A naked man brought parts of central London to a standstill on Friday after he installed himself on a statue near Prime Minister David Cameron's office for nearly three hours.

He braved the November cold and gawking crowds to straddle the monument to Prince George, a 19th century military chief and one-time Duke of Cambridge, adopting various poses including balancing precariously on the prince's head.

A Sri Lankan court Friday fined a Russian couple around 1.2 million rupees ($9,230) for illegally collecting endangered orchids and other exotic flora, obstructing wildlife officials and attacking a cameraman.

A magistrate at Ratnapura, just outside the highly protected Sinharaja rainforest region, found the couple guilty of holding 345 exotic plants representing 32 species on an endangered list.

Britain's state-run postal service Royal Mail will take legal action against the owners of dogs that attack its staff and will consider suspending deliveries to their homes, it announced Friday.

The Royal Mail said its postmen and women had suffered more than 3,000 attacks in the year to April, while the Communication Workers Union, which represents 134,000 postal workers, said the figure was closer to 5,000.

A postcard mailed nearly 70 years ago has finally arrived at the former upstate New York home of the couple who sent it.

The postcard was sent July 4, 1943, from Rockford, Illinois, to sisters Pauline and Theresa Leisenring in Elmira.

A 72-year-old Chinese man who became an Internet sensation after his granddaughter used him as a cross-dressing model to promote her clothing store was delighted at his new-found fame, she said.

Lu Qing, who lives in southern China's Guangdong province, posted pictures of her grandfather dressed in an array of pink skirts, red tights and fur-lined women's jackets to promote her online fashion outlet Yuekou.

Queen Elizabeth II may be more used to palaces and state carriages but the British monarch nonetheless enjoyed a spin in a motorhome on Thursday, calling it a "real home from home."

The sovereign, 86, and her 91-year-old husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, rode 200 meters in an Approach SE 760 model at the Bailey of Bristol factory in the southwest English city.

The head of the Vatican's pontifical council for culture on Wednesday announced the launch of a new academy for the teaching of Latin with a Tweet written in the ancient language.

"Hodie una cum Ivano Dionigi novam aperiemus academiam pontificiam latinitatis a Benedicto conditam, hora XVII, via Conciliationis V," Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, an avid Tweeter, told his online followers.

President Barack Obama "pardoned" two turkeys Wednesday ahead of the annual Thanksgiving holiday, when Americans dine on millions of the fattened fowl.

"They say that life is all about second chances," Obama told reporters gathered at the White House Rose Garden for the yearly ceremony. "This November I could not agree more."

Mexican tequila makers celebrated on Wednesday Australia's decision to recognize Mexico as the only place in the world that can use the drink's name.

The Tequila Regulatory Council of Mexico said that Australia joined Russia and Thailand in giving Mexico the protected designation of origin for the drink, which is made from the blue agave plant found in Jalisco state.

Adults love it, but the smell is more than most kids can bear.

Tvaruzky, a stinky low-fat Czech curd cheese has won a coveted EU protected geographical indication (PGI), similar to Italy's venerable Parmesan or France's Roquefort cheese.