(Reuters) – At a North California supermarket last week, one visitor likely had only one thing in mind – the bear necessities. Shoppers at the Kings Beach Safeway by Lake Tahoe found an otherwise routine trip to the store on Aug. 25 disrupted by an inquisitive... More »
(Reuters) – A three-year-old girl entangled in the tail of a giant kite survived a terrifying ride after being swept more than 100 feet (30 metres) into the air during a kite festival in Taiwan, video footage posted on social media on Sunday showed. Horrified ... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – In his golden-hued office, decked out with peacock feathers and crystal balls, Indian mystic healer and astrologer Sanjay Sharma is busy offering his clients a peek into their future as the COVID-19 pandemic has muddied their present. “Ri... More »
DONG HOA, Vietnam (Reuters) – While coronavirus lockdowns caused many men across the world to grow their hair longer than usual, none compare with Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Chien who has gone almost 80 years without a trim. The 92-year-old from the southern Mekong ... More »
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – An unidentified flying object parachuted into dense Congo jungle to the confusion of local authorities, who detained two people for questioning until a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet confirmed the de... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – For Zeng Sheng, the manager at Shanghai Maiyi Arts, this autumn should have been a boon for business: with the U.S. presidential election, demand for the centre’s wax replicas of Donald Trump should have been off the charts. Instead, the s... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Finding the pandemic scary? A Japanese group is trying to take people’s minds off COVID-19 – by putting them in coffins surrounded by chainsaw-wielding zombies. Customers this weekend in Tokyo can lie in a 2-metre (6 1/2-foot) windowed box, l... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A new rule forcing Germans to take their dog for a walk twice a day has unleashed a debate on whether the state can decide what is best for the country’s 9.4 million pet canines. Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner announced this week she h... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Four famous amateur model grandmothers took off their masks during a saunter down the streets of Beijing on Thursday to demonstrate life returning to normal as the COVID-19 pandemic eases. Glamma Beijing, a group of four women who met durin... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Four bones found on a beach on the Isle of Wight, off England’s south coast, belong to a new species of theropod dinosaur, the group that includes Tyrannosaurus rex, researchers at the University of Southampton said on Wednesday. The new din... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Raphael probably didn’t like his nose, and replaced it with an idealised version in his famous self-portrait. That is the conclusion of Rome University scientists who produced a 3D computer reconstruction of the Renaissance master’s face from ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – One creature’s droppings can be another’s treasure, as Germany’s Krone Circus is finding out during the new coronavirus pandemic. Home to 26 lions and tigers, the circus has found an unusual side income and raised money despite coronavirus-r... More »
HAVANA (Reuters) – Havana was once dubbed the ‘Paris of the Caribbean’ for its beautiful architecture, vibrant arts scene, and flourishing nightlife. Now it even has its own Eiffel Tower. The illuminated four-meter (13-ft) high replica by Cuban blacksmith Jorg... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Looking for a new way to communicate during the pandemic? A Los Angeles company has created phone booth-sized machines to beam live holograms into your living room. The device made by PORTL Inc lets users talk in real time with a life-s... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Palmerston, the cat who has lived at the Foreign Office for four and a half years, will trade in his London residence for retirement in the countryside, where his mouse-catching duties for the diplomats will come to an end. Writing to the mo... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s emerging student pro-democracy movement has adopted a Japanese cartoon hamster, Hamtaro, as a creative way to get support from young people around the country. University and high school students have rallied almost daily in the ... More »
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Most of us have accepted COVID-19 face masks as an inconvenient, albeit necessary, safety measure. For the style conscious like James Maina Mwangi, however, they are an unmissable fashion opportunity. Mwangi’s brightly coloured suits and ha... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian scientists said on Wednesday they have given five fly species scientific names that pay tribute to the Marvel comic universe, including one named for wise-cracking anti-hero Deadpool and another after superhero creator Stan Lee. T... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian scientists are poring over the stunningly well-preserved bones of an adult woolly mammoth that roamed the earth at least 10,000 years ago, after local inhabitants discovered its remains in the shallows of a north Siberian lake. Part ... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway began tearing down a landmark building adorned with giant murals by Pablo Picasso on Monday as part of efforts to rebuild government headquarters after a deadly far-right bombing. Oslo’s ‘Y block’ office building, with a Picasso drawing... