A scantily clad DJ gyrates to ear-splitting music as the crowd of drinkers orders more towers of lager: welcome to The Hangover, one of a new crop of 'beer clubs' raising concerns about Vietnam's drinking culture.

Beer goes for as little as 30 U.S. cents a glass in Vietnam, making the communist country one of the cheapest places in the world for a tipple. And over the last few years, alcohol consumption has been rising at one of the fastest rates anywhere.

Japanese women jostled feverishly for elbow room at stores on Friday to buy Valentine's Day chocolates for the men in their lives -- guys who do sweet nothing in return.

While the ladies splurge on the object of their desire -- as well as friends, colleagues and bosses -- men simply wait for the goodies to pour in on February 14 and gorge to their heart's content.

The Romanian Foreign Ministry says a diplomat has been fired after its embassy in Paris sent out invitations to a reception containing rude remarks about the guests.

The embassy had emailed invitations to mark Tuesday's visit by President Klaus Iohannis, but inadvertently attached a spreadsheet that described some guests as "undesirable" and one as "ghastly."

A retired teacher who sued a school district, saying administrators discriminated against her because of a phobia that makes her fear young children, lost her appeal in the federal case on Wednesday.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a lower-court decision that had dismissed Maria Waltherr-Willard's breach-of-contract claim against Mariemont City Schools. The U.S. District Court in Cincinnati also had ruled in favor of the school district on her other claims, including age and disability discrimination.

A Montana legislative panel moved to kill an indecent exposure bill Wednesday after the lawmaker who introduced it said he thinks yoga pants should be illegal.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to table House Bill 365, which Rep. David Moore introduced Tuesday.

This was one hull of a traffic jam.

A large truck towing an even bigger boat broke down in downtown Boston, snarling traffic in the heart of the city's bustling Financial District.

A drug dealer in France can count himself unlucky after he threw his cannabis stash out of his flat, only for it to fall straight into the hands of police stationed outside.

Hearing the dreaded tread of security forces up his stairs, the man tried to get rid of the tell-tale evidence by hurling three bags of the drug off his balcony, without knowing other officers were posted outside.

A 75-year-old man helped in the arrest of a shoplifting suspect at a Pennsylvania mall by tackling him and threatening to break his arm if he tried to escape.

Charlie Burton, of Fombell, says he was a vendor at the Washington Crown Center mall for a gun show when he saw an officer struggling with the suspect, 29-year-old Jonathan Fekete Jr.

To most people, it may be just a fun food to munch while watching a movie.

But to a couple of French investigators, popcorn is a biomechanical enigma waiting to be explained.

Police caught up to a man trying to flee assault charges because he posted a selfie on Facebook while sitting on a Greyhound bus out of town, a police chief said Tuesday.

"We like it when dumb criminals assist us in our investigation," Ambridge police Chief James Mann told the Beaver County Times, which first reported the arrest.