Odd News
- WorldAFP
French Miss Africa contests proudly celebrate dual cultures in Paris
The recent scene in a Paris theatre was loud and tumultuous with hundreds of spectators backing their favourites in the Miss Ivory Coast/France 2024 contest, one of many events at which France's African diaspora celebrate their dual culture.Flora Sy, president of the Miss Ivory Coast/France committee, said that although the contestants are "very proud" to be French, "it is also important for us to show our Ivorian culture".
2 min read - CelebrityAFP
Funny old world: The week's offbeat news
From the artist who paints with both feet to the viral question that's hard to bear... your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.That is the disconcerting conclusion of a hypothetical question that has gone viral on social media.
3 min read - LifestyleAFP
VideoTurkey therapy dogs join Istanbul Airport staff
Six-year-old Kuki and one-and-a-half-year old Alita recently joined the staff of Istanbul Airport, one of the busiest in the world, with a mission to provide solace for stressed travellers. At international departures just before passport control, the two dogs welcome passengers, some who are in a hurry, some feeling the tug of anxiety and some hanging around to say good-bye to loved ones. Ali Bahtiyari, who was travelling outside his native Iran for the first time, was amazed as soon as he saw
- PoliticsAFP
RFK Jr says doctor told him a worm ate part of his brain: US media
Independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr believed he may have been attacked by a worm that ate part of his brain and then died inside his head, US media reported on Wednesday.A New York surgeon who reviewed his brain scans told Kennedy his health issues could have been "caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died," the White House hopeful reportedly told attorneys.
2 min read - LifestyleAFP
What a feet: Viral Dutch artist paints 10 pictures at once
Two paintbrushes between the toes, two in her hands, and fierce concentration etched on her face, Dutch artist Rajacenna van Dam is crafting 10 paintings at the same time.She is so skilled that only she can tell the difference between paintings crafted with her hands and those with her feet.
3 min read - CelebrityAFP
Katy Perry fools internet with fake AI photos of Met Gala
US singer Katy Perry said even her own mother was fooled by AI-generated fake images she posted Tuesday of herself pretending to attend the Met Gala in New York. The image even fooled Perry's mother.
2 min read - WorldAFP
Lone Indian voter casts ballot in special forest booth
Deep inside a protected Indian forest, a Hindu monk cast his ballot on Tuesday, ensuring a 100 percent turnout at the polling station where he is the sole registered voter.Udaseen is the custodian of a temple dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva, sitting deep in the Gir forest next to a stream infested with crocodiles, moving there in 2019 after the death of his predecessor.
3 min read - CelebrityAFP
Star dog Messi will interview stars on Cannes red carpet
Messi, star of Oscar-winning movie "Anatomy of a Fall", which won the top prize at Cannes last year, will return to the festival next week as a red-carpet interviewer to the stars. Messi earned global attention for his role in "Anatomy of a Fall", winning the Palm Dog prize for best canine performance at Cannes.
2 min read - EntertainmentAFP
Brian May, Jean-Michel Jarre team up for free Slovak concert
Electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre and Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May will perform a free concert this weekend in Bratislava, the opening event of a festival of science and the arts."I will always contribute where I can in pursuing progress in the fields of education, science and culture," said Jarre, a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO for more than three decades.
1 min read - USAFP
Political dogfight: White House slams call for Biden pooch to be shot
The White House bared its teeth Monday at a "disturbing" political opponent who called for President Joe Biden's dog to be put down, days after she revealed she had shot her own family's pet."Joe Biden's dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people.
2 min read - USAFP
Striped, not spotted: Missing zebra on the lam in western US
A zebra that made a break for freedom while being transported to a petting zoo in the western United States was on the run Friday.The striped African mammal -- named Z -- was one of four that bolted from a trailer on the side of a highway in Washington state on Sunday.
2 min read - WorldAFP
Cockfights still rule the roost in India's forest villages
The swing of a talon and a flurry of feathers leaves a rooster motionless, a cockfight bout viewed as cruel by many but which binds disparate Indian forest communities together.But the men living in Bastar's forests see it as an integral part of their community fabric.
