NEW YORK Love at first whiff is the idea behind Smell Dating, a New York matchmaking service that promises to help single people sniff out their perfect match by breathing in the odors from dirty T-shirts. Artist Tega Brain, who teaches at New York’s School fo... More »
LONDON Shakespeare’s skull is likely missing from his grave, an archaeologist has concluded, confirming rumors which have swirled for years about grave-robbers and adding to the mystery surrounding the Bard’s remains. Four hundred years after his death and bur... More »
WELLINGTON New Zealand voted on Thursday to retain its national flag, which includes the Union Jack of its former colonial ruler, after a 16-month exercise that cost taxpayers NZ$26 million ($17.44 million). Preliminary results of a referendum showed 56.6 perc... More »
SEOUL Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), the world’s biggest maker of smartphones and memory chips, announced on Thursday that it plans to adopt a corporate culture akin to a startup, seeking to become more nimble as growth slows. Samsung’s executives wil... More »
HAVANA U.S. President Barack Obama finally got a chance to meet Pánfilo, the Cuban television character, when he appeared in a skit shot in Havana for a popular comedy show that sometimes pokes fun at the Cuban government. The U.S. embassy in Cuba released the... More »
BEIJING China will seek to root out geographic names that are foreign and “bizarre”, especially for residential compounds, state media quoted the civil affairs minister as saying on Tuesday. Minister Li Liguo said China will “stem irregularities in naming the ... More »
WASHINGTON When a female “burying beetle” is focused on caring for babies and not making new ones, she releases a chemical signal to her libidinous mate that says in no uncertain terms, “Honey, I’m not in the mood.” Scientists described on Tuesday how these fe... More »
Visitors, many dressed in white, trudge up the steps of the Pyramid of the Sun, north of Mexico City, on Sunday to catch the first rays of the day and to celebrate the spring equinox. By raising their arms and soaking in the warmth of the sun at the top of th... More »
SÃO PAULO If any symbol captures the anger of rich and upper-middle class Brazilians who have taken to the streets to protest against President Dilma Rousseff, it might be a giant, inflatable yellow duck. The 40-foot (12-meter) high duck presides over Sao Paul... More »
WASHINGTON Our species, Homo sapiens, has a more adventurous sexual history than previously realized, and all that bed-hopping long ago has left an indelible mark on the human genome. Scientists said on Friday an analysis of genetic information on about 1,500 ... More »
ROME Fried cow’s brains might not be to everyone’s taste, but more people may sample the Florentine specialty now that Italy’s art capital has ordered food outlets in the city center to sell mostly local produce. Florence is the latest Italian tourist destinat... More »
BEIJING China’s environment ministry has ordered an investigation after a provincial environmental protection body fined a polluting factory just 603 yuan ($90) for dumping waste water, state media said on Friday. China’s government has repeatedly vowed to get... More »
NAIROBI A male lion that strayed into rush hour traffic in the Kenyan capital on Friday injured one man before being captured and taken back to a reserve that lies on the edge of the city, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said. KWS, which manages the country’s... More »
ROME Silhouettes of emperors, popes and artists are slowly emerging on the grimy walls of the Tiber River in Rome, part of an epic mural that tells the history of the Eternal City. Technicians are using power hoses on the dirty stone to stencil the 550-metre-l... More »
ASTANA Kazakh officials and their visitors will have to leave their smartphones at the door of government buildings from March 24 in line with a new policy aimed at preventing leaks of sensitive documents, a leaked document showed on Thursday. The memo cites “... More »
SYDNEY Australia’s opposition Labor Party’s launched a “Waste-pedia” booklet and Waste Watch website on Thursday, accusing the coalition government of over-lavish spending – including $400,000 on “koala and other marsupial-related events”. “This government is ... More »
SEOUL South Korean Lee Sedol won his first match against a computer program developed by a Google subsidiary on Sunday in the ancient board game Go, denying a clean sweep for the artificial intelligence in a five-match series. Lee, one of the world’s top playe... More »
