A dog recently adopted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bit a lawmaker and a minister's husband during an event to mark the Hanukkah religious holiday, Israeli media reported Thursday.

Kaiya, adopted by Netanyahu in July, bit lawmaker Sharren Haskel from the prime minister's Likud party as well as the husband of deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely during a candle-lighting ceremony on Wednesday night.

Residents in Moscow already enjoy free wireless Internet in cafes and on the metro system but now authorities in the city have also decided to bring wifi to a more unusual setting -- some of its most storied cemeteries.

The free services are set to start working next year for visitors of the Vagankovo, Troyekurovo and Novodevichy cemeteries, where the likes of author Anton Chekov, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and the first Russian president Boris Yeltsin are buried. 

Some prefer to spend their leisure time immersed in music or on the sports field, but for a small group of tombstone tourists, Britain's graveyards are their playground.

The "Cemetery Club" shares its appreciation of "these often overlooked and misunderstood places" every Monday on a blog, which is followed by a band of "taphophiles" -- the name given to cemetery enthusiasts.

Lavish meals loaded with booze have long been a mainstay of Chinese politics and business for centuries, but for many they are more a source of anxiety than joy. 

For some, salvation has come in the form of a middle aged former wedding planner.

A Hungarian Santa received a nasty surprise after tax inspectors posing as parents booked him for failing to invoice his seasonal gift-giving services.

The Santa, who told his sad story to the TV2 channel Sunday, said he was invited to a Budapest apartment by parents who, as per local tradition, told him beforehand how the children behaved during the year. 

Italians call it a brindisi, the celebratory clinking of glasses to mark a special occasion.

And if the occasion is really special, there is a good chance it will involve fizz from Ferrari, the country's market leader in the production of top-end sparkling wine.

In a rare venture into popular culture, bearded Russian Orthodox priests have posed as models for a glossy 2016 calendar -- cuddling their pet cats.

The calendar put together by an Orthodox news website sees 12 smiling priests in dark robes relaxing with their cats -- sitting side-by-side on the sofa, or having the pet sprawled on their chest or draped round their shoulders.

Sand sculptures of curvaceous, full-bottomed women on Copacabana beach may be one of Rio de Janeiro's wackier tourist attractions, but now they're under fire from a resident's association claiming the risque creations promote prostitution.

Jassim Al-Alawadhi was one of several tourists stopping to take a selfie in front of a larger-than-life sculpture of a woman lying on her front, with her sand backside, clad in a tiny string bikini, sticking prominently in the air.

A Turkish court has asked experts to analyse the "Lord of the Rings" character Gollum to decide whether a doctor should be jailed for comparing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the figure, reports said Wednesday. 

Bilgin Ciftci is facing up to two years in jail for "insulting" the president after sharing images comparing Erdogan to Gollum, a thin, pale, gangrel creature with a personality split between good and evil in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels and the hugely successful films.

Prison officers in western India have come up with a novel way for convicts to secure early release -- master some yoga poses and pass an exam, an official said Wednesday.

Inmates at Yerwada Central Jail in Maharashtra state can cut their sentences by up to three months if they impress wardens in the ancient Indian practice, said the prison chief responsible for the programme.