Miscellaneous

Parisian government faces public outrage over red-box public street urinals aimed at reducing uncontrolled street urination, critics charge the devices disturb the environment at important cultural sites, the devices are also deemed "sexist" as they provide for male needs but not female urination

Academic researcher at London's Globe Theatre warns of disadvantaging dark-skinned actors with traditional lighting and costume, says non-white actors risk melding into background sets and costumes without proper attention, insists that the issue is completely unrelated to political correctness

Slovak woman arrested for harassment and malicious persecution after playing a full-volume aria by Verdi outside her home for 16 years, what was initially an attempt to drown out the barking of a neighbor's dog turned into a total audio assault from morning to night

British-Trinidadian writer V.S. Naipaul dead at the age of 85, received the Nobel Prize in 2001 in literature, began his writing career with 1955's "The Mystic Masseur", once claimed in interview "When I learnt to write I became my own master"

French historical theme park Puy du Fou puts six trained rooks to work picking up cigarette ends and trash, birds to be encouraged via box delivering bird food for each trash deposit

Turkish game show contestant suffers humiliating defeat after failing to recognize where the Great Wall of China was located, a straw poll of the Turkish audience also found 49% unable to correctly locate the landmark between options of India, South Korea and Japan, calling into question the competence of the Turkish educational system

Santorini locals forced to cross breed donkeys with stronger mules to adapt to heavier tourists, charities Help the Santorini Donkeys and The Donkey Sanctuary call on Greek government for regulations

Polish brewery The Order of Yoni launches beer made from "vaginal lactic acid of hot underwear models", reassures consumers that the ladies were checked and that the scientific process removes possible unsavoury elements

Turkish teacher apprehended by police for selling same car to 80 people, made USD 10 million in advance payments

Cases of death and disfigurement due to viral trend of drinking boiling water through straw or pouring it on sleeping friends

Elon Musk calls British rescue diver Vern Unsworth "pedo" on Twitter in response to him stating the miniature submarine was impractical for the Thai rescue mission

American woman fined EUR 4,000 for negligent endangerment after bringing unexploded World War II shell to Vienna airport, hoping to take it home as a souvenir.

Slovakian EU diplomat Eva Tvarožková dodges paying NZD 14,314 in unpaid rent and incidentals plus NZD 6,000 bond by using diplomatic immunity according to Tenancy Tribunal ruling, landlord Matthew Ryan who planned on donating the money to charity says he doesn't think this is what the Geneva Convention was created for

36-year-old Australian man fined AUD 4,800 for bringing 37 bales of out-of-state cans to South Australia in attempt to get AUD 0.10 deposit refund

German earlier tennis star Boris Becker during bankruptcy proceedings in the UK claims diplomatic immunity due to being a cultural attache to the Central African Republic, country's ambassador to the EU Daniel Emery Dede confirms Becker's diplomatic passport and that he's unpaid and has never visited the country but that they hope his aura attracts business people

Scientists drop prepared cane toad sausage from helicopters in remote Australia to save native quolls from eating the toxic toads, sausage laced with nausea-inducing chemical to scare the native predators off the especially dangerous first invasion wave

Karpatalya wins soccer World Cup for non-FIFA affiliated associations by beating Northern Cyprus 3–2 after penalty shoot-out, Padania seals third place with dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Székely Land

Everything that could go wrong did, according to George Soros who says he did not anticipate Trump election victory due to living in own bubble, also says Trump is willing to destroy world

Anthony Bourdain is dead, the Chef and TV Personality was 61 years old

Solo: A Star Wars Story first film in series to not make profit, losses expected to exceed USD 50 million

Dutch PM Mark Rutte mops parliament floor after spilling cup of coffee, initiative to personally clean up caused mess loudly cheered by bystanders

Full list of Bilderberg 2018 attendees released, names include Niall Ferguson, Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel

Russian 129-year-old Koku Istambulova has not been happy a single day of her life, wishes for end of earthly life and has no idea how she managed to survive her children, thinks long life is punishment from God