SEOUL Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) program on Saturday took a 3-0 lead in a five-match series against one of the world’s top players of the complicated board game Go. The victory for the AlphaGo program, designed by Google subsidiary DeepMind, over So... More »
Popular U.S. television dog trainer Cesar Millan, known as the “Dog Whisperer,” said on Friday he understands why he is being investigated for animal cruelty but stands by his training methods, as thousands signed a petition demanding his show be canceled. Mil... More »
BOSTON Comedian, writer, producer and musician Steve Martin can add another line to his resume: art museum curator. The 70-year-old actor, who rose to fame on “Saturday Night Live” and starred in films including “The Jerk” and “Father of the Bride,” makes his ... More »
BERLIN Chihira Kanae is greeting visitors to the world’s biggest travel fair in Berlin this week, answering questions and guiding people in the right direction. But one passer by’s attempt to ask her out for dinner is met with silence. That’s because Chihira K... More »
WASHINGTON A study in which people chewed on pieces of raw goat meat and vegetables smacked with a rock is shedding light on how changes long ago in the way our ancestors dined paved the way for physiological advances that helped make us who were are today. Sc... More »
PALEMBANG, Indonesia A solar eclipse enthralled Indonesia on Wednesday but clouds over some parts of archipelago spoiled the view for many of the skywatchers who had the opportunity to see it in totality. In Palembang city on the western island of Sumatra wher... More »
LONDON A sharp increase in the number of deaths in Britain in 2015 compared with the previous year helped funeral services firm Dignity post a 16-percent profit increase, the firm said on Wednesday. Dignity said the 7-percent year-on-year rise in the number of... More »
A southeast Michigan couple is twice lucky after the birth of their daughter on Feb. 29, the second time the mother has given birth to a baby girl on that day in a leap year. Chad and Melissa Croff, from Columbus Michigan, welcomed Evelyn Joy into the world at... More »
SAO PAULO While Brazil’s economy is in the doghouse, one underground business is bucking the trend — dognapping. Bosco, a black and white Boston Terrier stolen in November from outside a grocery store in Sao Paulo’s posh Jardins neighborhood, became the poster... More »
A crew of goats brought in to devour invasive plants at a popular park in Oregon’s state capital, Salem, have been fired because they ate indiscriminately, cost nearly five times as much as human landscapers and smelled far worse, a city official said on Frida... More »
MELBOURNE Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes has described Australia’s Olympic committee as a “source of aggressions” against Brazil after it banned the team’s athletes from visiting the city’s favelas during the Games in August. Australia’s team chef de missio... More »
LONDON A baby gorilla has been delivered by a rare caesarean section at a British zoo in an operation performed by a hospital gynaecologist, the zoo said on Tuesday. Vets at Bristol zoo in western England called in expert medical help after the mother Kera sho... More »
WASHINGTON DNA coaxed out of a 12,000-year-old fossil from Argentina is providing unique insight into one of the strangest Ice Age giants: a tank-like mammal the size of a small car with a bulbous bony shell and a spiky, club-shaped tail. Scientists said on Mo... More »
NEW YORK A British cathedral sought to reassure visitors on Monday that they could still view a massive sculpture following a Facebook post by the statue’s creator saying the church had moved it because people kept bumping into it while texting. The Salisbury ... More »
BRUSSELS As if the European Union does not have crises enough, now traffic chaos in its congested capital Brussels is being blamed on… hungry mice. EU leaders gathering for a summit on Thursday to deal with the refugee crisis and British threats to quit the bl... More »
PARIS Five small bronze statues by French 19th century sculptor Auguste Rodin will be auctioned in Paris next week, including a cast of his celebrated “The Kiss”, which is estimated at 1.5 to 2 million euros ($1.70-2.27 million). The five statues, to be sold b... More »
