An Australian surfer had a close encounter with a shark off Sydney's Bondi Beach on Tuesday when it jumped onto his board, giving him a huge fright in a near-miss witnessed by lifeguards.

Dean Norburn said he was surfing with two friends early in the morning when the shark launched itself out of the water onto his board.

Anti-Christmas protesters calling themselves "Losers with Women" marched through Tokyo's streets Saturday, bashing the upcoming holiday as a capitalist ploy that also discriminates against singletons.

The group of about 20 -- part of the Communist-inspired group that routinely protests Western holidays -- marched under angry banners that read "Smash Christmas!" in Tokyo's Shibuya district, where couples and families strolled for holiday shopping.

For anyone who may have forgotten about their fortune sitting idle in a Swiss bank account, a list published Wednesday could be a must read. 

The first-of-its kind list published by the Swiss Bankers Association identifies 2,600 accounts with total assets estimated at 44 million Swiss francs ($44 million/41 million euros) which have been dormant for at least 60 years. 

A Thai faces prison after being charged with lese majeste for insulting the king's dog, his lawyer said Tuesday, in an escalation of the already draconian royal defamation law.

Thanakorn Siripaiboon, 27, has been charged by police with lese majeste for a "satirical" Facebook post about the king and his dog, lawyer Pawinee Chumsri told AFP.

A hastily abandoned suitcase, an overturned wine glass and a radio blaring a warning "to leave now". A unique museum is giving Dutch schoolkids a scarily real glimpse of life as a refugee.

In a school outing with a difference, teenagers Amy and Sona visited the museum in The Hague, opened in 2010 by the Dutch Red Cross to raise awareness of the work of organisations helping those fleeing war and poverty.

A homeless man who begs on one of Paris' swishest avenues has become an unlikely celebrity after writing a bestselling book about his life on the streets.

The creme de la creme of Parisian society pass daily in front of Jean-Marie Roughol's pitch outside a Chanel boutique on the chi-chi Avenue Montaigne.

A dog recently adopted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bit a lawmaker and a minister's husband during an event to mark the Hanukkah religious holiday, Israeli media reported Thursday.

Kaiya, adopted by Netanyahu in July, bit lawmaker Sharren Haskel from the prime minister's Likud party as well as the husband of deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely during a candle-lighting ceremony on Wednesday night.

Residents in Moscow already enjoy free wireless Internet in cafes and on the metro system but now authorities in the city have also decided to bring wifi to a more unusual setting -- some of its most storied cemeteries.

The free services are set to start working next year for visitors of the Vagankovo, Troyekurovo and Novodevichy cemeteries, where the likes of author Anton Chekov, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and the first Russian president Boris Yeltsin are buried. 

Some prefer to spend their leisure time immersed in music or on the sports field, but for a small group of tombstone tourists, Britain's graveyards are their playground.

The "Cemetery Club" shares its appreciation of "these often overlooked and misunderstood places" every Monday on a blog, which is followed by a band of "taphophiles" -- the name given to cemetery enthusiasts.

Lavish meals loaded with booze have long been a mainstay of Chinese politics and business for centuries, but for many they are more a source of anxiety than joy. 

For some, salvation has come in the form of a middle aged former wedding planner.