Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stood meters away from a snow leopard in his latest stunt involving a threatened animal but insisted Monday he was just an "ordinary guy" in touch with Russia's problems.

Putin knelt meters away from the snow leopard, kept in a wire-mesh enclosure, as the mythical animal warily eyed the man who has dominated Russia for the last decade in Siberia, state television pictures showed.

‘Lebanon Animals’ association rescued a hyena put in a small cage at a pet shop in the southern port city of Sidon, the National News Agency reported Sunday.

It said the association seized the animal after getting the consent of the environment and interior ministries.

Tanzanian police said Saturday they arrested a man who tried to sell his wife's head and other body organs including breasts and genitals.

Police said the man confessed during interrogation to killing his wife to sell her body parts because he heard that human organs were in demand in his Shinyanga region in the north of Tanzania.

The first Saturday in Lent feels like any other market day in this tiny village in central Bulgaria, but fruit and vegetable stalls are nowhere to be seen among the milling patrons.

Instead, young eligible bachelors from the Roma community are here to find themselves a wife at a traditional "bride market".

ArabNet, the largest gathering for the Arab web/mobile industry, today announced the finalists and runners-up for the forums’ annual competitions; the Ideathon and the Startup Demo.

The ArabNet Shift Digital Summit brings together Arab web executives, entrepreneurs, developers, investors, NGOs and media, to discuss the latest trends and technologies in the sector. The four-day event, which takes place in Beirut on March 22-25, hosts the two annual competitions for upcoming entrepreneurs.

A French court has banned a company set up by a descendant of King Louis XIV from selling luxury condoms described as from the southwestern town of Condom, the town's lawyer said on Wednesday.

The court in the nearby city of Bordeaux banned "the continued sale of condoms under the brand 'The Original Condom from Condom, France,'" said Caroline Lampre, lawyer for the picturesque town of 7,500.

Unknown assailants tossed overnight a hand grenade at the Beirut building where Tawhid movement leader Wiam Wahab resides, As Safir daily reported Thursday.

The newspaper said the incident caused material damage only.

Australia's food watchdog said Wednesday it may lift its ban on food derived from hemp, with the man pushing for change promising cannabis ice-cream if successful.

Hemp foods are widely available in many overseas markets, including Europe, Canada and the United States, and deregistered Sydney doctor Andrew Katelaris has applied for the rules to be overturned in Australia.

Russia has banned a firm from registering as a trademark a brand of vodka whose name appears to play on the names of its ruling duo, Vedomosti business daily reported Tuesday.

Russia's patent agency refused to allow a company to register as a trademark the name "Volodya and Medvedi," with Volodya a diminutive of Vladimir, and Medvedi, or bears, sounding similar to the surname Medvedev, it reported.

Zayed International Prize for the Environment awarded $1 million to four environmental pioneers, including Najib Saab, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia magazine and Secretary General of Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED). At a ceremony held today in Dubai International Convention Center, Saab was honored for Environmental Action Leading to Positive Change in Society, by the prize patron, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.

Also honored was the laureate for Global Leadership, President of the Republic of Korea Lee Myung-Bak, “who seized the moment of the recent economic and financial crisis to commit his country to a low carbon, more resource efficient green economic path.”