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Russian spacecraft carrying robot docks with space station: TASS

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a humanoid robot docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, TASS news agency reported, citing a live broadcast. The FEDOR (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research) robot is on a... More »

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No dirty jokes please: Comics find a new stage inside LA car wash

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles comedian Kurt Braunohler has performed stand-up sets in cargo trucks, schoolbuses and even gondolas, but his latest venture scales things down even further: a four-minute comedy show inside your car as it goes through a car ... More »

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Russian spacecraft carrying robot fails to dock with space station

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a humanoid robot failed to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported, citing a live broadcast. The FEDOR (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research)... More »

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Tiny Nevada town near secretive Area 51 braces for alien hunters

RACHEL, Nevada (Reuters) – Connie West, co-owner of an alien-themed motel in the tiny U.S. desert outpost of Rachel, Nevada, believes they are coming no matter what. Not aliens, but alien hunters. A whimsical invitation on Facebook has urged UFO enthusiasts to... More »

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Earth to FEDOR: Russia launches humanoid robot into space

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian humanoid robot was making its way on Thursday to the International Space Station after blasting off on a two-week mission to support the crew and test his skills. Known as FEDOR, which stands for Final Experimental Demonstration Ob... More »

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Florida man charged for stash of Trump-shaped ecstasy pills

(Reuters) – A Florida man who was found to have ecstasy pills shaped like U.S. President Donald Trump’s head has been charged with unlawful possession of controlled substances, according Pinellas County court documents. Brendan Dolan-King, 23, was charged on F... More »

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Sporting expression ‘caught fire’ takes on literal meaning

(Reuters) – The sporting expression “caught fire” took on a literal meaning on Sunday as several players at the BMW Championship, including Phil Mickelson, were affected by a fire at their hotel. A lightning strike caused a blaze on the top floor of the Eaglew... More »

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Beer with the prince: Liechtenstein marks 300th anniversary

VADUZ (Reuters) – The tiny principality of Liechtenstein celebrated its 300th anniversary on Thursday as an island of peace and prosperity in an unsettled world — and a place where citizens can go drink a beer with their monarch. “It is a privilege for me to b... More »

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Massive steel sculpture takes pride of place on Belgian highway

LAVAUX-SAINTE-ANNE, BELGIUM (Reuters) – A 60-metre tall semi-circle of steel cast to look from a distance like a towering but incomplete ring, is set to surprise drivers taking a scenic tour in the south of Belgium to France or Luxembourg. Designed by French c... More »

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Staring at seagulls can stop them stealing food, research shows

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s seaside towns are at war with their seagulls, urging visitors not to feed the birds in an effort to stop them snatching titbits like potato chips from tourists’ hands. Warning signs deck promenade railings from Scarborough to Broad... More »

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Oh rats! Japan convenience store apologizes after viral rodent video

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese convenience store chain FamilyMart apologized after video went viral on social media of rats scurrying about one of its stores in Tokyo’s popular Shibuya district, prompting it to close the outlet until further notice. Video clips po... More »

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Indonesian walks 700-km backwards to highlight deforestation

SRAGEN, Indonesia (Reuters) – An Indonesia man is walking backwards from his home in eastern Java to the capital Jakarta to raise awareness of deforestation in a country with one of the highest rates in the world. The more than 700 km (435 miles) would be ardu... More »

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French ‘Flying Man’ crosses Channel on jet-powered hoverboard

SANGATTE, France/SAINT MARGARET’S BAY, Britain (Reuters) – French inventor Franky Zapata on Sunday succeeded in crossing the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard he designed, zooming over the Strait of Dover in just over 20 minutes. After a previous bid... More »

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French hoverboard inventor readies second Channel crossing bid

SANGATTE, France (Reuters) – A French inventor will on Sunday make his second attempt to cross the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard he designed, having abandoned a previous bid after failing to land on a refueling platform and falling into the sea. ... More »

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Doctors extract 526 teeth from Indian boy

CHENNAI, India (Reuters) – Indian doctors removed a tumor with a record number of 526 teeth inside a seven-year-old boy’s mouth, the medical team in the southern city of Chennai said on Friday. The 200 gram (7 ounce) growth was lodged in the boy’s lower right ... More »

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‘Definitely weird’: man bites snake

(Reuters) – An Indian man who was bitten by a snake got his revenge on the reptile by biting it back and killing it, the man’s father said on Monday. The man, Raj Kumar, was relaxing at home, enjoying a drink on Sunday, when a snake slithered into his house in... More »

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Trial of strength at 2,000 meters altitude: Celtic wrestling in…

MARIA ALM, Austria (Reuters) – Every year around St. Jacob’s Day, men from Austria’s Salzburg region grapple with each other in a natural arena at the top of the Hundstein mountain in a traditional martial arts contest – the Hundstoa, or Jakobi Ranggeln. The C... More »

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African cattle investing – the new cash cow?

