Faced with a bloody conflict that has gripped their country for the past 17 months, many Syrians have opted for humor as a weapon to mock both Bashar Assad's regime and their own daily struggles.

"Dear defectors, the Syrian revolution is taking place in Syria, not in Turkey," read banners at several protests, mocking defectors who have chosen to keep their distance from the battlefield after fleeing north across the border.

A baby girl, who was in the back of a car stolen from outside a shop in the United Arab Emirates, was reunited with her parents after a frantic seven-hour search, The National newspaper reported on Monday.

The month-old girl, Lailas, was in a white Toyota Prado when it was stolen in the Santsaiya 6 area of Sharjah, not far from commercial hub Dubai, late on Saturday, after her parents left the car's engine running while they nipped into the shop, the report said.

Families waiting for San Francisco's cable cars on a recent morning couldn't help but notice Kenny the Clown, who wore a curly rainbow wig as he twisted brightly colored balloons into animal shapes for visitors, blasting Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" from an iPad at his feet.

Little did the clown know that the tablet doubling as his stereo would turn out to have been stolen from the home of the late Steve Jobs.

A Finnish teenager has smashed the world record -- and probably his phone -- in this year's annual mobile-phone throwing contest in Finland.

Eighteen-year-old Ere Karjalainen launched a phone the "amazing" distance of 101.46 meters (332 feet 10 inches), Finnish public television network YLE said after Saturday's event.

Add corn and they're scandalized. Shallots are a sacrilege. Green beans and potatoes, unacceptable.

Meet the defense committee for France's Salade Nicoise -- possibly the world's most ubiquitous salad dish after Caesar salad -- that purists are tired of seeing tossed the "wrong" way.

Two Chinese pandas in a French zoo are chilling out in the current summer heat wave with the help of honey and apple ice creams.

With temperatures set to touch 40 degrees Celsius (104F) in central France this weekend, Yuan Zi and Huan Huan have been enjoying the home-made treats as a supplement to their normal bamboo-based diet.

A 24-year-old construction worker survived after a 6-foot metal bar fell from above and pierced his head, doctors said Friday.

Luiz Alexandre Essinger, chief of staff at Rio de Janeiro's Miguel Couto Hospital, said doctors successfully withdrew the iron bar from Eduardo Leite's skull during a five-hour surgery.

On the rooftop of a tower block above the hustle and bustle of teeming Hong Kong, dedicated growers tend to their organic crops in a vegetable garden.

Against a backdrop of skyscrapers and jungle-clad hills, earth-filled boxes are spread out on the roof of the 14-storey building, where a wide variety of produce including cucumbers and potatoes are cultivated.

U.S. men like to drink beer, though wine is the beverage of choice for women and older adults, a poll showed Friday.

The annual Gallup poll found that, as with previous years, wine drinkers are mostly based on the East Coast while beer aficionados live in the Midwest.

A 106-year-old Japanese man has become the oldest person to have travelled around the world using public transport, a report said Friday.

Saburo Shochi has been recognized by Guinness World Records for his feat, which saw him travel through North America, Europe and Africa, the Mainichi daily said.