Real world Carrie Bradshaw, dating advisor Julia Allison, regrets being influenced by Sex and the City, says series' message of endless shopping and dating leads to empty life while fear of intimacy is celebrated as women's liberation

FBI agent loses gun during back handspring on Denver dance floor, accidentally shoots other bar patron in lower leg while picking up weapon [text+video]

Ilya Repin's famous painting "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan" damaged in three places by man striking metal security pole through protective glass due to being "overwhelmed by something" after drinking vodka, painting depicting tsar crying after killing his son is disputed by nationalists and was also slashed in 1913 but restored by Repin

American author Philip Roth dies at 85, wrote more than 30 books including 1991 memoir Patrimony

Illustrator Bill Gold dead at 97, was one of Hollywood's best-known creators of film posters and designed iconic poster for Casablanca in 1942

Scot Robert McLeod dead at 78, used to say he was born 200 years too late and lived in off-grid cabin as only full-time St. James Bay resident 35 km northwest of Juneau, Alaska, since early 1980s

American author Tom Wolfe dead at 88, known for writing The Bonfire of the Vanities, The Right Stuff and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

Novichok rapidly-growing trademark for Russian products, applications registered for alcohol products as well as sunflower oil and detergents

Sean Gabb: Several hundred years old documentation of UFO sightings a better proof of extraterrestrial life than modern ones, difficult for people living prior to 17th century to fabricate such stories

81-year-old Australian James Harrison whose blood plasma has saved 2.4 million infants does 1,173rd and final donation, naturally produces rare combination of Rh- blood and Rh+ antibodies which makes him an ideal donor for Rh- women carrying Rh+ fetuses

12,000 kilograms of liquid chocolate spilled across highway after tanker truck accident near Polish town of Słupca, several hours of cleaning required as 5-centimeter-thick layer solidified

13-year-old Trenton McKinley in Alabama who suffered seven skull fractures when he fell from car trailer wakes up after being declared brain dead, is now going through slow recovery process at home and says he believed he was in heaven while he was unconscious

12 surgeons manage after five hour procedure to remove 60-kilogram ovarian tumor from Connecticut woman

Sara Aspenström and Jonas Arvidsson from Stockholm win European tram driver championship in Stuttgart, 24 teams from 19 countries participate in contest which has been running since 2013

Heavy smoker Kim Jong-un refrained from smoking during summit, viewed as sign of respect towards 31 years older Moon Jae-in

World's oldest spider Number 16 killed by wasp sting, trapdoor spider was 43 years old and had been studied since research project was launched in 1974 in Wheatbelt region of Western Australia

Emmanuel Macron gives Donald Trump sessile oak as reminder of strong ties between countries, tree mysteriously disappears after being planted by presidents on White House lawn, French ambassador explains sapling has been placed in quarantine and that roots were enclosed in plastic protection

23-month-old Alfie Evans dies after British court allowed hospital to withdraw life support and prevented family from taking him to Italy

NT Carlsbad: Cultural Marxism emerged from left's failure to solve question of nationalism and inability to explain psychological motives behind human action, in light of influence of Left Hegelianism during 1920s Marxism in form of critical theory became intellectual hobby rather than framework for revolution

Wildlife photographer of the year image picturing anteater disqualified after similarities were found between animal and taxidermy anteater kept on open display at visitor centre, five experts reach same conclusion

ABBA reunited in studio for first time in 35 years, one of two recorded songs to be released in TV program in December performed by band members' digital avatars

Annie Holmquist: Behind establishment's jokes about Melania Trump's clothing is likely admiration for her respectability, to dress properly in accordance with one's role admirable when boundaries and standards are considered oppressive

British schools start to remove analogue clocks and are installing digital devices instead, students have difficulties reading traditional clock face

Macaque monkey Naruto does not own copyright to photo he took of himself, according to San Francisco judges, animal rights group PETA which has filed lawsuit not seen as having close enough relation to Naruto to represent him

Pope Francis hands out ice cream for 3,000 of Rome's poor on day when church remembers St. George, was Christened Jorge when he was born in Argentina after saint who is celebrated on April 23

