The hunt for the perfect Christmas tree may soon become a lot easier: just pick a nice clone.

That's what German scientists are now working on: They are searching a way to ensure that the sensitive saplings of the popular Nordmann fir species grow into impressive specimens.

An Argentine judge has blocked planned nuptials between a 22-year-old woman and her twin sister's convicted killer Friday after a formal complaint by her mother.

Edith Casas insists that Victor Cingolani did not murder her sister Johana Casas, a fashion model. He is serving a 13-year prison sentence in southern Santa Cruz province for her murder in 2010.

An Argentine woman plans to marry the convicted killer of her twin sister.

Victor Cingolani is serving a 13-year sentence for murdering girlfriend Johana Casas, a fashion model, in August 2010 but insists he is innocent and plans to marry her twin on Friday in his prison in Santa Cruz province.

Britain's House of Lords has taken foie gras off the menu after animal rights activists complained it was being served in its restaurants, a spokesman for the upper house of parliament said Thursday.

Catering chiefs in the Lords, which broke up for Christmas on Wednesday, have decided not to serve the delicacy when peers return in the new year, the Lords spokesman said.

A British Father Christmas has been suspended after allegedly telling children that Santa was not real and mentioning the recent U.S. school massacre, it was reported on Thursday.

The man was working at Notcutts Garden Center in Oxford, south England, when he reportedly told siblings Ryan Kennett, 10, Amy, seven, and Katie, six, that he was not the real Santa.

The United Nations has denied distributing tickets for an ark to save people from the apocalypse, it said on a Chinese social networking site Friday.

"The United Nations sincerely has not issued any boat tickets," said a post on the U.N.'s verified account on Sina Weibo -- a website similar to Twitter -- above pictures of passes onto the ark which sport the organisation's name and logo.

A woman whose pet monkey was found wandering in an Ikea parking lot protested Wednesday with some 15 other people at a Toronto Animal Services office Wednesday in an effort to get him back.

Yasmin Nakhuda alleges the Japanese macaque, named Darwin, was illegally taken from her by animal control officials and moved to a sanctuary in Sunderland, Ontario, where he now lives.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out that the world will end this week, as predicted by Mayans, saying he did not expect the end for another 4.5 billion years.

Giving his first major news conference since his return to the Kremlin, Putin was asked why he picked a date one day before the end of the world, according to a Mayan prophecy that has caused global hysteria.

Moolah from heaven or a devilish scam? That is a question Jerusalem police are asking on Wednesday after signed cheques worth around half a billion dollars were found at the Western Wall.

The 507 cheques were discovered in an envelope at the Jewish holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem and handed in to police by a good Samaritan, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said in a statement.

A video of a golden eagle swooping down in Montreal and briefly snatching a toddler off the ground sparked an online buzz, but turned out on Wednesday to be a hoax that some said harms wildlife.

Coming just a week after a monkey wearing a sheepskin coat was found wandering around a parking lot in Toronto, the video purported to show the massive eagle -- which typically has a six-foot (two-meter) or more wingspan -- circling a public park.