In a clinic in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, two vets lean over a sleeping puppy and deftly remove its ovaries and uterus.

After a storm sparked by the Euro 2012 co-host's alleged cull of the stray dogs that plague the country's streets, animal rights campaigners have stepped in to try to control the errant canines by sterilizing them.

The tax returns of an elite Italian dentist were less than pearly white and he may have pulled in eight million euros of undeclared income in five years, police said Friday.

Italian police Colonel Gavino Putzu said the unnamed dentist worked in an upscale part of Rome crammed with plastic surgeons and high-end doctors who typically earn at least three million euros ($3.75 million) a year.

Britain's famed parliament clock tower Big Ben is set to be renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honor of the queen's diamond jubilee, a report said Friday.

Prime Minister David Cameron is among 331 lawmakers who have signed up to a campaign to bestow the tribute to Queen Elizabeth to mark her 60th year on the throne, the Daily Mail reported.

Repeatedly voted the world's best city to live in, Vienna is now trying to tackle the attitude of its residents amid growing grumbling over cyclists, pedestrians and other traffic problems.

With a new campaign launched Thursday and entitled "Tschuldigen ist nie verkehrt" ("Sorry is never amiss"), city authorities are hoping to encourage people to defuse situations and avoid clashes on the street before they escalate.

The world's richest people got even wealthier last year despite the global economic crisis, thanks to the growth of emerging economies in Asia and Eastern Europe, according to a new report Thursday.

And the elite "ultra-high-net-worth" (UNHW) club is set to get richer still over next five years, the report predicted.

Mystery underwear found during a parliamentary session earlier this month is causing a lot of red faces in the Brazilian Congress, a report said Thursday.

The red and white panties, described by O Globo daily as "rather large" and "not a G-string," were inadvertently dropped by one of five deputies who arrived late for a vote on cyber crimes on May 15.

A 14-year-old daughter of Indian immigrants clinched the 85th Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday by correctly spelling an obscure French word for ambush, snare or trap.

"G-U-E-T-A-P-E-N-S," said Snighda Nandipati, an eighth-grade student from San Diego, California, to become the fifth American youngster of south Asian origin to win the venerable competition in as many consecutive years.

Beyond the cliches of Bratwurst, beer festivals and discount supermarkets, Germany has built up a world class haute cuisine, even if many Germans still prefer to spend cash on their car rather than eating out.

Second only to France at the European level since 2007 in terms of distinctions in the prestigious Michelin guide, Germany boasted nine restaurants with three stars in this year's guide.

Businessmen may blame global troubles or inept governance, but a Hindu guru has an alternative theory for the historic weakness of India's rupee: the newly adopted symbol for the currency is inauspicious.

Rajkumar Jhanjhari, an expert in the ancient Hindu doctrine of vastu shastra, has called for a new design, arguing that a line on the symbol has "slit the throat" of the rupee and sparked the country's financial gloom.

Red-faced Crown Prince Willem-Alexander confessed to being ashamed of having taken part in a traditional Dutch potty-throwing contest, but organizers have pooh-poohed his objections.

The heir to the Dutch throne was in the small eastern village of Rhenen on Queen's Day, April 30, where he entered -- and won -- a traditional village game of toilet-bowl tossing.