Web site ranks Athens 'most flirtatious'
LONDON, March 3 (UPI) -- Badoo.com, a social networking site based in London, said its analysis indicates Athens, Greece, is the world's most flirtatious city.
The Web site said its analysis of 12 million flirtations made in a month by Badoo users in 180 countries ranked Athens as the leader of the "World Flirtation League," with users in the city initiating an average 25.7 online flirtations per month.
Badoo said Moscow ranked second on the list and Kuwait City was ranked third. Other major cities on the list include Rome in eighth place, Paris at number 38, London in 57th and New York at number 89.
"Athens was the birthplace of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and Western philosophy itself," said Lloyd Price, Badoo's director of marketing. "Once again, it leads the world."
Officials approve 25-hour hockey game
EAST AURORA, N.Y., March 3 (UPI) -- Officials in a New York town say they have decided to allow a 25-hour hockey game this month that will help pay for improvements at an outdoor rink.
East Aurora Village officials said Monday they will allow the Aurora Ice Association to hold its event at the outdoor Time Warner Cable Classic Rink after organizers promised not to use amplified music or amplified announcing during the game, scheduled to last from 9 p.m. March 18 until 10 p.m. March 19, The Buffalo News reported Wednesday.
Aurora Ice officials also pledged not to use a horn and to keep Zamboni resurfacing to a minimum during the late night hours.
Organizers said the event was expanded from the original 24 hours to 25 after they learned of a previous 24-hour hockey game in the country.
The event is aimed at raising $30,000 for a permanent concrete pad at the rink.
NASCAR driver chases down shoplifter
LAS VEGAS, March 3 (UPI) -- Las Vegas police said a 69-year-old NASCAR driver chased down a shoplifting suspect in a Walmart parking lot.
Police said Morgan Shepherd, a veteran of 44 NASCAR seasons, ran after the suspects as they ran from the store near the Las Vegas Speedway with police in pursuit Monday evening, KSNV-TV, Las Vegas, reported Wednesday.
"I caught one of them just as they were getting ready to hop a little wall at the end of the parking lot. I yanked him down and got on top of him," Shepherd said.
Shepherd said a police officer tossed him a pair of handcuffs and asked him to hold the suspect while he and store security ran after the other two young men.
"I didn't tell him a 69-year-old man chased him down," said Shepherd, a fitness buff who jogs daily. "He was probably 18 or 19. I told him he shouldn't be stealing stuff. There is just too much of this stuff going on."
Police said the three men were arrested but the pending charges against them were not released.
Judge recuses self over Mets cap
NEW YORK, March 3 (UPI) -- A New York judge has recused himself from a lawsuit against the Mets after he was spotted wearing a ball cap bearing the team's logo.
Federal Magistrate Judge Andrew Carter stepped aside Tuesday from a lawsuit against the Mets brought by vendor Kosher Food Inc. after the company's lawyer spotted him wearing a Mets cap outside the courthouse, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.
Carter said he was taking himself off the case to avoid perceptions of bias.
The lawsuit claims the Mets barred Kosher Food Inc. from selling kosher franks at the Mets' Citi Field during the Jewish Sabbath.
