Adolescents are finally putting down their Xboxes in order to get all a-quiver. By John Walsh

The record-breaking success of The Hunger Games and Avengers Assemble has sparked a boom in archery. John Walsh is a-quiver with excitement

American forces in Afghanistan were braced for another backlash yesterday as photos emerged showing grinning US troops posing with the bloodied body parts of Afghan suicide bombers.

An American soldier has released images of US troops posing with the mangled remains of Afghan suicide bombers.

Tomorrow: Check into The Saguaro hotel in ritzy Palm Springs. The former Holiday Inn property, pictured, has been given a sleek renovation by Californian-based hotel group Joie de Vivre. It now features a pool, tequila bar and tapas restaurant, with a vivid colour palette that contrasts with the stark landscape of the Coachella Valley (thesaguaro.com).

Out of America: Use of aerial surveillance gadget in North Dakota police case could be a sign of things to come

If Sarah Palin was hoping to sweep to power on the back of a documentary celebrating her rise from "hockey mom" to national power broker, then nobody told the critics.

Boasting she has a "titanium spine" but dodging revelations which suggest she may also possess a brass neck, Michele Bachmann spent the weekend preparing to become the latest Republican front-runner to launch their bid for the party's presidential nomination.

If there's something that might inspire me to swap sofa for saddle again after a winter during which my bikes have rarely been bothered, it's the story of an American man called Octavio Orduno. The former aerospace engineer rides every day from his house in Long Beach, California to the park and the farmers' market, waving at passers-by. None of which is out of the ordinary in that sunny city on America's Pacific Coast, were it not for the fact Orduno is 103.

The bemused property developer calls the plan "just a normal Mediterranean-style house". To a Saudi prince it might be – but the plans for a mega-mansion on a $12m (£7.5m) plot have left even the wealthy residents of an exclusive Beverly Hills community spluttering on their iced teas.

Len Lesser, the actor best known as the scene-stealing Uncle Leo on Seinfeld – "Jerry! Hello!" was his slogan – has died from cancer-related pneumonia at a care facility in California. He was 88.

Robert Pattinson has found it hard shooting both parts of 'The Twilight Sage: Breaking Dawn' at the same time.