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Indian Teacher Stunned by $10 Billion Bank Balance

An Indian high school teacher, with a monthly salary of around $700, was astounded when a routine online check of his bank account showed a balance of almost $10 billion.

Parijat Saha, from the town of Balurghat in West Bengal state, said he had checked his State Bank of India account online last Sunday to confirm reception of a 10,000 rupee ($200) interest payment.

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Woman 'Sold into Slavery' Returns to Taiwan

A Taiwanese woman who was allegedly sold into "slavery" as a child returned from the United States to the island Wednesday for a much-anticipated family reunion, officials and media said.

Television images showed the woman, in her 20s and who identified herself as "Isabel", arriving at the northern Taoyuan airport flanked by a group of Taiwanese government officials -- she did not answer questions from reporters.

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Year of Dragon Raises Hopes for Stock Rally

The stock market will rally strongly in the second half of 2012, much like a dragon rising from the depths, according to a Hong Kong brokerage's annual astrological predictions.

CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets released its annual feng shui index on Wednesday ahead of the Lunar New Year next week that marks the start of the year of the dragon.

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'Nuckin Futs' Snack Gets Go Ahead in Australia

A snack called "Nuckin Futs" has got the green light to be sold in Australia after regulators accepted the profanity it parodies was part of everyday speech, according to a report.

The Trade Marks Examiner initially ruled that the name was inappropriate and rejected a trademark application, the Melbourne Herald Sun reported.

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India's 'Angry Brides' Game Wages War on Dowry

A new online game in India called "Angry Brides" which seeks to highlight the problem of illegal dowry demands for women has attracted more than 270,000 fans.

The game by online matchmaker shaadi.com -- inspired by the hugely popular "Angry Birds" game -- sees players attack prospective grooms greedy for dowry with a variety of weapons, from a brick-red stiletto to a broomstick.

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Spanish Pets Head to Church for Blessing

Dogs, cats, rabbits and even turtles, many dressed in their finest, trooped into churches across Spain on Tuesday in search of blessing on Saint Anthony's Day, for the patron saint of animals.

Pet owners lined up around the block of the Church of San Anton in central Madrid behind blue metal barriers to wait for a priest to sprinkle holy water on their animals.

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Principal Warned Over High-Tech Anti-Cheating Idea

An Austrian high school principal narrowly escaped legal action after going after potential exam cheaters with a high-tech — but illegal — idea.

Gerhard Klampfer reportedly bought and mounted a jamming device strong enough to prevent graduating classes from doing Internet research on their smartphones during final exams last summer.

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Poland's Condom Market Shrinks for First Time

Sales of condoms and birth control in Poland shrank by 10 percent and 3.2 percent respectively over a year as of October 2011, the first such drop on record, fresh market surveys showed Tuesday.

Further studies of the data compiled by the Nielsen and IMS Health pharmaceutical market analysts due out in February are expected to pinpoint the causes behind this unprecedented contraction in the contraceptives sector.

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Kiwi Call for Shearing to Become Olympic Sport

The New Zealand Farmers Federation has called for sheep shearing to become an Olympic sport, hailing top wool-clippers as world-class athletes.

With the World Shearing Championships set to be held in the North Island town of Masterton in March, federation spokeswoman Jeanette Maxwell said shearing was now a bona fide sport that deserved international recognition.

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Nepal Police Accused of Using Station as Butcher's

A group of Nepal police officers are being investigated for operating a butcher's shop from their station and slaughtering goats when they should have been fighting crime, according to the force.

The officers in the station on the outskirts of the capital Kathmandu are accused of taking livestock from members of the public and killing and carving up the animals to be sold.

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