JOHANNESBURG/VRYHEID, South Africa (Reuters) – Cattle have long been considered a measure of wealth across Africa – but it is not just farmers cashing in. A pioneering app in South Africa lets investors, eager to benefit from rising global beef demand, buy sha... More »

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Grasshoppers take Vegas by swarm, disrupting weather radar, tourism

(Reuters) – Swarms of grasshoppers have descended upon America’s Sin City in unusual abundance this week, disrupting weather radars, deterring tourists and invoking hysteria on social media. The clouds of buzzing insects, whose migration through the Las Vegas ... More »

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Vietnam seizes 125 kg of rhino horns, seven tiger carcasses

HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam said it has seized more than 125 kg (275 lb) of rhino horns hidden in plaster blocks and shipped from United Arab Emirates, the latest large-scale wildlife trafficking case in Southeast Asia. The rhino horns were discovered earlier th... More »

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Giant dinosaur bone found in southwestern France

PARIS (Reuters) – The thigh bone of a giant dinosaur was found this week by French paleontologists at an excavation site in southwestern France where remains of some of the largest animals that ever lived on land have been dug up since 2010. The two-meter long... More »

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Man chases dog on London railway, adding to commuter heat misery

LONDON (Reuters) – London commuters were fuming after a man lost control of his dog at a railway station and chased it down one of the capital’s busiest stretches of track, adding to transport delays on Britain’s hottest July day on record. Twitter users poste... More »

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Nike shoes race to $437,500 world record auction price for sneakers

(Reuters) – A pair of 1972 running shoes, one of the first pairs made by Nike Inc, sold for $437,500 on Tuesday, shattering the record for a pair of sneakers at public auction. The so-called Nike “Moon Shoe,” designed by Nike co-founder and track coach Bill Bo... More »

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Bad driving leads to $140 million drug bust in Sydney

SYDNEY (Reuters) – A clumsy driver led police to a A$200 million ($140 million) drug bust in Australia after he crashed a van laden with 270 kg (600 lb) of methamphetamines into a patrol car parked outside a police station in suburban Sydney. The man, 28, slam... More »

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Chicago alligator stakeout snaps shut after professional catches…

CHICAGO (Reuters) – An elusive alligator residing in a Chicago lagoon was caught early on Tuesday after the reptile, thought to be an abandoned pet, captivated locals for nearly a week. The alligator, called “Chance the Snapper” after Chicago-born hip-hop arti... More »

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Colombian caught in Spain with cocaine under toupee

MADRID (Reuters) – A Colombian man was detained at Barcelona’s international airport after half a kilo of cocaine was found hidden under an over-sized toupee, Spanish police said on Tuesday. Arriving on a flight from Bogota, the man attracted police attention ... More »

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Later alligator: Chicago wants scaly resident out of local lagoon

CHICAGO (Reuters) – An alligator has taken up residence in a Chicago lagoon, surprising locals after a winter of polar temperatures in the third-largest U.S. city. Police confirmed the reptile had been spotted on Tuesday in Humboldt Park Lagoon, on Chicago’s w... More »

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Lithuanian couple defends world wife-carrying championship title

SONKAJARVI, Finland (Reuters) – A Lithuanian couple won the World Wife-Carrying Championship for a second time in a row in the Finnish town of Sonkajarvi on Saturday, triumphing in a contest where men complete an obstacle course with their wives slung over the... More »

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Stowaway falls from plane over London, narrowly missing sunbather

LONDON (Reuters) – The body of a suspected stowaway fell hundreds of meters from a plane flying over southwest London, landing in the garden of a man’s home, just missing him as he sunbathed, according to neighbors. Police believe the man fell into the propert... More »

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Feeling the heat? Estonian takes his sauna on the road, literally

TALLINN (Reuters) – A lot of Europe has felt like a sauna this month, which makes Willem Maesalu’s weird car seem even weirder: the bright yellow Audi 100 Avant is a rolling sauna. Maesalu, 29, got the idea to convert his car a couple of years ago, when he fou... More »

