The Russian-language Wikipedia website shut down Tuesday and symbolically blacked out its logo in protest at a bill that would allow the state to block access to blacklisted websites.

"Imagine a world without free knowledge," it said in a statement on an otherwise white page, saying amendments to be discussed in parliament Wednesday "could lead to the creation of extrajudicial censorship of the whole Russian-language Internet".

Batman would need a parachute to land safely in real life, say physicists who recommend a cape redesign if the masked superhero is to pursue his exploits outside the pages of comic books or celluloid.

On the big screen, the crime-fighter is able to glide from tall buildings using a cape spread out like wings -- similar to the method used by base jumpers who leap from bridges, buildings and cliffs wearing winged suits.

A homeless Brazilian couple that lives under the bridges of Sao Paulo found a garbage bag filled with 20,000 reels ($10,000) on a sidewalk Monday -- and promptly turned it into the police.

Officials said the pair was out for a dawn stroll when they heard an alarm.

An apartment in the Watergate complex, best known for the break-in that brought down President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, has sold for a record $3.1 million, the Washington Post reported Monday.

Tech entrepreneur John Lee bought the three-bedroom, 3,700 square foot (345 square meters) unit overlooking the Potomac River to complement his main home in an outer Washington suburb, the Post said on its real estate blog.

Two young entrepreneurs who started an award-winning international ice-cream business from scratch are urging talented Italians not to abandon their recession-hit country.

Friends Guido Martinetti and Federico Grom started their Grom ice-cream company in 2003, when the pair, in their twenties and with little capital, set out to revolutionize Italian gelato despite knowing nothing about it.

A straggling half-tonne fighting bull skewered two Britons and an American on Monday as it turned its horns on panicked runners in Spain's Pamplona bull run.

The bull lagged behind in the pack of six huge bulls and six steers that tore through the northern city's slippery cobbled streets, surrounded by crowds of thrill-seekers dressed in white with red neck scarves.

A Saudi princess, the granddaughter of the nation's founder, is seeking asylum in Britain over fears she could be persecuted by members of her family at home, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Princess Sara bint Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, also known as the "Barbie" princess due to her pampered upbringing, said she had also applied to Britain's Home Office for political asylum for her four daughters, according to the report.

An orangutan that became the star attraction of an Indonesian zoo for her penchant for puffing on cigarettes will be forced to quit cold turkey, a conservationist said Saturday.

Visitors began throwing lit cigarettes into the cage of 15-year-old Tori when it was five, and the female orangutan had developed an addiction over the years, Centre for Orangutan Protection coordinator Daniek Hendarto said.

A bride gave birth only minutes after tying the knot at a townhall wedding in western France, making it more of a "big day" than anticipated, the local mayor told Agence France Presse Sunday.

"It did rather shake us up," admitted Jean-Robert Gachet, mayor of Jallais, after hearing that mother and baby were doing well.

A live television talk show in Jordan produced a torrent of insults, a shoe flying across the studio and a pistol being whipped out, as the host desperately tried to keep two rival politicians apart.

The show on private satellite channel Jo Sat, aired on Friday, started to spin out of control after MP Mohammad Shawabka accused former deputy Mansur Murad of working as a spy for the Syrian regime.