The Odd Truth, July 10, 2003

The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum. A new collection of stories is published each weekday. On weekends, you can read a week's worth of The Odd Truth.

Woman Gulps Cockroach, Fork

JERUSALEM - It's the bizarre, nightmarish stuff of a child's nursery rhyme: An Israeli woman swallowed a cockroach and right after it, down went a fork she used to try to fish the critter out of her throat.

A winged cockroach jumped into the woman's mouth as she was cleaning her home in a village in northern Israel this week. And as the story goes, the 32-year-old woman tried to scoop the bug out with a fork but swallowed it as well.

"It's a bit of a strange story," said Dr. Nikola Adid, who operated on the woman on Tuesday to remove the fork from her stomach — the bug was already digested. "This is the first time I've ever encountered anything like this. None of my medical colleagues in this country have heard of anything similar either."

An X-ray showed the fork, lodged sideways in her stomach.

Adid, a surgeon at the Poria Hospital in Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, removed the fork with laparoscopic surgery, a minimally invasive procedure performed through a tiny incision a patient's abdomen.

The woman is recovering well, Adid said — better off than the old woman of the children's rhyme:

"There was an old woman who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed a fly. Perhaps she'll die."

Fire, Harry Potter Style

MADRID - She probably hasn't been to wizard school.

A news report out of Spain says a woman caused a fire in her Madrid apartment — apparently while she was trying to imitate Harry Potter, the boy wizard.

A Spanish newspaper, El Pais, reports the 21-year-old woman concocted a brew — heating up a mixture of olive oil, surgical alcohol and toothpaste. The fire destroyed part of her apartment.

Emergency workers describe the woman as mentally ill. They say she told them she had been imitating Harry Potter.

Elderly Stabbing Suspect Nabbed After TV Appearance

TOKYO - An 80-year-old Japanese man featured in a television documentary for undergoing an arduous religious pilgrimage was arrested after police recognized him as a suspect in a decade-old stabbing, an official said Thursday.

A police investigator saw Kojiro Tanaka on the program last month and realized he was a suspect in the stabbing in the western city of Osaka 12 years ago, an Osaka state police spokesman said.

Police arrested Tanaka two days later on the southern island of Shikoku, where the program was shot.

According to media reports, Tanaka has admitted having stabbed a co-worker in the chest at a roadside construction site in November 1991 after they began arguing. But he reportedly said he had no intention to kill.

The victim was seriously injured, but recovered.

Tanaka — bearded, white-robed and carrying a staff — was featured on the nationally televised documentary June 27 as he trudged along the trail of 9th-century Buddhist priest Kukai, one of Japan's most revered holy men.

NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, has since nixed plans to rebroadcast the documentary, according to its Web site.

The 900-mile Shikoku Pilgrimage is traditionally done on foot, taking about 40 to 60 days, and is visited by about 100,000 people every year.

Annoying Cell Phone Rings Put To Good Use

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's largest mobile phone operator said Thursday that it will offer cell phone users a new noise service that it says will repel mosquitoes.

SK Telecom Co. said subscribers can pay $2.50 to download a sound wave that is inaudible to human ears but annoys mosquitoes within a range of one meter. Customers can then play the sound by hitting a few buttons on their mobile phones.

The company claimed that the service worked during tests.

The service, which begins Monday, has one drawback: it consumes as much battery power as normal cell phone rings.

SK Telecom has 17 million subscribers and controls a little over 50 percent of the domestic market.

Camper Wakes To Find His Head In Bear's Mouth

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - A teenager who awakened to find his head and neck clamped in the jaws of a black bear has been treated and released from a Utah hospital.

Nick Greeve screamed for help and woke other campers, who chased the bear away. Greeve suffered a few puncture wounds and lacerations.

The teen was with a group of campers and wilderness instructors on a four- to five-day floating trip down the Green River. The group was sleeping under the stars in a canyon about 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City when the attack occurred.

Wildlife officials say the bear tried to drag the boy from his sleeping bag, but other campers scared the animal off.

Burglar Practically Catches Himself

TULSA, Okla. - A would-be burglar in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has forgetfulness to blame for his arrest.

Police say the suspect took clothing from a store Tuesday night and removed the sensor tags from them.

But as he was leaving the store, alarms that detect the sensors in the tags went off.

Police say he told store employees he forgot he put the 12 tags in his pants pocket.

Singapore Lifts Chewing Gum Ban

SINGAPORE - Good news for gum lovers.

The government of this island nation announced Thursday it will allow chewing gum, long-banned here, to be sold — although only from pharmacies.

The decision stems from a recently signed free trade agreement between the United States and Singapore, and follows lobbying from the U.S. Congress and American gum makers.

Squeaky-clean Singapore outlawed the import, manufacture and sale of chewing gum in 1992, complaining that spent wads were fouling the city-state's famously tidy pavements, buildings, buses and subway trains.

Gum became a sticking point in recent trade talks with Washington.

Philip Crane, chairman of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee and a congressman from Illinois — where gum giant Wrigley Co. is headquartered — pressed for Singapore to loosen the ban.

Singapore initially agreed to allow gum to be sold only with a doctor's prescription, but that didn't satisfy U.S. negotiators.

Pharmacies may sell dentist-recommended gum that aids "dental and oral hygiene" once the trade pact takes effect, expected to be by the end of the year, a government spokeswoman said.

Agents Seize 10,000 Endangered Turtles

HONG KONG - Hong Kong customs agents have seized more than 10,000 endangered turtles and tortoises en route from Malaysia and probably destined for dining tables in China.

The Malayan box turtles and true tortoises were found Wednesday in a China-bound container said to be holding watermelons, the Customs and Excise Department said. Only four tortoises were alive.

The animals, valued at $174,000, would likely have ended up in soup pots or possibly made into "turtle jelly," a gooey black substance eaten by many southern Chinese who believe it has detoxifying properties and can improve complexions.

Endangered species bound for China often pass through Hong Kong. People smuggling endangered species into Hong Kong can be jailed for two years and fined up to $640,000.

Trapped Hound Howls His Way To Freedom

BARNSTABLE, Mass. - For five full days, Cody the basset hound did something basset hounds are known for. He howled. Cody howled repeatedly, broadcasting his troubles at length. For a while it must have seemed that no one would listen. But at last, someone did listen, and poor Cody was rescued from a drainage pipe in the Hyannis woods of Barnstable, Massachusetts.

Seems Cody crawled into a 12-inch drainage pipe early Friday but couldn't get out. His owner put up a "missing dog" poster, but no one reported hearing the constant barking until today. Rescuers dug a trench 16 feet long and four feet deep to reach the dog, who is being treated at an animal hospital and has been reunited with his owner.

Cody is said to be resting comfortably, and perhaps, quietly.