Britain appointed a "minister for loneliness" on Wednesday to tackle what Prime Minister Theresa May described as "the sad reality of modern life" affecting millions of people.

A French woman dubbed the "Black Widow of the Riviera" for allegedly seducing and poisoning wealthy elderly men, leading to the deaths of two of them, went on trial for murder in the resort city of Nice on Monday.

A woman in South Africa bit the penis of a man who raped her in front of her five-year-old child, police said Wednesday as they searched for the "severely injured" attacker.

Spanish morgue workers were given a major fright when a prisoner who had been declared dead after an apparent suicide attempt woke up just as they prepared to perform an autopsy, authorities said Wednesday.

In jail near Oviedo in northern Spain, the man, whom Spain's prison authority refused to identify, was found unconscious around 8am (0700 GMT) on Sunday and three doctors "found he presented no signs of life," a spokeswoman told AFP.

A former Russian policeman convicted of killing 22 women went on trial Wednesday for a further 59 murders in a case that could make him Russia's most prolific serial killer in recent history.

Rare images of the "world's ugliest pig" have been captured in Indonesia, researchers said Friday, offering a window into a little-known species believed to be on the brink of extinction.

What is claimed to be "the world's most expensive" bottle of vodka, snatched from a Copenhagen bar earlier this week, was found empty at a construction site in the Danish capital early Friday, the police said. 

Hardy thrillseekers plunged into Italy's Tiber river on Monday, continuing a decades-old New Year's tradition. 

A mall in northern China has installed a larger-than-life canine statue with more than a passing resemblance to U.S. President Donald Trump to welcome the coming Year of the Dog.

A Zimbabwean family has been marooned at Bangkok's main airport for two months, Thai immigration police said Thursday, an ordeal over the holiday season that has drawn widespread sympathy among Thais.