Offbeat
Latest stories
World's Longest Yardsale Opens Through Six U.S. States

The World's Longest Yardsale opened for a 25th season Thursday along U.S. Highway 127, offering second-hand bargains and entertainment over 690 miles (1,100 kilometers) in six states.

Organized by the Fentress County Chamber of Commerce in northern Tennessee, it's the longest the four-day attic-clearing event has ever stretched, running from Gadsden, Alabama to the outskirts of Addison, Michigan.

W140 Full Story
Man 'On Hold with Qantas for 15 Hours'

An Australian man Friday claimed he was put on hold by Qantas Airways for so long he managed to read an entire managerial textbook, with the 15-hour phone call enough time to fly to the United States.

Andrew Kahn told Fairfax newspapers he phoned Qantas to confirm plans to travel to New York on Sunday, and was placed in a queue with a recorded message saying someone would be with him as soon as possible.

W140 Full Story
Diplomats Joined N. Korea's Kim on Theme Park Ride

Diplomats from several countries including Britain accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on his roller-coaster ride last week, the British embassy in the North's capital Pyongyang said Friday.

Photographs of the young Kim, smiling broadly as the amusement park ride began, were circulated by state media as part of an apparent campaign to build an image of a relaxed and informal leader.

W140 Full Story
Tomato, Tomahto: Quebec Vintner Turns it into Wine

Canadian wine lovers have been raising a glass to an increasingly popular but unusual vintage crafted from a secret Belgian family recipe four generations old using ... tomatoes.

Pascal Miche, a former pork butcher in his 40s, says his is the first tomato wine to be successfully commercialized -- with sales at 34,000 bottles annually only three years since he launched the project.

W140 Full Story
Amorous Bull Damages U.S. Deputy's Patrol Car

A bull in the mood for love damaged an Arkansas sheriff's patrol car when it tried to mount a man who was leading the animal across a yard.

Authorities said Wednesday that a Faulkner County sheriff's deputy was responding to a call about a bull running loose when he saw the man slapping and trying to guide the bull.

W140 Full Story
Lucky French Motorists Get Cheap Fuel from Faulty Pump

Dozens of lucky French motorists were treated to bargain-basement prices when an automatic diesel dispenser malfunctioned and charged 25 euro cents (30 U.S. cents) a liter.

A total of 189 motorists were able to take advantage of the price mix-up overnight at a Cora supermarket in the city of Montbeliard near the Swiss border, local police and the supermarket's management said.

W140 Full Story
Top Violinist Reunited With Lost Stradivarius

The absent-minded passenger who left a Stradivarius violin worth millions of euros on a train in Switzerland last week was identified as a top concert violinist by the BernerZeitung Wednesday.

Alexander Dubach, an acclaimed exponent of the works of Paganini, forgot the precious instrument on Friday when he got off the suburban train at Bern, near his home in Thun.

W140 Full Story
Pigs Heads Dumped at Mosque in France Shooting Spree Town

Muslims attending morning prayers Wednesday were confronted by two pigs' heads in the entrance to their mosque in a French town where an Islamist gunman killed two paratroopers in March.

The incident in Montauban was described as a "racist provocation" by a watchdog which monitors anti-Islamic actions in France and as an "odious and blasphemous act" by the Montauban mayor, Brigitte Bareges.

W140 Full Story
U.S. Man Points Laser at Navy Pilots Faces 20 Years in Prison

A U.S. national pleaded guilty Tuesday to obstructing the vision of military pilots during training, Agence France Presse learned from a legal source.

Robert Bruce, 56, faces up to 20 years in prison for repeatedly pointing a laser beam at U.S. Navy pilots flying over and around Naval Air Station Oceana, in the eastern state of Virginia, according to court documents cited in a statement from the prosecution.

W140 Full Story
Western NY Couple, 85, To Remarry 48 Years after Divorce

They got hitched while still in their teens, divorced 20 years and four children later, and are getting remarried after nearly a half-century apart.

For Lena Henderson and Roland Davis, both 85 years old, the second time around is finally here. The couple plans to get married again on Saturday, with four generations on hand to see it happen.

W140 Full Story