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A man strolled down central London’s most popular shopping street on Friday with only a mask to cover his nudity, leaving passerbys astounded, amused and shocked. As the man walked nonchalantly along Oxford Street, naked except for the light... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Day traders seeking help for gambling addiction have tripled in number in South Korea, as COVID-19 social distancing and working-from-home has freed up more time for online stock market trading, data showed. Retail investors, known locally as... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – While the cinema drive-in may have gotten a boost as lockdowns gradually come to an end amid the COVID-19 outbreak, in Paris film fans can now munch on their popcorn watching a movie from a boat on the river Seine. As part of Paris Plages, th... More »
LAGOS (Reuters) – Oreoluwa Akinnawo is in his element. Lagos’s bars and restaurants are shut and Nigerians are struggling to socialise. The pandemic is his perfect time to find a soul mate online. “The dating thing during this restriction works perfectly for m... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – With their stadium devoid of fans due to coronavirus restrictions, Japanese baseball team Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have come up with an imaginative replacement: dancing robots. Before their most recent Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) game ag... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Elton John on Monday became the second artist to be honoured by Britain’s Royal Mint with a commemorative coin paying tribute to the decorated British singer-songwriter. The coin, designed by artist Bradley Morgan Johnson, depicts John’s dis... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If Kanye West is serious about running for president, the American rapper and fashion designer will face major obstacles to mount a serious campaign less than four months before the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election. West, who said in a ... More »
NAIROBI, (Reuters) – Eat them, poison them, and use scent to drive them to cannibalism – as a second wave of locusts threatens to devour East Africa’s crops, scientists in a Nairobi lab are experimenting with novel ways to kill them. Swarms are the worst for t... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – It is being hailed as a major win for democracy in South Korea. After 16 years in exile, a president this week triumphantly returned to claim his rightful place – on the front of a box of green onion-flavoured cereal. The limited edition of t... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – One lucky baseball fan was taken inside the otherwise empty Tokyo Dome for Yomiuri Giants’ win on Tuesday via a monitor mounted on a robot she controlled from home. Nippon Professional Baseball teams have begun their season without fans in st... More »
HAVANA (Reuters) – Ever since the novel coronavirus reached Cuba, a tall cardboard box with arms and legs can be seen tottering around a Havana suburb, popping into the bakery or butchers, or browsing the newspaper stand. This is Feridia Rojas, 82, who decided... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The appearance of a mysterious white object in the sky over northern Japan on Wednesday set social media ablaze, with speculation ranging from UFOs to coronavirus and North Korean propaganda. Television footage taken in the northeastern city ... More »
CHONBURI, Thailand (Reuters) – Volunteer pet groomer Kriengkai Thatwakorn is thrilled to be back helping out stray dogs in Thailand, some in urgent need of a shearing after waiting three sweltering months for a trim. A domestic travel ban to contain the novel ... More »
KISUMU (Reuters) – Hundreds of Kenyans defied tear gas and riot police on Friday to carry off the body of a popular singer, trying to prevent a swift burial under rules for suspected coronavirus cases which the crowd said would be disrespectful. Mourners and f... More »
QALQILYA, West Bank (Reuters) – Peacocks, ostriches and baboons joined in an animal baby boom at a Palestinian zoo during the coronavirus closure as they let nature take its course free from human distractions. Fifteen animals were born at the tiny Qalqilya Zo... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – Stuck at home with school suspended, Nguyen Doi Chung Anh made the most of a lockdown in Vietnam by using art to demonstrate tragedy, resilience and chaos in the world’s battle against the coronavirus. The work of 10-year-old Chung Anh shows ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Mira Robotics developed its “ugo” robot to reinforce greying Japan’s shrinking workforce, but as the coronavirus threat persists, the Japanese startup is offering its machine as a tool in the fight against the outbreak, the company’s CEO said... More »
(Reuters) – Actress Cate Blanchett suffered an accident with a chainsaw during the coronavirus lockdown with her family, she revealed during a podcast. The Oscar-winning star of films like “Blue Jasmine” and “Aviator” gave no details about the mishap but said ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – An art gallery in Paris has sought inspiration in ancient China to help it enforce social distancing, by providing hats with winged extensions for visitors. The colourful papier-mâché hats are modelled on headgear from the Song dynasty, which... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – London’s world-famous Abbey Road Studios reopened on Thursday after closing its doors during the coronavirus lockdown for the first time in its 90-year history. Celebrated for recording the likes of Edward Elgar, The Beatles and Lady Gaga, t... More »
