A British girl playing Mary in a re-enactment of the Christmas story will have to wear a helmet when she parades through her town on a donkey, the organizer said on Monday.

Libby Doorman, eight, will have a riding hat tucked under her robes when she takes part in the church-organised nativity play through Neath in south Wales, in case she falls off.

What was it like to live in the leafy Shire, the starting point of Bilbo Baggins' trek in "The Hobbit"?

And how did Frodo and Sam feel as, step by step, they made their way across the heat-blasted wastes of Mordor in the climax of "The Lord of the Rings"?

A Chinese factory worker says walking in huge iron shoes weighing more than 200 kilograms each can cure back pain, but faces hefty competition in his bid to build the country's heaviest footwear.

"I've been walking with iron shoes for seven years," said Zhang Fuxing, before strapping two crudely-welded iron blocks to his feet.

John Lennon needed help. At least his statue did.

A bronze likeness of the Beatle, who was assassinated 33 years ago Sunday, was inaugurated in a leafy Havana park 13 years ago. But souvenir-seekers kept stealing the iconic circular spectacles that adorned it.

The Sydney Opera House has come up with a novel new way to raise funds and boost the building's profile by selling "virtual" ownership of the tiles on its tallest sail.

On Monday, 125,000 of the tiles went on sale, with Hollywood star Hugh Jackman among the first to put his money behind the initiative which hopes to raise Aus$15 million (U.S.$13.7 million).

Unable to get to that must-see tourist site but can't bear for your teddy to miss out? Then Japan has just the thing for you -- a travel agency that takes stuffed toys on package tours and even provides the holiday snaps to prove it.

Tokyo-based Unagi (Eel) Travel has a range of offers to suit every cuddly companion's purse.

Travelers left behind a record $531,395.22 in loose change at security checkpoints in U.S. airports in fiscal 2012, the Transportation Security Administration says.

In a report to Congress, seen by the Washington Post, the TSA said more than $10,000 in change was forgotten at each of 13 major airports in such cities as New York, Dallas, Atlanta and San Francisco.

A pastry chef who stunned Singapore marathon organizers by being the first local runner across the finish line admitted he cheated -- and has been doing so for years, a report said Thursday.

Father-of-one Tam Chua Puh, 43, caused consternation when he finished Sunday's race several minutes ahead of Singapore's finest distance athletes in a time of 2hr 46min.

Traditional Japanese washoku cooking methods, Korean kimchi-making, millennia-old Georgian wine-producing techniques and the Mediterranean diet were among 14 new entries added to UNESCO's "intangible heritage" list.

Envoys picked the new listings of traditional cultural activities worthy of preservation at a meeting in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, UNESCO said in a statement late Wednesday.

An Australian surfer received an unusual diagnosis when he went to hospital with cuts to his right hand and a gash on his leg -- shark attack.

The 26-year-old man was surfing late Thursday at Shelly Beach, near Port Macquarie on the country's east coast, when he felt something hit his right hand.