China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, is likely to act in a charity movie produced by filmmaker Tsui Hark. The movie will raise funds for deprived children in China and is set to open during the Lunar New Year.

The authoritarian president of Turkmenistan has ordered a ban on lip synching performances across the tightly controlled Central Asian nation, citing "a negative effect on the development of singing and musical art," his office says Tuesday. President Saparmurat has outlawed opera and ballet and railed against long hair and gold teeth in the past, reports The Associated Press.

Retired bookstore owner Helen Schlie is selling her 1830 first-edition Book of Mormon one page at a time. Schlie says, "This way, it will touch hundreds of lives and span generations of time. The book has now started a whole new missionary career. "

Thieves stealing mud that contains traces of gold, silver and platinum are overrunning Serbia's once mighty Bor mining and smelting complex, a Belgrade newspaper reports. Bor police have filed charges against persons unknown for the theft of about 700 kilograms (1550 pounds) of valuable anode mud from the bankrupt, state-owned company in southern Serbia, Danas says in its weekend edition.

Australia - land of sun, sand and. . . a few surfing mice? Australian surfing enthusiast Shane Willmott is training three mice by the names of Harry, Chopsticks and Bunsen, to surf small waves on tiny mouse-size surf boards at beaches on Australia's Gold Coast. The mice are put through some tough training in a bathtub first and then have their fur dyed when it is time to hit the beach.