Weird and wacky reigned supreme in 2003
Oddball tales abounded with Canadian prisoners being offered fruit-
flavoured condoms, Cambodians being urged to eat more dogs and China axing haemorrhoid TV ads during meal times.
Tales of love gone sour were plentiful. A Filipino housewife wreaked revenge on her hapless spouse by cutting off his penis while he slept, after she discovered text messages from another woman on his mobile phone.
Not to be outdone, an Italian pensioner beat her husband to death with a scrubbing brush because they never had children.
Vasectomies caused some truly weird headlines.
In London, a vasectomy brought train services grinding to a halt. A trainee driver fell out of his cab after fainting over fellow workers' graphic descriptions of the operation. A Brazilian man who went to a clinic to have an aching ear checked ended up having a vasectomy after mistakenly believing the doctor had called his name.
In Tanzania, a man cut off his genitals in an attempt to win sympathy from friends and relatives after squandering the money they lent him on prostitutes and alcohol.
The animal kingdom invariably raises a smile and 2003 was no exception.
Possums on a power trip in New Zealand sparked a blaze when they climbed a pole and short-circuited the electricity line.
Queen bees now have to slum it under new European Union rules which only allow a retinue of 20 bees to accompany the queen on her voyage.
A French hunter was shot by his dog after he left a loaded shotgun in the boot of his car with two dogs, and one accidentally stepped on the trigger. But no corner of the earth was off-limits for the bizarre.
Fijians apologised to descendants of a British missionary who was killed and eaten by their ancestors more than 130 years ago.
Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre sacked a prima ballerina, saying she was too heavy and too tall for most of her dance partners to lift. And a British couple were forced to change houses because of the shame caused by the name of their street Butt Hole Road.