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Cricket: Busy bees interrupt South Africa and Sri Lanka … again

CHESTER-LE-STREET, England (Reuters) – A swarm of bees forced the players of South Africa and Sri Lanka to dive onto the ground during their Cricket World Cup clash at the Riverside Stadium on Friday — but for many on the pitch there was a sense of deja vu. Be... More »

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Trump’s half-cocked and loaded tweet draws barrage of reaction

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump, whose Twitter malaprops often set off a deluge of social media criticism, was targeted on Friday for a linguistic misfire involving the phrase “locked and loaded.” In a series of tweets on Friday morning Trum... More »

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Cuban artist sketches under the sea among fish and coral reefs

PUNTA PERDIZ, Cuba (Reuters) – Some artists like to go on a countryside retreat to foster their creative process. For Cuba’s Sandor Gonzalez, there is no better place to sketch than several meters below the surface of the sea, surrounded by iridescent Caribbea... More »

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Russia uncovers 40,000 year-old wolf head, preserved in ice

MOSCOW (Reuters) – About 40,000 years ago, a wolf died in what we know as Siberia. Now its severed head has been found, and because of the freezing conditions, it is so well preserved that its fur, teeth, brain and facial tissue are largely intact. A Yakutia r... More »

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Lost voice of Mexican icon Frida Kahlo surfaces

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Few Mexican icons have enjoyed greater recognition than the painter, Frida Kahlo. Only her voice seemed doomed to oblivion. Until Wednesday, that is, when the National Music Library of Mexico released a radio recording, apparently captu... More »

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Fowl ref! Scotland bring out the rubber chickens at World Cup

(Reuters) – Scotland’s hopes of reaching the last 16 at their maiden women’s World Cup were dented by defeat to England in their opener but they have responded by bringing out their secret weapon for their next game against Japan – rubber chickens. Footage pos... More »

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Unlucky 13 for Miami bar that offered free shots for U.S. goals

(Reuters) – Customers at a bar in Miami had more reason than most to celebrate as the United States women’s soccer team went on a record scoring rampage against Thailand at the World Cup on Tuesday. The American Social Bar & Kitchen had used its social media p... More »

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California ladybug swarm dozens of miles wide shows up on radar

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A swarm of many millions of ladybugs taking to the sky in Southern California this week to hunt for aphids has been captured on a radar screen as a massive blob, officials said on Thursday. The insect swarm spanned 80 miles by 80 miles ... More »

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Ai-Da, the humanoid robot artist, gears up for first solo exhibition

OXFORD, England (Reuters) – Wearing a white blouse and her dark hair hanging loose, Ai-Da looks like any artist at work as she studies her subject and puts pencil to paper. But the beeping from her bionic arm gives her away – Ai-Da is a robot. Described as “th... More »

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From sky farms to lab-grown shrimp, Singapore eyes food future

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore, the tiny Southeast Asian city-state, is an unlikely place for a farming revolution. With tiered fish farms, vegetable plots atop office buildings and lab-grown shrimp, the island aims to beef up its own food production and rely... More »

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Polish activists try to save cows condemned to death

WARSAW (Reuters) – A herd of about 180 free-roaming cows in Poland must be slaughtered, authorities have ruled, to the dismay of activists fighting to save them as a cause celebre for animal rights. Left to wander fields in the western municipality of Deszczno... More »

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Duvets discarded, cushions thrown at Japan’s Pillow Fighting…

ITO, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan (Reuters) – The Japanese may be known for their neatness, particularly when it comes to making their bed in the morning, but all social norms went out the window on Saturday during qualifying for the All-Japan Pillow Fighting Ch... More »

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Procrastinating genius: did da Vinci have attention disorder?

