Firm Pays Off Disappointed Bald Man

(NEWSER) - Hapcheon residents think they live in the unluckiest town in earth. When Japan occupied the tiny South Korean farming community during World War II, it sent locals to work in munitions factories—in Hiroshima. Thousands of Hapcheon residents died instantly when the bomb dropped. The rest were shunned when they returned to Korea, facing a life of poverty and loneliness. Now, they want Japan to pay them for that emotional pain, the LA Times reports. More»

But Ann's sale of $100K horse led to lawsuit

(NEWSER) - Welcome to the leisure world of Ann Romney, where $100,000 horses make pirouettes and the Romneys make headway into the elite world of an equestrian sport known as dressage, the New York Times reports. Their connection: Jan Ebeling, a German dressage rider who also tutors Ann in horseback riding. "Boy, she was determined," Ebeling said of her ability to overcome the multiple sclerosis pain that initially dogged her riding. The riding made her "joyful and exhilarated," she once said. "I’d sit on a horse and forget I was even sick." More»

Nicola Furlong had apparently met duo at Nicki Manaj show earlier in evening

(NEWSER) - A pair of unnamed Americans have been arrested by Japanese officials after one of them was found in a Tokyo hotel room with a dying Irish exchange student, reports MSNBC . Nicola Furlong, 21, of County Wexford, died about an hour later in what officials are calling a suspicious death and possible strangulation. Details are sketchy: Furlong and a 21-year-old female friend apparently met the Americans at a Nicki Manaj concert earlier Thursday evening. More»

Mao Sugiyama charged $250 a plate

(NEWSER) - A Japanese artist recently cooked and served up his own genitals for diners at $250 a plate—to raise awareness about sexual minorities and pay for his hospital bills, the AFP reports. Mao Sugiyama, who calls himself asexual, had his private parts removed this spring and kept them frozen until the May 13 culinary event. Participants apparently weren't disappointed: Some even asked the 22-year-old when he'll be doing it again. More»

Girlfriend sent driver a text moments before crash

(NEWSER) - Should the person who sends a text message to a driver be held liable if an accident occurs? A judge in New Jersey says no. He threw out a lawsuit today against a young woman who texted her boyfriend moments before he crashed into two motorcyclists, reports the Star-Ledger . "I find that there was no aiding, abetting here in the legal sense," declared Judge David Rand. More»