Bigfoot remains as elusive as ever. Results from tests on genetic material from alleged remains of one of the mythical half-ape and half-human creatures, made public at a news conference on Friday held after the claimed discovery swept the internet, has failed to prove its existence.
Its spread was fuelled by a photograph of a hairy heap, bearing a close resemblance to a shaggy full-body gorilla costume, stuffed into a container resembling a refrigerator.
One of the two samples of DNA said to prove the existence of the Bigfoot came from a human and the other was 96 per cent from an opossum, according to Curt Nelson, a scientist at the University of Minnesota who performed the DNA analysis.
Bigfoot creatures are said to live in the forests of the US Pacific Northwest. An opossum is a marsupial about the size of a house cat.
Results of the DNA tests were revealed in an e-mail from Dr Nelson and distributed at the news conference in California held by Tom Biscardi, host of a weekly online radio show about the Bigfoot.
Teachers may carry guns
A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this autumn, the district's superintendent said over the weekend, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the US. The board of the small rural Harrold Independent School District unanimously approved the plan and parents have not objected, said the district's superintendent, David Thweatt.
School experts backed Mr Thweatt's claim that Harrold, a system of about 110 students 240 kilometres northwest of Fort Worth, may be the first to let teachers bring guns to the classroom.
Mr Thweatt said it is a matter of safety. "We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?'," he said. "It's just common sense."
Local adult channel
Canadians who may have become tired of being passed over as porn stars will have a new, home-grown outlet to showcase their erotic talents. Federal regulators have granted Alberta-based Real Productions approval to launch a new digital pornography channel, which promises to serve up at least 50 per cent domestic content.
The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission approved the Category 2 pay-television service, allowing Northern Peaks to become "Canada's first adult video channel offering significant Canadian adult content".
"I think as Canadians there is a bit of a tiredness in seeing all American stuff," Shaun Donnelly, president of Real Productions."
McCain sued over a song
Rock star Jackson Browne has sued US presidential candidate John McCain for copyright infringement, accusing the presumptive Republican nominee of using the singer's 1977 hit Running on Empty in a campaign ad without permission.
The suit, filed in US District Court in Los Angeles, also names the Republican National Committee and the Ohio Republican Party as defendants. It seeks a permanent injunction against further use of Mr Browne's music and at least $75,000 in damages.
The campaign spot mocks Mr McCain's Democratic rival for the White House, Barack Obama, for suggesting the nation conserve gasoline through proper tyre inflation, with Mr Browne's most famous song, Running on Empty, playing in the background.
The suit claims use of the song without Mr Browne's permission is a copyright violation and a breach of the US Lanham Act by falsely implying Mr Browne is associated with and endorses Mr McCain's bid for President.
It also says use of Mr Browne's voice in the ad violates the performer's so-called right of publicity under California law.
Beijing cheerleaders
Gum-chewing cheerleaders baring pierced belly buttons, blaring rap music and giant inflatable mascots - the once unthinkable in China now makes basketball an Olympic hot ticket. Dancing girls with names like Lucky and Yo-Yo also shake their thing during breaks in the action, but what do older spectators make of all the naked flesh and near-deafening music? No one in the 18,000-strong crowd, even those who thought the costumes were a little skimpy, seemed to disapprove of this NBA-style razzmatazz in today's China.