SARAJEVO Hundreds of Sarajevo taxi drivers have stuck posters of Robert De Niro on their cabs in tribute to the actor who will open the city’s film festival on Friday with a screening of “Taxi Driver”. In the movie, which has been digitally restored for its 40... More »
CARACAS A Pokemon Go player hides his cellphone in the carved out pages of a 19th-century French novel, hoping to avoid criminals on Venezuela’s notoriously dangerous streets. “I’m afraid of insecurity, but I want to be a Pokemon trainer!” said Carlos Reina, a... More »
WASHINGTON Researchers applying modern forensic techniques to a century-old puzzle have laid bare intriguing new details about one of the most notorious scientific hoaxes on record, the so-called Piltdown Man, and are confident in the culprit’s identity. The p... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO The water in the Olympic diving pool was bright green on Tuesday, baffling at least one competitor who said she could not see her partner underwater, although organizers said that it did not pose any danger to health. The mysterious shade of the... More »
OSLO Global warming could release radioactive waste stored in an abandoned Cold War-era U.S. military camp deep under Greenland’s ice caps if a thaw continues to spread in coming decades, scientists said on Friday. Camp Century was built in northwest Greenland... More »
ROME A tiny kitten that went for an ill-advised swim in the Sicilian sea has hung on to eight of its nine lives, thanks to a rescue mission by Italy’s coast guard. When a group of children at the port town of Marsala spotted the one-month-old cat floating in t... More »
TAMPA, Fla. A Chilean flamingo named Pinky which was known for its dancing was euthanized at a Florida theme park after being badly injured by a man who reached into its pen and threw it to the ground, Tampa police said on Wednesday. Orlando resident Joseph An... More »
LAHORE, Pakistan A Pakistani opposition lawmaker on Wednesday proposed banning 24-hour cartoon TV channels, specifically the popular Japanese series “Doraemon”, drawing ridicule on social media in a country fighting corruption, poverty and Islamist militants. ... More »
OSLO Some fish may cope with the changing chemistry of the oceans linked to global warming by permanently setting their body defenses to night-time levels, the time of day when they find sea water least hospitable, a study said on Monday. Man-made carbon dioxi... More »
ATHENS At least 80 skeletons lie in a mass grave in an ancient Greek cemetery, their wrists clamped by iron shackles. They are the victims, say archaeologists, of a mass execution. But who they were, how they got there and why they appear to have been buried w... More »
LOS ANGELES A virtual Noah’s Ark of wild beasts and livestock has been relocated to save them from a massive wildfire burning north of Los Angeles in a region that is home to exotic animal sanctuaries and horse ranches. Officials and volunteers at the Wildlife... More »
BRUSSELS A team of scientists at a Belgian university say they have created a machine that turns urine into drinkable water and fertilizer using solar energy, a technique which could be applied in rural areas and developing countries. While there are other opt... More »
ROME The outspoken leader of Italy’s anti-immigrant Northern League party drew a chorus of criticism on Monday for comparing the woman speaker of the lower house of parliament to an inflatable sex doll. While Matteo Salvini addressed the crowd at a rally near ... More »
BANGKOK Two 8-year-old girls in Thailand have been charged for violating campaigning rules ahead of a contentious referendum next month after tearing voter lists off a wall because they liked the pink paper they were printed on, police said on Sunday. The mili... More »
OSLO A small African bird that guides people to bees’ nests hoping to share honey and wax responds to hunters’ special calls in a rare example of a partnership between wild animals and humans, scientists said on Thursday. Cooperation between the greater honeyg... More »
CLEVELAND The “Trump Museum,” just steps from the Republican National Convention, displays artifacts such as the Trump action figure, the Trump board game and sartorial splendor from the Trump clothing line. So much Trump is on exhibit that at first glance it ... More »
CLEVELAND In an age of social media and sound bites, advocacy groups in Cleveland have turned to the old-fashioned medium of billboards to display messages during the Republican National Convention, from the serious to the ridiculous and shocking. Among them i... More »
MEXICO CITY A Mexican taxi driver has jumped on the Pokemon GO craze sweeping the world by driving smartphone-armed customers around in search of the augmented reality game’s target creatures. The mobile phone game has become an instant hit with more users in ... More »
WASHINGTON A chunk of amber found along the Baltic Sea in Russia provides evidence roughly 50 million years old of an extremely fortunate bug. An Oregon State University scientist on Thursday described a remarkable piece of amber -fossilized tree sap – contain... More »
