Reuters Odd News Summary

'Serial stowaway' was arrested at Chicago airport last month

A woman notorious for sneaking onto commercial airline flights was arrested at Chicago O'Hare International Airport late last month after she was found in a restricted area without a ticket, police said on Tuesday. Marilyn Hartman, 64, was taken into custody on April 24 after police determined that she had no ticket and no official business or reason to be in the terminal, said Officer Barri Lemmon of the Chicago Police Department.

Czech club criticized over plans to use lie detectors on players

Czech second division club Banik Most have been criticized by the world players' union FIFPro over plans to make its players take lie detector tests after a run of nine successive defeats. "FIFPro is totally opposed to the use of a lie detector test and strongly recommends all players not to cooperate with this test," said FIFPro in a statement. According to FIFPro, the players were suspected of having been involved in match-fixing. "Banik Most's club directors...are treating their players as potential suspects, even though there appears to be no clear evidence," said FIFPro. "FIFPro wants to stress that players are often the victims of match-fixing. Professional soccer players could be involved, but match-fixing rarely starts with the players." FIFPro added that the use of lie detectors was not efficient in any case and said it understood that the players had not been paid their salaries for March. "Many scientists have criticized the use of the lie detector," said FIFPro's legal director Wil van Megen. "They are not convinced that this tool is the most accurate to determine whether someone is telling the truth or lying.

At Polish castle, knights tool up for medieval fight

Wielding swords and halberds, knights in heavy armor attack each other in scenes that could easily be mistaken for a staged reconstruction. But on the grounds of this vast brick castle in northern Poland, the battles are real. Men and women from 25 countries gathered in their hundreds at Malbork Castle this weekend for the yearly full contact Medieval Combat World Championships in fast-paced fighting, reminiscent of the battles of medieval Europe.

Austrian baker causes stir with 'tasteless' 9/11 cake

A Vienna baker has stirred up anger by making a cake depicting Austria's main political parties as New York's twin towers coming under attack from opposition party aircraft. "It's ironic that a baker has no taste," wrote one critic on the website of the mass-circulation Heute tabloid that highlighted the unusual creation. "I would call this incitement to terrorism," wrote another.