"Shirtfront", an aggressive Australian sports term used by Prime Minister Tony Abbott to challenge Russia's Vladimir Putin, was Wednesday picked as the National Dictionary Center's word of the year, beating "man-bun".

Abbott in October vowed to "shirtfront" -- an Australian Rules football term in which a player charges an opponent -- the Russian president over the crash of Malaysia Airlines MH17 in rebel-held eastern Ukraine.

U.S. President Barack Obama took on the role of talk show host late Monday, poking fun at himself during an appearance on Stephen Colbert's satirical show.

"The guy is so arrogant, I bet he talks about himself in the third person," a grinning Obama said as he slipped into Colbert's role.

A British lawmaker snapped playing the Candy Crush Saga children's game on his tablet during a pensions debate apologized Monday, saying his conduct was unbecoming for a member of parliament.

In a picture published by The Sun newspaper, Nigel Mills was seen engaging in the popular pastime by swiping his tablet to make lines of sweets explode.

The Salvation Army found an unusual surprise inside one of its red donation kettles: a diamond engagement ring given by a widow in honor of her late husband.

The charity said Monday the anonymous benefactor placed the diamond ring — valued at $1,850 — and her wedding band in one of the kettles placed outside Boston's North Station last week.

Federal authorities say a Detroit-area postal employee accused of stealing as many as 2,000 pieces of mail said she did so out of boredom.

Sharon Berrien is accused of pocketing any cash from the mail and dumping the leftovers along Interstate 94. Most of the items were greeting cards.

The statue of late Brazilian musician and composer Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim is unveiled in Rio de Janeiro on December 8, 2014

A statue honoring Brazilian singer-composer Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim was unveiled Monday at the Rio beach where the bossa nova legend immortalized with his song "The Girl from Ipanema."

Dutch actress and adventurer Manon "Tractor Girl" Ossevoort arrived at the South Pole Tuesday after driving a tractor from Europe through Africa and across the frozen wastes of Antarctica.

"It's quite emotional, I'm very happy," Ossevoort told AFP by satellite telephone shortly after arriving at the Pole and fulfilling a decade-long dream.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Bavarian allies have issued a call for immigrants to speak German at home, touching off a hailstorm of protest and ridicule on social media Sunday.

Amid a national debate on integration, the Christian Social Union, one of three parties in Merkel's ruling coalition, drafted a motion saying that foreigners seeking permanent residency "should be encouraged to speak German in public and in private with their families".

The daughter of the CEO of Korean Air forced the chief purser off a New York-bound plane after she was incorrectly served some nuts -- delaying the flight and triggering a government probe, officials said Monday.

Cho Hyun-Ah, who is an executive vice president of the family-run flag carrier, insisted the chief flight attendant leave the plane just minutes before take-off on Friday, Korean Air said.

When naturalist Paul Rosolie wanted to focus attention on the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, he decided he needed a stunt guaranteed to get people looking.

So the staunch environmentalist offered himself as dinner to an anaconda -- and was prepared to be swallowed alive, filming every moment.