U.S. men opt for credit crunch snip

Vasectomy clinics report more American men are having vasectomies as the global economic slowdown bites.

Doctors in the United States are attributing a rise in the number of men considering vasectomy to household budget cuts in the face of the worldwide economic downturn.

Pope admits errors in Holocaust denial case

Pope Benedict XVI has made an unusual public acknowledgment of Vatican mistakes and turmoil in his church over an outreach to ultraconservatives that led to his lifting the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop.

Serbian paramilitaries jailed

Serbia's war crimes court jailed 13 former Serb paramilitaries for the 1991 massacre of 200 Croats.

The massacre was among the atrocities of the wars that broke up Yugoslavia. Local commander Miroljub Vujovic and six other defendants were sentenced at a retrial to 20 years each in jail.

Six others were imprisoned for between five and 15 years.

Aid workers kidnapped in Darfur

Three foreign staff of the Belgian branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres have been kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur region.

The trio, a Canadian nurse, an Italian doctor and a French coordinator, were seized from their office at Saraf Umra in North Darfur on Wednesday night.

Two Sudanese staff, taken at the same time, were later released unharmed.

The kidnapping comes as tension escalates in Sudan following the war crimes indictment against President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court.

Sudan responded by ordering the explusion of 13 aid groups, including MSF's French and Dutch chapters.

Long March underway in Pakistan

Thousands of lawyers and opposition political activists are beginning a four-day 'Long March' to demand an independent judiciary.

It's feared the protest could destabilise President Asif Ali Zardari's government at a time when the nuclear-armed American ally faces severe problems from Islamist militants and an economic slump.

Police detained hundreds of political activists on Wednesday, and banned public rallies.

But the government has allowed the march, which set out from the cities of Karachi and Quetta, to go ahead.

Flossing monkeys teach offspring

Japanese researchers have found a group of monkeys in Thailand who have taught their infants how to floss their teeth.

A research team at Japan's Kyoto University observed the macaques flossing their teeth with strands of human hair.

The team believe it is the first confirmation that wild monkey parents can teach their offspring how to use tools.

Phelps swimsuit in ban discussion

Swimming's governing body FINA is meeting in Dubai to discuss new restrictions on high-tech swimsuits such as those used by U.S. star Michael Phelps.

A new generation of swimsuits has set over one hundred world records in 2008.

Critics say use of the suits is equivalent to 'technical doping'.

Bush shoe thrower jailed

An Iraqi reporter who hurled this shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, who became an icon for critics of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, was facing a maximum 15-year prison term.

The head of Zaidi's defence team said the sentence was "harsh and not in harmony with the law", and that the defence team would contest it in the appeals court.

Beijing's 798 Art Zone protest

French-Chinese artist Hao Guang turns a protest against Beijing's famed art district management into an art performance.

Hao Guang, French-Chinese artist, protests against management of Beijing's 798 art district, saying unjustified fees are pushing artists away.