Saudi Arabia's high court has rejected the execution sentence of a Lebanese man convicted of sorcery and recommended that he be deported after a new trial, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The Supreme Court in Riyadh said that the death sentence for Ali Sabat was not warranted because he had not harmed anyone and had no prior offences in the country, Okaz said.

Across Eastern Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan and the Gobi Desert — it certainly was a long way to go without getting lost.

Four driverless electric vans successfully ended a 13,000-kilometer test drive from Italy to China — a modern-day version of Marco Polo's journey around the world — with their arrival at the Shanghai Expo on Thursday.

Vladimir Putin, who has carved out a health nut image by wrestling with tigers or judo opponents, raised eyebrows Thursday as he was pictured swollen-faced and caked in make-up, apparently to mask a black eye.

Journalists feverishly speculated that the Russian premier could have taken a punch during a judo session or even had a facelift, after he visited Ukraine on Wednesday slathered in war paint.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was on striking form when he met his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales on Wednesday -- on the football pitch for a friendly with top Iranian players, local media said.

The Iranian and Bolivian leaders, sporting T-shirts and shorts, played in the same team alongside Iran's star midfielder Karim Bagheri, with both scoring in a match that was drawn 4-4 at the end of normal time.

Just how mini can a miniskirt be?

If an Italian mayor of a small Italian seaside town has his way, law enforcement officials, and not fashion gurus, will be the ones to decide.

Paul the octopus, who shot to fame during this year's football World Cup in South Africa for his flawless record in predicting game outcomes, has died, his aquarium in Germany said on Tuesday.

"Management and staff at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre were devastated to discover that oracle octopus Paul, who achieved global renown during the recent World Cup, had passed away overnight," the aquarium said in a somber statement.

China has launched an official online mapping service as U.S. Internet giant Google continues to hold out on applying for a license to provide a similar service in the country, state media said Friday.

The government-backed service Map World is free and allows users to search for two and three-dimensional images across the globe, the China Daily said.

Australian police served a court order on an alleged cyber bully using the social networking site Facebook, officials said Wednesday, describing it as a national first.

Victoria police got court approval to use the site after attempts to serve the order in person, over the telephone or via the post failed.

Japan's foreign ministry has told its embassies abroad to reduce huge wine stockpiles after finding excessive build-ups, including almost 7,900 bottles at one European mission alone.

"I was very surprised to see the report by the audit board," Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, who took office a month ago, told a parliamentary committee after a recent audit of embassies' booze stocks.

A Nepalese fruit seller's son with the body of a toddler turned 18 on Thursday and was officially declared the world's shortest man by Guinness record officials.

Khagendra Thapa Magar measured in at 67 centimeters, displacing the former record holder, Edward Nino Hernandez of Colombia, who measures 70 centimeters.