At zoos across the country, animals are packing on the pounds. Now they have a novel solution: weight-watchers for animals.

The love story is over for Petra the swan and her swan-shaped paddleboat

The love story is over for Petra the swan and her swan-shaped paddleboat

An 80-year-old man can hear his late wife's voice again, any time he wants.

AP - An 80-year-old man can hear his late wife's voice again, any time he wants. Verizon has recovered a lost message recorded by Charles Whiting's wife, Catherine, before her death in 2005.

AP - Two teenagers, one dangling from a rope tied to an interstate bridge and holding a can of spray paint, did not see Sheriff's Deputy Melissa Myers when she drove up. They never got a chance to express their love with graffiti.

AP - A piece of meteorite stolen from a museum was recovered after a man who owns another slice of the same rock saw it at a gun show. Someone stole the 12-by-16-inch meteorite slice valued at $5,000 from the Joshua Tree Earth and Space Museum in Lakeville about two weeks ago.

AP - A pet macaw named Danny Boy flew the coop in Carpinteria and was found 15 months later some 80 miles away in Pasadena. Greg and Susan Vasilakos, who have moved from Carpinteria to Colorado, learned days ago that Danny Boy has been found. The bird flew away on Dec. 6, 2006, leaving the couple heartbroken.

AP - His schnoz is not to be sniffed at. The nose of leading European winemaker and taster Ilja Gort has been insured for euro5 million ($8 million), Lloyd's of London said Tuesday. He took out the policy after hearing about a man who lost his sense of smell in a car accident.

AP - A long love story is over at a German zoo: Petra the swan and her swan-shaped paddleboat are parting ways. Petra, a black swan, became a minor celebrity in 2006 when she became so attached to the boat — which is shaped like an oversized white swan — that she refused to leave its side.

His schnoz is not to be sniffed at.

For those readers wondering what happened in the 'Danny Boy' marathon at a coffee shop in Michigan, here's your answer.

History re-enactors posing as Old West gunslingers here need to follow some modern rules, the sheriff says: Guns and alcohol don't mix.

Reuters - Tokyo businesses are to start offering benefits to elderly people who give up their drivers' licences, backing a police effort to cut back on the ballooning number of traffic accidents caused by drivers over 65.

Reuters - The Lloyd's of London insurance market has insured the nose of a leading wine maker and taster for 5 million euros ($7.9 million), covering the Bordeaux producer against the loss of his nose and sense of smell.

The sale price for a Chattanooga, Tenn., house shaped like a flying saucer is nothing to phone home about.

A businessman claims in a lawsuit that he was injured when a stripper giving him a lap dance swiveled and smacked him in the face with the heel of her shoe.

Revellers in Japan have fun with giant wooden penis as part of an annual fertility festival. Penis penis penis.

Title celebrations fall flat in Stirling as police raid a football team's dressing-room and confiscate their champagne.

Reuters - The Lloyd's of London insurance market has insured the nose of a leading wine maker and taster for 5 million euros (3.9 million pounds), covering the Bordeaux producer against the loss of his nose and sense of smell.