A wild elephant went on a rampage in a village in West Bengal on Wednesday, damaging around 100 structures, villagers said. Video taken in the village of Ektiasal showed the beast wandering around and knocking over flimsy huts. The elephant strayed into the vi... More »
MILWAUKEE A Wisconsin couple allowed their 9-year-old daughter to drive them and their 11-month-old baby because they were too drunk to do so themselves, according to Polk County Circuit Court records. Jason Roth, 36, and Amanda Eggert, 32, pleaded not guilty ... More »
CHICAGO Chicagoans this month are less obsessed with badmouthing Mayor Rahm Emanuel or worries about their sports teams, and more focused on finding the perfect “paczki,” a rich, Polish, donut-type dessert that’s taking the high-end dessert market by storm. Lo... More »
MUMBAI The rapidly-spreading Zika virus has an unlikely victim – Indian carmaker Tata Motors Ltd (TAMO.NS). The carmaker said on Tuesday it had decided to rename its soon-to-be-launched hatchback Zica, short for Zippy Car, after the mosquito-borne virus was de... More »
LOS ANGELES A skinny sea lion pup with a taste for the finer things in life turned up on Thursday inside a fancy San Diego restaurant, where it settled down into a booth. The malnourished mammal appears to have arrived at The Marine Room after sauntering down ... More »
CHICAGO If you are going to rob a photo booth, a mask might be a good idea. A photo booth snapped several photos of a man who allegedly stole $75 out of the booth at the Funway Amusements arcade and bowling alley in Batavia, Illinois, a town west of Chicago. P... More »
ISLAMABAD A Pakistani man has been arrested for hoisting the flag of arch rival India on his roof, an act police described as “anti-state” but which the accused says was a tribute to Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, officials said on Wednesday. Umar Draz, f... More »
BANGKOK A craze for lifelike dolls thought to bring good luck is sweeping Thailand, reflecting widespread anxiety as the economy struggles and political uncertainty persists nearly two years after a coup. Thailand is predominantly Buddhist and has been moderni... More »
NEW YORK A tiny green lizard found by a New Jersey kindergarten student in a bundle of chilled salad greens at home has wriggled its way into the hearts of an entire elementary school class, which has adopted it as a mascot. The three-inch (7.5-cm) critter wen... More »
TOKYO Japan’s staid politicians aren’t known for championing pop music, but even Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday was hailing an announcement that homegrown boy band SMAP had averted an impending break-up. Saturation media coverage and despairing fans gree... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA cut short a spacewalk on Friday at the International Space Station after one of the astronauts reported a leak in his spacesuit helmet, the U.S. space agency said. Tim Peake, who on the mission became the first astronaut from Britain ... More »
Gifts of sex toys, glitter and nail polish are not what the armed protesters who seized a U.S. wildlife refuge in Oregon were expecting when they put out a public call for supplies to help get them through the winter. The occupiers, who took over buildings at ... More »
LONDON The 19th century courtyards of Britain’s parliament echoed to the strains of Hubert Parry’s “Jerusalem” on Wednesday in one of the loudest public shows of support for a possible new anthem to be played at English sports events. One lawmaker has challeng... More »
An Ohio man wanted for drunk driving who sent police a more flattering photo of himself because he did not like his mug shot has been arrested in Florida, police said. “How’s this photo Donald Pugh?” asked the Escambia County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office on its ... More »
The iconic Los Angeles mansion of Hugh Hefner, the founder of the Playboy empire, is being put up for sale for $200 million, Playboy Enterprises said, one of the highest asking prices for a private residence in the United States. The Gothic Tudor-style mansion... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday will be more available to “cord cutters,” a nod to the changing television viewing habits of Americans, the White House said on Sunday. Cable and satellite providers have been grappling ... More »
NEW YORK A group of street artists say a church led by a pastor to celebrities like hip hop mogul Kanye West used their artwork from a Miami public school in an advertising campaign without their permission, according to a lawsuit. In a copyright infringement ... More »
