Prime minister offers to prove his sexuality
The Romanian prime minister said he would have sex with the wives and girlfriends of reporters at a Romanian newspaper, after it reported he was gay. When reporters asked him about Evenimental Zillei newspaper’s reports about his sexuality, he responded with the offer. Officials from the newspaper responded to his statement by writing that Nastase appeared to be “on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the light of his recent tasteless statements.”
Homeward bound
A two-year-old cat traveled 1,300 miles across Siberia to return to its owners. The Efremov family took their male cat Kuzya on vacation with them across Russia from Olenyok to Yakutsk. When the cat ran away the family searched for weeks before returning home to Olenyok. However, after three months the cat returned to the family. A family member described the tired cat as being thin with bite marks on his tail when he returned. The family member also said that it is now nervous about going outside.
The catman doesn’t fall far from the tree
An Italian man who thinks he is a cat was recently found mewing for help on top of a tree. Shoppers reported that he was on the tree for more than an hour before rescue services was called. Children tried to get the man down with a saucer of milk, but he had to be carried down from the tree by firemen. The 46-year-old man is in a Milan hospital undergoing psychiatric tests.
Teacher seals children’s mouths
Parents of three children are suing a Brazilian school teacher for reportedly taping her pupils’ lips shut. The parents say that the Natanael Silva School teacher used punishment that was too harsh. Headmaster Eduardo Maffasoli said the teacher sealed the children’s mouths as a joke to get the pupils to be quiet. Police are still investigating.
South Korea shelves plan to rename ‘condom’
South Korea has given up its plan to change the English word for condom to a Korean word in the country after people complained that the replacement was too similar to their names. One of the suggestions that people mailed in was “ae-pil,” which is Chinese for love and necessity. The Korean Anti-AIDS Federation, which promotes condom use, was sponsoring the contest.
Company scraps ‘immaculate contraception’ ad
Posters promoting a morning-after birth control pill, which referred to it as “immaculate contraception,” has been withdrawn by a British company after a number of people complained. The poster read: “Immaculate contraception? If only. It might be Christmas time but condoms still spill and pills still get forgotten. So if your contraception lets you down, ask your pharmacist for Levonelle One Step.” A representative from Schering Health Care said the company withdrew the ad after people complained about its religious reference. British Advertising Standards Authority is investigating the advertisement.
Children forced to do own laundry, dishes
A Florida couple fed up with their children’s lack of responsibility moved out to live in a tent in the front yard. The only time Cat and Harlan Barnard’s parents go in the house is to use the bathroom and shower. The Barnard’s begged their 17-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son to help do household chores such as take out the garbage and the children refused. Since Monday the parents have lived in the yard, sitting on lawn chairs and roasting marshmallows. Ben Barnard said his parents living in the tent was inconvenient. However, the Barnard’s daughter did her own laundry for the first time Tuesday.