Dog drives owner's car into river

Charlie the black lab drove his owner's car into the Pend Oreille River. As Mark Ewing walked home Wednesday evening after returning from picking up a pizza, Charlie jumped into the car through an open window, and apparently knocked the vehicle into gear. "He somehow got the car into neutral," Ewing said. "My car just went boom, down an incline and into the drink." Ewing could only watch as his Chevy Impala sank into the river. No dummy, Charlie jumped out of the window as the car went downhill. "There's nothing weirder than looking at your car cruising down your driveway when you're not in it and seeing your dog jump out and then watching your car go splash," Ewing said. Actually, things got a little weirder when the tow truck driver showed up. Before the driver dove into the water to hook the car up to his truck, he asked Ewing to hold his dentures. "My car's in the drink, I've got dentures in my hand and this guy Keith ... goes swimming," Ewing noted.

Frozen criminal found in Irish fish shop

Pathologists inspected the thawed remains Wednesday of a missing Dublin criminal whose body was found, frozen rock solid, in the Mermaid Fish Shop. The owner of the shop in Galway, western Ireland, last week found the body of Patrick McCormack, 52, concealed inside a plastic container. He appeared to have been badly beaten and his hands were tied behind his back. An examination of the body has been repeatedly delayed at Dublin City Morgue because it had not defrosted. But the work began Wednesday under the supervision of Ireland's assistant state pathologist, Dr. Michael Curtis. The police officer leading the murder investigation, Superintendent Tom Curley, said detectives were exploring the possibility that McCormack's body had been in the freezer since 2002, when his car was found abandoned in the western county of Clare. McCormack, a Dublin native, had criminal convictions for robbery and was on a police list of suspected drug dealers at the time of his disappearance.

Man kills 300-pound bear with a log

A 300-pound black bear raided a family's campsite, and the father saved his sons from harm by throwing a log at the beast, killing it with a single blow. Chris Everhart and his three sons were camping in the Chattahoochee National Forest in northern Georgia when the encounter happened Saturday. The bear took the family's cooler and was heading back to the woods when the youngest son, 6-year-old Logan, hurled a shovel at it. The bear then dropped the cooler and started coming at the boy, said his father. Fearing what might happen next, Everhart, an ex-Marine, grabbed the closest thing he could find — a log from their stash of firewood. "(I) threw it at it and it happened to hit the bear in the head," Everhart said. "I thought it just knocked it out but it actually ended up killing the bear."

Japanese eating champ could lose his chomp

Japanese eating champion Takeru Kobayashi is being treated for an arthritic jaw that could douse his hopes for taking a seventh straight title at the annual Independence Day hot dog eating competition on Coney Island. Last year, the 165-pound champion won his sixth straight Yellow Mustard Belt at the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest by devouring a then-world record 53 3/4 frankfurters in 12 minutes.

"Already I can't open my jaws more than just a little bit," he wrote. "There's no pain only if I open my mouth about enough for one finger. More than that is painful and I can't open it." A specialist diagnosed him with arthritis of the jaw, he wrote. "To tell the truth, I'm desperate about healing completely before the July 4 contest," he said, adding that he had begun receiving treatment at a hospital and from a chiropractor. On Tuesday, his United Food Fighters Organization said on its website that Kobayashi has found a doctor he can trust and was "creating an environment in which he can dedicate himself to healing." "The contest is coming up soon, and we'd happy if everyone kept him in their thoughts," the group wrote.

Rats! Look who's getting tipsy

Rats are gnawing at beer cans and making holes in caps of whisky bottles stored in police storehouses in eastern India and apparently getting drunk, authorities said on Wednesday. The rodents' love for liquor has the police department in Bihar state stumped as it tries to store hundreds of bottles seized from illegal sellers from across the state in Patna, the state capital, said Kundan Krishnan, a senior officer.

"We are fed up with these drunk rats and cannot explain why they have suddenly turned to consumption of alcohol," he said.

The problem costs revenue as the seized liquor is usually sold through auctions, he said. Rats were also attacking people near the police buildings, nibbling at their toes, although it was not clear if they were under the influence, officials and witnesses said.

84-year-old man drove 67 years without license

An 84-year-old Dutch driver astonished police this week when he admitted during a random check that not only was his car uninsured but he had been driving without a license for 67 years. Dutch media said Wednesday the man had escaped detection because he had never got a speeding ticket or been involved in a crash. The man promised police he would ditch his car, which had also never been put through a vehicle safety test, reports added.

Alaskan man pleads guilty to sale of seal penises

An Alaska man has pleaded guilty to selling more than 100 fur seal "oosiks" -- or penises -- to a local gift shop that intended to sell the items as an aphrodisiac.

Michael Richard Zacharof, an Aleut and former tribal president from the Bering Sea village of St. Paul, pleaded guilty this week to one count of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Federal law forbids the sale of any raw marine mammal parts unless they have been crafted into pieces of Alaska Native artwork.

In Zacharof's case, the former tribal leader sold the raw seal penises to a gift shop catering to customers from Asia. The shop then sold the items for about $100 each, according to the Justice Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Steward said seal penis bones, also known as seal sticks, are believed to have properties similar to erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra. Zacharof faces a possible one-year prison term and a $20,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney's office said.