Blood tests debunk cat-puppy claim

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Nov 22 (Reuters) Brazil's cat-puppy mystery has been solved.

Blood tests refute a Brazilian woman's claim that her cat had given birth to three puppies, geneticist Adil Pacheco said yesterday.

Cassia Aparecida de Souza, 18, from a poor neighborhood of Passo Fundo in southern Brazil, said last Friday that her cat Mimi had given birth to the three puppies as well as three kittens, which did not survive.

''People who aren't experts often imagine things,'' said Pacheco, director of the Institute of Biological Sciences of the University of Passo Fundo. ''All the facts contradict her.'' Pacheco, who was asked by a local newspaper to conduct a chromosome test to check the spectacular claim which gained wide media attention, said mammals sometimes nursed the young from another species.

-X-X-X- Beverage firm offers pea-flavored soda SEATTLE - After introducing the world to new soda flavors like fish taco and salmon, Seattle specialty beverage maker Jones Soda Co. is offering a new flavor: Green pea.

Green pea, along with other unusual sodas such as turkey and gravy, dinner roll, sweet potato and antacid flavor, will be part of the company's 10 to 15 dollars ''holiday pack'' of bottled drinks available nationwide.

Peter van Stolk, chief executive of Jones Soda, said on Monday the collection of strange-flavored sodas usually sells out quickly, even though he can not stomach the drinks. Past flavors included broccoli casserole, corn on the cob and Brussel sprout.

''Why people buy it is beyond me. I can't drink a bottle of this stuff,'' said van Stolk.

Jones Soda, which sells traditional sodas alongside more exotic flavors like fufu berry and green apple, first introduced the holiday soda pack in 2003, gaining notoriety for its turkey and gravy flavor soda.

-X-X-X- Borat's racy posters scrapped JERUSALEM - Forget the anti-Semitic jokes, it's the racy publicity for the film ''Borat'' that bothers Israel's censors.

Posters showing comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's boorish Kazakh alter ego in a skimpy posing pouch were scrapped in the Jewish state on the grounds of decency, the newspaper Haaretz reported Tuesday.

Instead, the star will be shown wearing his trademark suit.

The movie, whose full title is ''Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,'' is a box-office hit in the United States and Europe despite debate over the racist and sexist views of its faux hero. It opens in Israel on November 30.

British-born Baron Cohen, 35, is Jewish, has an Israeli mother and spent a year on a kibbutz.

-X-X-X- And the richest fictional character is..

NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters Life!) - Move over Santa. The red-clad philanthropist has lost the top slot on Forbes magazines' list of the 15 richest fictional characters to defense contractor Oliver ''Daddy'' Warbucks.

Warbucks, a lieutenant general in the comic strip Little Orphan Annie, unseats Santa from the top position for the first time with an estimated net worth of 36.2 billion dollars with the conflict in Iraq boosting his fortune.

''We still estimate Claus' net worth as infinite, but we excluded him from this year's rankings after being bombarded by letters from outraged children insisting that Claus is 'real','' according to a statement from Forbes.com.

Forbes.com said it took into account ''the physical evidence - toys delivered, milk and cookies devoured'' in removing him from consideration.

Other drop-offs include Ebenezer Scrooge, who gave much of his fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Superman nemesis Lex Luther, who blew billions trying to take over the world; and Cruella De Vil as demand for fur coats plummeted.

-X-X-X- Fugitive seeking love online gets nabbed LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - A fugitive wanted for a double homicide in Arkansas was arrested on the weekend in Wisconsin after he posted his name, picture and address on an online dating Web site, police said on Monday.

Calvin A Bennett, 26, has been charged with two counts of murder in the killings of Pierce Odell, 79, and his wife, Mary, 78, who were found shot to death on October 30 outside their home in Nashville, Arkansas, about 125 miles southwest of the state capital Little Rock.

''He was taken into custody shortly before noon on Sunday, less than 12 hours after his picture was broadcast on (the television show) 'America's Most Wanted,''' said Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the Arkansas State Police.

Sadler said that people who had first seen his picture on the dating site had subsequently seen it on the popular television program.

On Monday Bennett was ordered held without bond in Wisconsin pending an extradition hearing on December 19. An affidavit submitted by the authorities said Bennett had confessed to killing the Odells during a botched burglary.

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