Offbeat - AFP

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Staff at a California school were scratching their heads on Friday after their facility mysteriously appeared as a backdrop during John McCain's Republican Convention speech.

TIRANA (AFP) - An Albanian artist has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for a third time, this time with a large mosaic constructed out of bottle corks.

LONDON (AFP) - Drivers hit by petrol price hikes lined up outside a gas station in London Friday to take advantage of 20,000 pounds worth of free fuel, causing traffic chaos.

BEIJING (AFP) - An elephant has kicked his heroin habit after a three-year stint on an island rehab in southern China, an official and state media said Thursday.

LONDON (AFP) - A police officer guarding former prime minister Tony Blair left her loaded gun in a London coffee shop where it was found by a member of the public, police and media reports said Thursday.

LONDON (AFP) - A man saw his father on a television show -- five years after thought he had been cremated, police said Thursday.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Crew on an Air India passenger jet discovered a snake coiled up under a seat and were unable to catch it as it slithered around the plane, the airline said on Thursday.

PARIS (AFP) - Particle physicists fall into the stereotype of geek scientists -- serious, distracted and prone to wearing ties that look like socks -- but a rap hit on the video website Youtube has shed unexpected light on their fun side.

OTTAWA (AFP) - New labeling rules for padded bras and other undergarments have Canada's garment makers and importers up in arms, an industry spokesman said Wednesday.

BERLIN (AFP) - German police said Wednesday they were looking for a skateboarder who was filmed travelling around 100 kilometres (60 miles) an hour on a motorway.

LONDON (AFP) - Rival groups of birds behave like football fans, shouting chants at each other and commiserating with each other after a loss, research from Bristol University revealed on Wednesday.

GENEVA (AFP) - A Swiss man has sold an elaborate Virgin Mary tattoo on his back to a German collector, with the understanding it can be exhibited three times yearly, a Zurich gallery said Monday.

GENEVA (AFP) - Want to get rid of your goldfish? Swiss owners who have been flushing them down the toilet -- still alive -- must now find other methods since strict, new animal protection laws went into effect Monday.

MOSCOW (AFP) - You've seen Vladimir Putin the bomber pilot, judo expert and fisherman -- but tiger tamer?

TOKYO (AFP) - Asian elephants can do mathematics, proving their skill at addition in an experiment with their favourite food, a Japanese researcher said Monday.

TOKYO (AFP) - Asian elephants can do mathematics, proving their skill at addition in an experiment with their favourite food, a Japanese researcher said Monday.

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - A Malaysian welder had to have a nut removed from around his penis after an attempt to lengthen it before he gets engaged next week went embarrassingly wrong, a news report said Sunday.

DUBLIN (AFP) - Both US presidential hopeful Barack Obama and running mate Joseph Biden are descended from shoemakers who emigrated from Ireland within five weeks of each other, a researcher said Friday.

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Sweden's own version of the Loch Ness monster, the Storsjoe or Great Lake monster, has been caught on film by surveillance videos, an association that installed the cameras said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Americans have elected a poodle to the White House, the American Kennel Club (AKC) said Thursday.

ROME (AFP) - The religious feelings of devout Italians are being hurt by a deceased German artist's representation of a crucified frog, Culture Minister Sandro Bondi said Thursday.

LONDON (AFP) - A piece of 27-year-old cake from the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana has been sold to an anonymous bidder at auction for 1,200 pounds.

PRAGUE (AFP) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus has blocked criminal proceedings against a man suspected of offering the head of state's hip for sale on the Internet, his office said Thursday.

LONDON (AFP) - A solid gold sculpture of British supermodel Kate Moss worth 1.5 million pounds (2.8 million dollars, 1.9 million euros) was unveiled in London on Thursday

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - A condom lubricant designed for sex workers and gay men has become a popular acne cure among female Cambodians, women in the capital and local media said Thursday.

SOFIA(AFP) - Bulgaria's campaign against cannabis has gone literally to the doorstep of power, after marijuana plants were found growing amongst the flowers outside government headquarters in Sofia.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Eight years after it hosted an Olympics that were famously hailed as the "best games ever," Sydney has had to confess that it faked one of the key musical performances at the opening ceremony in 2000.

SHANGHAI (AFP) - Shanghai jaywalkers face public humiliation as police plan to start broadcasting images of their offences on television to shame them into respecting traffic rules, local media said Thursday.