Officials in San Diego are trying to sort out how a 5 1/2-foot snake wound up in a toilet at an office building.

Stephanie Lacsa told San Diego County authorities she noticed the water level in the toilet was higher than usual when she went to the second-floor restroom Tuesday. When she plunged it, a snake popped up and flicked its tongue.

A former Chinese journalist has admitted falling for an April Fool joke which sparked a decades-long myth in his country -- that U.S. officer cadets learnt from the example of Communist military hero Lei Feng.

Li Zhurun, a former reporter for China's official Xinhua news agency who is now a university professor, made the confession on his Sina Weibo microblog.

A ghost town in Canada's westernmost wilds has been sold to a Chinese real estate developer who intends to bring it back to life, according the realtor.

China Zhong Ya Group Hebei Canada-China Co. beat out bidders from around the world, real estate agent John Lovelace said in a statement.

After years of careful White House control over her few public appearances, a mysterious online image of first daughter Malia Obama, 16, has gone viral.

The rare glimpse of a personal side of President Barack Obama's oldest daughter -- sister Sasha is now 14 -- shows her wearing a tee-shirt printed with the name of the Brooklyn rap group Pro Era.

Christmas trees can be enjoyed long after they are discarded by a family. They're a great source of vitamin C — for goats.

A farm in the northeastern state of Maine is extending an invitation to residents who don't know what to do with their discarded trees.

Dutch police have discovered an illegal cannabis nursery hidden in a World War II bunker, a spokesman said on Sunday.

"Police on Friday discovered the illegal cannabis nursery in an old bunker after being tipped off by outdoor enthusiasts," Cor Spruijt told Agence France Presse.

An Arizona bobcat may have used up one of its nine lives after it survived getting stuck inside an oncoming car.

Arizona Game and Fish Department spokeswoman Lynda Lambert said that the bobcat appears to have escaped any serious injuries and is awaiting evaluation by a veterinarian at an animal sanctuary in Scottsdale.

Police near Salem, Oregon, say they arrested a naked man after he broke into two homes, drank booze and used a hot tub at one of them.

Officers received a 911 call early Sunday from a woman who was house-sitting in Keizer when she was awakened by noises coming from the laundry room.

The people of Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar have lived through countless bombings, shootings and kidnappings in recent years, but now a new peril stalks the streets -- huge house rats.

Residents of the city, on the front line of Pakistan's battle against homegrown Taliban militants, say the rodents have eaten countless chickens, bitten dozens of adults, spread disease and even killed a baby.

"Seinfeld" may have been a show about nothing, but a psychiatry professor is using it for much more than that.

Medical students at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School are learning about psychiatric disorders through Dr. Anthony Tobia's "Psy-feld" teaching tool, NJ.com reports (http://bit.ly/1I4iQJn).