Nearly a hundred same-sex couples in Rio de Janeiro legalized their unions -- to a status just shy of marriage in the Latin American country -- in a group ceremony Sunday, local media reported.

The 92 couples pledged themselves to "stable unions," though the G1 web site noted the ceremony was mainly symbolic, as they will have have to repeat their vows Monday in front of a judge.

The number of Hong Kong couples planning to marry on 12/12/12 -- seen as a fairly fortunate date by feng shui masters -- has shrunk compared to the more auspicious 11/11/11 last year, reports said Monday.

Dates like 10/10/10 or 11/11/11 have traditionally seen couples flock to tie the knot. But some Chinese feng shui masters said December 12 this year, which is seen as signifying "love", was not ideal for nuptials.

A live crocodile has been found dumped in a fish tank at a Hong Kong garbage site, the second time in nine years that a croc has surfaced in the densely populated urban jungle.

Media reports Monday said the 1.2-meter (four foot), five-kilogram (11 pound) croc was thought to have been dumped by a pet owner who found it too hard to handle.

Washington's most famous mustache is no more. Senior Barack Obama adviser David Axelrod shaved his iconic lip hair live on TV Friday after raising $1 million for epilepsy research.

Axelrod said he has sported a mustache -- a rarity in official Washington -- for 40 years.

Stick your head in a sewer in the Colombian city of Medellin and you'll find the cozy home of Miguel Restrepo and his wife, two happy underground squatters, and their dog Blackie.

Their digs are too small to stand up in, and it measures just three by two meters (10 by 7 feet). But somehow they have fitted it with a kitchen, a TV and a tile floor.

Floridians keen to protect the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades will have their mettle tested next month as the wildlife service seeks help in eradicating the giant Burmese python.

The public has been asked to join in a month-long hunt for the invasive species, which, lacking natural predators, snacks on native birds, deer, bobcats and other large animals, some of them protected.

A lucky player in Arizona, a married man in his 30s, has claimed the second winning ticket in the U.S. Powerball lottery's near-record jackpot of $587.5 million, organizers said Friday.

The unidentified man, who said he would like to keep working, had only played the lottery twice in the last year when he struck lucky with tickets bought at the last minute last week, winning him $192 million.

In the lush hills of northern Thailand, a herd of 20 elephants is helping to excrete some of the world's most expensive coffee.

Trumpeted as earthy in flavor and smooth on the palate, the exotic new brew is made from beans eaten by Thai elephants and plucked a day later from their dung. A gut reaction inside the elephant creates what its founder calls the coffee's unique taste.

Pot smokers lit up in Washington state Thursday as recreational marijuana became legal in a historic first for the United States, clouded by the fact that federal law still bans the practice.

Midnight pot parties were reported across the western U.S. state as a new law came into force following a November 6 referendum to legalize private consumption of marijuana for recreational use.

Mathematics has provided an answer for those striving for the perfect Christmas tree, Britain's University of Sheffield says.

The university's Maths Society was set the challenge of decorating a tree so that greenery and glitz are in harmonious proportion, resolving the problem of a tree that is either too barren or gaudy.