News of the weird

Overreaction: A Honduran peasant, Juan Pablo Varela, 47, is reported to have cut off his own testicles with a machete in a fit of rage because his wife refused to have sex with him. According to a local newspaper, "When he had cut off both testicles, he put them on a table, then grabbed them and went to a health centre to have them reattached." His chances of recovering "full manhood" are estimated to be extremely slim.

Sexy tigers: Lin Chen-Yi, a well-known geomancer in Taiwan, has warned that the Chinese Year of the Tiger will bring an increasing number of sex scandals. The year is governed by the powerful "peach blossom star" which drives a person to engage in amorous activities, he said.

Blood hound: The US government has for the first time approved the use of artificial blood, but only for dogs. Oxyglobin for dogs, a product from BioPure Corp, is expected to be used in treating the 4 million dogs in the US every year that need transfusions for anaemia. Even in America, animal blood banks are rare and vets struggle to find canine blood donors whenever a dog gets hit by a car.