3 min read - LifestyleAFP
Amsterdam parking space up for grabs for half-a-million euros
Housing is at a premium and so is parking in the Netherlands, but a parking space put up for sale this week for almost half-a-million euros -- more than the average home price -- has raised eyebrows. It noted that hundreds of parking spaces were on sale in the Netherlands "but this specific price has... raised eyebrows."
2 min read - USAFP
Amazon Purr-rime: Cat accidentally shipped to online retailer
A curious cat that sneaked into an open box was shipped across the United States to an Amazon warehouse after its unknowing owners sealed it inside.But a week later, a vet hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in Los Angeles got in touch to say the cat had been discovered in a box -- alongside several pairs of boots -- by a warehouse worker at an Amazon center.
1 min read - WorldAFP
'Feel like a beautiful bird': hundreds do yoga on Thai airport runway
Stretching their fingertips to the reddening sky, hundreds of yoga devotees rolled out their mats on the runway of Bangkok's main airport Saturday, practising their downward dog as early morning flights rumbled overhead."We have so many people come here to just join the yoga class, and take a picture on a runway," she told AFP, praising Bangkok's yoga community.
2 min read - WorldAFP
Barking mad? Milei's attachment to 'dead' dog raises sanity worries
Does Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept?Milei himself has refused to answer questions about his dogs.
3 min read - WorldAFP
French barber still trimming at 90
French barber Roger Amilhastre, 90, could have hung up his clippers decades ago but he said his passion for hair gives him a reason to get up in the morning.France's national hairdressers' union believes Amilhastre may be France's oldest active barber.
3 min read - WorldAFP
French national library quarantines 'poisonous' books
France's national library said Thursday it had removed four 19th-century books from its shelves whose emerald green covers were likely laced with highly poisonous arsenic.The National Library of France said it would also examine other green covered books "beyond the Poison Book Project list".
2 min read - SportsAFP
VideoFrance's Macron scores penalty in charity match for wife's foundation
French President Emmanuel Macron was a penalty hero on Wednesday as he donned studs alongside ex-star footballers Didier Drogba, Didier Deschamps and Eden Hazard to raise money for children in hospital.Macron's spot-kick -- scored against a goalkeeper who did not move -- helped the presidential XI defeat a team of healthcare professionals from the Parisian suburb of Plaisir coached by iconic former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, 5-3.It was the second time that Macron had pulled on a football jer
- PoliticsAFP
Bleach blond? Biden mocks Trump's hair in personal barb
US President Joe Biden took aim Wednesday at Donald Trump, joking that when his rival famously remarked about injecting bleach to tackle Covid it instead went in his much-discussed hair.Trump, 77, regularly mocks his opponent's lifelong stutter and calls him "sleepy Joe."
1 min read - USAFP
He hippo in Japan zoo turns out to be a she
Betrayed by its DNA and unmanly toilet habits, a hippopotamus in Japan thought for seven years to be a he is in fact a she, the zoo where the wallowing giant lives said Tuesday.The 12-year-old came to Osaka Tennoji Zoo in 2017 from the Africam Safari animal park in Mexico, where officials attested on customs documents that the then five-year-old was male.
1 min read - WorldAFP
Belgian whose body brews alcohol beats drink-driving rap
A Belgian man with a very rare metabolic condition that causes his body to produce alcohol had a drink-driving charge against him dismissed in court on Monday.The man meanwhile was following a carbohydrate-light diet to avoid his stomach producing more alcohol.
2 min read - BusinessAFP
Vinyl enthusiasts spin into action on UK's Record Store Day
It was 8.30 am (0730 GMT) and the line was growing in front of Flashback Records in the Shoreditch neighbourhood of Britain's capital.- A family experience - In front of Soho's iconic Sister Ray record store in central London, an eclectic crowd of various ages and styles lined up around the block.
3 min read - USAFP
Biden's cannibals story leaves White House in the lurch
Joe Biden raised eyebrows when he hinted that cannibals on the island of New Guinea may have eaten his uncle's body after he was shot down during World War II. And the White House and official records indicated Thursday that -- as with many a family legend -- the facts may indeed be a bit different."He got shot down in New Guinea, and they never found the body because there used to be a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea," Biden later told an audience of steel workers in Pitt
3 min read - WorldAFP
Snake on a train delays Japanese bullet service
Even small delays in Japan's much-vaunted bullet trains are rare, and more unusual still are snakes on board holding up the speedy "shinkansen" services.It was unclear whether the cold-blooded commuter was venomous or how it ended up on the train, and there was no injury or panic among passengers, a spokesman for Central Japan Railway Company told AFP Shinkansen customers can bring small dogs, cats and other animals, including pigeons on board -- but not snakes.