PAMPLONA, Spain One man was gored in the leg and seven people treated for minor injuries in the seventh bull run in this year’s San Fermin festival in Spain, which featured fewer runners after overnight rain left the streets more treacherous than usual. The 87... More »
An Egyptian kebab shop owner in New Zealand has become an internet hit after a video of him ignoring a would-be robber and continuing to serve a customer went viral, drawing more than a quarter of a million views. Said Ahmed, owner of the Egyptian Kebab House ... More »
WASHINGTON The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has told Pokemon GO fans not to play the popular new mobile game in its premises, describing it as “extremely inappropriate” in a memorial dedicated to the victims of Nazism. The game involves using a mobile device... More »
The Eiffel Tower is a must-see for many tourists visiting Paris but for one British family this week it also became their home for the night. Michelle Stevenson won an overnight stay at the famed landmark in a contest organized by vacation rental website HomeA... More »
SYDNEY Saturday’s Australian election is too close to call for many, but Davey the quokka has predicted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal party-led coalition will run out winners over Bill Shorten’s opposition Labor. The small four-year-old native Aust... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO A man has been arrested for trying to extinguish the Olympic torch by throwing a bucket of water over it as it passed through his farming town of Maracaju in central Brazil, an officer at the local police station said on Monday. Police arrested ... More »
RAMYGALA, Lithuania The Lithuanian village of Ramygala held its annual beauty pageant on Sunday, the top prize going to a 16-month-old female goat called Demyte, or “Little Spot”. Around 500 people braved the summer heat to attend the parade in honor of the go... More »
SULZANO, Italy A yellow fabric walkway floating on Lake Iseo in northern Italy has attracted twice as many visitors as expected and has been forced to close at night for essential repairs and cleaning. Last Saturday, Bulgarian-born artist Christo opened “The F... More »
ISLAMABAD The plight of a lonely elephant in a Pakistani zoo has inspired help from pop icon Cher, who has sent a representative to oversee improvements in his living conditions. Cher first became aware of 29-year-old Kavaan’s plight when pictures of the eleph... More »
ATLANTA A 1992 Olympic gold medal stolen from champion canoeist Joe Jacobi’s car earlier this month in Atlanta was found by a 6-year-old girl and returned to him, he said on Monday. The girl spotted the medal in a wooded area while on a walk with her family on... More »
BRUSSELS Brexit may be an abstract idea for many Britons but for compatriots living in continental Europe Thursday’s EU membership referendum has a very real impact — especially on those working for the Union itself in Brussels. “It’s a very weird feeling, lik... More »
PARIS Three antique Japanese theater masks that bear a striking resemblance to former French president Jacques Chirac will go on display from Tuesday in a Paris museum he set up 10 years ago and that will now bear his name. “There are thousands of Chiracs in J... More »
BUENOS AIRES A top public works official in Argentina’s previous government was arrested on Tuesday while throwing what police called “an obscene amount of cash” over the walls of a monastery, intensifying questions about possible past corruption. Officers res... More »
LONDON Forget the opinion polls and betting odds, one English farmer has his own way of predicting the outcome of Britain’s looming referendum on whether to stay in the European Union or leave – racing his miniature pigs. The pigs of Pennywell Farm in Devon su... More »
EVIAN, France Embarrassing footage of Germany coach Joachim Loew scratching around inside the front and back of his trousers during their Euro 2016 win over Ukraine has caused a buzz back home but for winger Lukas Podolski it is not an issue. Loew was watching... More »
PARIS Following the example set by Paul the Octopus, Watson the sea-lion hopes his nose for winners will bring him international stardom – and a few extra fish – as he predicts the outcome of France’s games in the Euro soccer championship. Weighing in at a spr... More »
ATHENS A 2,000-year-old astronomical calculator used by ancient Greeks to chart the movement of the sun, moon and planets may also have had another purpose – fortune telling, say researchers. Heralded as the world’s first computer, the Antikythera Mechanism is... More »
ZAGREB On the rooftop of an empty building in Zagreb, Dino Helvida carefully pierces his client Kaitlin’s torso, legs and face before putting hooks through her skin. Shortly after, he suspends her from a metallic frame, her heavily tattooed body dangling horiz... More »
