Palmira, a 12-year-old male was chosen Sunday as the best and finest Arab thoroughbred. The announcement was made during the 29th annual National Show of Arabian Horses in the popular Janow Ppodlaski stud-farm in southern Poland. Reports said the annual show also attracted 32 mares and two stallions that were put on sale in this year's main auction, "the Pride of Poland. " Some 16 other horses were auctioned off Sunday morning in a silent sale, organizers of the event said.

The first of some 29,000 rubber ducks that have been circling the world's oceans for 15 years are expected to wash up on a beach in England sometime soon. The toys fell overboard from a cargo ship bound for Seattle from China in 1992, according to the BBC.

Credit card thieves are now making donations to charities - in your name. It's the newest tactic to ensure thieves get the best price for personal data they sell on the black market, according to Symantec, a security firm. Like reputable online retailers that check you have enough in the bank by making a small deposit, before OKing an order for an expensive laptop, thieves are now making small donations to ensure the card they just bought is valid.

Rotimi Adebari made history yesterday, becoming the first black mayor elected in Ireland, winning the election to lead Portlaoise, a busy commuter town just west of Dublin. Adebari, 43, a native of Nigeria, migrated to Ireland in 2000 with his wife and two sons, claiming political asylum based on religious persecution, although his application was rejected because of insufficient evidence.

Britain's late Princess Diana's childhood bicycle is to go on show at an Essex toy museum Friday. The Tracker bike - which the princess rode when she was aged seven - will be displayed at Standsted's The House on the Hill Toy Museum. Alan Goldsmith, owner of the Essex attraction, which claims to be the largest privately owned toy museum in Europe, purchased the bike for $ 2,671.