A luxury commode custom-built for a Thai princess's visit to Cambodia was left unused despite its hefty $40,000 price tag, local officials said Tuesday, in a poor country where the majority of rural dwellers do not have access to a toilet.

The convenience was built for a visit on Monday by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to Yeak Lom lake in northeastern Cambodia.

A Turkish truck driver has lodged a legal complaint against his own wife for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pro-government media reported on Monday. 

Ali D., 40, who married G.D. three years ago, warned his wife repeatedly not to curse at the president when he appeared on television, Yeni Safak newspaper reported on its website.

A court has served a Hindu god with a summons for illegally encroaching on government land in eastern India after a roadside temple was built in his honor, officials said Thursday.

Photos in local media showed the summons, addressed to Lord Hanuman, pasted on an idol of the monkey god, worshipped for his courage and strength, at the temple in Bihar state.

A Japanese actor has died after being stabbed in the stomach with a samurai sword during rehearsals.

It was not immediately clear whether the sword was real or a mock weapon. Police said Tuesday they were investigating whether the death of 33-year-old Daigo Kashino was criminal or an accident.

Tajikistan has launched a contest for the best essays by schoolchildren in praise of the "heroic" rule of President Emomali Rakhmon, as a personality cult builds around the Central Asian strongman.

The government's youth affairs committee said the contest aimed to teach children about the "heroic life and deeds of the Leader of the Nation" -- the president's official title.

After all these years, Uno is still No. 1.

More than 2,700 dogs entered in the Westminster Kennel Club show that started Monday, with a couple of clear favorites. Rumor the German shepherd and Charlie the Skye terrier head the pack, and could be picked as the nation's top pooch.

Italian olive grower Federico Manni is at the end of his tether.

"You see this one," he says, waving in the direction of a majestic but diseased olive tree on his property near Gallipoli on the Salento peninsula on Italy's heel.

A letter from a man to his mother flown out of Paris by hot air balloon during the Prussian siege has turned up in Australia's National Archives, which Tuesday said it was keen to know the family's fate.

The Franco-Prussian War saw the Germans completely surround Paris for more than four months in 1870.

France's freshly reshuffled government left some puzzled Friday over the role of new ministries such as that of "real equality", while another linking "family, children and women's rights" has irked feminists.

French President Francois Hollande on Thursday announced the government shake-up in a bid to gain fresh political momentum 15 months ahead of presidential elections.

Police in northern India will soon use slingshots loaded with chilli powder and marbles to tackle unruly protesters in the world's largest democracy, an inspector said on Wednesday.

Not content with water cannon, tear gas and traditional wooden sticks or lathis, police in Haryana state close to New Delhi will turn to the slingshots as a "non-lethal way" to control violent crowds.