WALENSTADT, Switzerland (Reuters) – Two Swiss conceptual artists are offering seven open air “hotel rooms” this summer across a “performance space” encompassing eastern Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Guests “perform”, without an audience, by spending the night... More »
SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – Indian police have released a pigeon belonging to a Pakistani fisherman after a probe found that the bird, which had flown across the contentious border between the nuclear-armed nations, was not a spy, two officials said on Friday.... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Rowers from New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Britain whose training on the water has been restricted due to the novel coronavirus pandemic have been challenged to help their countries row to the moon. Or at least the distance from the ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian police on Monday charged a German student with breaking into a Sydney museum as security footage showed him allegedly taking selfies next to dinosaur exhibits. New South Wales (NSW) Police said that Paul Kuhn broke into the Austra... More »
BOGOTA (Reuters) – This time there are no lights, cameras, dressing rooms or the hundreds of people who usually crowd a film shoot. There is just a mobile phone, a tripod, a bathroom and “Action!” Colombian director Harold Trompetero, who has directed 21 films... More »
LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian fashion designer Sefiya Diejomaoh likes to wear bright, bold clothes to match her personality. She believes a global pandemic should not get in the way of her sense of style. The mask she wears, which has become compulsory attire as ... More »
LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian comedian Maryam Apaokagi has a sure-fire way of getting people to listen to her coronavirus health advice – she delivers it with a hard slap in the face. The 21-year-old has joined a line-up of the nation’s top performers working hea... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – As Thailand’s capital cautiously reopens many restaurants shuttered over coronavirus fears, the feline “employees” of the Caturday Cafe are back at work. The few dozen friendly cats typically lounge around the cafe, breaking up naptime to s... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A young boy chooses a nurse as the superhero he wants to play with over Batman and Spiderman in a new artwork by Banksy that encapsulates the gratitude Britons have felt toward the country’s National Health Service during the coronavirus cri... More »
(Reuters) – A trooper stopping a car with a suspected “impaired driver” on a U.S. highway on Monday was bemused to find a 5-year-old in the driver’s seat, the Utah Highway Patrol tweeted. After seeing a vehicle driving slowly and weaving in the left lane of th... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Antwerp is regaining its glitz as Belgium eases a two-month nationwide coronavirus lockdown that virtually halted business in the world’s largest diamond trade centre. The return of some of the brokers, cutters and couriers who normally th... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Londoners locked out of galleries can find an alternative art fix on a wall under under some railway arches after street artist Lionel Stanhope painted a Caravaggio classic, updated for the coronavirus age. The Italian baroque master’s “Supp... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Chewy and Miley, both two-year-old Schnauzer dogs, are getting their hair cut at a groomer in Bangkok for the first time since the new coronavirus outbreak began in Thailand in January. Pet grooming shops are among a handful of businesses t... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Dressed as “Star Wars” characters, local officials in the Philippines are out and about to enforce strict quarantine measures while also handing out relief packages. With Darth Vader and Stormtrooper outfits made from rubber mats and old pla... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s ITV said its popular dating show Love Island would be cancelled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic and there would not be a new series until 2021, in a big setback for the broadcaster’s advertising revenues. ITV said in ... More »
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Coronavirus test kits used in Tanzania were dismissed as faulty by President John Magufuli on Sunday, because he said they had returned positive results on samples taken from a goat and a pawpaw. Magufuli, whose government has already... More »
SUKOHARJO, Indonesia (Reuters) – Volunteers clad as Superman and Spider-Man sprayed disinfectant against the coronavirus on Indonesia’s island of Java, flanking a colleague wearing the winged helmet of local superhero Gatotkaca who shouted, “Wear masks, wash h... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Coronavirus patients with light symptoms arriving to stay at several Tokyo hotels are likely to get a lift from a pleasant surprise – a robot greeter in the lobby. Japan is now using hotels to house patients who have tested positive for the c... More »
