Peruvian seamstresses hoping to snag a Guinness World Record for sewing the largest pair of blue jeans celebrated over the weekend, one day after cranes buckled while trying to lift the giant 7.5-tonne pants.
Workers laid the pair on the ground and put big balloons inside the legs to show off the size of the jeans, which are 43 metres tall and 30 metres wide.
They have pockets, red buttons and a brown belt.
Last Thursday, disillusioned crane operators gave up trying to lift the pants with three machines and went looking for a fourth.
They wanted to lift the pants to display them. On Friday, workers had to scrap the idea of hoisting the jeans altogether.
The Colombian city of Medellin currently holds the record for the world's largest pair of jeans, which is measured by size, according to the clothing company that organised the event in San Juan de Lurigancho, a district full of textile plants east of the Peru's capital, Lima.
The Colombian pair were 35 metres tall by 25 metres wide.
The company's chief executive said material from the pants will be cut to make backpacks for area school children.
Obama town set to party
Dancing, singing and playing the guitar, residents in the sleepy Japanese fishing port of Obama were readying to party for Barack Obama before today's US presidential election.
Around 50 men, women and children wearing "I Love Obama" T-shirts practised hula dancing over the weekend for the Honolulu-born Democratic candidate, hoping he will win the vote and one day visit the town as US President.
"I'm 85 per cent confident that Obama will win," said hotel owner Seiji Fujiwara, who heads a group backing Senator Obama in hopes that the town, with a population of 32,000, can share his fame and attract more visitors.
Shops in the town have been selling everything from T-shirts, fish burgers and steamed cakes to chopsticks bearing Mr Obama's name.
"We've been dancing for Mr. Obama for more than six months," said Yuko Shirayama of the local "Obama Girls" hula dancing group, created to cheer on Mr Obama. "So I hope he wins."
Drug traffickers' car breaks down
Elite Kenyan police who went to help a luxury 4x4 that broke down outside their base were surprised when the occupants took off on foot - until officers took a closer look and found the vehicle loaded with marijuana.
"When the occupants refused assistance and fled, officers became suspicious and searched the vehicle," finding about $20,000 worth of the drug.
Members of the highly-regarded paramilitary General Service Unit from Keyian camp in the Rift Valley were unable to catch the would-be traffickers.
Queen draws ire over gay comment
The Queen of Spain has drawn criticism after she was quoted as condemning gay marriage, gay pride marches and abortion in an upcoming biography.
"If these people want to live together, dress as grooms and get married, they might have the right to do so or not, depending on the laws of their countries. But they shouldn't call it marriage, because it isn't," Queen Sofia was quoted as saying.
"There are many possible names: social contract, contract of union," she said in extracts from La Reina Muy de Cerca (The Queen Up Close) previewed in the daily El Pais.
The book is an updated version of a biography written by well-known journalist Pilar Urbano 13 years ago.
The Royal Palace said the Greek-born queen had been misquoted. "The supposed comments which, anyway, were made in a private sphere, do not exactly match the opinions expressed by Her Majesty The Queen," it said in a statement.
Nabbed for breaking into police station
The long arm of the law didn't have to reach too far to arrest one Australian teenager, who was caught breaking into a police station in the early hours of yesterday.
Officers working in the back of the police station in a suburb of the southern city of Adelaide heard the front door glass being smashed and found the 16-year old in the front hall.
"A teenage boy has discovered the quickest way of getting arrested is to break into a police station," South Australia state police said in a statement on its website.
About A$2,000 (£1.054) of damage was caused and the boy was denied bail.