1 min read - CelebrityAFP
Clark Kent lookalike turns accidental superhero in Brazil
Leonardo Muylaert was just another mild-mannered professional on vacation with his girlfriend when the 36-year-old Brazilian went viral on social media thanks to an unexpected superpower that has changed his life: his uncanny resemblance to Superman.- Every Clark needs a Lois - To make his magic happen, this Superman relies on his super-organized girlfriend, Helenise Santos, who handles his agenda, shoots videos for his social media accounts and constantly gets the question: are you Lois Lane?
3 min read - ScienceAFP
NASA confirms space station debris hit Florida man's home
An object that crashed from the sky into an American man's home was a hunk of debris ejected from the International Space Station, NASA confirmed Monday.NASA, which subsequently collected the object from Otero for analysis, confirmed in a new blog post that the predictions were true.
2 min read - WorldReuters
Belgian collects a treasure trove of 60,000 vintage tin boxes
GRAND-HALLET, Belgium (Reuters) - The colourful tins piled high around Belgian collector Yvette Dardenne used to contain goods ranging from chocolates, toffees, coffee and rice to tobacco, talc and shoe polish, and come from as far away as India. Yvette Dardenne, 83, has accumulated almost 60,000 vintage tin boxes from all over the world since starting her collection some 30 years ago. The collection, which now occupies four houses, all began with a Cote d'Or chocolate box illustrated with a
1 min read - WorldReuters
Penguins missing visitors, say keepers, at locked-down Thai Zoo
The flip flop sound of penguin feet rang out at an empty zoo in Thailand on Thursday as a parade of birds waddled out of their enclosure for their daily splash in a pool to keep them healthy during a COVID-19 lockdown. Thailand is fighting its biggest coronavirus outbreak yet and has introduced strict movement curbs that have seen many public places, including zoos, shuttered. "I noticed that they felt a bit confused because when they walk out, there's usually a lot of people waiting for them,
2 min read - WorldReuters
UK PM Johnson worried about his dog's 'romantic urges' in Downing Street
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that his dog Dilyn had "romantic urges" and was "endlessly at people's legs" in Downing Street. Johnson and Carrie Symonds revealed in 2019 that they had adopted a rescued Jack Russell-cross puppy named Dilyn. "Do you have to worry about his romantic urges?" Johnson asked a police dog handler with an Alsatian.
1 min read - EntertainmentReuters
Feline okay? The app that tells you if your cat's happy
Cat owners who love to take pictures of their furry friends now have a new excuse to pull out their smartphones and take a snapshot: it may actually help the cat. A Calgary, Alberta, animal health technology company, Sylvester.ai, has developed an app called Tably that uses the phone's camera to tell whether a feline is feeling pain. A 2019 study published in peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports found that the so-called 'feline grimace scale,' or FGS, is a valid and reliable tool for acute
2 min read - WorldReuters
Samoan seasonal workers sing during Australian hotel quarantine
Australia's strict hotel quarantine requirements leaves most people frustrated and angry, but a group of quarantined seasonal workers from Samoa sang from their hotel room balconies in Hobart to say thank you instead. They were also doing this to thank the Australian Defence Force, police and government for their efforts, according to Dennie Teniseli, who filmed the video on June 18 not long after the group flew in. Australia has since March 2020 shut its international border to non-citizens b
1 min read - WorldReuters
Australia man ties bedsheets together to escape 4th floor hotel quarantine - police
A man in the Australian city of Perth escaped mandatory quarantine in a hotel by scaling down a rope made of tied together bedsheets from a fourth-floor window, police said on Tuesday. After arriving in the West Coast city on an interstate flight from Brisbane, the man had his application for entry refused under the state's tough border entry rules intended to stop the virus entering from elsewhere in the country. The man was told to leave the state within 48 hours and taken to a hotel for tem
2 min read - ScienceReuters
World record as tightrope walkers cross Swedish Arctic valley 600m up
Four German tightrope walkers have set a new world highlining distance record by crossing a 2.1 km-long valley in Swedish lapland on a line suspended at a height of 600 metres. Reuters' video footage showed a barefoot man sway and teeter as he delicately tiptoed across the line between two mountain peaks in a snow-capped valley. "I just focused on being very slow, being extremely clean and just reaching the end," said Quirin Herterich, who was first to cross the line before compatriots Lukas I
1 min read - USReuters
'Bubble man' roams San Francisco streets, bringing joy
The massive bubble Kurth Reis conjured last month, rising like a genie from a bucket of soap, startled a small girl visiting San Francisco's Embarcadero, almost enveloping her as she scampered away. Reis was in the military and later did jail time, burning bridges before a motorcycle crash hospitalized him in 2018, he recounted. His girlfriend, Kelly Sullivan, deserves much of the credit, or blame, for what she calls his soapy "addiction."
