Dog-loving Romanians living in a Bucharest district will be limited to "adopting" one stray dog per building, authorities said Thursday, amid a controversy over putting down strays.

"One cage may be placed behind the building for the adopted dog, so long as 51 percent of people living in the building are in agreement," the district town hall said in a statement.

An American adventurer's bid to float across the Atlantic to Europe in a rowboat suspended by a cluster of 370 helium balloons ended in failure after he was forced to land in the Canadian province of Newfoundland, it was confirmed Friday.

Balloon enthusiast Jonathan Trappe's attempt had earned comparisons with the plot of Oscar-winning animated movie "Up", about a pensioner who uses balloons to fly his home to South America.

The tongue-in-cheek Ig Nobel awards were handed Thursday to dozens of scientists, including those who confirmed drunk people think they are more attractive and studied the onion enzyme that makes us cry.

The Nobel prize spoof honors achievements "that first make people laugh and then make them think," according to a press release.

Pakistan has cracked down on "immoral" love chat services offered by mobile phone companies, stifling hopes of illicit romance in the conservative Muslim country where dating is frowned upon.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said the ban was enforced last month due to protests from parents and lawmakers, but critics warn it is the latest attempt at creeping censorship.

A French court Wednesday ordered a piggery to compensate a former worker who became deaf partly as a result of the incessant squeals of the animals in his charge.

A court in the western town of Lons-le-Saunier in the Jura region ruled that the Pelizzari group had committed an "inexcusable error" by failing to protect Serge Personeni from a work hazard.

An American blogger annoyed by texting and emailing on smartphones during a movie at the Toronto film festival called police this week.

Alex Billington reportedly first complained to theater managers at the Monday midnight screening of Ti West's "The Sacrament."

A 59-year-old Bulgarian man has swum more than two kilometers (1.25 miles) completely tied up in a bag in a bid to enter into the Guinness World Records book.

Wrapped in an orange, porous bag with his arms and legs strapped to his body, Jane Petkov swam "on his back, like a dolphin" to cross Lake Ohrid in southern Macedonia, said Saso Tockov, one of the event organizers.

An eccentric South African artist has been charged with sexual exhibitionism after a street performance in central Paris in which he tied a rooster to his penis.

Steve Cohen was arrested on Tuesday on a busy public square a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower.

Around 280 trained hunters, firefighters and municipal officials fanned out across a Japanese city this week to catch a single bad-tempered monkey that was menacing locals.

The male macaque had been terrorizing the people of Hyuga in the far south of the country since late last month, and was blamed for 18 attacks.

Now that's a birthday present: Canada is honoring Superman with seven coins to mark the 75th anniversary of the iconic comic character's creation.

The Royal Canadian Mint said Monday it would be issuing the collector's items -- ranging in face value from 50 cents to $75 -- in gold, silver and cupro-nickel.