"The Siren," a life-size statue of a large-breasted mermaid that was the marquee exhibit at the Wellington Community Center's Public Places program, is no longer wanted on the premises. The statue attracted attention from the media when it was first debuted last summer, including air play devoted to it on CNN and a mention in Playboy.

The Navy's use of sonar during maritime exercises may have contributed to the mass stranding of more than 150 whales in Hawaii's Hanalei Bay two years ago, government scientists said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the finding along with information from other studies has led it to ask the Navy to reduce its sonar's power during exercises planned this summer in Hawaiian waters.

A five-member team from the Rhode Island Paranormal Research group visited Mystic Seaport on Friday night to spend time on the Charles W. Morgan, a wooden whaling ship where several visitors have reported seeing ghosts. The 165-year-old craft made 37 ocean voyages in search of whales during the 60 years it was in use. About 1,000 men worked on the Morgan over those decades.

Never ceasing to make the offbeat headlines, controversial actor Tom Cruise says he is planning to eat Katie Holmes' placenta. Cruise made the announcement in an interview with GQ magazine. It is the latest in a series of strange revelations from the Scientologist member.

The English language should be adopting its one-millionth word sometime this summer. The Global Language Monitor, a San Diego linguistic consultancy, gauged the rate of progress based on the fact that on March 21 there were about 988,968 words in the language, plus or minus a handful. GLM has its own formula that measures the language as found in print, electronic media and on television and radio, the Independent says.