The nation that gave the world counterfeit toys, fake toothpaste and poisoned pet food also gave 3 billion television viewers a bogus fireworks show of Olympic proportions Friday night, according to media reports Monday. The spectacular fireworks telecast to billions of viewers around the world at the end of the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics Friday night were largely faked using computer animation and the audience wasn't told, the Beijing Times newspaper revealed.

Almost all of Ottawa City's 1,100 taxicabs have complied with a law mandating the installation of video cameras in their vehicles. The goal of the requirement is to assist police in criminal investigations of crimes in taxicabs. However, a technical glitch needs to be addressed. The city police do not have the software to allow them to view the videos.

An Olympics more to some men's tastes is brewing this weekend in this small Finnish town. The winner receives his wife's weight in beer. More than 50 couples from countries around Europe are registered for Saturday's 16th annual Wife Carrying World Championships. The rules are simple, even if the contest isn't necessarily easy. The wife-even a borrowed one- is carried by the man-piggyback, on his shoulders, or however he can manage-around a quarter-kilometer (. 15 miles) course made up of sand, asphalt and grass over logs and through three feet of water.

A man chronicled his life via Polaroid photos, taking a shot every day for 18 years. Jamie Livingston, a photographer, began taking pictures with a Polaroid camera in 1978 at Bard College. He noticed he'd taken a photo a day, and had the idea to continue the series by taking one image a day. He kept the photos organized by date and categorized them in Polaroid boxes kept in suitcases according to reports.

While Canada reviews the use of Tasers arising from the death of a Polish migrant zapped by a stun gun at the Vancouver airport, two Colorado men tried to settle a parking lot argument using Tasers. Harvey Epstein, co-owner of Mamacitas restaurant and Casey Dane, a supervisor with Colorado Security Services, hit each other with Taser guns over an argument after Dane clamped the wheel of a vehicle parked behind the Epstein's eatery.