Odd News Highlights: Luxury Dog Parks, Achievements and Missteps, and More!

In this odd news brief, discover a private members' club for dogs in LA, Usain Bolt's Achilles injury at a charity soccer match, a study about elephants calling each other by name, pricey tickets for Ronaldo's open training session, an AI cheating scandal in Turkey, and Joey Chestnut's veggie frankfurter controversy.

Following is a summary of current odd news briefs.

At 'Soho House for dogs,' LA pooches romp at private members' club

Dogs are living it up at DOG PPL, a private members' park for canines in the Los Angeles beach enclave of Santa Monica, where dogs and their owners socialize and enjoy high-end amenities in what has been dubbed "Soho House for dogs."

For a $120 per month membership fee, dogs get access to a clean and luxurious place to hang out and are watched by minders called "rufferees," who step in if any of the dogs get too excited. Dog owners have access to lounge and work areas, Wi-Fi, a bar, free parking and social events.

Athletics-World's fastest man Bolt ruptures Achilles in charity soccer match

Jamaican sprinting hero Usain Bolt ruptured his Achilles tendon at a charity football match in London on Sunday, confirming the news in a social media post. The eight-time Olympic champion and world-record holder in the 100 and 200 metres was carried off on a stretcher during the second half of the Soccer Aid game at Stamford Bridge.

Study shows elephants might call each other by name

Over the years, researchers who study elephants have noticed an intriguing phenomenon. Sometimes when an elephant makes a vocalization to a group of other elephants, all of them respond. But sometimes when that same elephant makes a similar call to the group, only a single individual responds. Could it be that elephants address each other by the equivalent of a name? A new study involving wild African savannah elephants in Kenya lends support to this idea.

Soccer-Tickets for Ronaldo's Portugal training session on offer for up to 800 euros

Tickets to watch Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo train with the national team in an open session on Friday at their Euro 2024 tournament base in Westphalia are on sale for as much as 800 euros ($858.32). Ronaldo, the leading scorer in men's international football with 128 goals in 204 official matches, will be playing in his sixth Euros, having reached the final on his tournament debut in 2004 and winning the competition in 2016.

Turkish student arrested for using AI to cheat in university exam

Turkish authorities have arrested a student for cheating during a university entrance exam by using a makeshift device linked to artificial intelligence software to answer questions. The student was spotted behaving in a suspicious way during the exam at the weekend and was detained by police, before being formally arrested and sent to jail pending trial.

Champion hot dog eater excluded from Coney Island contest over veggie franks

Joey Chestnut, defending champion of the annual July Fourth hot dog eating competition on New York City's Coney Island, is excluded from this year's event because he is sponsoring an all-veggie frankfurter of another brand, organizers said on Tuesday. In a statement posted to its X social media account, Major League Eating (MLE), which oversees Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, said it was "devastated" by Chestnut's decision to switch commercial fealty to a rival frank.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)