MOUSCRON, Belgium (Reuters) – With potato farmers and processors struggling, Belgians are being urged to eat more fries to offset a slump in demand during the coronavirus pandemic. Belgium is the world’s largest exporter of fries and other frozen potato produc... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – One of the world’s largest lunar meteorites goes on private sale at Christie’s on Thursday, valued at 2 million pounds ($2.49 million). The moon rock, weighing over 13.5 kg, was probably struck off the surface of the moon by a collision with... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A London bus stop has been transformed into a children’s art gallery by a local resident who wanted to brighten the drudgery of lockdown life, creating a colourful community hub amid the anxiety and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic. A hand... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – It’s not every day that the face of a chief epidemiologist is inked as a tattoo. But then it’s not every country that has tackled the coronavirus pandemic like Sweden. Anders Tegnell was until the start of the crisis an unknown civil serv... More »
CAPEL, England (Reuters) – The daily lockdown walk has been brightened by the addition of scarecrows dressed as key workers in a village in southern England, as the community pays tribute to doctors, nurses, shop assistants and waste collectors in its own quir... More »
(Reuters) – A Professional Bull Riders (PBR) competition took place in an empty arena in the U.S. on Sunday with cowboys in facemasks clinging onto 1,500-pound (680.39 kg) bucking bulls while most professional sports remained on coronavirus lockdown. Members o... More »
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A six-foot image of a sad-eyed man, baseball cap askew and mask covering his nose and mouth is spray painted on a building in a Nairobi slum. Next to it are the words “Corona is real”. There are six other pieces of graffiti like it around M... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Banksy’s “Girl with a Pierced Eardrum” has been updated for the coronavirus era with the addition of a blue surgical face mask. The mural, a take on Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” but with a security alarm replac... More »
JUGYAI, India (Reuters) – Most days, you can find Dayaram Kushwaha and his wife, Gyanvati, hauling bricks for stonemasons in a booming northern suburb of New Delhi. They bring their 5-year-old son, who plays in the dirt while they work. But now a hush has come... More »
(Reuters) – Six-times Super Bowl-winning quarterback Tom Brady was told to leave a Tampa park that had been closed as part of measures to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the city’s mayor said on Monday. Brady was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last... More »
(Reuters) – Two young girls in Italy took their tennis games to a higher level despite a nation-wide coronavirus lockdown as they staged a remarkable rally from the rooftops of neighbouring buildings. The girls in the Ligurian town of Finale Ligure coolly mana... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Street-artist Banksy has followed official advice to stay at home during the coronavirus crisis by creating a new artwork in his bathroom that shows his trademark stencilled rats running amok around the sink and toilet. The elusive artist po... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Wearing white face paint, stripy top and bright red spectacle frames, Ahmed Naser stands in a street in Cairo distributing face masks and health advice to passing children. The 22-year-old engineering student has been entertaining youngsters ... More »
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Gerson Monje holds up his cellphone to proudly show off his online sex shop. A red banner reading “sold out!” is plastered across half of the products. While most Colombian businesses suffer during a five-week lockdown meant to curb the spre... More »
TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) – French space scientists are using the COVID-19 lockdown as a dry run for what it will be like to be cooped up inside a space craft on a mission to Mars. The guinea pigs in the experiment are 60 students who are confined to their do... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian ballet dancers on partial lockdown have begun giving performances at home to keep fans engaged online after theatres across the country closed their doors due to the coronavirus. Seven dancers from the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Pet... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Ellen DeGeneres, one of America’s most popular TV personalities, faced a barrage of criticism on Wednesday after comparing her self-isolation in a multimillion-dollar mansion to being in prison. DeGeneres, whose daily television talk sh... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, accused Donald Trump on Tuesday of creating a basis to take over other planets by signing an executive order outlining U.S. policy on commercial mining in space. The executive order, which Roscosmos said ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese social media celebrity Pikotaro returned as a leading twitter trend in Japan with a coronavirus hand washing song that repurposes his signature Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen (PPAP) to Pray-for-People-and-Peace. The video was among the top ... More »
(Reuters) – Australian triathlete Mirinda Carfrae was cruising along in second place in a virtual bike race when she unexpectedly lost her way. The former world champion, competing from her home in Boulder, Colorado, was suddenly left facing a blank screen dur... More »
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s police began using water cannon on Friday to disinfect markets and bus ranks, turning instruments associated with repression into weapons against the new coronavirus. Zimbabwean police have a reputation for heavy-handed tactics ag... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Fans of musical theatre forced by the coronavirus pandemic to stay at home will be able to watch some of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most popular shows for free on Youtube every week. The series, entitled “The Shows Must Go On!”, will kick off on ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Five guns which were used in “James Bond” movies, including the last weapon brandished by actor Roger Moore while playing 007, have been stolen from a house in north London by suspects with Eastern European accents, British police said on Fr... More »
