A Swedish man police detained two weeks ago for trying to build a nuclear reactor in his kitchen said Thursday he had started the experiment "just for fun".

Richard Handl, 31, from Aengelholm municipality in southwestern Sweden, said police had briefly detained him at the end of July for attempting to build a nuclear reactor in the kitchen of his flat.

A heartbroken 15-year-old German boy stole his parents' car to drive 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) from Austria to northern Germany in a bid to make up with his girlfriend, German police said Thursday.

The boy, who was on holiday in Austria with his family, had an argument with his girlfriend in Flensburg near the Danish border while chatting on a social network.

An Australian woman said Thursday she was horrified after finding a live rat nestled inside a loaf of bread she bought at a supermarket.

The woman, who had been shopping in Aitkenvale, in Queensland's tropical north, noticed there were holes in the sliced bread as she was packing her bags into the car.

Sick of illegal parking in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, mayor Arturas Zuokas has taken radical steps to warn wrongdoers by crushing a car with an armored vehicle.

Zuokas told Agence France Presse on Wednesday that his stunt, which has made him an overnight Internet star, was a novel way to call to account those who believe they are above the law.

A Moscow woman hired a hitman to kill her 21-year-old son because he refused to pay back a loan for a new computer, investigators said Wednesday.

The woman, 47, and her son quarreled after he took out a loan in her name to buy a notebook computer and neglected to pay her back, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

With the aid of stiff fines, the Italian city of Pisa has launched a campaign against trashy tourist souvenirs deemed harmful to the image of its monuments, notably its Leaning Tower.

Topping the list of offensive memorabilia: boxer shorts with a strategically placed replica of the Tuscan city's famous tower, which on Monday landed five salesmen a fine of 500 euros ($720) each, municipal spokesman Francesco Paletti told Agence France Presse Wednesday.

A British lawmaker has updated his guide on how his colleagues can stay true to their constituents while staying true to their partners.

Labour lawmaker Paul Flynn said his new version of "How to Be a Backbencher" will include tips on drafting pithy Twitter messages and tongue-in-cheek ways to dampen what the 76-year-old described as parliamentarians' "sexual magnetism."

An art exhibit featuring a Jesus Christ poster with a wooden penis glued to His face has sparked protests in the mainly Catholic Philippines.

Bishops and lay groups have demanded the state-run Cultural Center of the Philippines close the exhibit on grounds it is blasphemous, immoral, illegal and offends the country's Catholic majority.

A 10-year-old German girl who gave herself a radical haircut and then feared her parents' reaction claimed she was kidnapped by a man armed with a pair of scissors, authorities said Wednesday.

Police spokesman Thorsten Schiewe in the northern city of Hanover said the girl ran to a neighbor Tuesday with the story that someone had broken into her house, threatened her with scissors and held her captive for a short time.

A homeless man jumped the White House fence Tuesday triggering a security alert, but was quickly stopped by the U.S. Secret Service and arrested.

Two agents swiftly approached the man with their rifles drawn at him as he lay face down on the North Lawn of the White House.