The French government admitted possible security failings on Monday after a notorious gangster used a helicopter to stage the second brazen jailbreak of a crime career inspired by films such as "Scarface".

The latest dramatic escape by Redoine Faid, who had multiple convictions for armed robbery, has left French authorities red-faced, and a manhunt involving some 2,900 officers has been launched to track him down.

A woman who was pulled into crocodile-infested waters in northwestern Australia when a shark bit her finger as she attempted to feed it has described the terrifying moment which nearly cost her a digit.

A notorious career thief who was once France's most-wanted man pulled off a daring jailbreak on Sunday, fleeing a facility in the Paris area by helicopter, prison officials said.

A sleek "Hello Kitty" bullet train festooned with images of the global icon from Japan began services on Saturday, drawing hundreds of fans to its opening ceremony.

After a nude yoga class in a Paris park and a "no clothes day" at the city's trendiest art museum, hundreds of naturists are due to descend on a theme park near the French capital Sunday for a spot of trampolining.

Indian police on Thursday said rats nibbled through more than a million rupees of banknotes after busting into a cash machine in the country's northeast.

The rodent heist in Assam state was only detected by bank officials after locals complained that the ATM was faulty and had stopped dispensing cash, police in Tinkusia district told AFP.

French students may be suffering one of the most stressful weeks of their young lives as they take their high school exams, but at least they won't be distracted by fighter jets.

A young woman drowned and a man is missing after they were caught inside Prague's drain system by torrential rains while participating in a global GPS-based treasure hunt, police said Sunday.

They were among a group of four people "geocaching" -- using their smartphone's GPS to search for little treasures hidden all over the world -- when the rapidly rising water from the storm trapped them in the Czech capital's underground drainage system on Saturday night.

Dressed in an old straw hat and navy suspenders, Abo Tawila pedals around a southern district of Beirut. A rare sight in modern-day Lebanon, the young barber-on-a-bike is looking for his next customer. 

London is introducing a contactless payment scheme for buskers in what organisers said would be a world first, Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Sunday as he unveiled a partnership with tech company iZettle.