Reuters Odd News Summary
Following is a summary of current odd news briefs.
Devil to pay: Taiwan to launch softer than soft porn-star metro cards
Taiwan will roll out "angel" and "devil" metro cards featuring a Japanese porn star next week, despite a public outcry and a previous decision to scrap the project. Japanese adult film actress Yui Hatano will appear on a limited-edition charity series of Taiwan EasyCards, which users swipe to enter metro stations and buy goods at convenience stores.
Balkans out-score EU at Vienna diplomacy soccer
The European Union might have had a better start, but in the end it was the Balkan countries who brought the game home in this unlikely diplomatic soccer match on Wednesday to kick off the Western Balkan summit in Vienna. Team "FC EU", made up of Austria's foreign minister and EU officials, looked in good shape but swiftly crumbled and suffered a 2-4 defeat against their rivals "FC future EU", including prime ministers and delegates from Balkan countries who in the 1990s fought a bitter war against each other.
Two men hospitalized after jumping into canal at Venetian in Las Vegas
Two men jumped into a canal at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and, because they could not swim, had to be rescued and hospitalized, a spokesman for the hotel said on Thursday. The disturbance on Monday morning at the Venetian, which is located on the Las Vegas Strip and draws many tourists for its gondola rides inspired by the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, was first reported on Thursday.
L.A. County leaders wash cars two-three times a week amid drought: report
Despite a devastating four-year drought that has forced strict water conservation measures across California, most Los Angeles County supervisors still have their cars washed two or three times a week, a local newspaper reported. The multiple weekly car washes carry on despite Governor Jerry Brown's admonitions to Californians to take shorter showers and stop watering their lawns and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's own "Save the Drop" campaign, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
California man bitten by rattlesnake he picked up for photo: local media
A Southern California man who picked up a rattlesnake to pose for a photograph was badly hurt when the reptile bit him on the hand, a Los Angeles television station reported. Alex Gomez, 36, was bitten on Monday by the 4-foot (1.2-meter) rattler in a field at his family's ranch in Lake Elsinore, a community about 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Los Angeles, according to TV station KCBS which showed a picture of the man holding the snake around his neck.
Segway knocks Bolt off his stride at the Bird's Nest
A television cameraman and his Segway succeeded in doing what none of Usain Bolt's rivals could in the 200 meters final at world championships on Thursday -- knock the Jamaican off his stride, and his feet, during his lap of honor. Bolt was taking the plaudits of the crowd after winning his fourth straight 200 meters world crown when the wheel of the cameraman's Segway caught a trackside rail and flipped over, sending man and machine into the barefooted sprinter.
