A 93-year-old debut novelist has used the proceeds from her book to move her friends out of nursing homes and into her new country house, she said in British newspaper reports on Monday.

An Indonesian businessman sparked a scramble for cash when he dropped 100 million rupiah (10,700 dollars) in banknotes from an aircraft on Sunday to promote a book he has written.

Five centuries after they were written, the works of England's most famous playwright William Shakespeare have been brought up to date - making them understandable for the youth of today.

"I Was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen" is just one of the nominees to make this year's shortlist for the annual oddest book title competition run by British industry magazine The Bookseller.

New York's Roman Catholic Church is trying a novel approach to alert children to the danger of being sexually assaulted by a priest, with an abuse-themed coloring book, officials said Tuesday.

If romantic fiction is any guide, any doctor looking for love would be advised to be an emergency room surgeon or deliver babies rather than practise colon resection or remove in-grown toenails.

Regular swearing at work can help boost team spirit among staff, allowing them to express better their feelings as well as develop social relationships, according to a study by British researchers.

A Pentagon panel decided this week that the sale of popular skin magazines Playboy and Penthouse can continue on US military bases, ruling that their contents are not "sexually explicit."

Police in South Africa were trying to bring a gang of thieves to book on Friday after they stole two mobile libraries in the eastern city of Durban.

If you want to know where the fattest Europeans live, where to get the cheapest petrol or in which country more women smoke than men, then help is at hand.