A month-old Bactrian camel named Alexander Camelton at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo has become a social media star. The gangly brown camel has Twitter abuzz over his name, a play on Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States and the ins... More »
OTTAWA A large sinkhole closed down part of the Canadian capital on Wednesday and forced the evacuation of businesses a few blocks from the national parliament, three weeks before Ottawa is due to host a summit of the leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United S... More »
HOUSTON The rows of traders who line the massive trading floor at Mercuria Energy Group’s Houston headquarters rely on a string of modern conveniences to execute deals across the globe. But when they’re under the gun to deliver oil fast, they call one person: ... More »
DEBRECEN, Hungary In a graveyard in Hungary, solemn contemplation gave way to frantic sportsmanship on Friday as dozens of grave diggers battled to prove they were the fastest and best in the business. Taking their places at plots selected by pulling names out... More »
A Tasmanian devil named Nick is back in his exhibit area at the San Diego Zoo after receiving a pacemaker to make his heartbeat normal. In January, zoo veterinarians discovered that Nick suffered from an abnormally slow heartbeat and his cardiologist decided t... More »
LONDON Ancient humans made dogs their best friend not once but twice, by domesticating two separate populations of wolves thousands of miles apart in Europe and Asia. That is the conclusion of scientists who said on Thursday they had used modern genetics to un... More »
After shooting dead a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo to save a 3-year-old boy, zoo officials said they had collected a sample of his sperm, raising hopes among distraught fans that Harambe could sire offspring even in death. But officials at the main U.S. body ... More »
FLORENCE, Italy The city of Florence has fined the head of the Uffizi Gallery for broadcasting publicity without authorisation after he aired a recording warning visitors not to buy entry to one of the world’s most famous art museums from ticket touts. Uffizi ... More »
BEIJING With drinks served in breast-shaped cups and beers opened with bottle openers shaped like a wooden penis, the father and daughter team behind a Beijing S&M restaurant are encouraging customers to mix food with sex. Owner Lu Lu, a 27-year-old divorcee, ... More »
NEW DELHI An Indian man obsessed with setting Guinness world records got 366 flags tattooed on his body and had all his teeth removed so he could put nearly 500 drinking straws and more than 50 burning candles in his mouth. Har Parkash Rishi, who claims to hav... More »
LONDON The debate about Britain’s future in the Europe has taken an unexpected new twist: a “battle of the balconies” between north London neighbors unfurling competing pro- and anti-Brexit banners. Unimpressed by a large “Vote Leave” banner appearing on the b... More »
LONDON A giant mural of Donald Trump locked in a kiss with former London mayor Boris Johnson in the style of a legendary Soviet-era image has been unveiled by a group campaigning for Britain to stay in the European Union. Painted on the side of a building in B... More »
DUBAI Dubai has opened what it said was the world’s first functioning 3D-printed office building, part of a drive by the Gulf’s main tourism and business hub to develop technology that cuts costs and saves time. The printers – used industrially and also on a s... More »
LOS ANGELES The former Iowa science teacher and McDonald’s Corp “brand ambassador,” who preached the virtues of walking and near-daily french fries in presentations to youth, is no longer visiting U.S. schools, the fast-food chain said on Friday. The program p... More »
LONDON A London temporary worker, sent home for wearing flat shoes, has collected more than 120,000 signatures so far in a petition calling for Britain to make it illegal for a firm to require women to wear high heels at work. Reaching that total on Friday eas... More »
SOCHI, Russia An effort to show off the superiority of Russian military equipment backfired on Thursday when the door handle of a jeep fell off just as President Vladimir Putin was inspecting the vehicle. The Kremlin leader was being shown an array of military... More »
NEW YORK A painting languishing in a New Jersey basement that turned out to be one of Dutch master Rembrandt’s earliest works goes on display on Wednesday at the J. Paul Getty Museum in California as a key part of an exhibit on the 17th century artist. “The Un... More »
What could be more American than standing in a backyard at a barbecue while holding a beer on the Memorial Day weekend in the United States? Budweiser thinks it has the answer: Holding a beer called America. The brewer said on Tuesday it will rename its eponym... More »
