You may have missed. . . Stories from the frontiers of the believable

Jouni Jussila became the first world wife-carrying champion, in Sonkajarvi, Finland. The winner, who three times previously had taken the Finnish national title, carried his 48kg wife Tiina around the 235 metre course and over two hurdles and a water jump in 1min 6.2sec to win a cellular phone and her weight in beer.

Marriage Egyptian style: hoppers on a crowded Cairo street were surprised to see a naked man pursued by a woman brandishing a pair of slippers. It later transpired that she had returned home to find her husband in bed with another woman. She hit the woman with a bottle, then turned on her husband. She was later arrested.

Marriage Ceylon style: A man walked into a police station in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, carrying an umbrella in one hand and a bag containing his wife's head in the other. He told police he had cut it off in a row over her alleged infidelity.

Marriage Thai style: a leading surgeon in Bangkok has said that Thailand is becoming a world leader in the micro-surgery of re-attaching severed penises. All but one of the 30 such cases in his hospital had had their organs severed by enraged wives. "It seems that some Thai women just can't tolerate extra-marital affairs," he explained.

The Sealife Centre in Blackpool has appealed for empty Castlemaine XXXX stubby bottles, needed as homes for two poisonous blue-ringed octopuses. Back in Australia, the octopuses frequently nest in discarded stubbies.

Three tons of fish, 300kg of onions and 150kg of red pepper went into a soup to celebrate Hungary's 1100th birthday this year. It was consumed within minutes by a crowd of 8,000 in the town of Baja.