NEW YORK A rare crested macaque that took a now internationally famous “selfie” cannot own the copyright to the photograph because he is not human, a U.S. judge ruled in a suit brought by animal rights group PETA on behalf of the monkey. People for the Ethical... More »
BERLIN Children carried toy lightsabers to a church in Berlin and some of the congregation dressed up as Darth Vader on Sunday to mark the release of the new Star Wars movie with a service on Sunday. At the terracotta-brick Zion Church, an organist played the ... More »
SAN FRANCISCO Early praise for the newest installment of “Star Wars” gave a boost to shares of Walt Disney and Electronic Arts, which recently launched a videogame based on the hugely popular space opera. Following prequels between 1999 and 2005 that were wide... More »
ECONOMY, Pa. Investigators said on Monday that red balls had been placed in the eye sockets of a woman’s embalmed head found a year ago in a case that may be linked to a growing black market for body parts. Economy Borough Police Chief Michael O’Brien at a new... More »
JERUSALEM Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday his family had put its dog in quarantine after she made headlines by biting two guests at a Jewish religious event they had hosted. “We were compelled, with sorrow, to put Kaiya into quarantine... More »
TOKYO Instead of spending the days before her wedding happily planning for the big day, Kaori Oguni was agonizing over the prospect of losing her maiden name and with it, she felt, part of her identity. Oguni is one of five people suing the government of Japan... More »
JERUSALEM Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recently adopted dog Kaiya has sunk her teeth into her new position, biting two visitors at an event on Wednesday, including the husband of the deputy foreign minister. At a candle-lighting ceremony to mark the Jew... More »
LOS ANGELES Jar Jar Binks, a goofy amphibious character who irritated many “Star Wars” fans in the 1999 film “The Phantom Menace,” will not appear in the new movie “The Force Awakens,” producer Kathleen Kennedy said on Sunday. The filmmakers have declined to s... More »
LONDON Refusal to pay the bills of one’s tailor was famously almost a point of honor among English gentlemen in past centuries and Winston Churchill was no exception, newly released archives show. Britain’s World War Two leader had racked up a bill of 197 poun... More »
LAHORE, Pakistan A Pakistani attorney said on Thursday he has filed a court petition seeking the return of the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond Britain forced India to hand over in colonial times. Once the largest known diamond in the world, the 105-carat Koh-i-Noor i... More »
WASHINGTON In the ruins of a medieval convent in the French city of Rennes, archaeologists discovered five heart-shaped urns made of lead, each containing an embalmed human heart. Now, roughly four centuries after they were buried, researchers have used modern... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday reframed his claim that he saw Muslims in Jersey City, New Jersey, cheering the attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001 by asserting the sentiment... More »
SINGAPORE Adam Lambert may have been a hit on American Idol but rival petitions in Singapore have gathered thousands of online votes in a lively debate over whether he is too sexy to be allowed to perform at the city-state’s largest New Year’s eve concert. The... More »
DAR ES SALAAM Tanzanian officials will not be allowed to send out the usual government printed Christmas and New Year cards this year as part of belt-tightening measures by the new president. John Magufuli has implemented a series of austerity steps since bein... More »
YEKATERINBURG, Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday inaugurated a museum dedicated to Boris Yeltsin, the former president whose legacy, many former Yeltsin associates say, Putin has spent the past 15 years dismantling. When an ailing and unpopu... More »
ROME Rome has banned centurion impersonators who charge to scowl in photos around the ancient Colosseum amphitheatre and frequently come under fire for their pushy tactics with tourists. The Italian capital is imposing extra security measures and sprucing up p... More »
BERKELEY, Calif. U.S. central bankers not only regularly leak secret information about monetary policy, but the leaks are so predictably timed that a savvy investor without access to the leaked information could make money just by buying stocks in certain week... More »
