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He was purrfect: Honorary cat mayor in Alaska town dies

TALKEETNA, Alaska (AP) — Stubbs, the honorary feline mayor of the Alaska town of Talkeetna, has died at the age of 20.

That stinks! Man seeking dropped phone falls in trash chute

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man looking for a dropped cellphone ended up in a stinky situation, tumbling into a building's trash chute where he had to be rescued.

No dye: Cancer patients' gray hair darkened on immune drugs

CHICAGO (AP) — Cancer patients' gray hair unexpectedly turned youthfully dark while taking novel drugs, and it has doctors scratching their heads.

Is that really a beached whale beneath Paris' Notre Dame?

PARIS (AP) — A sperm whale appears to have beached on an embankment in the shadow of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Exhumation of Dali's remains finds his mustache still intact

FIGUERES, Spain (AP) — Forensic experts in Spain have removed hair, nails and two long bones from Salvador Dali's embalmed remains to aid a court-ordered paternity test that may enable a woman who says she is the surrealist artist's daughter to claim part of Dali's vast estate.

A weird Florida mystery: Frozen pork falling from the sky

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Meat falling from the sky is weird, even by Florida standards.

New librarian finds live Civil War-era shells in her office

CARLISLE, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts librarian on her first day on the job has come across live military shells from the Civil War inside a closet in her new office.

Builder of illegal LA mansion gets fines, community service

The father of fashion models Bella and Gigi Hadid has been fined and given community service for illegally building a gigantic mansion in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times reports (http://lat.ms/2ufqHY5 ...

Apollo 11 bag laced with moon dust sells for $1.8 million

NEW YORK (AP) — A bag containing traces of moon dust sold for $1.8 million at an auction on Thursday following a galactic court battle.

Winning toilet paper gowns offered to brides-in-need

By Taylor Harris NEW YORK (Reuters) - A toilet paper wedding dress with 1,500 hand-cut butterflies made by a mother of two in her spare time won the $10,000 first prize in a quirky New York fashion competition on Thursday and a bride-in-need may have the chance to wear it down the aisle. Ripley's Believe It or Not!, which exhibits winning entries every year, is donating about 20 of the top gowns to brides whose plans were shattered by the sudden bankruptcy of wedding dressmaker Alfred Angelo last week. Kari Curletto said she spent three months on her submission "Quilted Enchantment," with its six-foot cathedral train.

McDonald's adds Big Mac onesie, sweatsuit to delivery items

OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) — With McDonald's now offering a delivery service, the fast-food giant is looking to make customers comfortable eating at home with a new clothing line that includes an adult-size Big Mac onesie.

London Zoo welcomes a new kind of visitor: Robotic dinosaurs

LONDON (AP) — London Zoo is welcoming a new star attraction this summer: robotic dinosaurs.

Alabama man to display head of 820-pound hog shot in yard

SAMSON, Ala. (AP) — Hogs aren't unusual in rural south Alabama, but Wade Seago said he'd never seen anything like the 820-pound (372-kilogram) animal he shot and killed in his front yard.

Self-described drug dealer calls 911, reports stolen cocaine

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Calling 911 to report a stolen bag of cocaine probably wasn't the best idea for a self-described Florida drug dealer.

Man beats odds of catching blue lobster, donates to science

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire lobsterman has joined an elite club after catching a rare blue lobster.

Dog pulls baby deer from water to save it from drowning

PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. (AP) — A dog that saw a baby deer in danger of drowning in New York jumped in and dragged it to shore.

US YouTube star in Thailand finds coin stunt falls flat

BANGKOK (AP) — An American expat in Thailand who is a YouTube star with 3.29 million subscribers is in hot water for posting a video of an age-old practice among kids: flattening coins on railroad tracks.

Illinois school dorm director teaches dog to bark in whisper

GREENVILLE, Ill. (AP) — A resident director who lives in a dorm at a college in southern Illinois has taught his dog to bark in a whisper.

River roll call as 'swan upping' gets under way on Britain's Thames

By Mark Hanrahan SHEPPERTON, England, (Reuters) - Six old-fashioned skiffs interrupted the sleepy pace of life on a stretch of the river Thames on Monday as teams embarked on the annual "upping" - a combined census and health visit for swans. "It's tradition - it's part of British history", David Barber, the swan marker on queen's crew told Reuters of the endeavour dating back to the 12th century, when swans were an important food source. The upping is in part about pomp and ceremony.

Hyenas spark admiration, not fear, in Ethiopia's Harar city

By Tiksa Nagari HARAR, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Hyenas roam the streets of the ancient walled city of Harar in eastern Ethiopia every night, seeking scraps of meat to drag to the nearby caves. Abbas Yusuf, known as Hyena Man, learnt to feed the hyenas from his father, Yusuf Mume Salleh, who fed them for 45 years before passing the job to his son 13 years ago. "Hyenas have never attacked the people of Harar after my father started feeding them, unless you harm their babies," Abbas Yusuf told Reuters.