BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese appear not to have warmed to a “free hugs” campaign aimed at cheering up strangers by hugging them on the street, with some huggers even being hauled away by police for questioning, media said Monday.

The campaign hit the streets of Beijing, Changsha and Xian this weekend, with participants opening their arms to embrace passers-by and brandishing cards saying “free hugs,” “care from strangers,” “refuse to be apathetic,” the Beijing News said.
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DUBLIN: Two Irishmen have set up a business selling dirt to nostalgic Irish Americans who want a handful of “the mother country” on their graves.

Pat Burke, 27, and Alan Jenkins, 65, have just shipped their first $US1 million load of “official” Irish soil to New York – at $US15 ($NZ23) per 340 gram bag – and confidently expect it will be followed by many more.
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MUNICH, Germany – A German court has ordered a self-styled witch to refund a disappointed client her hefty fee for a spell that failed to win back the woman’s partner.

The Munich administrative court said Monday it ruled that the witch must pay back the $1,275 on the grounds she offered a service that was “objectively completely impossible.”
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A high school student found a used needle and syringe by the side of a road and jabbed eight fellow students over two days, police and school officials said.

Jabbed students at Bellows Free Academy were urged to be vaccinated immediately against hepatitis B. The incidents also posed a lower risk of hepatitis C and HIV, but those diseases would not be expected to show in tests for months.
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BERLIN – A truck spilled two tons of pigs’ heads on a road in western Germany, giving passing drivers a shock on the night before Halloween, police said Tuesday.

The accident happened Monday night after the truck turned off a highway in Herne, in the Ruhr region, police in Bochum said.
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LOS ANGELES – Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe, who started the year on an Oscar-winning high, are ending it on a low note: The couple have separated.

“We are saddened to announce that Reese and Ryan have decided to formally separate,” publicist Nanci Ryder said in a statement issued Monday on behalf of the couple.
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SOFIA: Bulgarian premier league side Litex Lovech have ordered striker Ivelin Popov to get married in the coming year in the hope that it curtails his wild living.

“I accept the order and I promise to do it,” said Popov who is a key member of Bulgaria’s under-21 squad. “My bosses are right to want such a thing from me because they know my temper.”
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