LONDON (Reuters) – Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci’s litany of exquisite but unfinished work shows he probably had an attention disorder common to modern society. That is the view of psychiatry professor Marco Catani, who believes Attention Deficit and Hy... More »

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Belgian monks resurrect brewery after two century break

GRIMBERGEN, Belgium (Reuters) – Belgian monks at the Grimbergen abbey are on the verge of brewing beer again after a break of more than 200 years. The abbey, whose emblem is a phoenix with the Latin motto “Ardet nec consumitur”, meaning “Burned but not destroy... More »

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Eiffel Tower climber in custody after daring ascent

PARIS (Reuters) – Rescuers successfully talked down a man who scaled the upper heights of the Eiffel Tower on Monday, forcing the monument’s evacuation, and handed him over to police. Television channels ran live shots as rescuers perched on the 324-metre (1,0... More »

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Year-old Xinhua alert spreads proclaiming U.S.-China trade row…

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s official Xinhua news agency condemned the spreading of “false news” on Monday after some websites published a year-old alert announcing a ceasefire in the Sino-U.S. trade dispute. The one-line item, originally published on May 20, 2... More »

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Back to nature: UK Duchess Kate shows off garden skills at Chelsea…

LONDON (Reuters) – Kate, Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge, released new pictures of her family playing in a woodland wilderness garden she designed for London’s Chelsea Flower Show. Co-created with landscape artists Andree Davies and Adam White, Kate’s “Back to ... More »

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Schwarzenegger struck by flying kick at South Africa sports event

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A man struck Arnold Schwarzenegger with a flying kick at a sports event in South Africa on Saturday, though the actor and former California governor later reassured fans that they needn’t worry about him. Schwarzenegger, 71, was chatti... More »

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Take or pay: Belgian ex-king faces paternity fines

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A Belgian court has ordered the country’s former king to pay 5,000 euros ($5,600) a day until he takes a DNA paternity test to resolve a long-running case brought by a woman who says she is his daughter. A judicial source said the 84-year-... More »

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Now you can explore a cave without actually going into a cave

CHYNOVSKA JESKYNE, Czech Republic (Reuters) – Czech speleologists have come up with a way to explore flooded cave systems without strapping on scuba gear, wet suits, helmets and water-proof lamps: 3D mapping. The new tool was developed by Geo-CZ, a company tha... More »

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Guns N’ Roses sues Colorado brewery over Guns ‘N’ Rosé ale

(Reuters) – Guns N’ Roses is showing an appetite for litigation over a beer. The rock band has sued the Colorado brewery Oskar Blues, accusing it of trademark infringement for selling an ale named Guns ‘N’ Rosé without permission. In a complaint filed on Thurs... More »

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In crisis-hit Argentina, cancer researcher turns to game show for…

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Amid a swirling economic crisis and protests over budget cuts for research in Argentina, one scientist has found a novel way to fundraise: winning money on a television game show. Marina Simian, a biologist for Argentina’s National Sci... More »

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Australia’s central bank takes ‘responsibilty’ for note typo

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Millions of A$50 ($35) banknotes in Australia have an embarrassing typographical error that was overlooked by the country’s central bank before they were printed and circulated. The goof first became known on Thursday when a listener on radi... More »

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Stop bugging him: Philippine leader brushes off finger-sized pest

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte seemed unfazed when a finger-sized cockroach scrambled onto his shoulder as he spoke at a campaign rally on Wednesday night. Duterte, 74, was endorsing Senate candidates at the event in central Bohol prov... More »

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Tanzania plans cable car for Mount Kilimanjaro

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania wants to boost tourist numbers by putting a cable car on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain, and is in talks about the project with a Chinese and a Western company. Around 50,000 tourists climb Kilimanjaro annually.... More »

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Lady Gaga takes on ‘Camp’ at Met Gala in gowns, underwear

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pop superstar Lady Gaga made a grand entrance at New York’s annual Met Gala on Monday, wearing a voluminous bright pink dress that she shed on the red carpet to reveal three other outfits layered underneath, including a bra and underwear, ... More »

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Romania’s witches harness the powers of the web

MOGOSOAIA, Romania (Reuters) – “Repeat after me! To be together with who I want,” a family of Romanian witches chant via a video call to a client in India paying for a love spell. The session, in a decorated shed in a back yard 15 km (9 miles) north of Buchare... More »

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Beast from the east: Indian soldiers reckon they’ve found Yeti…

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Mountaineers from the Indian army on a expedition in Nepal have found mysterious large footprints in the snow that they think belong to the Yeti, or the abominable snowman, the military said on Tuesday. Largely regarded by the scientific ... More »

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‘Thou shall not gossip’, Pope tells hairdressers

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis has often warned against gossiping among friends and neighbors, but now he says it should also be avoided in those modern temples of cheap talk: beauty parlors and hair salons. The pope exhorted some 230 Italian Catholic h... More »

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Pop singer Adele parts with husband

LONDON (Reuters) – British pop singer Adele and her husband have separated, her representatives said on Saturday. One of the most successful singer-songwriters of all time, Adele and water charity executive Simon Konecki met in 2011. They had a son a year late... More »