ROVANIEMI, Finland (Reuters) – When Peruvian musician Victor Alarcon set out on his dream trip to shoot a music video in the Finnish Arctic for his single called ‘Aurora Boreal’ (Northern Lights), he did not expect the coronavirus outbreak to leave him strande... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – You’ve got to eat it, to beat it: That’s the philosophy of one Hanoi chef who is attempting to boost morale in the Vietnamese capital by selling green, coronavirus-themed burgers. Laughing in the face of the global pandemic, Chef Hoang Tung a... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Under partial lockdown due to the spiraling coronavirus pandemic, Spaniards are allowed to leave home only for essential outings, walking a dog being one of them. But not a rented dog, the Civil Guard police force warned on Wednesday as it s... More »
(Reuters) – A British vicar got more than he expected from his first attempt at an online sermon when he leaned too close to a candle on a cross and his sweater caught fire. Stephen Beach of St Budeaux Parish Church in Plymouth, southwest England, was getting ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Worried about whether you have enough toilet paper for the coronavirus lockdown? A German website can tell you how long your supply will last. Toilet paper has become one of the commodities shoppers across the world have hoarded as the co... More »
HIGASHIMATSUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) – An Olympic cauldron was ignited on Friday in Japan with a flame carried from Greece ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Games, amid concerns that a coronavirus pandemic could disrupt the event planned this summer. “We will do our utmos... More »
(This March 17 story corrects stock symbol of Zoom to ZM.O, not ZOOM.PK in the last paragraph) By Jane Lanhee Lee and Paresh Dave OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) – Andre Hilden, a data architecture consultant in Oakland, California, missed a memo from his company la... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A hedge fund manager in Hong Kong has publicly apologised after a parody video of him licking his finger and wiping it on a hand rail in a metro car went viral, sparking anger in the city which is grappling to contain an outbreak of the n... More »
(Reuters) – Joe Biden smiled and reached his elbow out to touch his rival Bernie Sanders’ arm on Sunday, an unusual greeting that started a Democratic presidential debate during the coronavirus pandemic. Sanders and Biden, vying for their party’s nomination to... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Valentina Tereshkova was hailed as a hero when she became the first woman in space in 1963. Now 83, she has became a hate figure for some Russians after this week putting forward a constitutional amendment that could allow President Vladimir... More »
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – The growls from the caged hyena reverberate through the room as Mohamed Sheikh Yakub slumps silently in a chair nearby, hoping the animal will frighten away the evil spirits he says have troubled him since his divorce. The traditional tre... More »
GHENT, Belgium (Reuters) – Belgian waffles may be about to become more environmentally friendly. Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium are experimenting with larva fat to replace butter in waffles, cakes and cookies, saying using grease from insects is mor... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Air travelers cannot receive cash compensation if their flight is delayed by a passenger biting others and assaulting crew members, an adviser at the Court of Justice of the European Union said on Thursday. Such incidents were “extraordina... More »
(Reuters) – David Ayres had never played in a National Hockey League game until Saturday, but the Carolina Hurricanes are now selling shirts to honor the Zamboni driver after he performed heroics in a 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Hurricanes team s... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Knife-wielding robbers in Hong Kong stole 50 packs of toilet paper rolls from a supermarket delivery man, police said on Monday, in a sign of the times for a city worried sick by the coronavirus outbreak across the causeway in mainland Ch... More »
(Reuters) – Adam Scott was guilty of a major golfing faux pas in the final round of the Genesis Open on Sunday after thumping his drive through the group ahead, almost hitting another player. The Australian’s tee shot at the dogleg par-four 15th landed in the ... More »
MUNICH (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a former comic actor, joked on Saturday that after dreaming of Oscars and popularity in the United States, he had achieved at least the fame part through President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Asked at... More »
KABUL (Reuters) – After a busy afternoon walking the catwalk in a luxury hotel in Kabul on Friday, Salma Hussaini was named Afghanistan’s first “Ms Valentine”. The 20-year-old from Bamiyan province took a final walk down the runway clad in a pink and yellow to... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Residents of a luxury London block who were trying to stop visitors to the neighboring Tate Modern art gallery from peering into their glass-walled apartments lost their case in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday. The dispute began in 2016 whe... More »