HOUSTON Houston-area police have arrested a man dubbed the “Cookie Monster” robber who is suspected in holdups at more than 30 fast-food restaurants, often demanding that a cookie be handed over along with the cash, authorities said on Friday. Eugene Bradshaw,... More »
SINGAPORE The co-founder of a Singapore church and five other leaders were sentenced to jail terms of up to eight years on Friday, for fraudulently diverting millions of dollars to support his wife’s pop singing career. The mix of faith and fraud has fascinate... More »
JAKARTA When Indonesia’s anti-drugs czar announced plans to guard a death-row prison island with crocodiles, the government rushed to explain that it was just a joke, but on Friday Budi Waseso said he was now thinking of using tigers and piranha fish too. Medi... More »
DUBLINIrish women are tweeting details of their periods to Prime Minister Enda Kenny to help publicise a campaign to repeal restrictive abortion laws. Abortion is a divisive issue in Ireland where, after large street protests from both sides of the debate, a c... More »
KANSAS CITY, Mo. Jubilant Kansas City Royals fans poured onto the streets of Missouri’s largest city on Sunday to celebrate a World Series triumph that marked a first Major League Baseball championship in 30 years. The Game Five 7-2 road win in 12 innings over... More »
WASHINGTON Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan can add one more burning issue to his agenda as the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives: how to get rid of the stench of cigarette smoke. Ryan said on Sunday he has been trying to come up with ways to remo... More »
NEW YORK America’s most popular Halloween costume this year could be Batman adversary Harley Quinn from the DC Comics series, according to Google. Quinn’s stock is rising thanks in part to keen anticipation of the 2016 film “Suicide Squad,” which will star Aus... More »
LOS ANGELES Tillman, the English bulldog who in 2009 set a Guinness World Record as the fastest skateboarding canine and starred in videos that demonstrated his four-wheeled prowess, has died in Southern California at age 10, his owner said on Thursday. Tillma... More »
(This October 28 story has been corrected in 13th paragraph to fix 100 mph metric conversion to 160 kph from 60kph) By Joe McDonald and Phil Stewart EXCHANGE, Pa./WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A high-tech U.S. military blimp designed to detect a missile attack came l... More »
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican presidential hopeful, apologized for speaking too loudly on Sunday in a designated quiet car on an Amtrak train, a spokeswoman said. Christie accidentally took a seat in “Amtrak’s notorious quiet car” on Sunday ... More »
WASHINGTON Oscar-winning director Kevin Costner has turned novelist in a big way, kicking off with an adventure yarn aimed for the ages that weighs in at a doorstopping 784 pages. “The Explorers Guild,” which the 60-year-old “Bull Durham” star co-wrote with Ji... More »
An off-duty Maryland police officer charged with biting a man’s testicles during a fight is no longer working for the department, a spokeswoman said on Monday. Police officer Michael Flaig, 31, of Anne Arundel County, left the department for unspecified reason... More »
KARACHI The lean days appear to be over for Mor Sahib, an 87-year-old crocodile venerated by Pakistan’s tiny Sheedi community, as pilgrims once again flock to a shrine in Karachi that has been shunned for years amid fears of Taliban attacks. The aging reptile,... More »
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has dismissed as wide of the mark reports that he sprayed Russian President Vladimir Putin with the winner’s champagne after Sunday’s grand prix in Sochi. “I actually didn’t. I didn’t actually spray him. I think there’... More »
SAN FRANCISCO President Barack Obama poked a litte fun at rapper Kanye West on Saturday for saying he planned to run for the White House and offered some tongue-in-cheek advice on how to achieve a successful political career. “First of all, you’ve got to spend... More »
BOSTON People who want to see New England’s colorful fall foliage no longer need to travel for the experience. A Boston-area man is offering to ship bundles of the dried up, multi-colored vegetation straight to your door for $19.99. Kyle Waring, of Somerville,... More »
