A new study shows more than a quarter of British dogs are as stressed as their over-worked owners, and a third are prone to vomiting or diarrhea as a result of neglect. Chris Price, business manager with Direct Line Pet Insurance, says, "Dogs are very sensitive to their owners' moods and pick up on when they are unhappy, unwell or under pressure. "

A man who missed twice while aiming to shoot a friend's cow only to accidentally shoot a passer-by in the leg is fined for what an Australian court called a freak accident. Rudolf Stadler, 61, agreed in April last year to shoot the meddling cow which belonged to a friend who owns a hobby farm at Caboolture in tropical Queensland state.

A Swedish couple has named their newborn baby son Google, after the popular internet search engine. The father of the newly named boy, Elias Kai, is quoted in 'The Local', an English-Language newspaper in Sweden, as saying he is a great fan of the search engine, but the name means more than that.

A Connecticut second-grader brings something illegal for show-and-tell. According to police, the 8-year-old boy brought his uncle's marijuana stash to school, to show his friends on a field trip.

Buster the German Shepherd could have had a great career as a British police dog had it not been for one flaw: his complete lack of interest in fighting crime. His former handler says the canine cop took early retirement after bosses at South Yorkshire Police noted his lack of motivation - and a aptitude for making friends with rowdy drunkards. Police Constable David Stephenson says Buster, who had some six months on the beat, has been placed with a family in Sheffield, near this town in northern England.