Authorities say three elephants escaped from their handlers at a circus near St. Louis and damaged several vehicles in the parking lot before they were recaptured.

Television station KMOV reports that the female elephants escaped from the the children's ride section of the Moolah Shrine Circus at the Family Arena in St. Charles.

German customs officials have intercepted a package addressed to the Vatican containing 14 condoms filled with cocaine, the finance ministry said Sunday.

A ministry spokesman told Agence France Presse that a box packed with 340 grams of cocaine valued at 40,000 euros ($55,200) was seized at the international airport in the eastern city of Leipzig in January.

A guide to coping with an awkward romantic moment has been awarded a prize for the year's oddest book title.

Humorous self-help book "How to Poo on a Date: The Lovers' Guide to Toilet Etiquette" triumphed Friday in the quirky Diagram Prize.

A nun walks near homes in Onna, Italy, on September 15, 2009 in Onna

A Catholic nun has become an overnight pop sensation after stunning the jury of Italy's "The Voice" television talent show with her version of the Alicia Keys song "No One".

Organizers say a planned dig into a New Mexico landfill for a rumored cache of what some consider the worst Atari video game of all time is expected to proceed despite state environmental regulators' concerns.

Fuel Entertainment and LightBox Interactive are seeking to excavate an old Alamogordo landfill that reportedly was a dumping ground for "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" game cartridges.

The naturally mummified body of a woman was found at her Buenos Aires home by a neighbor who had not seen her for more than 10 years, police said Friday.

Her remains, with skin tissue preserved by drying, were being studied to determine the time and circumstances of the death of Maria Cristina Fontana, who was born in 1953.

New Mexico environmental regulators are blocking two companies from digging up an Alamogordo landfill in search of a rumored cache of what some consider the worst Atari video game of all time.

Game cartridges for "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," based on Steven Spielberg's blockbuster hit film, were reportedly dumped in the landfill in the 1980s, according to the Alamogordo Daily News (http://bit.ly/1kLNXjD ).

A Swiss Emmentaler has been named the top cheese at an international competition in Wisconsin, handing the nation its fourth win in the past five years.

Cheesemaker Gerard Sinnesberger took top honors at the 2014 World Championship Cheese Contest with his Original Schweizer Rohmilch Emmentaler, a large format, big wheel Swiss cheese.

When Northampton Community College canceled spring break to make up for excessive snow days, students decided to protest — by wearing flip-flops, bathing suits and tank tops to class. Not to mention plastic leis.

The imaginary beach day on Tuesday drew sympathy, not scorn, from winter-weary administrators at the eastern Pennsylvania school. They set up a Tiki bar with an inflatable palm tree in the campus food court to serve nonalcoholic drinks with paper umbrellas.

A fundraising event for children's art in Michigan has pitted participants with big appetites against 20-foot-long bratwursts that weigh close to 6 pounds.

Twelve competitors and hundreds of onlookers turned out Thursday night for the Wurst Challenge, raising about $7,000 for the FLY Children's Art Center.