Street dancers Diversity were the surprise winners of TV contest "Britain's Got Talent" last Saturday, beating favourite Susan Boyle who became an internet phenomenon and global celebrity after appearing on the show.

The troupe, which includes three sets of brothers and comes from southeast England, won £100,000 and the right to take the stage at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen.

Of the 10 finalists, Diversity were the bookmakers' sixth favourite to win, but their acrobatic performance choreographed by 20-year-old Ashley Banjo was described by judge Simon Cowell as "utter perfection".

"If I had to give marks on that, that is the only performance tonight I would want to give a 10 to," Mr Cowell said after their performance.

Ms Boyle was runner-up, but so overwhelming were the betting odds in her favour that the result was seen as a major surprise.

The 48-year-old unemployed church volunteer from Scotland, who once joked she had never been kissed, was the antithesis of what many considered a celebrity to be. Yet her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables in April was downloaded on the Internet more than 150 million times and made her a household name.

Vietnam honours embalmers

Vietnam has awarded medals to Russian embalmers and scientists who have helped preserve the body of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh since he died 40 years ago.

In all, the Vietnamese embassy in Russia presented 34 medals and badges of appreciation to medical and technical experts in Moscow at a ceremony last week. Ambassador Bui Dinh Dinh "gave a high appraisal of the role and work of experts from the Soviet Union before and the Russian Federation later who helped Vietnam reach a level and means of modern technology to perform the sacred duty of carefully preserving His body".

Ho died of a heart attack on September 2, 1969, aged 79. His body has been on display in a pillared, grey mausoleum in Hanoi since 1975 - despite his wish, expressed in his will, to be cremated.

Russia has had the body of Communist revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin on display in Moscow since the 1920s.

Russian warship fires on village

The Russian navy has said that one of its anti-submarine ships had fired artillery at a village by mistake, state RIA news agency reported. The navy said no-one had been injured when a small anti-submarine ship last Thursday opened fire on a village in the Vyborg region of St Petersburg.

"On the 28 May, a small anti-submarine ship from the Baltic fleet was working on a host of exercises in the gulf of Finland including artillery fire at aerial targets," RIA quoted a navy spokesman as saying. "No-one was injured."

Russia's navy has been plagued by a series of mishaps since the collapse of the Soviet Union, including the Kursk submarine disaster in 2000 in which 118 sailors died.

Stripper banned from mountain

A man who stripped on northeast Asia's highest peak has been banned from the mountain and sent to prosecutors for ruining the scenery, national park officials said last weekend.

The 30-year-old man surnamed Lu will be kept off Jade Mountain in Taiwan for one to three years after a friend took photos of him naked on the 3,952-metre peak last Tuesday and posted them online, officials said. Prosecutors may indict him, as well.

"I think he was just goofing around," said acting park police chief Chou Yen-hui. "He said it was just for fun. But Taiwanese are conservative, and Jade Mountain is our sacred peak."

Jagged and often snowy Jade Mountain, the centrepiece of Taiwan's largest national park, is a Taiwan symbol often used for official promotions and company advertisements. Climbers must apply for permits a month in advance to attempt the summit.

Pope finds it difficult to understand

Pope Benedict said last Saturday he still had difficulty understanding why God had chosen him to lead the Catholic Church worldwide, recalling his isolated upbringing in a rural community of southern Germany.

The 82-year-old pontiff said that as a boy he never dreamed of becoming Pope.

"I must say that even today I have difficulty in understanding how the Lord was able to think of me, choose me for this mission," Pope Benedict told a meeting with thousands of children from the Church's Missionary Childhood society.

"But I accept it from his hands, even if it's surprising and appears far beyond my forces. But the Lord helps me."