A Sri Lankan woman bit off the penis of her 30-year-old lover during a row on Friday, a doctor said, as police investigated two other incidents.

The man was rushed to a rural hospital in Andapana, 180 kilometers (110 miles) south of Colombo, after a quarrel with the 45-year-old female turned violent.

The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship will be removed from an Italian island by February next year after the biggest salvage operation in history, according to a plan outlined in Rome on Friday.

"The magnitude of this is unprecedented. We feel confident we can do it," said Richard Habib, managing director of U.S. salvage company Titan, which won a joint bid for the project with Italian offshore rig company Micoperi.

A painting depicting Canada's Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the nude on display at a public library drew condemnation and snickers in the halls of power on Friday.

The oil on canvass painting "Emperor Haute Couture" by artist Margaret Sutherland shows the prime minister reclining on a lounger, surrounded by headless people in suits, and a dog at his feet.

New French President Francois Hollande was the only foreign leader who showed up at a Group of Eight summit in Maryland wearing a tie, a fact that did not remain unnoticed by President Barack Obama.

"Francois, we said you could take off the tie," Obama noted as Hollande came walking up.

A province in southern Italy has dedicated a 1,400-year-old olive tree known as "The Queen" to U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama because of her commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles.

Lecce province in the farming region of Apulia said that the roughly 100 liters (26 gallons) of extra-virgin olive oil made from the fruits of the giant tree would be sent to the White House every year starting this fall.

Egyptian police said they arrested on Thursday the owner of a television station that broadcasts belly dancing, on suspicion of "facilitating prostitution."

Baleegh Hamdi, owner of the Al-Tit channel, is also accused of "harming public decency," police said, adding that he was arrested in his apartment.

A Canadian man accused of stealing and swallowing a $20,000 diamond is being held in custody until he has a bowel movement and produces the evidence, police said Thursday.

Sergeant Brett Corey told Agence France Presse the man is being kept in a cell without a toilet.

A simmering row between animal rights campaigners and a handful of California's top chefs is coming to the boil, ahead of a looming ban on foie gras in the western U.S. state.

Protestors took their message to the streets this week as a series of high-end restaurants staged events -- with menus including foie gras ice cream -- to celebrate the gastronomic delicacy, made from force-fed ducks.

A Russian man had to be rescued by emergency workers from a rubbish chute where he had jumped to escape his girlfriend but ended up getting stuck after sliding three floors down, officials said Thursday.

"According to the 31-year-old victim, he jumped into the metal chute on the 8th floor to escape his girlfriend," the emergency ministry branch in the oil-rich Tyumen region said on its website.

The Arab-speaking media was in a quandary after the appointment of Jean-Marc Ayrault as France's new prime minster on Tuesday -- about how to mention the head of the French government without causing offense.

Transcribed into Arabic from the French pronunciation of his name, "Ayrault" refers to the male sexual organ in several Arabic dialects.