Some of the stranger stories from the year just ending:

- In January, a Japanese lingerie company said it had produced a bra -- the "True Love Tester" -- it claims will only unhook when the wearer is really in love.

A yellow Labrador that got spooked on a Christmas Day hike in the Columbia Gorge, snapping her leash and plunging 150 feet down a cliff, was rescued in the dark by a climber who rappelled to a narrow ledge where the dog was trapped.

David Schelske of West Linn told the Oregon Humane Society that when 3-year-old Sandy bounded around a bend and disappeared he figured her for a goner.

His figure-hugging black speedos at the ready, fast-food vendor Marco Fois is preparing to uphold a New Year's tradition and take the plunge into the murky waters of Rome's fabled Tiber river.

Fois, 52, is one of four Italians who strip off and dive in from the Cavour bridge in the capital on January 1 each year to wild cheers from crowds gathered along the banks.

A woman in Philadelphia got an unexpected holiday surprise on the subway when she went into labor, delivering a healthy child dubbed the "Christmas baby."

The woman was on a train Thursday in central Philadelphia in the U.S. state Pennsylvania when her water broke.

A hippo that panicked while being transported by truck in Taiwan jumped from the vehicle, breaking a leg and causing confused residents to report spotting a dinosaur on the loose.

Television footage showed the enormous animal lying on the road with a white fluid oozing from its eyes after it jumped through a truck window and landed on a parked car before falling onto the road on Friday.

French President Francois Hollande is the latest leader to discover there is nothing quite like a cute puppy to perk up the corridors of power.

A three-month-old black Labrador named Philae -- after the comet probe -- landed in the presidential palace on Christmas Day as a gift from Canadian war veterans.

McDonald's said Friday that an emergency airlift has eased a french fries shortage in Japan which forced the chain to ration the crispy treat at more than 3,000 restaurants across the country.

From January 5, medium and large-sized fries will be back on the menu, almost three weeks after the fast-food giant restricted customers to small portions due to import delays.

Onlookers at a train station in northern India watched in awe as a monkey came to the rescue of an injured friend — resuscitating another monkey that had been electrocuted and knocked unconscious.

The injured monkey had fallen between the tracks, apparently after touching high-tension wires at the train station in the north Indian city of Kanpur.

With a bark of excitement, Titti, Tato and Carmela scamper down the corridors of the Bollate prison near Milan and are enveloped by prisoners who shower them with treats, pats and hugs.

It's pet therapy day, and Valeria Gallinotti, founder of the Dogs Inside association, has brought her labrador, doberman and a mongrel to play with inmates in Italy's model jail, where a host of such initiatives keep repeat offender rates at a record low.

Got a nifty little drone for Christmas? If so, fly it carefully. Especially if you are in Britain.

The country's civil aviation authority on Thursday issued a warning that people who fly their drones recklessly face prosecution and a hefty fine.