Sri Lanka's celebrity elephant, Raja, has fallen ill after eating too many sweets and chocolates given to him as gifts in part of the Buddhist new year celebrations. Thousands of Sri Lankans have paid a visit to Raja, 45, ahead of the new year celebration on Thursday, offering homemade cookies deep fried in coconut oil, chocolates, rice cooked in thick milk and fermented slices of sweet pineapple.

These days, everyone has to be on their guard against counterfeit bills, including the Girl Scouts. Scout, Katie Lundquist, 10, was having a good day when she sold 10 boxes of the famous Girl Scout cookies to a woman outside Dave's Market Place.

You'll be embarrassed beyond your wildest imagination. That's what a box of x-rated fortune cookies mistakenly served at a fundraiser for a Brooklyn politician could have read. Instead, the messages were much more inappropriate. The cookies were stuffed with graphic messages that were ordered for a Chinese New Year event. The fundraiser was attended by some 700 guests but only about 80 were still there when the dirty cookies were opened.

Residents at the Deerings Nursing Home have a special secret Santa: 99-year-old Sybil Rice, who lives alone and makes gift baskets for them. On Monday, she and her family delivered 70 baskets to residents.