An agency for pets called Hollywood Paws have been sued by more than a dozen owners of a Rottweiler and other dogs for not making their pooches into stars. They claim that the firm had charged them tens of thousands of dollars but failed to procure film and television auditions for their pets. "I lost a lot of money," said Rachel Armstrong, owner of Goliath the Rottweiler.

A German film-maker notoriously criticized for putting out bad films has chosen to hit back at his detractors in a most unexpected venue - the boxing ring. Film director Uwe Boll took on four of his biggest critics in a boxing match in Vancouver, emerging victorious from the contest in front of a crowd of 600 people.

Anti-drug campaigners attacked the makers of a high-energy soft drink who named their product cocaine. The drink is being billed as a "legal alternative" to the class A drug, using a massive hit of caffeine instead of cocaine. The drink's inventor, Jamie Kirby, who claims the title is "a bit of fun" tells the Daily Mail, "It's an energy drink, and it's a fun name. As soon as people look at the can, they smile. "

A Washington state teacher says he will not shave his facial hair until Osama bin Laden is caught or killed. Gary Weddle was so focused on following the news after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that he forgot to shave. A week later, the Ephrata Middle School teacher decided not shave until the al-Qaeda leader was no longer a threat. Weddle, 46, expected bin Laden to be captured within a month or so. He has trimmed his facial hair in the past five years as he progressed from substitute teacher to full-time science instructor.

After a woman made a complaint to media regulator Ofcam about two Tom and Jerry cartoons with scenes containing smoking, Turner Broadcasting decided to search through its entire catalog of classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons to edit out scenes with smoking characters - unless the smoking character is a villain. The cartoons under investigation include Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones and Scooby-Doo. Spokesman for Turner in Europe Yinka Akindele said scenes with smoking villains would not necessarily be edited.