Jewish & World News

HOMOSASSA, Fla. - Imagine owning your own island right here in the Bay area. How cool would that be, right? Well, now is your chance because one is for sale and we're not talking millions of dollars. You can only get there by boat and it sits right at the mouth of the Homosassa River in Citrus County.

A Long Island, NY, man is still shaken after he says a metal object plummeted from the sky and slammed into the pavement just feet from where he was standing outside his home Thursday. Gus Binos was washing a van outside his home at about 3:30 p.m. when he heard the startling noise -- a metal clipboard landing 20 feet from where he was standing in the driveway of his home on Oakwood Drive in the Suffolk County hamlet of Shirley. "I just jumped and turned," Binos said.

Drug smugglers are always looking for new ways of moving their products across borders. One woman in San Diego unwittingly became part of their latest ploy for moving large quantities of marijuana across the border between Mexico and the United States.

Vladimir Putin, banned in Finland? Finnish police say the Russian president's name was mistakenly placed on a secret criminal register that could theoretically have gotten him arrested at the border. TV station MTV3 reported Wednesday that Putin was placed there for his contact with Russian motorcycle gang Night Wolves, though he wasn't suspected of a crime in Finland. But National Police Board spokesman Robin Lardot told the AP the listing was a mistake and that Putin's name was removed from the list.

A baby was born inside a New York Walmart store. Natalie Sarna went into labor around 8 p.m. Thursday at the Walmart in the Orange County town of Wallkill, 65 miles north of New York City. Sarna had gone with her sister to purchase baby items and started to have contractions in the middle of an aisle.

An expectant mother and her boyfriend were rushing to the hospital early Thursday morning, but the baby couldn’t wait. Chantelle LeGrande, 28, said she was in the front seat of the car and her boyfriend Gregory Mars was driving, racing from their home in Queens to Plainview Hospital, when she felt the baby coming.

A helicopter came to the rescue of a deer stuck on a frozen lake in Canada by using the wind from the rotor blades to blow the stricken animal across the ice to safety. The deer and her fawn were stranded on thin ice in Antigonish Harbour, Nova Scotia, and clearly tiring as they attempted to make their way to shore in the slippery conditions. Whilst the young fawn did finally manage to escape the ice, its mother remained stricken. With the saltwater ice too brittle for rescuers to walk across, experienced helicopter pilot David Farrell remembered a trick he had used before. Using the wind created by the aircraft's rotor blades, Mr Farrell flew low to the ice and blew the stricken deer to safety. The pilot told the Canadian TV station CTV: "As long as you can keep that deer moving along the ice, it tends to calm down. I don't know if it understands we're trying to help or, I don't know what's going through its mind, but it works good....

Natasha Hill couldn’t decide what to call the baby she is expecting in September. So when a baby-naming website offered $5,000 to an expectant mom who was willing to let the public vote on the best moniker, the 26-year-old jumped at the chance.

Reba Williams, a 106-year-old Pennsylvania woman, is finally getting her high-school diploma. The Mansfield News Journal explains that Williams completed her 12 years of education when she was a teen in the 1920s. However, Williams refused to read a book (unnamed) assigned by her teacher senior year—and was not allowed to graduate.

A couple visiting San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge on Valentine's Day discovered an unattended camera bag in a nearby parking lot. Inside the bag: credit cards, some papers and (wait for it) over $11,000. The couple, Carlos and Barbara Landeros of Vallejo, Calif., had driven down to San Francisco for a romantic dinner, according to NBCBayArea.com. Setting out on a presupper walk across the bridge, Barbara spotted camera bag. Thinking its owner would soon return, they waited to make sure it wasn't stolen.

A Texas woman got a quadruple Valentine's Day gift this year, giving birth to four babies -- two sets of identical twins. Ace, Blaine, Cash and Dylan Montalvo were born at the Woman's Hospital of Texas in Houston to Tressa Montalvo, 36, and her husband, Manuel, 43, of Houston.

Authorities say two men set a Newark man on fire after he allegedly tried to break into their van this weekend. Thirty-3-year-old Leaver Harper of Newark and 43-year-old Deon Mitchell of Union Township face numerous charges, including aggravated arson, aggravated assault and robbery.

A 44-year-old Michigan woman went to her local hospital for hernia pains. Fifteen hours later, Linda Ackley was a first time mom. Turns out the "hernia" was a baby girl ready to make her big debut. Ackley was completely clueless about her pregnancy until she and her husband, Mike, went to the hospital. The couple had long believed they could not get pregnant. Linda hadn't experienced significant weight gain and her menstrual periods had "always been irregular" according to MLive.com.

Police in Stamford say a man bit off his cousin's ear lobe and swallowed it during a fight over loud music. Officers charged 27-year-old Emilio Mendoza with first-degree assault and other crimes early Monday morning in connection with the attack on his cousin, 29-year-old Ruiz Clemente-Perez.

Her timing could have been better, but to her parents, the baby who was born in a Connecticut hospital parking lot in the blizzard is perfect. The Bulletin reports that the baby, Elizabeth Judy, wasn't due until Feb. 23 and was to be delivered at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford.

More and more people are taking a break from Facebook. But not many are getting $200 for the effort. Count Rachel Baier in that exclusive group. The 14-year-old made a deal with her father, Paul. If Rachel stayed off of Facebook for five months, she'd find herself $200 richer.

The oldest known living wild bird in the world has given birth to a healthy hatchling. The 62-year-old bird, “Wisdom,” last made headlines in 2011, when the albatross survived the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami. Wisdom has defied the odds in many aspects: She’s already lived nearly twice as long as the average Laysan albatross. She was given her name after being tagged by a U.S. Geological Survey researcher in 1956. The USGS said in a statement that since being tagged, Wisdom has flown an estimated 2 million to 3 million miles, or “four to six trips from the Earth to the Moon and back again with plenty of miles to spare.”

A runaway goat was cornered in the parking lot of Brooklyn Interfaith Medical Center early Thursday. “I was just walking across the street to get some Popeye’s, I come around the corner and the next thing I know I see a goat coming around my way, galloping toward me,” said a witness.

Talk about a loaded diaper. Priscilla Pena and Michelle Blassingale, of The Bronx, arrived at JFK Airport on a JetBlue flight from the Dominican Republic on Saturday. Pena was selected for inspection by customs agents because a drug-sniffing dog alerted agents to something around Pena’s midsection, according to the court documents.