Fat Bear Week opens for Alaska’s heavyweight crown. Can Chunk, the 1,200-pound champ, win again?
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — After a summer spent packing away sockeye salmon, Alaska’s heftiest brown bears are ready to throw their weight around. Online voting began Tuesday for Fat Bear Week, the annual contest that pits the rotund residents of Katmai National Park and Preserve against each other for the title of most oversized ursine. Last year’s winner, Chunk — known officially as Bear 32 — is hungry for a repeat. The event this year features 16 bears facing off in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. All voting is done online at www.fatbearweek.org, with the winner declared Sept. 29.
A raccoon boot camp in Mississippi teaches abandoned kits survival skills
PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi wildlife rescue gives abandoned and injured baby raccoons their best chance of survival through a program they call “raccoon boot camp.” Woodside Wildlife Rescue staff teach the kits by example. They mimic raccoon calls, hide worms in dirt to teach the youngsters to dig for food and break open pine cones and acorns to reveal the seeds inside to their charges. Rescuers take raccoons to a pond to learn to swim and provide live prey for hunting practice. When a group of kits is ready for release, the staff hosts a graduation ceremony, complete with Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance Marches,” a roll call and a reverend's blessing.
A Brazilian serial killer dressed as a woman, hid in the woods and was nicknamed 'mosquito'
SAO PAULO (AP) — A man who Brazilian authorities say killed 16 people lived in the woods to avoid capture and was nicknamed “mosquito” by locals because of his frail build, the Brazilian police investigator responsible for his arrest said Monday. Douglas Garcia, an investigator who led a two-day search for 33-year-old Jorlan Lopes da Silva that ended in his capture on Sep. 13, told The Associated Press that the suspect hid in makeshift camps in the thick bush. Authorities believe he killed at least 16 people within the last three months in the isolated region of Mulungu, in Brazil’s northeastern state of Paraiba. Da Silva said he has committed more crimes but denied any gang involvement.
A truck driver built a model of NYC with over 800,000 structures for fun. Now it's a museum exhibit
NEW YORK (AP) — A truck driver who spent two decades building a massive scale model of his native New York City was delighted when it went viral on TikTok. Now, Joe Macken’s sprawling balsa wood and foam board creation is on display at the Museum of the City of New York. The immense model is 50 feet long and nearly 30 feet wide, covering all five boroughs, parts of New Jersey and suburban Long Island. More than 800,000 balsa wood structures are laid out in street-level detail across more than 300 large foam boards like interconnecting puzzle pieces. The exhibit runs through Oct. 12.
Sun, sea and soldiers: Greek island tourists get front-row seats for military drills
MALEME, Greece (AP) — Tourists on the Greek island of Crete got an unexpected, front-row view of Medusa 15, a major military exercise led by Greece and Egypt. The drills held near Chania on Friday featured drone attacks, fast-boat landings, marines, special forces and aircraft flying overhead. Greek military police kept beachgoers away from the exercise area as troops moved through colored smoke onto the shore. France, Italy and Cyprus also participated in the exercises that ran from Sept. 10 to Sept. 18. They reflect expanding military cooperation across the Mediterranean. Visitors have described the spectacle as surprising and impressive.
A tip about a swerving van leads police to 66,000 US silver coins in a fraud case
Police investigating a money laundering case in Norway have recovered thousands of U.S. silver coins. The discovery came after a tip about a swerving van outside Oslo in April 2025. Officers found nearly 67,000 American Eagle silver coins worth about $2.65 million. On Thursday, the economic crime unit announced that three Norwegians have been sentenced to prison for aggravated money laundering. They were involved in a scheme converting U.S. investment proceeds into coins. Two Britons were acquitted. The verdict is not final, and both sides can appeal. An earlier hoard of coins was found in 2019.
Romania sets Guinness record with miles-long table, raises funds for pediatric psychiatry hospital
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Thousands of people have gathered in Romania’s capital to set a Guinness World Record with a miles-long table made of recycled materials. The event, held on Saturday, raises money for what organizers call the country's first purpose-built pediatric psychiatry hospital. The 3.3-mile “Uniting Table” stretched along Unirii Boulevard in Bucharest. Bloom The World, the Romania-based organizers, received a certificate for the “longest table made from recycled materials.” The new children’s psychiatry facility will be located within the Obregia Hospital complex. The project addresses a growing need for mental health services for children in Romania. Construction is scheduled to finish by 2027.
English village votes to leave the UK over migrant housing plan
LONDON (AP) — A small English village has voted to leave the U.K. in a symbolic independence referendum. The vote in Piddington, in Oxfordshire, is a protest against plans to house 1,200 asylum seekers on a nearby disused military base. Results announced on Wednesday showed 285 votes in favor of breaking away, with 26 villagers voting against. Parish chairman Tim McNally said the district will now be known as “the Principality of Piddington.” The vote opposes plans to turn barracks at a military base in nearby Bicester into housing for male migrants. Residents have raised fears about safety, crime, and house prices.
Well-preserved tooth from Pacific mastodon found in a creek in San Francisco Bay Area
Brigid Lynch was working along a wooded creek in a mountainous part of the San Francisco Bay Area on a habitat restoration project when something that didn’t look like the rocks she’d been studying caught her eye. It turned out to be the fossilized tooth of a Pacific mastodon. Lynch, a geomorphologist at Balance Hydrologics, made the discovery earlier this year. She spotted the fossil while working on a project to protect the threatened California red-legged frog in a preserve in San Mateo County. The public land management agency announced the find this week, and that it has been donated to Stanford University.
A Paris court awards Kim Kardashian 1 euro after her 2016 robbery
SAINT-ETIENNE, France (AP) — A Paris court has awarded Kim Kardashian 1 euro in compensation for an armed robbery she experienced in 2016. The court found eight people guilty last year for their roles in the robbery, which Kardashian described as “the most terrifying experience of my life.” The court also awarded a former hotel receptionist 109,516 euros for trauma suffered during the heist. The hotel received 50,000 euros, and Kardashian’s stylist was awarded 1 euro, an amount she had requested. Because of their ages, the robbers became known in France as “les papys braqueurs,” or the grandpa robbers. Kardashian and her stylist expressed gratitude to the French justice system for recognizing the impact of the crime.
