AP - The one that didn't get away held an unlikely surprise for a Texas man. The blue-stoned class ring of Joe Richardson, engraved with his name, turned up inside an 8-pound bass 21 years after he lost it while fishing on Lake Sam Rayburn.

AP - A man using a candy cane lawn ornament fended off a knife-wielding neighbor who had been attacking holiday guests at a Sacramento home. Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong saID the man used the two-foot-tall plastic ornament to subdue the attacker until officers arrived.

AP - Authorities in southwest Florida say an intoxicated man had his 9-year-old son take him on a beer run. Cape Coral police arrested the 27-year-old man last week, after seeing a pickup truck drive onto a median.

AP - A lady lobster with four claws was pulled from the deep this week in the waters off Newport. With a large crusher claw and three pincher claws — instead of the usual one — the crustacean was unlike anything 39-year-old lobsterman Patrick Marks had ever seen in his 14 years catching the creatures.

AP - Things got a little spookier than expected during a ghost tour when a driver lost control of her car and plowed into the group. The Charleston Post and Courier reported two people suffered minor injuries in the Tuesday night accident near Charleston's famous Four Corners of Law at Meeting and Broad streets.

Reuters - Police have arrested a man in southeastern Nigeria who said in a television documentary he had killed 110 children he believed to be possessed by evil spirits, officials said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Greece welcomed back on Tuesday a marble fragment from a frieze decorating the Parthenon temple which an Austrian soldier removed during World War Two, but renewed a call for all its stolen treasures to be returned.

Reuters - Short of gift ideas for that person who really does have everything? Then how about an underwear repair kit or maybe a Barack Obama "Yes, We Can" can opener?

Reuters - Croatian police have detained and questioned web activists who are criticizing or ridiculing the government, media and the opposition say, accusing authorities of violating basic civil rights.

Reuters - Three Singaporeans were jailed on Thursday after being charged with contempt of court for showing up at Singapore's Supreme Court wearing T-shirts depicting kangaroos in judges robes.

Reuters - "The Sound of Music" has faded in the Austrian city of Salzburg, which has blocked plans to turn the original von Trapp family villa portrayed in the Hollywood favourite into a hotel, says the company behind the idea.

Reuters - They're cute, they're cuddly and, in these times of financial woe, they make an affordable festive gift that's also good for the soul -- adopt a rescued koala.

Reuters - U.S. researchers say they have discovered what appears to be the oldest imprint of a prehistoric insect, made while the dragonfly-like creature was still alive.

Reuters - Former Japan international Kazuki Ganaha, banned last year for taking garlic IV infusions, has been released by Japanese club Kawasaki Frontale.

Reuters - Defying the economic downturn, an Italian white truffle weighing just over 1 kg (2.2 lb) sold at an international auction Saturday for $200,000 (130,000 pounds).

AP - A northern Ohio artist known for envelope-pushing holiday displays is back — with Santa Claus in a wheelchair being pushed down stairs by a crazed tree.

Reuters - The French say they need the largest condoms in Europe while Greeks get by on smaller ones, according to a Europe-wide study by a German consultancy that provides advice on condoms.

AP - It may have seemed like a mirage: Two camels nibbling on a pine tree along a street in this desert metropolis on the Texas border. Police tried lassoing the animals, which lunged at the officers with snapping teeth as onlookers chuckled.

Reuters - The Netherlands will ban the sale and cultivation of all hallucinogenic "magic" mushrooms from next week, the latest target of a country seeking to shed its "anything goes" image.

AP - A message in a bottle tossed into the ocean off Barnegat Bay has turned up in North Carolina — 39 years later. The note was sealed in a Schaefer beer bottle. It was dated Aug. 17, 1969 and read: "If found notify the North Haledon Fire Co. 2."