A 300-year-old book that appears to be bound in human skin has been found in northern England. The macabre discovery was made on a central street in Leeds, and officers say the ledger may have been dumped following a burglary. Detectives were trying to trace its rightful owner and believe it may have been taken from a dwelling in the area, according to The Associated Press. Much of the text is in French, and it was not uncommon around the time of the French Revolution for books to be covered in human skin.

A Montreal hospital has been ordered to pay $45,000 to a woman who had an abortion, and then had twins. Saoudat Batoukaeva went to St-Luc Hospital to have an abortion seven years ago, but it didn't take, CBC News reported. Hospital staff confirmed three weeks after the procedure that Batoukaeva was still pregnant.

A French court sentences a Togolese woman to six years in jail after finding her guilty of sexual violence, torture and acts of cruelty against two girls, also from Togo. Mimi Tele Mensah, 50, was accused of a shocking level of abuse. The court heard how the victims were held as virtual slaves. It began in 1990 when Mensah went to Togo and brought 15-year-old Olivia back to France, promising her parents she would receive an education in return for a few hours of babysitting.

Protesters had to dodge flying seal guts pitched at them by angry hunters as tempers flared on the first day of Canada's East Coast seal slaughter. News reporters and animal rights activists tried to get as close as permitted to the hunt on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but their presence infuriated sealers as they hunted for scarce animals on small, drifting ice pans.

Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff EditorMont-De-Marsan, France (AHN)-Christophe Fauviau appeared in court in the town of Mont-de-Marsan in southwestern France on charges of unintentionally causing a death by administering toxic substances. The 46-year-old Fauviau, whose 15-year-old daughter Valentine is considered a rising star of French tennis, is accused of drugging his children's opponents 27 times in tournaments across France from 2000 to 2003. Prosecutors say evidence shows Fauviau drugged 21 opponents of Valentine and six others faced by his son, Maxime - using the anti-anxiety drug Temesta, whose side-effects include drowsiness.