British parliamentary authorities monitored nearly 300,000 attempts to access pornography from their computers in the last year, official records show.

The figures, released by the IT department for the Houses of Parliament, cover computers used by more than 1,300 lawmakers, their staff and other parliamentary employees.

China has banned officials from buying mooncakes with public funds during an upcoming holiday, as the Communist leadership promotes its crackdown on corruption.

The pastry, a traditional food during the Mid-Autumn Festival which this year falls on September 19, has a sweet, heavy filling often made from lotus seed paste or red beans.

A man was driving along a Honolulu freeway over the weekend when a surfboard crashed through the windshield just inches from his face, leaving him with only scratches on his face and arms.

Jerrin Ching was driving on the H-1 freeway Sunday morning when the red surfboard came out of nowhere and pierced through the glass, he told KHON- TV (http://ow.ly/owxKh ).

Indonesia's education ministry Thursday strongly criticised officials in a small town in Aceh province for asking children to assess the size of their private parts in a graphic school survey.

The health questionnaire, distributed to 11- and 12-year-olds Tuesday at a school in the town of Sabang, contained pictures of genitalia and also asked whether students had experienced erotic dreams.

Students at one U.S. university marked the start of the school year with a world record fruit salad weighing more than 15,000 pounds (6,800 kilograms).

A Guinness World Records representative certified the record.

German police, prosecutors and forensics experts are facing a mystery after a 10-year-old boy found a human mummy in a sarcophagus in a corner of his grandparents' attic.

A CT scan has revealed a well-preserved human skull, with an arrow sticking out of the left eye socket, and large parts of a skeleton with the arms crossed over the chest, the local newspaper Kreiszeitung has reported.

A British property developer said Tuesday it was investigating after sun rays reflected from its half-finished London skyscraper melted parts of several cars, including a luxury Jaguar.

Londoners have been shielding their eyes from the blinding glare bouncing off 20 Fenchurch Street -- nicknamed the "Walkie Talkie" because of its flared shape -- while several drivers have complained that the beams have melted parts of their vehicles.

Senator John McCain, a longtime advocate for forceful military intervention in Syria, was caught playing poker on his smartphone Tuesday as top administration officials testified at one of the most pivotal congressional hearings of the year.

McCain is hardly the only U.S. lawmaker ever to seek a diversion from what can be hours of legislative debate on Capitol Hill.

From WikiLeaks' Julian Assange to a larger-than-life billionaire who is rebuilding the Titanic, the Australian election boasts a cast of unlikely candidates who are shaking up the political scene.

When Australians go to the polls on Saturday, a mandatory exercise for all adults, they will have 1,717 candidates from more than 50 parties to choose from.

Former Formula One driver Max Papis claims he was left with a broken jaw after being slapped by the girlfriend of a rival driver following a NASCAR race in Canada.

The 43-year-old Italian was confronted in the paddock by the woman, identified by some media as Kelly Heaphy, the partner of fellow driver Mike Skeen, after the two men had clashed on the final lap of the race at Bowmanville, Ontario.