An elephant trampled its keeper to death at a Japanese zoo on Tuesday as he tried to stop the gigantic animal from attacking its new-born calf, police and reports said.

Inthavong Khamphone, who was from Laos, had watched the elephants overnight with other keepers at Fuji Safari Park after the mother gave birth on Sunday, police said.

Primary schoolchildren in part of southern Vietnam were given a day off on Monday after a number of crocodiles escaped from a farm and were seen roaming around residential areas, reports said.

The reptiles were prowling around densely-populated neighborhoods after breaking free, according to Thanh Nien newspaper, which said the Kim Dong school had closed "to ensure safety for teachers and children".

U.S. dollar store chain 99 Cents Only wants to open a branch on the ultra-chic Beverly Hills shopping street Rodeo Drive -- even if high-end retailers there say it won't be able to afford the rent.

There is little sign of the global economic downturn on the exclusive street, which boasts luxury boutiques ranging from jewelers Bulgari and Cartier to designer clothing stores such as Giorgio Armani and Gucci, and perfumiers like Chanel.

A foreign pilot has been suspended from flying after landing an Indonesian passenger jet at the wrong airport in a "serious" breach of safety, a transport ministry spokesman said on Monday.

The Sriwijaya Air plane, carrying 96 passengers and six crew, was meant to land at Minangkabau International airport in the city of Padang, but instead descended to the Tabing air force base some 12 kilometers (seven miles) away.

A "peeping Tom" who used a pen-shaped camera to take an upskirt shot of a cabin attendant during a domestic flight in Japan has avoided charges after prosecutors failed to decide which prefecture the plane was flying over at the time, reports said.

The 34-year-old man extended his hand with the micro-camera while seated and took the picture of the flight attendant, the Asahi daily said on its website on Sunday.

A major cocaine seizure in Europe has turned out to be good news for the animals at Rotterdam's zoo.

The drugs were hidden among boxes of bananas, and the fruit was later donated to the monkeys and other creatures at the Blijdorp zoo.

U.S. dollar store chain 99 Cents Only wants to open a branch on the ultra-chic Beverly Hills shopping street Rodeo Drive -- even if high-end retailers there say it won't be able to afford the rent.

There is little sign of the global economic downturn on the exclusive street, which boasts luxury boutiques ranging from jewelers Bulgari and Cartier to designer clothing stores such as Giorgio Armani and Gucci, and perfumiers like Chanel.

As Paul Ryan got pumped up about Thursday's vice presidential debate, observers were distracted by his pumped-up biceps in photographs of the Republican running mate published hours before he was to square off against Joe Biden.

Time magazine posted a series of pictures of the famously fit Ryan, wearing gym clothes and a backward red baseball cap and curling a dumbbell.

A furious client killed a pizza delivery man in Mexico for being 40 minutes late, authorities said Thursday.

The victim's body, eyes blindfolded and hands bound, was found Monday in the town of Tetla, some 140 kilometers (90 miles) east of Mexico City, said the public prosecutor's office in Tlaxcala state.

A Philippine motorist who tried to overtake President Benigno Aquino's convoy was arrested early Thursday, officials said, in the second such incident in traffic-choked Manila in less than three months.

Pharmaceuticals salesman Mark Hanopol, 24, failed an alcohol breath test after his car was pulled over by police for a "reckless" driving maneuver as the presidential convoy passed, Aquino's spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.