New Yorker Sarah Theeboom was inspired to give up using products on her hair after she ran into an old friend whose once dry, frizzy locks were smooth and shiny. When Sarah asked for her secret, her friend explained that she had simply stopped shampooing, opting to partake in the apparently-popular 'no poo' movement, which Sarah had never heard of until that moment.

Blanca Cousins (right) fell to her death in an apparent suicide early on Tuesday morning after locking herself in a bathroom of the apartment in Hong Kong's exclusive 3 Repulse Bay Road. Nick Cousins, a 57-year-old Briton and the girl's Filipino mother Grace were arrested on suspicion of ill-treating the girl along with her 14-year-old sister, neither of whom had had their births registered or attended school. The mother was also being questioned over allegedly over-staying her visa and the father over suspicions he helped her to overstay in Hong Kong. Mr Cousins (main picture), is the managing director of insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson's Hong Kong office.

Melanie Serita Buck, 33 (left) from Bromley, 'deliberately rammed' into Michael Buckley (right) as they both stocked up on festive food at the Marks and Spencer store (inset) in The Glades shopping centre, Bromley, south east London. The 60-year-old crashed to the floor and sustained a broken wrist and thighbone. He never recovered and died in intensive care three months later from complications relating to his injuries. Mr Buckley, from Forest Hill, south east London, was 'frail' at the time, weighing only eight stone, a jury heard. Prosecutor David Howker said Buck may have rammed the shopper 'out of frustration' when the store was gridlocked on December 22, 2012. She has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter as well as an alternative charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm. The case continues.

Nicola Sturgeon said last night that she is 'offering to make Ed Miliband prime minister'. Speaking in a debate between the leaders of Scotland's four main parties, she said she wanted a large number of SNP MPs in Westminster to keep Labour 'honest'. Ms Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, said: 'I don't want to see further spending reductions, I don't think the country can afford them.'

David Cameron once described his battle with his weight as a 'great patriotic struggle'. But his attempt to curb the carbs has been ditched as the Tory leader eats and drinks his way around Britain in a whistlestop tour of local delicacies. After chomping his way through haggis, fried bread and eggs for breakfast in Edinburgh, he jetted to Northern Ireland before landing in Wales where he tried his hand at making - and eating - pies and Scotch eggs. To wash it down the Camerons were offered a glass of stout, which Mrs Cameron noted she normally only drinks when pregnant. The Tory leader was quick to play down expectations, insisting: 'That is not an announcement!'

A Japanese university has opened a museum acknowledging that its staff dissected downed American airmen while they were still alive during World War Two - an unprecedented step in a society where war crimes are still taboo and rarely acknowledged. A gruesome display at the newly-opened museum at Kyushu University explains how eight US POWs from Captain Marvin Watkins' B-29 (pictured) were taken to the center's medical school in Fukuoka after their plane was shot down over the skies of Japan in May 1945. There, they were subjected to horrific medical experiments - as doctors dissected one soldier's brain to see if epilepsy could be controlled by surgery, and removed parts of the livers of other prisoners as part of tests to see if they would survive.

In the messages which Lily Sharp (left) posted on Twitter (right) sparking 18,000 retweets, she pretended to be a kidnapper asking for ransom, but confessed to the prank when her mother started to panic. She began by texting her mother a seemingly innocent message: 'You didn't tell me the decorator man was coming mate!' Before adding in a quick reference from the famous Liam Neeson kidnapping film Taken. She continued: 'I thought I was guna get taken man. Thought he was tryna trick me into getting into the house' (sic) before adding, 'Not happy young lady.' Her suspicious mother replies immediately with: 'Whaaaat? What decorator?!?!! Call me. There is no decorator.' Lily, who is British, then plays on her mother's fears by pretending that the intruder now has possession of the phone simply replying: 'She knows that now.'

An Israeli geologist has conducted a battery of chemical tests to link the James Ossuary (pictured second from left) with the long disputed 'Jesus Family tomb' in Jerusalem's East Talpiot neighbourhood (marked on map, bottom right). Human remains were discovered in ossuaries, including one that bore the inscription 'Jesus, son of Joseph'. Others found at the site were inscribed with the names Maria, Joseph, Mary, Yose, Matthew and most controversially, 'Judah, son of Jesus' (ossuary with an inscription of 'Yoseph' pictured top right). The research could have enormous ramifications as it suggests that Jesus was married, fathered a child and that a physical resurrection (as portrayed in the painting, left) did not occur.

Melvin the giraffe had gotten his head stuck in a fence when he was attacked by an eland antelope walking in the same enclosure at Kristiansand zoo, around 200 miles south of Oslo. Zoo vets rushed to the scene, but were unable to save the five-year-old giraffe, who died in front of around 30 people, many of them children. Melvin was a firm favourite among young visitors, having been named in a readers' competition in a national newspaper when he was born at the zoo in 2010.

This is the surreal moment a dog takes the reins and literally drags his owner out for a walk. Dashcam footage, shared by dailymotion.com user Vidsking, shows a giant St. Bernard running across a road somewhere in the Czech Republic with a child trailing behind. It appears to be a rather uncomfortable excursion, with the young boy being pulled along the ground on his belly with his legs stretched out behind. As the canine scampers along, his passenger holds tightly to a leash.

Visual Health Studios in Colorado has developed a weight loss app. Called Visualize You it calculates what you would look like if you lost specified weight. You can either upload a photo in the app or take a new one. Inputting your height, weight and target weight reveals you new look. The app is available for both iOS and Android. Shown is James Corden 'before' (left) after 'losing' (right) digitally losing 60lbs (27kg) in the app.

