Reuters - The abduction of a U.S. anti-kidnap expert in northern Mexico last month remains a mystery with no clues to the man's whereabouts and no ransom demanded by his captors, police said on Monday.
Reuters - A leading Chinese speed skater has been banned for one year after he made obscene gestures towards spectators during a national tournament, local media reported Tuesday, citing sport authorities.
AP - A one-time motel in a small central Maine town could soon be offering an eye-opening way to start the day — topless coffee shop waitresses. The Vassalboro Planning Board on Tuesday will consider a business permit request for a topless coffee shop on busy Route 3.
AP - A man who police said was shot by his stepfather ended up in the same jail with him after officers discovered outstanding arrest warrants against the victim. Police told The Daily News of Jacksonville that 37-year-old Richard Hayes shot his stepson Thursday night.
Reuters - Fears of a prolonged recession in China have triggered a sharp increase in divorce inquiries addressed to lawyers and financial advisers, state media reported on Monday, with timing a key issue.
Reuters - Hundreds of Taiwan aboriginals threw eggs at a heavily guarded government office on Tuesday while yelling epithets in protest against what they said was a lack of protection for historic land rights.
AP - A Colorado man sorting through his late grandfather's belongings found a bombshell, sort of: A live mortar round from the Korean War era. A bomb squad detonated the shell at an undisclosed site. No one was hurt. Police said Monday the grandson discovered the shell in a firearms cabinet at his grandfather's home just outside Greeley on Friday.
AP - Police are puzzling over what would motivate a father and son to haul off six tombstones from a monument company in suburban Albany. Town of Colonie Detective Lt. John Van Alstyne said he's not sure what kind of aftermarket there might be for the hefty granite grave-markers.
Reuters - A computer glitch at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gave gold traders a 23-minute bonanza that cost the bank dearly last week, sparking a debate on Monday as the bank reclaimed the windfall.
Reuters - The head of children's services at Haringey Council has launched an appeal against her dismissal over the Baby P case, the local authority said on Tuesday.
Reuters - Increasing obesity has prompted an Australian state to seek larger planes for the country's famous "Flying Doctor" service, ambulance and government officials said Saturday.
AP - Police say an angry 4-year-old Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his baby sitter. Nathan Beavers, 18, was hospitalized Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack. Police say another teen was also injured.
Reuters - Cuba on Monday made the first of thousands of digitized documents, photographs and books that belonged to writer Ernest Hemingway available to scholars after the items languished for decades in the basement of his home outside of Havana.
Reuters - Virgin Mary, a 20-year-old Peruvian woman, gave birth to a baby boy on Christmas day and named him Jesus, Peru's state news agency said on Friday.
Reuters - A rare Bugatti motor car, which has been parked in a garage gathering dust for nearly 50 years, is expected to fetch millions of pounds when it is auctioned next month.
AP - Police say a woman who begged from a wheelchair was caught running from a crime scene on foot in Monterrey, Mexico. Police spokeswoman Sidlayin Robles says 30-year-old Ana Victoria Perez fled on foot after she and her husband allegedly threw a stone through the front window of a furniture store.
AP - A whopper about a devious baby and his diapers is the top lie of 2008, an organization of champion fibbers declared Monday. The Burlington Liars Club bestowed its top award for this line: "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it."
AP - Paw Paw's police chief said a heart found at a car wash in the southwestern Michigan village belonged to a deer. Investigators had been trying to determine the organ's origin since Dec. 15, when the owner of Soapy's Car Wash found it in the corner of a manual wash bay.
Reuters - Leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Sunday he would launch a state-run daily newspaper later this month, saying the paper would act as a counterbalance to the "anti-government" local media.