more lucky and elegant. The change, which will cost more than one million Taiwan dollars (about $31,000) in new signs and maps, is pending final approval by the Taipei city government. (AFP)
Anti-H1N1 suit
For the executive who doesn't have time to come down with the flu, a Japanese company has invented a new form of protection - the anti-H1N1 suit.
Menswear company Haruyama Trading claims the suit can protect wearers from the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, as it is coated with titanium dioxide, a chemical commonly used in toothpaste and cosmetics and that breaks down when reacting with light, supposedly killing the virus upon contact.
Shinto Hirata, vice director of merchandising at Haruyama, says the suit is proven to kill 40 per cent of the latest flu virus in about three hours and will retain its protective capability even after being washed several times.
Despite the new layer of protection, the suit seems fairly similar to others worn by Japanese white-collar workers. It comes in four colours and styles and costs around $590. (Reuters)
Australia's weirdest online sales
The lives of two men, a top tennis player's ponytail and a piece of cereal that looks like E.T. are among the strangest items Australians have bought and sold in the past decade, auction website eBay said yesterday.
Fatso, a rather large wombat who became the unofficial mascot of the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and the patch of turf from which the goal that made Australia win the 2005 football World Cup qualifier against Uruguay were also among the items auctioned off through the website, which this week celebrates 10 years in Australia.
"If the past 10 years have taught us anything, it's that nothing is too big, too small or too bizarre for eBay.com.au's legions of loyal fans," eBay's Sian Gipslis said in a statement. "With an amazing 173 million items sold over the past 10 years, it's no surprise that things like famed Australian tennis player Pat Rafter's ponytail and a Perth gentleman's entire life have turned up for sale." (Reuters)
Shop shock
A supermarket apologised for telling a mother that she could not let her 14-year-old son carry a heavy shopping bag because it contained a bottle of wine. Gill Power-Forward, 56, was packing her bags at the Asda store in Canford Heath, Poole, Dorset, but as she handed the heaviest of the bags to her son, Andrew, she was stopped by the cashier.
The shop assistant insisted that she carry the bag herself as her son might drink the bottle of wine. (PA)
Obama City erupts in joy
The small Japanese port city of Obama yesterday hailed its namesake, US President Barack Obama, who was earlier sensationally awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just nine months into his term.
"I knew he was talking about world peace, but I cannot believe this has come so soon," Seiji Fujiwara, a local tourism official who led a support campaign for the US president, said. Obama means "small shore" in Japanese, and the residents of the small central city of 32,000 people have rallied behind Barack Obama since his presidential campaign as a junior senator.
President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday, with the jury hailing his "extraordinary" efforts in international diplomacy and to hasten nuclear disarmament.
In 2008 supporters in Obama City followed the US presidential election race closely, putting up posters wishing him luck and making sweets bearing his likeness. (AFP)