A French woman's loyal German Shepherd dog saved her from committing suicide by knocking aside a rifle she tried to fire into her heart, local police said.

The 63-year-old woman had walked into her garden in the southern town of Sorgues in the Vaucluse region, fired several test shots of a 22-calibre rifle and then turned the gun on her chest.

Kia's new concept car, the Provo, is designed to provoke comment. But to many across Britain and Ireland, the name sounds like a celebration of terrorism.

British lawmakers appealed Tuesday in the House of Commons for the South Korean car maker to junk the name of its planned mini sports coupe because "Provo" is the street name for the dominant branch of the outlawed Irish Republican Army. The Provisional IRA killed nearly 1,800 people during its failed 1970-1997 campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom.

The body of a driver lay undetected on the front seat of his car beside one of New Zealand's busiest roads for five days before anyone called police, reports said Wednesday.

Auckland man Alvin Singh was reported missing on February 22 and his corpse was found in his car, parked in plain sight near a major intersection, on February 27, police told Fairfax Media.

Police in the U.S. say a dog searching for a gun in a snowbank accidentally pulled the trigger with its paw, firing the weapon.

No humans —or dogs — were hurt.

A wily criminal was snared with a haul of 49 mobile phones stuffed down his trousers, Swiss police said Monday.

The 27-year-old Romanian -- believed to be either the actual thief or a receiver of stolen goods -- was arrested over the weekend in the city of Zurich.

A man dressed as Batman walked into a British police station in the middle of the night and told officers: "I've caught this one for you!" as he handed them a crime suspect.

Police in West Yorkshire, northern England, are baffled after the mystery crime fighter delivered the suspect to a police station in the city of Bradford in the early hours of Thursday.

The United States on Monday called for drunk diplomats to be barred from United Nations' budget negotiations.

Annual talks on how much the global body spends have become increasingly tense as western nations call for spending cuts.

The world's oldest woman celebrated her 115th birthday on Tuesday in a Japanese nursing home with her favourite mackerel sushi dish on the menu.

Misao Okawa, a descendant of kimono merchants in the city of Osaka, western Japan, told a broadcaster she had never expected to live to such a great age but had managed it "thanks to everybody".

An Italian man dressed up in fake ecclesiastical robes was escorted out of a meeting of Catholic cardinals by Swiss Guards on Monday after trying to sneak into the closed-door Vatican meeting.

The man had told reporters that his name was "Basilius" and that he was a member of the "Italian Orthodox Church", which does not exist.

The guests lean over the side of the boat to catch the morning breeze as their catamaran eases off from a jetty in Singapore. A typical cruise, except for the fact that the passengers are dogs.

"Actually, this is their third cruise," said Andy Pe, 43, the doting owner of two Black Labrador Retrievers, a Yellow Labrador, a Golden Retriever and two mongrels. "They enjoy the sea breeze and water so much."