TORONTO A dating website is pledging to match Americans who can’t live with a Donald Trump presidency to Canadians looking for love, facilitating the pledge often made by U.S. voters to move to Canada if the real estate billionaire is elected. “Maple Match mak... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, suggested on Monday he would make an exception for London’s newly elected Muslim mayor, the New York Times reported. “There wil... More »
TOKYO A Japanese court found on Monday an artist not guilty of obscenity for displaying figurines modeled on her vagina, signaling a step towards freedom of expression, although the court fined her for distributing digital data of her genitals. The Tokyo court... More »
SAN SALVADOR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The sweet sounds of classical music float across a sunny courtyard as a group of teenagers pluck the strings of violins and cellos. But beyond the high gates enclosing the courtyard of the Don Bosco Industrial Polygo... More »
NEW YORK Thousands of pigeons with tiny LED lights strapped to their legs swooped through the darkening skies in a jaw-dropping display of beauty, but savvy New Yorkers gazing up at the performance art knew enough to keep their mouths shut. As evening fell ove... More »
WASHINGTON It was a creature so outlandish that scientists say it reminds them of the fanciful beasts conjured up by Dr. Seuss. But would the famous children’s book author have thought up a marine reptile with a hammerhead snout it used to snack on algae? Scie... More »
MOSCOW A Russian company is trying to cash in on chilly relations between Moscow and Washington by releasing an ice cream called “Little Obama”, irritating U.S. officials. The product, called “Obamka” in Russian, is glazed with chocolate and its wrapping featu... More »
RUDA SLASKA, Poland Janusz Urbanski has a one of a kind chessboard he never plays, a personalised guitar he does not strum and a boat he cannot sail. Why? They are all made from tens of thousands of matches. For the last 40 years, the former Polish miner and i... More »
LONDON A new 200 million pound ($290 million) polar research ship is to be named after veteran BBC naturalist David Attenborough but the government promised on Friday that “Boaty McBoatface”, the name which topped a public poll, would not be ignored. The namin... More »
LISBON A young man’s attempt to take a selfie snapshot with the statue of a 16th century Portuguese king ended badly when the 126-year-old statue crashed to the ground and shattered, police said on Wednesday. The man, whom police did not identify, accidentally... More »
Leicester City’s remarkable Premier League triumph after starting the season as 5,000-1 outsiders to win the title made the pages of the press around the world on Tuesday. Leicester clinched the English league title for the first time in their 132-year history... More »
LONDON There was no shortage of superlatives on Tuesday after little Leicester City were crowned champions of the world’s richest soccer league. New fans sprung up worldwide overnight, but few could explain the season’s extraordinary events. A Bangkok monk sai... More »
Leicester City have the chance of making anything between 150 million pounds ($220 million) and 250 million pounds ($365 million) from their sensational Premier League triumph, according to sports marketing experts. The city of Leicester in England’s Midlands ... More »
BANGKOK The owners of English soccer champions Leicester City say they will resist attempts by more glamorous rivals to lure away their title-winning players, after an unlikely triumph that has captured the imagination of fans worldwide. Duty-free magnate Vich... More »
ROME Leicester City coach Claudio Ranieri said on Tuesday that he believed at Christmas his team would win the Premier League, even as he continued to tell the media his only goal was avoiding relegation. “Now I can say it, I always knew we’d win,” Ranieri tol... More »
Claudio Ranieri warned Leicester City fans, who were still in dreamland on Tuesday following their side’s “unbelievable” Premier League triumph, that a repeat next season could not happen. The Foxes’ Italian manager, talking for the first time since Leicester’... More »
British astronaut Tim Peake became the first man to complete a marathon in space on Sunday, running the classic 26.2 mile distance while strapped to a treadmill aboard the International Space Station. As part of the London Marathon, Britain’s biggest mass part... More »
CARACAS Venezuela on Friday reversed a half-hour time change that was one of the signature measures of former president Hugo Chavez’s idiosyncratic 14-year rule. Chavez turned Venezuela’s clocks back 30 minutes in 2007 so that children could wake up for school... More »
TOKYO Chacha the chimpanzee made his own great escape on Thursday, fleeing from a zoo in northern Japan and leading authorities on a dramatic chase. The male primate went missing from Yagiyama Zoological Park and was seen roaming in a neighborhood in Sendai. V... More »
KIEV Four Dutch masterpieces dating from the country’s 17th-century Golden Age have been recovered by security services in Ukraine over 10 years after they were stolen from a museum in the Netherlands, Ukraine Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Thursday. T... More »
