Estonians snatch world wife-carrying title
Estonia reigned supreme once again in the wife-carrying world championship on Saturday, as Margo Uusorg sprinted home to win the Baltic country's eighth straight title in the offbeat competition.
Forty couples from 10 countries gathered in the remote Finnish village of Sonkajarvi to complete a 253.5-meter-long obstacle course. A man must carry a woman, not necessarily his spouse, through a pool and across hurdles.
The few rules require a minimum weight of 49 kg (108 lb) for the "wife" and state that all contestants must have fun.
Uusorg, 25, completed the course in 59 seconds with friend Egle Soll, 23, clinging to his back in the trademark "Estonian Carry" -- hanging upside down with her legs clenched around his neck.
Uusorg's prizes were his partner's weight in beer and a high-tech mobile phone.
It was his fourth victory, and the third in a row for his family. Brother Madis won in 2004.
"We don't have a secret, we just try to run fast and hope the legs work," said Uusorg, who works in Stockholm as an embassy driver.

Family filled with champion spitters
Brian "Young Gun" Krause knows what it's like to out-spit dad. But now he's got to watch out for his own sons. For years, the Krause family has dominated the International Cherry Spitting Championship in southwestern Michigan, and this year Cole Krause became the youngest in a long line of cherry pit spitting champions.
The 3-year-old took first place in the 32nd annual competition Saturday, winning the 5 and younger category. He spit a distance of 12 feet, 4 inches.
His dad, 27, the reigning champ in the overall adult division, spit 53 feet, 4 inches, about 40 feet less than his world-record 93 feet 6 1/2-inch spit from 2003, the organization said.
Second place went to Brian Krause's father, Rick "Pellet Gun" Krause, 51, who spit 50 feet, 11 inches. He has 12 international championships under his belt.

 

Geldof sails to Live 8 glory
He pulled off the greatest rock concert ever staged. But charity champion Bob Geldof's idea for an "armada" of British vessels bringing French passengers to Britain to join in anti-poverty demonstrations this week was a damp squib.
A total of 73 boats registered to cross from the French coast to British shores on Sunday, the day after more than 1 million people heard Live 8 concerts in 10 venues worldwide.
In the end, only four boats arrived in the port town of Portsmouth, and not a single passenger was on board.
"We're happy that the event has gone off," said Don Brind, putting a brave face on the turnout and naming the poor weather as a factor. "It's helped with the publicity effort for 'Make Poverty History', which is the key thing," he said.

 

 Gladiators battle in revived Jordan games
After a 2,000-year lull, games have again hit the sands of Jordan's famed Roman-ruin city of Jerash, 30 miles north of the capital, Amman, as a group of Jordanian investors and a Swedish history buff are re-creating gladiator matches and chariot racing at Jerash's 2nd Century hippodrome.
It's a tamer version, admittedly — no lions, no lethal blows when the audience of tourists gives a thumbs down.
"We who are about to die, salute you," some dozen gladiators, clad in tunics and clasping silver swords and wooden poles bark out in Latin. The crowd goes wild as the strongmen fight, dust flying, heaving groans with every thrust of the sword.
The cheering audience issues a thumbs up or down for the victor and suddenly they are regaled with the thunderous clap of horse-drawn chariots circling the hippodrome.
"I thought it was great," Christine Nimer a tourist from Southport, Conn., said after a show Thursday. "We're headed to Rome and know we won't be seeing anything like this there. The re-enactment really brings people back in time."

Thief nabbed after leaving photos at scene
A German thief effectively signed his own arrest warrant after photographing himself at the scene of a crime and accidentally leaving the pictures for police to discover.
Police in the northern town of Neumuenster said the youth stole a digital camera during a break-in in nearby Rendsburg and took the photos before discarding the device nearby.
"We don't know if it was down to a series of unfortunate events or whether the thief couldn't get to grips with the technology," police said in a statement on Monday.
Officers found photos which could only have been taken by the perpetrator, including pictures of the 17-year-old, whom they recognised from previous offences.
"The evidence was fairly compelling so he had to admit it," said police spokesman Soenke Hinrichs.

Russian astrologist sues NASA over comet crash
A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media reported on Monday.
NASA deliberately crashed its probe, named Deep Impact, into the Tempel 1 comet to unleash a spray of material formed billions of years ago which scientists hope will shed new light on the composition of the solar system.
"It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope," Izvestia daily quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal documents submitted before Monday's collision.
A spokeswoman for a Moscow district court said initial preparations for the case were underway but could not say when the hearing would begin. NASA representatives in Moscow were unavailable for comment.

Couple say "I do" by mobile
An Indian couple exchanged wedding vows by mobile phone after the bridegroom could not make it to the marriage ceremony because of torrential rains in western India.
The innovative marriage was solemnised by a chief priest at the weekend after severe flooding in Gujarat state prevented Ashifkhan Jahurkhan, 25, from reaching the bride's house in Bombay, the country's commercial capital.
"We made the best use of technology. It was impossible for me and my family to reach Bombay as roads are flooded with water," said the groom who's still to meet his bride after the wedding.
Witnesses on both sides kept their phones on speaker mode to ensure all relatives heard the bride and groom's assent in the 30-minute ceremony.
Gujarat, India's second most industrialised state, has been pounded by heavy rains over the past week, leaving more than 125 people dead and thousands homeless.

Tailpiece

In the classroom

One day when the teacher walked into the classroom, she noticed that someone had written the word 'PENIS' (in tiny letters) on the blackboard. She scanned the class looking for a guilty face. Finding none, she rubbed the word off and began class. The next day, the word 'PENIS' was written on the board again; this time it was written about halfway across the board. Again she looked around in vain for the culprit, so she proceeded with the day's lesson. Every morning for about a week, she went into the classroom and found the same disgusting word written on the board, each day's being larger than the previous one, and each being rubbed off vigorously. At the end of the second week, she walked in expecting to be greeted by the same word on the board but instead found the words: "The more you rub it, the bigger it gets."