3 min read - USReuters
Lot in Canadian village for sale with small catch: It's under water
A 19-acre (7.7-hectare) lot for sale in a protected bay on the Canadian side of Lake Erie may look like a steal at C$99,000 ($80,292), especially with the average home in Canada now worth C$688,000, but there is a catch. The vacant lot on Brock Street in the village of Shrewsbury, Ontario, about 65 miles (105 km) east of Detroit, has no actual address, though the neighborhood gets high marks for being quiet and car-friendly. Canada's housing market has been on a tear through the COVID-19 pande
2 min read - WorldReuters
Cambodia PM weighs in to get pet lion returned to owner
A pet lion that authorities seized from a house in Cambodia's capital last week was reunited with its owner on Monday - after a personal intervention by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Police and wildlife officials initially raided the property on June 27, saying they were rescuing the animal after videos of it appeared on the social media app TikTok, and neighbours raised the alarm. In the days that followed, social media posts appeared saying the lion should be returned to the owner, who had denied
2 min read - BusinessReuters
With 3D printed 'steaks', Spanish startup eyes the mass market
As demand for plant-based alternatives to meat rises, Barcelona-based startup Novameat is using its 3D printing technology to manufacture vegetarian "steaks" that it hopes will reach the mass market next year. Novameat plans to sell its "steaks" directly to consumers and to businesses such as restaurants interested in producing plant-based meat, business development manager Alexandre Campos told Reuters on Tuesday. The Spanish company, which developed its technology in 2018, was showing how it
1 min read - BusinessReuters
'Free meat for a year' offered in JBS U.S. vaccine sweepstakes
Meatpacker JBS SA said on Thursday it will give away beef, pork and chicken for the next year to 50 U.S. families that participate in company-sponsored vaccination clinics over the coming weeks. The Brazilian company's arm in the United States and Pilgrim's Pride, a U.S. chicken company mostly owned by JBS, came under fire last year as thousands of meatpacking workers fell sick with COVID-19. "We've made great progress, and our vaccination rates are much higher than the rates in the communitie
2 min read - WorldReuters
Italian hospital uses CT scan to unveil secrets of Egyptian mummy
Ancient Egypt met modern medical technology when a mummy underwent a CT scan at an Italian hospital as part of a research project to discover its secrets. The mummy of Ankhekhonsu, an ancient Egyptian priest, was transferred from Bergamo's Civic Archaeological Museum to Milan's Policlinico hospital, where experts will shed light on his life and the burial customs of almost 3,000 years ago. "The mummies are practically a biological museum, they are like a time capsule," said Sabina Malgora, the
1 min read - LifestyleReuters
Ukraine's inseparable couple ditches the handcuffs and parts ways
After 123 days handcuffed together to save their on-again off-again relationship, Ukrainians Alexandr Kudlay and Viktoria Pustovitova have split up, shedding their bonds on national TV and saying the experiment had brought home uncomfortable truths. The young couple from the eastern city of Kharkiv decided to handcuff themselves together on Valentine's Day, in a last-ditch attempt to break the cycle of breaking up and making up. Pustovitova said personal space is what she missed most, although
2 min read - BusinessReuters
Kyrgyz cricket farm hopes to tap Chinese insects market
With one eye on the lucrative Chinese market just across the border, an entrepreneur has launched Kyrgyzstan's first cricket farm and is producing high-protein insect flour and fried cricket snacks. Accompanied by loud chirping from his one tonne of crickets at the farm, Adyl Gaparov said his idea was inspired by online articles about breeding crickets. "Our main business is producing cricket flour with high protein content," Gaparov said.
