Philippe Labbe, the executive chef at the Shangri-La hotel in Paris, has been named France's chef of the year by the influential Gault Millau restaurant guide.

Labbe, 51, has been in charge of the food at the hotel's L'Abeille restaurant since it opened in 2010, having made his reputation as head chef at the Chevre d'Or, at Eze on the French Riviera.

Myanmar President Thein Sein said Sunday he had overcome his fear of the media after a recent grilling on the BBC's "Hardtalk" show that he admitted was tougher than expected.

"His questions were really difficult. I hadn't heard about Hardtalk," the former general told reporters in the capital Naypyidaw when asked about his interview by the BBC's Stephen Sackur during a landmark U.S. visit last month.

An Australian businessman is hoping to turn a disused morgue which once served unfortunate psychiatric patients into a unique motel -- offering autopsy slabs for weary heads.

The morgue in Tasmania state has been idle for more than a decade, after the Willow Court historic colonial-era mental hospital was closed down.

Polish police said Sunday they had arrested two men involved in stealing vans in Germany, including a vehicle which was carrying 12 bodies bound for a crematorium.

The two men, aged 25 and 27, were arrested on Thursday and Friday and are Polish nationals.

A labor appeals court in South Africa has validated a "medical certificate" written by a traditional healer, the Sunday Times reported.

After being denied unpaid leave by her Pretoria employer in 2007, Johanna Mmoledi had produced a note from a traditional healer stating somewhat cryptically that she had been "diagnosed with a perminisions of ancestors".

A Bosnian scrap metal dealer raised his sights from stealing and illegally selling metal drain covers and made off with an entire iron bridge, local police in the northeast of the country said Friday.

"A few hours after we were informed about this most unusual crime we detained a suspect, a man of 29, at his home," Mile Jurosevic of the police in Brcko in northeast Bosnia said.

Japanese ministers are pooling together money to help purchase a washing machine for Shinya Yamanaka, who was recently awarded the $1.2 million Nobel prize along with a British researcher.

Yamanaka joked that he was fixing a rumbling washing machine when he received a call from Oslo saying that he and Britain's John Gurdon were jointly honored with the prize for their discovery in stem cell research.

Japanese police Saturday arrested a man who allegedly stabbed five people at a railway station in southwest Japan, Kyodo news agency reported.

The five victims -- all men -- were taken to hospital but their injuries did not seem to be life-threatening, the agency said, quoting firefighters.

A New York judge has banned an annual skateboard race which had been due to run the length of Manhattan and draw up to 2,000 riders on Saturday.

The Broadway Bomb, as the event is known, started with a few dozen people in 2002 and last year saw 1,000 participants, riding colorful longboards down Broadway into New York's financial district.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Thursday compared Franco-German relations to the "balanced" relationship he has with his wife, saying that discussion would prevent any misunderstandings.

The premier denied that France and Germany's relationship, which has always been central to a strong European Union, was in trouble amid the eurozone crisis, as leaders of the bloc prepared to meet for a summit in Brussels.