About 70 Indian students walked barefoot over broken glass in an apparent bid to overcome exam phobia and stage fright, sparking a probe into the unusual character-building exercise.

Children as young as 12 took part in the ceremony on Wednesday intended to boost their mental health at a private coaching centre in the western state of Gujarat.

Dozens of live pigs tumbled out of a truck that overturned on a French motorway Wednesday, but showed little appetite for their sudden freedom.

"Most of the animals stayed near the vehicle," a road safety official, Captain Jean Chevassu, told AFP. 

Russia on Wednesday detained a senior prison service official on suspicion of stealing a 50-kilometer (31 mile) stretch of public road, investigators said.

Alexander Protopopov oversaw the dismantling of a concrete highway and sold off the slabs as prison service chief in the far northern Komi region, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

A Dutch woman lost in a "dense and unforgiving" Australian forest for five days used "bushcraft", including covering herself with mud and stuffing her clothing with river moss, to stay alive, police said Wednesday.

Veronique Biunkens, 41, was staying at a retreat in Victoria state when she went for a walk in the bush last Thursday near Buchan, about 355 kilometers (220 miles) east of the state capital Melbourne, and did not return.

No one would have called Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman a fashion icon when photos of his arrest last week showed the recaptured capo in a smeared, dirty undershirt.

But one Los Angeles retailer is cashing in on an altogether more dapper depiction of the kingpin, in a newly iconic snapshot with Sean Penn.

A frightened burglar in Sweden called police on Tuesday after hiding in the toilets of a pizzeria to escape the wrath of its owner, police said.

An alarm at the restaurant, in the eastern Swedish city of Uppsala, alerted the owner to the ongoing break-in at around 3:15 am (0215 GMT).

It's the dark days of one of the rainiest British winters on record. So some London commuters were surprised to hear their trains had been delayed because of the sun.

Rail operator Southeastern tweeted Tuesday that "we had severe congestion through Lewisham due to dispatching issues as a result of strong sunlight." The company said low winter sun was hitting monitors at an angle that meant the drivers could not see them.

Russian police on Monday said they were probing a cheeky stunt by a group of passengers on the Moscow metro who stripped down to their underwear as part of a worldwide flashmob. 

Police failed to see the funny side after the group rode the Moscow metro on Sunday wearing warm coats with their boxer shorts or briefs and posted images online as part of the so-called "No Pants Subway Ride" event that originated in the United States.

Indian police successfully deployed an unusual technique to retrieve a gold chain that a thief had swallowed while officers were in hot pursuit -- they force-fed him more than 40 bananas.

The man denied snatching the chain from a woman in the street in Mumbai and swallowed it in a desperate bid to conceal his crime last week, but hospital X-rays suggested otherwise.

Adventurer Tracey Curtis-Taylor on Saturday completed her epic flight from Britain to Australia, landing her vintage, open-cockpit 1942 Boeing Stearman in Sydney.

"I need a drink," she joked after finishing the final leg of the three-month journey which saw her contend with some treacherous weather in the air and logistical obstacles on the ground.