WORLD/Key West: A North Carolina estate agent beat a teetotalling short story writer from Kazakhstan and nearly 140 other snowy-haired, bearded men from around the world to win this year's Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Contest.
John Stubbings (65) attributed his victory to persistence - this was the eighth time he'd entered the competition in Key West, Florida. "You've got to pay your dues," he said after a spirited celebration.
The 24th Hemingway Days festival celebrates the July 21st birthday of the US writer, born in Chicago 105 years ago, whose novels have become synonymous with macho male behaviour.
It took place last weekend in Sloppy Joe's bar, Key West, one of the writer's many drinking haunts. Look-alike hopefuls from Hungary, Ireland, Kazakhstan and the US descended on the tip of Florida last weekend for the celebration. Participants jogged around a block in a running-of-the-bulls salute to Pamplona, setting for Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, and held an arm-wrestling competition.
First-time contestant Vladimir Malikov - a pensioner from Almaty, Kazakhstan - presented Stubbings with a gold-trimmed emerald green hat and a symbolic donkey representing good luck.
"This is a big honour in my life. I love you all, my brothers, and every year I will make a toast to you," said Mr Malikov, a teetotaller.
Liverpool: A 46-year-old woman has paid tribute to her war hero father by scattering his ashes while wing-walking on a bi-plane.
Mother-of-two Phyll Whitfield, of Childwall, Merseyside, took on the challenge as a fitting tribute to Tom Christian, a second World War glider pilot who died in Liverpool in April aged 85. She has raised money for the Anthony Nolan Trust, which helps people with bone marrow diseases. She has already raised more than £1,000.
Boston: A New York man miraculously woke from a deep coma after his father promised to buy him a brand-new Corvette car if he recovered. Thomas Stackiewicz, of La Grange, made the vow to his son, Jason, who lay unconscious at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston, after being struck by a car in an accident in February.
"I think it motivated him to get better," said Mr Stackiewicz.
San Francisco: A 73-year-old grandmother put a burglar to sleep - by boring him with an album of her cherished family photos. Police say that when Juan Garcia Vasquez broke into the woman's San Francisco home, she persuaded him to look at her snapshot albums and listen to stories about her grandchildren. When he nodded off, she called for help.
Frankfurt: German chipmaker Infineon and Bavarian clothes firm Rosner yesterday presented the latest item for the man who has everything - an electronic jacket that plays music and connects to a mobile phone.
The "mp3blue" garment features sewn-in Bluetooth wireless technology and an MP3 music player controlled by a textile keyboard on the sleeve, the companies said in a statement. The jacket will sell for around €600, and is aimed at technologically progressive, fashion-conscious men. It has a website; www.mp3blue.de