Offbeat - AFP

MOSCOW (AFP) - Authorities evacuated the airport terminal in Vladivostok, in Russia's far east, after a flight arriving from Seoul set off a radiation alarm.

WELLINGTON (AFP) - A New Zealand judge has ordered a name change for an embarrassed nine-year-old girl called Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii, a local newspaper reported Thursday.

DUBLIN (AFP) - A French waiter who threw an egg at the car carrying President Nicholas Sarkozy during his visit to Dublin this week is ready to do the same again, he told Irish media Thursday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - A pet rabbit in Australia was credited with saving its owners Thursday after scratching at the door of their bedroom as their home burned, emergency workers said.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Women's National Basketball Association officials suspended 10 players and an assistant coach Thursday after a brawl, setting up the return of 50-year-old Nancy Lieberman to the league.

BERLIN (AFP) - After her notorious backrub at the hands of US President George W. Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday she would be ready to work out any kinks in transatlantic ties with either of his potential successors.

LONDON (AFP) - Two balloons shaped like penguins sparked a major air and sea search when they were mistaken for a crashed microlight, Scottish coastguards said Wednesday.

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese man who took out a classified advertisement to find his lost dog wound up instead with an ulcer after being pestered by hundreds of nuisance calls, police said Wednesday.

BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - More than 5,000 athletes, gay and straight, from across Europe are converging on Barcelona for the Eurogames which get underway on Thursday in the Spanish port city, organisers said.

BAKKEN, Denmark (AFP) - "A Santa in white!" screams a wide-eyed Danish boy as he catches a glimpse of a Santa Claus who ditched his traditional red garb for a white suit at a Santa convention winding up in Denmark on Wednesday.

LILLE, France (AFP) - A French couple were given a four-month suspended sentence and made to pay one euro in damages to the Canadian state for making a porn video at a World War I memorial, officials said Wednesday.

LONDON (AFP) - A climate change protester unsuccessfully tried to superglue himself to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at an event in the leader's residence, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

NEW DELHI (AFP) - An Indian MP temporarily released from prison to cast a crucial vote in parliament admitted Tuesday the debate over a controversial nuclear deal with the United States was too complicated for him.

LONDON (AFP) - London Mayor Boris Johnson waded into the debate about where politicians should go on holiday Tuesday, lashing Prime Minister Gordon Brown for staying at home by the boring English seaside.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republican White House hopeful John McCain's campaign on Tuesday lashed out at the US media's "bizarre fascination" for Democrat Barack Obama with a new Internet advertisement.

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown turned down an option to buy a brown leather "bomber" jacket presented to him by US President George W. Bush last year, official records showed Tuesday.

ATHENS (AFP) - An Athens court on Tuesday rejected a complaint by inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesbos who had wanted gay women to stop monopolising the term 'lesbian', a justice source said.

LONDON (AFP) - Monty Python star John Cleese said Tuesday that having a lemur named after him was a greater honour than receiving a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II.

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Singapore has cancelled ASEAN's traditional night of skits and stage acts by ministers at the end of their annual talks, ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said Tuesday.

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Santas and elves from around the world gathered in Denmark on Monday to argue over the Christmas calendar, plan slimming exercises and chase a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

VIENNA (AFP) - An Austrian first division manager was so incensed with a referee that he brandished a red card at the official from the touchline.

GENEVA (AFP) - Ministers suffering from "negotiation fatigue" as the World Trade Organisation tries yet again to break the deadlock on the Doha round can at least get a new outfit in the form of commemorative T-shirts.

HELSINKI (AFP) - A tiny mistake ended a Finnish karaoke club marathon that set a new world record Monday for the longest sing-along session of more than 18 days.

WARSAW (AFP) - Several passenger trains came to a grinding halt in Poland Monday after thieves stole overhead steel electric cables, the country's PKP state railways spokesman Miroslaw Siemieniec confirmed.

LONDON (AFP) - A British homeowner plans to reward his family's pet parrot after it saved them from a fire by frantically squawking to wake them up, a report said Monday.

CARACAS (AFP) - President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he would like to hug King Juan Carlos when he visits Spain this week, as the two move beyond a spat last year when the monarch told the Venezuelan leader to "shut up."

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian Aboriginals replanted an ancient boab tree on Sunday after it was driven thousands of kilometres with a police escort to save it from destruction.

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - A package of baby diapers yielded an unlikely load in Mexico on Friday, according to the defense ministry: nearly half a million dollars in cash.