The Odd Truth, Nov. 13, 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.

TOKYO - A 114-year-old Japanese woman who just weeks ago assumed the title of the world's oldest person died Thursday, a Hiroshima official said.

Mitoyo Kawate, who was born May 15, 1889, died of pneumonia, said Hiroshima city spokesman Masatoshi Yamada.

London-based Guinness World Records recognized Kawate as the oldest person on Oct. 31, after Kamato Hongo, also from Japan, died at age 116.

The oldest person is now Charlotte Benkner, of North Lima, Ohio, born Nov. 16, 1889, the records organization said.

Kawate, who had four children, was a farmer in Hiroshima until she was 100 years old, Yamada said.

She had a weakness for custard cakes and liked to sing, a caretaker said earlier this month. Kawate lived in a nursing home for the past 10 years and her condition had weakened over the past two years.

She is survived by a son and a daughter but details about grandchildren or other relatives were not immediately available.

Life expectancy in Japan - 85.23 years for women and 78.32 for men in 2002 - is the longest in the world. The explanation, experts say, is partly the traditional Japanese diet, which is low in fatty foods.

Japan has lost three world-record holders for longevity in recent months. The world's former oldest man, 114-year-old Yukichi Chuganji, died Sept. 29.

According to Guinness, the world's oldest person with an authenticated birth record was Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at age 122.

The family of an Albanian woman, Hava Rexha, said to be 123 years old, also claimed the title of world's oldest person and tried to get Guinness to recognize her as such, but she died earlier this month.

Hair Never Tasted So Good

RED DEER, Alberta - Hairballs can be a problem for people, too. Surgeons removed a grapefruit-sized hairball from the stomach of a three-year-old Canadian girl. Her mom, Cherie Trahan, says she went public to warn other parents about the developmental disorder that causes children to munch on their hair. The toddler not only ate hair, but string and the stuffing from her stuffed animals. Trahan says her daughter is doing well after the surgery and is gaining back some of the weight she lost. But they family isn't taking anymore chances. They've cut the girl's hair short.

Burglar Caught Using Bear-Tracking Device

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - It's a bear-tracking device - but it can also be used to collar humans.

Authorities in New Mexico wanted to find out who was stealing items from a state Department of Game and Fish office. After a rash of break-ins, workers in the Albuquerque office decided to stash a transmitter from a bear radio-collar inside a compact disc player.

The player was left in a locked storage shed.

Someone took the bait last weekend, making off with - among other items - a cowboy hat, a shotgun and some athletic shoes.

The transmitter's signal led a team of investigators to an ex-con.

Authorities say the man was wearing the athletic shoes when he was arrested at an Albuquerque motel.

Charges against him include aggravated burglary.

Gigolo Training Center Busted

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Police raided a gigolo training center in northern Taiwan and arrested nine of the school's operators for over charging students, officials said Thursday.

The operators allegedly inflated tuition bills by adding in expensive clothes and mobile phones, police officer Liu Tai-shun said. They were also accused of having links to organized crime, Liu said.

Classes were held in an apartment building in Panchiao, a suburb of Taipei, Liu said. During the Wednesday night raid, police seized fancy clothes, earrings and lecture notes as evidence, officers said.

The school's operators ran classified ads offering "well-paid moonlighting jobs" and had collected up to $5,880 for several weeks of training courses, police said.

"The ads had good results. The school received more than 200 applications in just two weeks," Liu said.

Men can legally work as hosts in bars and clubs, but it's illegal to solicit sex from customers.

The mass-market Apply Daily reported that the school gave lectures on eloquence, posture, dancing and popular games played at gigolo bars for the potential "male public relations workers," a Taiwanese term for gigolos.

"They were also lectured on taboos at the bars, such as wearing white socks, smoking while walking or walking across the dancing floor," it said.

Gigolo bars are popular in Taiwan but are usually hidden in back alleys to avoid police raids on illicit sex trade.

Citizen's Arrest?

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio - A motorist upset that he had been cut off pulled over the other driver, falsely claimed to be a U.S. marshal and called for a local police backup, authorities say.

Donald Sebastian, 54, of Middleburg Heights, is charged with impersonating a federal agent in this Cleveland suburb. He was released on a personal bond after a court appearance.