TOKYO It’s a plot that could almost have come from Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, the wildly popular author known for writing about disillusionment, who has been a top pick for the Nobel Literature prize for nearly a decade – in vain. To the bitter disappo... More »
London’s Savile Row, home to Britain’s top tailors, was turned into a grazing meadow on Monday, with a flock of sheep filling the street to help raise awareness of the wool industry. Traffic was halted, turf was laid out and Bowmont Merino and Exmoor Horn shee... More »
OTTAWA One of the world’s most famous central bank chiefs, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, briefly became the late American actor Art Carney during a Canadian election debate on Friday. Gilles Duceppe, leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois party, refer... More »
ORLANDO, Fla. A love triangle between bald eagles that played out before thousands of fans on a live webcam has ended badly in Florida with the death of Ozzie, longtime mate of Harriet, according to a Florida wildlife clinic. Ozzie was critically wounded on Se... More »
MILWAUKEE Wisconsin wildlife officials have taken to social media to refute a hoax letter that suggested they had mistakenly added deer lawn ornaments to the last two annual statewide deer tallies. The state’s Department of Natural Resources said on Facebook t... More »
GLASGOW This year’s Turner Prize nominees range from a collective selling handles, and costlier furnishings, online for 15 pounds ($23) a pop to a video display in which a woman talks about being brainwashed in Kentucky by aliens. Since the British contemporar... More »
BRUGELETTE, Belgium Belgian researchers are examining the excrement of giant pandas to try to understand how they can digest tough bamboo, hoping for clues on how to develop new generations of biofuel. The genetic make-up of endangered pandas is that of a carn... More »
NEW ORLEANS In New Orleans, a city synonymous with music and raucous revelry, government officials are launching a public health campaign aimed at turning down the volume. The city this week announced the start of “Sound Check,” the latest attempt to address r... More »
WASHINGTON The Pentagon’s Inspector General is investigating whether U.S. military personnel tried to get the U.S. government to pay them back for bills they racked up at casinos and strip clubs, using official travel charge cards. In May, the Pentagon watchdo... More »
PARIS British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor has decided to leave the anti-Semitic graffiti on his “Dirty Corner” installation at the Palace of Versailles near Paris, but will cover it up, palace authorities said on Friday. The 60-meter (197 feet) abstract steel... More »
WASHINGTON A cloak of invisibility may be common in science fiction but it is not so easy in the real world. New research suggests such a device may be moving closer to reality. Scientists said on Thursday they have successfully tested an ultra-thin invisibili... More »
TAMPA, Fla. A Florida woman living in a mobile home that was “booby trapped” with more than 3,714 swords, knives and other bladed weapons was in jail on Thursday after attacking officers who had come to arrest her, police said. Nickcole Dykema, 47, was being h... More »
WASHINGTON The four leaders of the U.S. Congress asked members on Thursday to refrain from one of Washington’s favorite rituals when Pope Francis visits the Capitol next week: no trying to grab a handshake as he makes his way in. On Sept. 24, Pope Francis will... More »
MOSCOW/WARSAW Russia summoned Poland’s ambassador on Thursday to protest at the removal of a Soviet-era statue in a Polish town on the 76th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland, highlighting increased tensions between the neighbors. Katarzyna Pelczynsk... More »
American conductor Marin Alsop brought the 120th season of the Proms, the world’s biggest and longest running music festival, to a close in London on Saturday, with an acknowledgement of the power of music to help overcome inequality. “It’s clear inequality is... More »
LOS ANGELES Nine original Andy Warhol prints were quietly stolen from a Los Angeles movie business and replaced with fakes in an art heist that went undetected for years, police and court documents showed on Thursday. The silk screen prints worth an estimated ... More »
CRADLE OF HUMANKIND, South Africa Humanity’s claim to uniqueness just suffered another setback: scientists reported on Thursday that a newly discovered ancient species related to humans also appeared to bury its dead. Fossils of the creature were unearthed in ... More »