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Workers save dog spotted more than 100 miles off Thailand coast

REUTERS (April 17) – A Thai animal rescue group welcomed a dog who was rescued nearly 220 kilometers (136 miles) from shore Monday. The dog, named Boonrod – a Thai word which roughly translates to “the saved one” – was brought to shore for a health check after... More »

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Swiss government says coffee ‘not essential’, stockpiling to end

ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland on Wednesday announced plans to abolish the nation’s emergency stockpile of coffee, in place for decades, after declaring the beans not vital for human survival, though opposition to the proposal is brewing. Nestle, the maker of ... More »

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Brexit-hungry media to be turfed off grassy patch outside UK…

LONDON (Reuters) – After months of grueling political perma-crisis, Brexit is taking its toll on the British political establishment – not least the small patch of grass opposite parliament that has become a makeshift home to the world’s media. Parliamentary a... More »

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Texas civil court judge accidentally resigns

(Reuters) – An April Fools’ Day resignation prank? One Texas civil court judge wishes it were so. A newly elected judge in Houston accidentally resigned on Monday, according to local media and a county official, after he shared plans online to run for the stat... More »

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Dubai court restores yacht to Russia tycoon, move disputed in…

DUBAI (Reuters) – A $436 million superyacht belonging to a Russian billionaire at the center of one of the world’s costliest divorce battles has been released by a Dubai court after being impounded last year, but legal wrangling over the fate of the vessel con... More »

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Bears in Russian zoo predict Ukrainian election

KRASNOYARSK, Russia (Reuters) – “Anyone but Poroshenko!” cried the crowd in a Russian zoo on Thursday as a brown bear made its way toward a butternut squash bearing a picture of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Buyan, resident of a zoo on the outskirts of... More »

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Uri Geller urges mass-telepathy against Brexit

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Spoon-bending psychic Uri Geller wants to bend British Prime Minister Theresa May’s will against Brexit using mass-telepathy. From his home in Israel, Geller – who is also a British citizen and a former resident of May’s Maidenhead constit... More »

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Unclothed man displays more than art in Moscow gallery stroll: RIA

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A man stripped down to skimpy underwear and took a stroll through Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery on Wednesday evening in what it called an “unsanctioned performance,” the RIA news agency reported. This was the third incident involving a vi... More »

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Hip hop best bet for a cheese that will please: Swiss study

BURGDORF, Switzerland (Reuters) – Exposing cheese to round-the-clock music could give it more flavor and hip hop might be better than Mozart, Swiss researchers said on Thursday. Nine wheels of Emmental cheese weighing 10 kilos (22 pounds) each were placed in s... More »

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Hit by an arrow, mobile phone dies saving Australian man

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – An Australian man had a lucky escape while confronting a man armed with a bow outside his home, as a loosed arrow pierced the mobile telephone he was holding to take a photograph of the incident, Australian police said on Thursday. The 43... More »

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Lion on the lam locked-up in South African jail

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – A young lion captured after being on the run for almost a month spent the night in a South African police cell before being moved back to its national park home. The juvenile male apparently escaped from the Karoo National Park through a ... More »

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Painting sow Pigcasso hogs the limelight at South Africa farm

FRANSCHHOEK, South Africa (Reuters) – Step aside Francis Bacon. Brandishing a paintbrush in her snout, Pigcasso enthusiastically tosses her head to create bright, bold strokes across a canvas propped up in her sty. The sow was rescued from an abattoir as a pig... More »

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German yachtsman inflates trousers to survive 3 hours in sea

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Knocked overboard in rough seas off New Zealand, a German yachtsman credited his jeans with saving his life after fashioning them into a make-shift life jacket that kept him afloat for over three hours before his rescue by coastguards. A... More »

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Long-lost Caravaggio painting to be auctioned in June in France

LONDON (Reuters) – A painting by Italian master Caravaggio discovered five years ago in an attic will be sold at auction on June 27 in the French city of Toulouse and could fetch up to 150 million euros ($170 million), art experts said. The painting, currently... More »

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Mooing, no booing for roller-skating Spanish farmer with a dream

LLANUCES, Spain (Reuters) – After tending to his cows all day, Pablo Pato swept the hay off the floor and transformed, almost Cinderella-like, into a freestyle roller skater without leaving the cowshed in the remote mountain village of Llanuces in northern Spa... More »