AP - A hunter bagged a big buck on the second day of firearms season, but the kill caused him a lot of pain. Randy Goodman, 49, said he thought two well-placed shots with his .270-caliber rifle had killed the buck on Nov. 19. Goodman said the deer looked dead to him, but seconds later the nine-point, 240-pound animal came to life.
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.
AFP - Bill Richardson had the first close shave of his tenure as Barack Obama's commerce secretary Wednesday -- becoming the butt of the president-elect's razor-sharp jokes about his missing beard.
AP - A man who rammed his truck into a woman's vehicle on a highway early Friday told authorities he crashed into her while going more than 100 mph because God told him "she needed to be taken off the road."
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."
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.
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?
AP - Hobart Anderson of New Ulm turned 80 recently and with his birthday came a surprise. He got a birthday card signed by Collette Hartung. She was his teacher 70 years ago. He says he was very, very surprised.
AP - An Ohio State University academic adviser and a real estate agent held a $10-a-ticket raffle that offered an evening with a prostitute who is also a child sex-abuse caseworker, police said.
AP - A cat lost in Yellowstone National Park in August has been returned to her family in Houston with the help of some West Yellowstone residents. Philip Wattenbarger and his family were camping in a trailer in the West Yellowstone area when their long-haired tabby, Fluffy, went missing on Aug. 1.
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.
Reuters - Police have arrested 49 people this week in a northern Iranian city during a crackdown on "satanic" clothes, IRNA news agency reported Thursday.
AP - A Vero Beach man faces a domestic violence charge after authorities said he assaulted his girlfriend with a cheeseburger. An Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrest report said a 22-year-old man and his girlfriend got into an argument as they sat in a car in front of their home.
AFP - Britons are forbidden from disturbing packs of eggs and from selling game killed on a Sunday, it was revealed by an opposition MP who condemned ministers for introducing ridiculous laws.
Reuters - A motor scooter rider in central Taiwan was held at gunpoint during a traffic stop for not wearing a safety helmet, local media said on Thursday.
Reuters - A man who stole a moped in Austria 25 years ago has sent an anonymous confession letter to police, enclosing 1,400 euros ($1,769) cash to compensate his victim.
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 - Politicians in Australia's most populous state could be breath-tested for alcohol before voting on laws after a series of late-night incidents that have embarrassed the center-left government.