Police detained four male tourists, two Australians and two Canadians, for several hours on Wednesday after filming and taking nude photos at Peru's famed Machu Picchu, local authorities said.

The culture ministry has put up signs at the world-famous Inca site warning that people taking their clothes off there was a "crime against culture" and would lead to immediate expulsion from the area.

A Taiwanese man has been arrested on suspicion of sending threatening letters containing live mealworms and ceremonial money -- traditionally used in rituals for the dead -- to local celebrities, police said Wednesday.

The case was first reported last month when a record company received a letter addressed to pop singer Jam Hsiao which contained a bag of crawling worms and similar letters were also mailed to a well-known lawyer, an entertainment industry agent and a chain restaurant.

An Indian guru declared dead has been in a deep freezer in his ashram for nearly six weeks with followers confident he will return to life to lead them, his spokesman said.

Devotees placed Ashutosh Maharaj, whom authorities declared clinically dead on January 29, in the freezer and have been watching over his body in the sprawling ashram in a small town in northern Punjab state.

A new sandal from designer Paul Smith based on a traditional Pakistani style has amused shopkeepers in its "hometown" Peshawar -- both for its $500 price tag and what they say is its outdated look.

Pakistan's chattering classes took to social media on Monday to berate the fashion house for "stealing" the design of Peshawari chappals for its "Robert" sandal, priced at 300 pounds ($500).

A conservation group has teamed up with the Canadian tax man to offer deductions for land donations to help lovelorn moose.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada is looking for land along the border between the country's easternmost Nova Scotia and New Brunswick provinces to create a corridor wildlife can wander through.

A 22-pound (10-kilo) Himalayan cat attacked a baby boy and then took a U.S. family hostage in their apartment, forcing them to call 911 to get police help.

The ferocious feline first went for the seven-month-old baby, prompting owner Lee Palmer to kick the animal up the backside, but that served only to antagonize it further.

As part of trade talks, the European Union wants to ban the use of European names like Parmesan, feta and Gorgonzola on cheese made in the United States.

The argument is that the American-made cheeses are shadows of the original European varieties and cut into sales and identity of the European cheeses. The Europeans say Parmesan should only come from Parma, Italy, not those familiar green cylinders that American companies sell. Feta should only be from Greece, even though feta isn't a place. The EU argues it "is so closely connected to Greece as to be identified as an inherently Greek product."

Sri Lanka's new executioner panicked after seeing the country's main gallows for the first time and has since gone AWOL leaving the authorities hanging, the top prison official said Tuesday.

Commissioner-General of Prisons Chandrarathna Pallegama said their new employee reported for duty earlier this month, but freaked out after seeing the execution site on Thursday.

On a chilly morning last weekend, a 57-year-old Japanese man adjusted his diving mask before heading out to sea from the tsunami-hit northeast coast.

Yasuo Takamatsu is learning to scuba dive in hopes of finding the remains of his wife.

A Japanese budget airline has flown into rough air over its decision to outfit flight attendants in revealing mini-skirts, drawing criticism that it could invite sexual harassment.

Skymark Airlines came under fire from the cabin crew's labor union, which said the super-short skirt -- with a distinctively swinging sixties look -- barely covers wearers' thighs.