Sebastian's wish to become a U.S. marshal was blocked by a criminal record with 29 arrests since 1975, including state and federal gun convictions, the marshal's service said Monday.

"Who would call for backup?" U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott said. "That's what is so strange."

A search of his home showed marshal service business cards, shirts, jackets, leather gloves and other marshal gear. He told authorities his ruse was his "way of giving back to the community."

Sebastian, who does not have a phone listing in Middleburg Heights, could not be reached for comment.

Fijian Village Apologizes For Eating Missionary

NABUTAUTAU, Fiji - Villagers in a remote Fijian community staged an elaborate ceremony of apology Thursday for the relatives of a British missionary killed and eaten here 136 years ago.

The Rev. Thomas Baker and eight Fijian followers were killed and devoured by cannibals in 1867 in the village of Nabutautau, high in the hills of the South Pacific island of Viti Levu. Residents say their community has been cursed ever since.

In a mixture of ancient pagan and modern Christian rites, the villagers have staged a series of ceremonies hoping to erase the misfortunes they believe have kept them poor.

The rituals - which started about a month ago - culminated Thursday with the offering of cows, specially woven mats and 30 carved sperm-whale teeth known as tabua to 10 Australian descendants of Baker.

"This is our third apology but, unlike the first two, this one is being offered physically to the family of Mr. Baker," Ratu Filimoni Nawawabalavu, the village's chief, told The Associated Press.

Nawawabalavu is the great-grandson of the chief responsible for cooking the missionary in an earthen oven.

Past apologies have not helped. In 1993, villagers presented the Methodist Church of Fiji with Baker's boots - which cannibals tried unsuccessfully to cook and eat.

There are differing accounts of Baker's demise. A villager said last month the incident started when the chief borrowed Baker's hat. Baker tried to take it back without knowing that touching a chief's head was taboo and punishable by death.

Villagers believe that since 1867, either Baker's spirit or disapproving gods have made sure that modern developments like electricity, a school, piped water supply and other essentials enjoyed by most Fijian villagers have been kept from them.

75 Wedding Gowns Stolen

LINCOLN, Neb. - Jennifer Schultz-Hurt can't understand it. Neither can Lincoln police.

Why would someone steal 75 wedding gowns from Schultz-Hurt's store?

Sometime between 6 p.m. Monday and 10 a.m. Tuesday, the gowns, valued at $37,500, were taken from the Bridal Gown Outlet, said Police Capt. Terrence Sherrill.

Schultz-Hurt said neither money nor jewelry went missing. The burglars also left behind the standard, more popular dress sizes, Schultz-Hurt said. Taken were mainly sizes in the 1 to 2 range, as well as several 22-plus sizes.

"I'm baffled. I'm just so in shock," she said. "Who would do this?" And for what purpose?

"It is strange," Sherrill said, who added police have no suspects.

It's the second time the store has been burglarized since it opened in 1992.

On Sept. 3, 2002, about $5,000 in money and jewelry was taken, Schultz-Hurt said.

"We are having a security system put in here for sure," she said.

Clinton Tapped For Chinese Clothing Model

BEIJING - Bill Clinton, spokesmodel?

A small clothing manufacturer in eastern China says it hopes to sign the former U.S. president to represent its brand, citing his "worldwide charisma."

"Our suits match Clinton's character and personality," said Wang Zhen, an official at Fapai Xifu Co., in a telephone interview Thursday.

The company, whose name translates as "French-style suit company," bills itself as China's 17th-largest clothing maker and is located in the low-cost manufacturing hub of Wenzhou, south of Shanghai.

It has offered Clinton $2 million to be its spokesmodel and sent repeated e-mails to the White House - where Clinton no longer lives - to make its case.

The company hopes to enlist Clinton as soon as next year. "Whether Clinton has enough attractiveness is difficult to say right now, so we are still negotiating," said company president Peng Xing, quoted by the Beijing Morning Post.

Clinton was in Beijing this week to promote the fight against AIDS. He didn't travel to Wenzhou, but the company said it sent him a suit, tie, shirt and shoes in hopes he will one day visit its factory dressed in its attire.

A Clinton press aide, reached by telephone hours before the former president left Beijing, said he had no knowledge of any deal with the firm.

The company sells $157 million in suits a year, each priced between $360 and $960, he said.