Taken in ISIS' northern stronghold of Mosul, the photographs show four men being interviewed by the terrorists (top right) before they are dragged before bloodthirsty crowds eager to see their executions (bottom right). The savage punishment (main image) is significantly more extreme than ISIS' usual punishment for theft - which typically sees the accused having their right hand hacked-off by machete-wielding jihadis who pump the men full of drugs to numb the limb before severing it from the victim's body.

Scotland Yard's flying squad were alerted to the raid after staff from Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Ltd (pictured above, main) returned to work after the Easter bank holiday weekend. Police said raiders used heavy cutting equipment to access an underground vault and empty 300 safety deposit boxes. Forensic scenes of crime officers (pictured above, top right) were today combing the scene of the sophisticated heist for clues as detectives from Scotland Yard's Flying Squad launched a manhunt.

James Ramirez, 37, said he has concerns over the care of his wife Gillian Nelson (above), 34, who died after complications arose with the birth of their son Wesley (inset) at a hospital in Bromley, Kent. He was called to the Princess Royal University Hospital at about 3.45am on January 28, 2014 after she had gone in to labour. She had given birth by the time he arrived at 4.25am. He stayed in the room with his wife until she was taken to theatre at about 6.30am. Mr Ramirez could recall there was 'a blur' of staff - but although he felt their manner was professional, there were 'no alarms going off'.

At a quick glance, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe appeared to be sporting a new hairstyle and even a pair of earrings when he arrived into South Africa for a state visit today. However, upon closer inspection, it was apparent that the photograph emerged after a bit of camera trickery, and the longer hairdo and dangly earrings did in fact belong to a woman stood directly behind him. It is not the first time an amusing image of the 91-year-old dictator has emerged, with one of him falling down podium steps becoming an internet sensation earlier this year.

Revolutionary new technology is allowing IVF parents in Britain to view the moment their child is conceived. The tiny camera, placed inside an incubator, films the reproduction process allowing parents using IVF treatment to watch back the moment that the embryos form within a Petri dish. Sally and Stephen Morley are one of some 150 couples in Britain who have had babies using EmbryoScope technology and were amazed to see their daughter Pixie (pictured together) be conceived (inset) using the incredible technology.

The savage swan nicknamed Asbaby, which still has many brown baby feathers, has been pecking punters on The Backs area of the Cambridge river. Mr Asbo (top right), the swan believed to be his grandfather, was moved to a location 60 miles away in 2012 by river authorities after repeatedly attacking rowers. Asbaby (pictured in all the other images above) was seen at the weekend attacking tourists, eating sandwiches, drinking from water bottles and even trying to steal a woman's handbag (top left).

Frankie Ruttledge (pictured left at her mother's wedding), from Strensall, Yorkshire, weighed 18 stone 7lbs and had struggled with her weight all her life before dieting to a svelte size 10/12. The 24-year-old, who has been a 'fat bridesmaid' three times, ditched her diet of crisps for breakfast, pork pies for lunch and frozen pizza for dinner and dropped to 12 stone in less than two years. And now the Slimming World consultant is just one year away from walking down the aisle for a fourth time - to marry the love of her life Luke Haynes, 24 (right).

Tiger Woods, 39, enjoyed some quality family time on the golf course at Augusta on Tuesday. The 14-time major winner was joined by his children Sam, 8, and Charlie, 6, as well as longterm girlfriend Lindsey Vonn, 30. The former world No 1 needs all the support he can get after dropping outside the world's top 100 rankings for the first time since September 1996. Woods is making his latest atttempt at a comeback at The Masters after his dramatic fall from grace following the 2009 scandal over his countless infidelities.

The ring is an illusion created by the chance alignment of two distant galaxies. It is a manifestation of gravitational lensing predicted by Albert Einstein in his theory of general relativity which predicts that the gravitational effects of the nearer galaxy will bend the light of the more distant one. The Alma telescope in Chile was able to capture the effect in the highest resolution images ever taken by the observatory. The diffuse blue element at the center of the ring on the top right image is from the intervening lensing galaxy.

Images of landmarks along the River Thames, such as Marlow Lock (top left), taken more than 150 years ago by photographer Victor A Prout, have been found. The collection is believed to be part of the oldest surviving documented record of pictures taken along the stretch of the River Thames and shows how today's landmarks of Marlow Lock (top right) and Marlow from the banks of the river (bottom right) are remarkably similar to the pictures taken more than 100 years ago (bottom left).

Margaret Tyler, 71, has been collecting royal memorabilia for more than 40 years and has amassed a collection worth around £10,000. It occupies four rooms, all of which are stuffed with items, and one of which is devoted exclusively to Princess Diana. Among the more expensive items in her collection is a limited edition Wedgwood bust of Prince Charles and a £450 Issa dress identical to the one worn by the Duchess of Cambridge to announce her engagement in 2010.

This action shot was taken at Estavayer-le-Lac in Switzerland where the latest water sports craze of Jet Surfing has taken off. The contraption can be seen leaping up above the surface, almost resembling scenes from the film Back to the Future where Michael J Fox's character Marty McFly climbs on to a futuristic hoverboard.

Breaking records for the largest suite in Los Angeles, the Westwood-designed penthouse at The London West Hollywood hotel is set to open next month, and it will cost a eye-watering $25,000 (almost £17,000) a night. The suite overlooking LA can hold 300 people for a private function and is part of the hotel's $25 million (approximately £17 million) renovation project. One of its best features is a 5,000 square foot private outdoor roof terrace, boasting breathtaking panoramic city views.