Pope Francis no longer has to be chauffeured in popemobiles but can drive around the Vatican himself after a 70-year-old priest gave him his old Renault 4.

The white car is nearly 20 years old and has 170,000 miles (300,000 kilometres) on the clock.

Shares in a Chinese food company became one of the market's hottest stocks on Tuesday after Xi Jinping gave its spicy pickles the presidential stamp of approval.

Xi ate "zhacai", made from the root of the mustard plant, with a bowl of millet porridge on his plane during his current tour of Central Asia, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

A Jordanian MP was arrested after firing a Kalashnikov assault rifle in parliament at a colleague on Tuesday, without causing injuries, judicial and parliamentary sources said.

"The prosecutor general of Amman on Tuesday ordered the detention for 15 days of Talal al-Sharif after he opened fire on MP Qusay al-Damissi in the Chamber of Deputies building," said the judicial source.

Who says superheroes aren't real?

When a West Virginia home caught fire, trapping a kitten inside, it was Batman and Captain America who came to the rescue.

More than 200,000 people from 140 countries have applied to go to Mars and never return, the group behind an ambitious venture to colonize the inhospitable red planet said Monday.

Bas Lansdorp, a Dutch engineer and entrepreneur, plans to establish a permanent base on Mars in a mission he hopes will take off in 2022 if he can find the necessary $6 billion.

Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams each took home a record $3.6 million in prize money for winning U.S. Open titles, but both champions lamented that much of their prize was going to be taken in taxes.

Spanish second seed Nadal defeated Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to capture the men's crown on Monday, a day after Williams outlasted second-ranked Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 6-1.

A Japanese prison housing a range of convicted criminals has unveiled a cuddly life-size mascot that bosses hope will help change the jail's forbidding image.

Officials say Asahikawa Prison in Japan's far north is too often thought of only as a dark place with imposing grey walls and not as a place of rehabilitation.

Authorities say an immigrant suspected of entering the country illegally attempted to make his journey in a shipment of red chile.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at a New Mexico border checkpoint said the man was discovered last Thursday face down among a commercial load of the spicy stuff.

China's first authentic version of the giant Rubber Duck that has made a splash around the world and inspired fakes across the country made its debut on Friday -- but some complained that visitors had to pay to see it.

The inflatable yellow bird -- which has made appearances from Australia to South America since 2007 -- attracted huge attention in China after it arrived in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour to rave reviews, bobbing up and down in front of the city's distinctive urban skyline.

A delicacy for medieval monarchs, a plate for the poorest and a treat for Tito, animal testicles, with a pinch of humour, are back on the menu, at least at one Serbian food festival.

A visitor needs no road signs to reach the tiny central village of Lunjevica, population 500. They can follow the smoke and smells from the barbecues and kettles at the 10th unofficial testicle-cooking "world championship".