Paper plane flyers from Lebanon, Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey and the United States were crowned world champions in Salzburg, Austria after defeating rivals from over 80 countries over the weekend.

Czech "pilot" Tomas Beck won the longest distance category at the Red Bull Paper Wings World Finals on Friday and Saturday with a 50.37-metre (165.25-foot) throw, while Elie Chemaly from Lebanon achieved the longest flight time with 10.68 seconds, organizers of the tournament said in a statement.

France's future first lady took to the web to tweet her joy Sunday at the election of her partner, Francois Hollande, as France's first Socialist president in nearly two decades.

"Simply proud to accompany the new president of the republic and still just as happy to share Francois's life," Valerie Trierweiler announced on the micro-blogging social network.

Spring marks the start of the "fighting season" for humans involved in Afghanistan's decade-long war -- but for birds, dogs, camels and even kites it reaches its peak.

At dawn on Friday mornings in Kabul's central park, hundreds of people converge with decorated cages full of fighting birds, including quail and roosters, as well as dogs, for a day of bloody combat by proxy.

Police were Friday hunting for a gang of Sydney street robbers who throw faeces at their victims to distract them before grabbing their money.

They have been linked to at least three crimes so far, which involved them hurling the excrement just after people withdraw money from the bank, then offering to help clean it up. While doing so, they swipe their cash.

Aeronautics fans from 70 countries are competing in Salzburg, Austria over the next two days for the coveted world title... in paper plane flying.

The lucky 249 "pilots", who were selected among 35,000 participants in some 600 qualification rounds worldwide, will face off in three disciplines: longest distance, longest airtime and aerobatics.

The National Christmas Tree is dead.

The Colorado blue spruce passed away "due to complications resulting from transplant shock" just 14 months after it was planted in the Ellipse field outside the White House, the National Park Service said Friday.

A South African cat emerged washed and rinsed but unharmed after nearly two hours trapped inside a washing machine, The Star newspaper reported Friday.

Karin Bennett, 63, heard muffled meows but searched in vain for her black cat Tabitha for an hour and 45 minutes, until she saw a furry face in the machine's glass door.

A 97-year-old retired Australian dentist was to receive his masters degree in clinical science on Friday in what Southern Cross University said could make him the world's oldest new graduate.

Allan Stewart, born on March 7, 1915, is already the holder of the Guinness World Records title for being the oldest graduate after completing a law degree in 2006 at the age of 91.

Thieves in the Czech Republic have made away with a ten-ton steel pedestrian bridge in the latest case of scrap metal heists plaguing the country, police said.

"The police know the identity of thieves, an investigation is underway," local police spokeswoman Katerina Bohmova told Agence France Presse.

A New Zealand researcher has earned a doctorate studying the social habits of heavy metal fans, or "bogans" as they are known in the country.

Dave Snell began his research at Waikato University in 2007, intent on using psychological tools to look beyond the stereotypical image of bogans as anti-social and potentially dangerous outsiders.