Offbeat - AFP

Coin tosses can be easily rigged: study
AFP – Mon Dec 7, 3:54 pm ET

AFP/File

OTTAWA (AFP) - The ubiquitous coin toss is not so random after all, and can easily be manipulated to turn up heads, or tails, a Canadian study has found. Full Story »
Fun with fossils
AFP – Mon Dec 7, 1:35 pm ET

AFP

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - It began 10 years ago as a small-scale touch of satire: a wee plastic T. Rex and a lump of coal, awarded to the nation deemed to have done most to have held up, diluted or sabotaged world climate talks. Full Story »
European socialists hold 'carbon-free' congress
AFP – Mon Dec 7, 7:30 am ET

AFP

PRAGUE (AFP) - Take a tram instead of a taxi and don't change your towel every day -- such are the rules at a two-day "carbon-free" congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES), which started in Prague on Monday. Full Story »
Japan coach Okada slighted by Dutch
AFP – Mon Dec 7, 2:57 am ET

AFP/File

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan and the Netherlands will battle it out in next year's World Cup, but the Dutch coach has some homework to do after failing to recognise his Japanese opposite number at a Cape Town dinner. Full Story »
'I'm A Celebrity' TV stars charged over rat risotto
AFP – Mon Dec 7, 12:45 am ET

AFP/File

SYDNEY (AFP) - Two stars of hit British TV show "I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!" are facing animal cruelty charges for killing and eating a rat during filming in Australia, activists said Monday. Full Story »
China pays web surfers to find porn: report
AFP – Sun Dec 6, 1:22 am ET

AFP/File

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese authorities have offered rewards of up to 10,000 yuan (1,465 dollars) to Internet users who report websites that feature pornography, state media reported Sunday. Full Story »
Prostitutes to offer free sex to UN climate summit participants
AFP – Sat Dec 5, 2:45 pm ET

AFP/DDP/File

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Prostitutes of a Danish sex workers association will offer their services for free to delegates of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, an association official told AFP Saturday. Full Story »
Melting polar bear ice sculptures to raise climate awareness
AFP – Fri Dec 4, 12:13 pm ET

AFP/DDP/File

COPENHAGEN (AFP) - A polar bear sculpted out of an 11-tonne block of ice will be unveiled in Copenhagen Saturday, then left to melt to raise awareness about global warming during the UN climate summit, organisers said. Full Story »
Britain shuts down UFO-hunting unit
AFP – Fri Dec 4, 11:46 am ET

AFP/TV GRAB/File

LONDON (AFP) - The British government has shut a unit which has investigated UFO sightings for more than 50 years, judging its resources better spent on more earthly threats, it said Friday. Full Story »
'Church of Tiger' website disbands over golfer's 'sins'
AFP – Thu Dec 3, 2:13 pm ET

AFP/OFF

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The transgressions of Tiger Woods have proved too much to take for one of the golf superstar's most fanatical fans who is now disbanding a church set up in praise of the sports icon. Full Story »