A fishing pier hailed as the longest pier in North Carolina, is about to become a thing of the past thanks to rising real estate prices and a divorce settlement. The Long Beach Pier is slated to be torn down sometime in February, along with its tackle shop, motel and restaurant after closing Saturday.

Sweden - A Swedish man who was believed to be dead after vanishing off the Norwegian coast two years ago shocked authorities when he resurfaced at a routine traffic stop in Sweden.

Anglers fishing in a frozen river in northern Sweden returned with a strange catch - a live turtle they found trapped under the ice. "My friends did not believe me but then saw it for themselves. And right then it moved," Anna Nyberg, one of the anglers said Monday.

A small island restaurant has added new items to its menu: crow and seagull dishes. Its hope is to lure those with an adventurous palate. Manager Rolf Sund told the Tonsberg Blad newspaper he's not sure how well the venture will do, but said tourism numbers are down in Ostre Bolaerne, an archipelago on the outer fringe of the Oslo Fjord. According to United Press International, Sund began advertising his "Christmas buffet with a difference" after learning that hunting and eating the plentiful birds was legal. The chef has prepared both crow and seagull in a variety of sauces. Sund said he hopes to dispel the notion that crows are "not clean," and made the inevitable taste comparison. "It tastes like chicken with a hint of game. And it is safe to eat," Sund said.

Peter Kaufman, who writes about the Alaskan canneries in which he previously worked in during the 70's Vividly captures the mood of that era, in her new book "Barometer's Shadow. " Barometer's Shadow, published by Silvercrest captures a time when protesters burned bras or draft cards and thousands of war veterans came home in thick clouds of marijuana smoke as the lingering specter of Vietnam systematically tore most of the country apart.