LONDON A team of sniffer dogs set up at a British airport at a cost of 1.25 million pounds ($1.7 million) have proved adept at discovering small amounts of cheese and sausages but not so good at finding smuggled drugs, a report said on Thursday. An inspection ... More »
LONDON A high-tech marine drone scouring the depths of Scotland’s Loch Ness for one of nature’s most elusive beasts has found a “monster” – but not the one it was looking for. Rather than the fabled Loch Ness Monster itself, the probe has discovered a 30-foot ... More »
PARIS A painting found in the attic of a house in southwest France two years ago was attributed to the Italian master Caravaggio by private French experts who hailed its discovery on Tuesday as a great event in the history of art. The work, which depicts Bibli... More »
A morbidly obese Texas dachshund once dubbed “Fat Vincent” because his belly was so large it hit the ground when he walked, has found its way out of animal shelter care by dropping half its body weight, on track to become healthy enough for a new owner. The 7-... More »
LONDON Usually concerned with top secret matters affecting national security, Britain’s eavesdropping spy agency GCHQ was also on the lookout for leaks of a yet-to-be-published Harry Potter book, its publisher has revealed. Shortly before the publication of on... More »
A Colorado lawmaker is trying to outlaw marijuana-laced gummy candies that resemble children’s treats, the latest effort by a U.S. state to address the complexities and unintended consequences of pot legalization. In 2014 Colorado became the first state to all... More »
NEW YORK Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump appears to have a passionate supporter in Joseph Hornick, a New Jersey man who faces a $2,000 fine or 90 days in jail for flying a flag emblazoned with the billionaire candidate’s name over his home. Local ... More »
LISBON Portuguese Culture Minister Joao Soares resigned on Friday, a day after threatening to slap critics who had called him incompetent and rude. A post on his Facebook page saying he wanted to slap two newspaper columnists, followed by what was seen as a ha... More »
JERSEY CITY, N.J. With the push of a button, a perfectly healthy 34-year-old museum-goer named Ugo Dumont was transformed into a confused 85-year-old man with cataracts, glaucoma and a ringing in his ears known as tinnitus. Dumont had volunteered at Liberty Sc... More »
JOHANNESBURG With their economy flatlining, currency on the ropes and politics in turmoil, many South Africans are turning to humor for relief, mainly at the expense of President Jacob Zuma and his $16-million home improvements. Within minutes of Zuma survivin... More »
ATHENS Greece on Monday picked a local theater director to curate its most renowned annual summer arts festival after Belgian artist Jan Fabre quit following protests from artists that his plans excluded Greek works. Fabre resigned on April 2, complaining of a... More »
NEW YORK A bull that bolted on its death march to a New York City slaughterhouse and was rescued with the help of comedian Jon Stewart will find out soon there is a price for freedom. The Angus bull that escaped on Friday, and whose life was spared when animal... More »
CLEVELAND The Ohio childhood home of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, available for rent in time for the Republican National Convention this summer, could have been had for $8,000 a month until Friday afternoon, when the price went up and references to the infamo... More »
NEW YORK Kittens firing a cannon, a rabbit sniffing for drugs, attempts at humor on the fraught presidential campaign trail and a failed prank by Google competed for attention in the United States on Friday. As ever, the trick for April Fools’ Day hoaxes was t... More »
TORONTO Canada’s oil-producing province of Alberta, stymied by the U.S. decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline and by other market access problems, said on Friday it will use zeppelins to bring its products to markets around the world. Alberta’s left-leani... More »
Google hastily removed an April Fools’ Day feature on Friday that allowed Gmail users to send emails and not see the replies, after the joke fell very flat with some people. The prank, called “Mic Drop,” gave users the option of sending emails through a specia... More »
Almost a week after being shut down for spewing racist and sexist comments on Twitter, Microsoft Corp’s artificial intelligence ‘chatbot’ called Tay briefly rejoined Twitter on Wednesday only to launch a spam attack on its followers. The incident marks another... More »
MEXICO CITY Mexicans celebrating an Easter ritual late on Saturday burnt effigies of U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whose anti-immigrant views have sparked outrage south of the American border. In Mexico City’s poor La Merced neighborhood, ... More »
