Sustainable lawn mowing is making a come back in tight economic times. City officials in Turin, Italy expect to save about $48,000 this year by using a herd of sheep to trim municipal lawns instead of having gardeners mow the lawns. It's not a new idea; sheep were originally used to keep parks mowed when Europeans invented country parks in the 18th Century.

A soccer game was punctuated when an irate priest hurled his shirt at the game referee, resulting in the priest's ejection from the field. The surprising show of anger from the holy man occurred at the Vatican City, during a Clericus Cup, an international football tournament participated in by priests and seminarians.

Doctors in England restored the eyesight of a blind man by inserting his son's tooth into his eye. Bob McNichol, 57, was blinded two years ago at an aluminum explosion. "I thought that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life," McNichol told RTE state radio, AFP reported.

It's the Chinese Year of the Rat but it is unlikely the animal's status could be elevated above the sewer and loathsome level. Never mind that last year's hit film Ratatouille showed their humorous - and culinary - side and that Mickey Mouse and Tom and Jerry have been a long-time favorites.

Basketball coach Ron Hunter of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) went barefoot during a game and he did not expect the overwhelming support he obtained for an advocacy that intends to give pairs of shoes to thousands of African children. "When we started this I thought 40,000 was going to be tough," Hunter told the Indianapolis Star. "When they told me before the game we already had 100,000, honestly, I almost broke down in tears. "