2 min read - WorldReuters
Supermarket chain says Polish workers found cocaine in banana boxes
Supermarket chain Carrefour SA said on Friday it had notified local police after employees at one of its Warsaw stores had found suspicious parcels in a delivery of bananas, which police later confirmed to be cocaine. "They immediately notified the police, who quickly secured the batch of goods and started an investigation that is currently underway," Carrefour said in an email to Reuters, adding that it was cooperating with the investigation. Warsaw police said the packages contained over 160
1 min read - USReuters
Jamming with the cicadas in New Jersey: a once in 17 years event
For some in the U.S., the emergence of billions of red-eyed cicadas this spring after a 17-year slumber has been met with annoyance - particularly over their loud buzzing calls. But for David Rothenberg, a professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, it has presented a unique opportunity for collaboration. "We're combining human musical ideas with nature's musical ideas," he explained as he gathered fellow musicians at a nature preserve in Princeton, New Jersey.
2 min read - WorldReuters
China's WeChat bans nose-picking, spanking in bid to clean up livestreams
Chinese social media platform WeChat on Thursday published a list of activities and "violations" it is banning in a bid to clean up its livestreaming service, including "indecent" nose-picking and spanking games. WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings, is ubiquitous in China, where it is used by around 1 billion people for everything from sending instant messages to ordering pizzas. China closely regulates its internet and has been increasingly clamping down on content that is politically or social
1 min read - WorldReuters
Pelicans befriend Cuban man living by the sea
GUANIMAR (Reuters) - "Michel the noble" and "Panchito the affectionate" are some of the names Leonardo Carrillo has given the pelicans that flock each year to his wooden hut on the southern coast of Cuba. For the past two decades, the 62-year-old has cared for the colony of around 100 brown pelicans that land in his village of Guanimar in December to spend the winter months there before heading back north in May. Carrillo said he does actually have three (human) children - two who live in the
2 min read - LifestyleReuters
French restaurant serves up food of the future: insects
Laurent Veyet's tasting menu is not for the faint-hearted, but may point to the future of feeding a booming world population - there is a prawn salad with yellow mealworm, crunchy insects on a bed of vegetables and chocolate-coated grasshoppers. "It's the ideal dish for first-timers," the Parisian chef said, preparing a serving of pasta made with mealworm flour, sweet potato and sauteed insect larvae. The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) in January deemed the mealworm fit for human consumpti
2 min read - WorldReuters
With rattles and smoke, Peru shamans predict election outcome
Peruvian shamans, with rattles, smoke and pictures of the Andean country's two presidential candidates, are trying to read the tea leaves ahead of a polarized run-off election on June 6 with polls showing what could be a tight contest. On a stony hillside in Lima, shamans burned incense and played musical instruments in colorful, traditional outfits to predict the winner from between socialist front-runner Pedro Castillo and conservative Keiko Fujimori. The vote could tip copper-rich Peru shar
2 min read - WorldReuters
Cattle for raffle gets Thai town in moood for vaccines
BANGKOK (Reuters) -A district of northern Thailand has launched a raffle campaign for inoculated residents to win a live cow per week for the rest of the year, in a bid to boost the local COVID-19 vaccination drive. From next month, one lucky vaccinated villager in the Mae Chaem district of Chiang Mai province will be randomly chosen every week to win a young cow worth around 10,000 baht ($319). "Our vaccine registration numbers have gone from hundreds to thousands in a couple of days," distri
1 min read - WorldReuters
Would you wash with snail slime soap?
Foamy slime bubbles onto Damien Desrocher’s hand as he lightly rubs one of the thousands of snails he keeps in an enclosure in his backyard. The 28-year-old French artisan began using the gastropod fluid to make soap bars, which he sells in local markets, in December. "It's all in the dexterity of how you tickle,” Desrocher said as he extracted the slime, noting that the process does not kill the animals.
2 min read