An Indian woman has been rewarded for her "bold" decision to leave her marital home within days of the wedding to protest the lack of a toilet in the household, an official said on Thursday.

Anita Narre was handed $10,000 by Sulabh International, a non-profit group, for refusing to defecate in the open and sparking a "toilet revolution" in her village in central Madhya Pradesh, according to the district magistrate.

A daredevil will become the first in more than a century to attempt to cross the gorge at Niagara Falls on a tightrope, after the Niagara Parks Commission on Wednesday authorized the stunt.

The Canadian commission reversed its decision in December to deny Nik Wallenda's request to perform the stunt after hearing from the high-wire artist that it could generate significant economic returns for the region.

A teenage Indonesian maid is facing a long jail term after pleading guilty to hitting and strangling an 87-year-old Singaporean widow who called her stupid, a report said Thursday.

Now 19, Vitria Depsi Wahyuno had lied about her age in 2009, saying she was 23 to meet the minimum age requirement, and landed a job in Singapore working for Sng Gek Wah, the Straits Times said.

With its roads cut off by heavy snowfall for days, a village in central Romania received welcome deliveries of food and medical supplies on Wednesday -- from a paraglider.

Marian Ciobanu, a 40-year-old man from Bucharest, decided to fly above the village of Valea Salciei in order to airdrop the supplies, according to an Agence France Presse photographer.

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday fined The Netherlands for allowing unknown identity thieves to register 1,737 cars in a single man's name, setting him up for a slew of legal woes.

Anytime one of the cars was involved in an accident or traffic violation, the victim, Steven Benito Romet, faced fines and summonses, eventually landing in debtors' prison for lack of funds.

A French champagne producer literally hit gold when workers doing up an old building on his property brought down a shower of U.S. coins hidden in the rafters.

Francois Lange, the head of the Alexandre Bonnet champagne-producing firm, in this eastern French village on Tuesday described the treasure trove as one consisting of 497 gold coins -- with a face value of 20 dollars each -- minted between 1851 and 1928 and worth today about 750,000 euros (980,000 dollars).

Cut off by a relentless barrage of government shelling, activists in the besieged Syrian city of Homs have reverted to the age-old practice of using carrier pigeons to communicate with each other.

"From the activists in Old Homs (district) to those in Baba Amr, please tell us what you need in terms of supplies, medicine and food," reads one message attached to a pigeon's leg.

Police aren't filing charges against a father who briefly played a pornographic video instead of "The Smurfs" at his child's birthday party.

Tremonton Police Chief Dave Nance tells the Standard-Examiner of Ogden the man had rented a copy of "The Smurfs" from a kiosk and loaded the disc into his laptop. But when he turned the projector on for the children, pornographic images flashed on the screen.

It has been around for over 3,000 years, but Mexico's famous, usually hairless, "Xolo" dog is making a big splash as a "new breed" at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show here this week.

Tiny Chabella, descended from a breed the Aztecs considered sacred, is representing the Xoloitzcuintli (which means "hairless dog" or more broadly "dog of the god Xolotl") for the first time at the show.

King Momo, the Rio Carnival's symbol of overweight excess, has employed a personal trainer and a nutritionist as he goes to drastic lengths to whip himself into shape for the festivities.

Milton Junior, who weighs in at 160 kilograms (352 pounds) and stands 1.84 meters (six feet three inches) tall, knows what he is in for as this will be his fourth year playing the Brazilian city's carnival king.