A desperate Turkish man living in Germany has turned to the police for protection from his insatiable wife's constant demands for sex, authorities said on Wednesday.

The man came to his local police station in southwestern Germany on Tuesday saying that he had been sleeping on the sofa for the past four years to escape the clutches of his wife of 18 years and mother of their two children.

Before there was Dr. Atkins, there was William Banting. He invented the low-carb diet of 1863. Even then Americans were trying out advice that urged fish, mutton or "any meat except pork" for breakfast, lunch and dinner — hold the potatoes, please.

It turns out our obsession with weight and how to lose it dates back at least 150 years. And while now we say "overweight" instead of "corpulent" — and obesity has become epidemic — a look back at dieting history shows what hasn't changed is the quest for an easy fix.

A hacker took over French President Nicolas Sarkozy's Facebook account and posted a fake announcement that he was abandoning plans to run for re-election, his page said Monday.

"Dear compatriots, given the exceptional circumstances our country is experiencing, I have decided in my spirit and conscience not to run for office again at the end of my mandate in 2012," said the spoof message.

A shriveled 30-year-old piece of confectionery, said to be from Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding cake, has sold for NZ$380 ($290) on a New Zealand Internet auction site.

Christchurch woman Katrina Greenslade auctioned the slice of royal history on auction site Trade Me, claiming it had been in family since 1981.

A set of solid gold false teeth used by British wartime leader Winston Churchill during some of his most famous speeches sold for 16,000 pounds (19,100 Euros, 25,500 dollars) at auction on Wednesday.

Churchill had problems with his teeth and speech from an early age and the dentures were designed to compensate for the then-prime minister's distinctive lisp when speaking in public, London auctioneers Bonham's said.

A New Zealand woman was temporarily partially paralyzed by a "love bite" on her neck from her amorous partner, doctors reported in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

The 44-year-old woman went to the emergency department of Middlemore Hospital in Auckland last year after experiencing loss of movement in her left arm while watching television, the journal reported.

A new hotel has opened in the heart of Madrid proudly declaring that it's complete rubbish.

More of a wooden shack than a five-star establishment, the walls of the Beach Garbage Hotel are strewn with detritus dragged up by the tide, recovered from landfills or snapped up at flea markets.

Have your luck and eat it, too.

That's the philosophy behind traditional Chinese New Year's dishes, which are loaded with symbolic meaning auguring prosperity for the coming year.

Japanese toilets are famed for functions such as posterior shower jets and perfume bursts, but entertainment company Sega has gone a step further by installing urine-controlled games in Tokyo urinals.

Four types of "Toylets" games are available to be played during a test period ending this month at four male bathrooms in pubs and game arcades, in a project aimed at drawing attention to digital adverts.

A centuries-old Russian prison notorious for its primitive conditions will soon offer inmates a new perk — tanning beds.

The ITAR-Tass news agency on Sunday cited federal prisons service Viktor Dezhurov as saying the tanning beds at Moscow's Butyrskaya prison will be ready for observances of its' 240-year anniversary this year.