Polish TV presenter Robert Bernatowicz used to hate Warsaw's colossal Palace of Culture, an unwanted gift from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin that opened 60 years ago this week. But that was before he broke into the building.

"I heard there was a tunnel where a fancy secret train ran between the Communist Party's headquarters and the palace. And I had this vision I'd find it," he told Agence France Presse.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to give Silvio Berlusconi Russian citizenship -- and the job of economy minister -- the disgraced Italian billionaire politician was quoted as saying Thursday.

"In Italy, I have been relegated to the sidelines, but Putin has told me he is willing to give me citizenship, and entrust me with running the economy ministry," La Stampa newspaper quoted him as saying at a dinner party.

A long march by China's armed police towards feet that do not smell appears to be nearing its end, with military leaders announcing "liberation shoes" dating back six decades will be "honorably discharged".

New breathable black canvas footwear will be distributed to members of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) paramilitary police, the force's website said.

A Japanese zoo is trying to do the impossible -- improve the image of cockroaches, putting on an exhibition of one of the world's most hated insects.

With a whopping -- and disgusting -- 4,000 species around the planet, the hardy creature can survive almost anywhere, but is most commonly encountered by city-dwellers in grubby corners of the kitchen, or roaming around the floor at night.

Japanese Twitter users were howling in derision Wednesday after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe used paper models and cut-out firefighters on television, in his latest attempt to explain controversial security legislation.

Apparently concerned about declining public support and suspicion of bills that will allow so-called "collective defence", Abe used props on two different programmes to try to persuade the public of his case.

Scrabble lovers tend to alight on similar words when describing Nigel Richards, the New Zealander who this week won the word game's francophone world championship even though he cannot speak any French.

"Freak" comes up a lot, along with "elusive", "enigmatic" and, the highest-scoring of all, "amazing". He is also, ironically, described as "a man of few words".

A former chief librarian at a Chinese university admitted in court Tuesday to stealing more than 140 paintings by grandmasters in a gallery under his watch and replacing them with fakes he painted himself.

For two years up until 2006, Xiao Yuan substituted famous works including landscapes and calligraphies in a gallery within the library of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.

Cows sizzling under Switzerland's summer sun are getting help from an unexpected ally: the Swiss army.

Soldiers have been ordered to help keep cows in the far west of the country cool amid a weeklong heat wave. Army spokesman Urs Mueller says troops are erecting eight artificial reservoirs in the Jura mountains to supply cows with drinking water.

A tax collector in northern New York has been arrested on allegations she falsified her own tax records to avoid paying up.

The state comptroller's office says its audit and investigation led to nine charges of tampering with public records against Michelle Sheppard, the town clerk and tax collector in DePeyster (dee-POY'-ster).

Romania is tapping into the Dracula legend, offering concert-goers free tickets in exchange for their blood.

The campaign is part of a push to increase blood donations in a country where only 1.7 percent of the people donate blood.