It's a bird! It's a bat! It's ... David Blaine?
Mr Blaine, a 35-year-old magician and showman, strung himself upside down above Central Park's Wollman ice-skating rink yesterday and plans to stay there for 60 hours.
Wearing a safety harness attached to a crossbar, Mr Blaine dangled by his feet from a large steel scaffold structure. The spectacle is due to conclude on a prime-time TV special tomorrow night when Mr Blaine takes what he calls the "Dive of Death" and falls 13.4 metres to the ground.
Mr Blaine and his handlers were mum on details of tonight's finale, giving no indication what would break his fall. "It's a crazy ending, for sure, especially after 60 hours without sleep, plus the last 24, so it'll be 84 hours without sleep," he said.
Mr Blaine will be without food, but will pull himself upright to drink liquids and restore circulation.
Elderly singing rock 'n' roll
If anyone thought the Rolling Stones were beginning to get on in years, another British band are proving age is not an issue when it comes to rock 'n' roll.
The Zimmers, whose lead singer is 91, have just celebrated the launch of its 14-song debut album Lust for Life in a Berlin shopping centre.
The group's manager, Dave Palmer, said party-goers have given The Zimmers an enthusiastic reception. "We're old but we're not dead," Mr Palmer said after the concert.
Named after the Zimmer frame - a common walking aid for the elderly and disabled - the 50-member British group is in the process of becoming a registered charity. Two of the band members are 102, including Buster Martin.
Lead singer Alf Carretta, 91, joked about the group member's age in comments to German media. "Hopefully we won't be chased around by groupies," Mr Carretta said. "We can't run very fast anymore."
Secret behind smooth Aso look
Japan's next Prime Minister, Taro Aso, is beset by problems from the sagging economy to food safety scares, but creased trousers need never be among them.
Domestic media hungry for tid-bits of information about the dapper new leader of Japan's main ruling party have zoomed in on his unusual suit trousers, which are made with tiny lead weights sewn into their hems to help them hang properly.
"It's something that's often done with ladies' clothes, to put little weights in the hem, but it's highly unusual for gentlemen's outfits," Mr Aso's tailor Seiichiro Moriwaki said in a telephone interview.
The 76-year-old Tokyo tailor has been making suits for Aso since he was a student at the exclusive Gakushuin University more than 40 years ago.
S. Korea takes a swing at tax cheats
South Korea went after suspected tax cheats at the weekend by taking away their memberships in pricy golf clubs, saying if they can afford the clubs then they should be able to pay their fair share to the government.
Golf club memberships are beyond the reach of most South Koreans, with entry into mid-level clubs costing about $200,000 to $300,000 and membership for top clubs costing as much as $1 million.
"Those who have memberships can easily pay taxes if they want to - so we generally see them as evading taxes on purpose and having a low awareness of tax laws," said an official with the National Tax Service. At the weekend, the government seized 960 memberships, the tax service said in a news release.
If the tax agency cannot reach a settlement on back taxes with a suspected tax cheat, it sells the confiscated memberships to the public to generate cash and recover tens of millions of dollars in back taxes.
Indonesia delays anti-smut Bill
Indonesia's Parliament has postponed plans to table a controversial anti-smut Bill after mounting opposition from critics who said the Bill could hurt local cultural traditions, lawmakers said.
The anti-pornography Bill aims to shield the young from pornographic material and lewd acts, but also contains provisions that could jail people for kissing in public and criminalise many forms of art or traditional culture that hinge on sensuality.
The draft of the legislation contains provisions that could jail people for kissing in public and criminalise many forms of art or traditional culture that hinge on sensuality.
Nude sculptures and paintings are common in culturally-rich Bali and in the eastern province of Papua some tribal men wear just penis gourds.