Reuters Odd News Summary

Following is a summary of current odd news briefs.

Chocolate Santas in marzipan masks - a coronavirus Christmas in Hungary

When confectioner Laszlo Rimoczi decided to put masks on his chocolate Santas in his small workshop in rural Hungary, he intended it as a light-hearted joke to raise people's spirits amid a worsening coronavirus pandemic. But it turned out to be shrewd business move as orders surged online, and now he can hardly keep pace with demand.

Singapore activist faces fine over one-man smiley face sign protest

Singapore is set to charge an activist with staging a one-man protest without a permit over an incident in which he held up a sign bearing a crudely drawn smiley face outside a police station. Police told Jolovan Wham, 40, who has had several run-ins with authorities in the city-state, which tightly controls public assembly, the media and free speech, on Thursday that he would be formally charged in court Monday.

Indian officials rescue elephant that fell down a well

Forest officials in India's southern Tamil Nadu state said on Friday they used a crane to pull an elephant from a well, after working for more than 12 hours to rescue the animal. The elephant, which strayed into a village bordering a forest in Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri district, fell into the well that was covered with bushes and did not have a fence or wall around it, Rajkumar, the district forest officer told Reuters.