AP - Riding a green lawn chair supported by a rainbow array of more than 150 helium-filled party balloons, Kent Couch took off Saturday in a third bid to fly from central Oregon all the way to Idaho.

AP - A man tore the head off a controversial Adolf Hitler wax figure at Madame Tussauds' new branch in Berlin on its opening day Saturday, officials said.

AP - Joey Chestnut achieved frankfurter immortality Friday, outdueling his celebrated Japanese rival in an epic hot-dog eating contest that pushed both of the gluttonous gladiators to the brink.

AP - The call girl involved in a scandal that brought down New York's former governor has dropped a lawsuit claiming "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis exploited her image and name on the Internet.

AP - Soul diva Amy Winehouse sipped from a glass of red wine and looked a bit unsteady on her feet as she appeared in front of a large audience at the Rock in Rio music festival southeast of Madrid on Friday.

AP - WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving from celebrity to senator isn't exactly an untraveled path. But that doesn't mean comedian Al Franken, who is vying for a Senate seat in Minnesota, will coast to Capitol Hill on a wide, smooth road.

AP - When the media capital of the world meets a celebrity divorce, it's a breakup made in tabloid heaven. So the city that has hosted the spectacular splits of Woody Allen, Liza Minnelli and Rudolph Giuliani now is feasting on the salacious details of model Christie Brinkley's fourth marital breakup.

AP - They'll always have Nice.

AP - This time, big sister put little sister in her place. Advantage, Miss Venus Williams. She defeated Serena 7-5, 6-4 Saturday for her fifth Wimbledon title and second in a row.

AP - Michael Phelps is almost done at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials. The superstar has one bit of unfinished business: the 100 butterfly and a showdown with world recordholder Ian Crocker.

AP - The blasts returned to Coors Field on Friday night, long before the fireworks.

AP - Alejandro Valverde of Spain won the first stage of the Tour de France on Saturday with a ride through flat country, the opening of a three-week race trying to restore its luster after years of doping scandals.

AP - Cool, damp weather early Saturday helped crews gain ground on the huge wildfire that wiped out this coastal retreat's holiday tourist trade, allowing some personnel and gear to be shifted to a growing blaze farther south

AP - Riding a green lawn chair supported by a rainbow array of more than 150 helium-filled party balloons, Kent Couch took off Saturday in a third bid to fly from central Oregon all the way to Idaho.

AP - Even folks in the Optimist Club are having a tough time toeing an upbeat line these days. Eighteen members of the volunteer organization's Gilbert, Ariz., chapter have gathered, a few days before this nation's 232nd birthday, to focus on the positive: Their book-drive for schoolchildren and an Independence Day project to place American flags along the streets of one neighborhood.