Iran's total area is larger than previously thought by some 14 percent, Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi was quoted by the website of state television as saying Monday.

"The actual area of Iran is 1,873,959 square kilometers (723,539 square miles)," Vahidi said, adding: "The area given so far for Iran was lower, and now this new figure should be used."

An albino ostrich was on the run in Russia's far east on Monday after escaping from a circus, as residents were warned not to approach the "very aggressive" bird.

Two ostriches escaped from the Anastasia travelling circus in the port city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky when a worker left their cage open, but one was recaptured Monday morning.

Police in Belgium admit they are clueless as they hunt thieves targeting prized Japanese koi carp -- ornamental fish that sell for many thousands of Euros yet are practically un-insurable.

Champion Flemish growers with long and painful experience as victims fear ever-more costly security to protect these creatures -- beloved by wealthy Japanese and Asian fanatics -- that, left in peace, can live to 60 and eat their way to the size of a small pig.

It is the kind of question that keeps biologists up at night: from an evolutionary standpoint, is the innermost digit of a bird's three-pronged wing more like a thumb or an index finger?

A study published online Sunday by Nature says it's a bit of both.

The Black Widow of eating contests has scarfed down 183 chicken wings in 12 minutes to break her own world record set last year in Buffalo, New York.

Sonya Thomas took home first place Sunday at the 10th annual National Buffalo Wings Festival. She beat eating marvel Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, who came in second with 174 wings.

In the 21st century, parenthood and paranoia often walk hand in hand.

For some, the blessed event is followed by high-tech surveillance, a monitoring system that tracks the baby's breathing rhythms and relays infrared images from the nursery. The next investment might be a nanny cam, to keep watch on the child's hired caregivers. Toddlers and grade schoolers can be equipped with GPS devices enabling a parent to know their location should something go awry.

Rabbi Arele Harel offers an unconventional solution for Orthodox Jewish gay men who want to raise a conventional family: He fixes them up with Orthodox lesbians.

His matchmaking service, which has just gone online, has met criticism on opposing fronts. Orthodox Jewish rabbis say Harel should be doing more to encourage gays and lesbians to try to change their sexual orientation. Liberal religious gay groups see Harel's approach as a ploy to suppress homosexuality.

Philippine Catholic priests are appealing to over 100 pilgrims who attended last month's World Youth Day in Spain to come home, fearing they used the festival as a ruse to live abroad illegally.

Pope Benedict XVI brought the event in Madrid to a close on August 21, but fewer than 300 of the 427 Filipino delegates have returned, said Father Noel Osial, head of Manila's Don Bosco Catholic congregation.

A snake bite left the victim seriously hurt, but the injured party isn't whom you'd expect.

Police say a python underwent emergency surgery after a man allegedly bit the creature twice.

The Bavaria cow named Yvonne who escaped from a farm in May, went on the run and earned a hefty bounty on her head has been caught, the Bild daily newspaper reported on its website Thursday.

Yvonne was found in Eigelsberg in the Bavarian Alps some six kilometers (3.7 miles) from the farm where she escaped, the paper said, quoting local government sources.