Cinema in Hawera, New Zealand refuses customers dressed in pajamas, onesies, bathrobes or dirty boots, wants to counteract trend where such dress is becoming more accepted in public

12-year-old Drew from Sydney goes on vacation to Bali after fight with his mother, books flight and hotel with credit card stolen from parents, spends four days on island and drinks beer, rents motorbike, trip cost more than 6,000 USD

Gold casket from 16th century containing heart of French queen consort Anne of Brittany recovered near western city of Saint-Nazaire after it was stolen from museum in Nantes last week, two men arrested

Duchess of Cambridge gives birth to prince, couple's third child is fifth in line to British throne

Joseph Pearce: Queer theorists' attempt to transform deep Christian friendship between men in works of Shakespeare into homosexuality absurd, ingores that Shakespeare was unusually conservative in, by today’s standards, politically incorrect Elizabethan era

Tokyo company seeks to make women living alone safer through projector throwing moving shadow of man onto curtain doing activities such as boxing or vacuuming, critics point out that criminals might work out that man who spends his whole time shadow boxing means woman is alone inside

Brian Allen: Grant Wood one of greatest American artists, was anchor figure in movement called regionalism which rejected foreign influence and celebrated values such as decency, stoicism and independence, wanted to create art that common man could understand

DJ Avicii dead at 28 in Muscat, Oman

Father of seriously ill toddler Alfie Evans meets Pope Francis and asks for help in struggle to take son to hospital in Rome, judge in Britain ordered last week that life support should be switched off for 23-month-old child that suffers from degenerative neurological condition that has never been definitively diagnosed

Around 250 priests from 50 countries participate in Vatican's annual exorcism course which covers theological and psychological background to practice, increasing demand among Catholics in many regions

American actor R Lee Ermey dead at 74, best known for role as Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam War film Full Metal Jacket

John Fitzgerald: T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets finest work of distinguished Anglo-American 20th century poetry, acknowledges modern, dark and war-torn era while giving comfort and encouraging reader to search for Divine meaning

Czech-American director Miloš Forman dead at 86 after short illness, best known for directing Oscar-winning classics "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest" and "Amadeus", fled Czechoslovakia in 1968 after Communist crackdown on "Prague Spring" uprising

Pope Francis gives blessing to Formula E car ahead of Rome's first ever E-Prix, race set on three-kilometre circuit in heart of city

Former Donkey Kong world record of 1,062,800 points removed from record tracking organisation Twin Galaxies' leaderboard after video analysis proved controversial player Billy Mitchell played on software emulator instead of on legitimate arcade cabinet

72-year-old Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja who lived with wolves between age 7 and 19 reports being disappointed with human life, would rather have stayed in wilderness than living in hustle and bustle of modern society

Prince Charles denies bringing private toilet seat while traveling when asked about it in Australia radio interview during visit to Commonwealth Games

Police in Uzbekistan apprehend two men for stealing livestock as calf was transported in backseat of Chevrolet Malibu

Accountant Scott Foster, 36, makes unexpected NHL debut for Chicago Blackhawks, played ice hockey in college and in rec-leagues, was expecting to just watch the game when Chicagos goaltender injured himself, got to make his debut when the second goaltender also injured himself in the third period, saved seven shots and kept a clean sheet

Charlie more common as name for girls than boys, one quarter of people named Blake are female, Marion has gone from girl's name to boy's name according to analysis of US name trends over 100 years

Hell does not exist, according to Pope Francis, sinful souls simply disappear rather than be tormented in eternal fire as previously taught by Catholicism

Elephant caught "smoking" in Nagarahole National Park in southern India, ingested what is believed to be wood charcoal and blew away the ash, charcoal has toxin-binding properties and can serve as laxative according to Wildlife Conservation Society

Order of Malta suspends historian Henry Sire following revelations that he wrote acclaimed book The Dictator Pope about Pope Francis under pseudonym, Sire claims procedure against him is illegal

Theories abound as strange creature washed ashore on Wolf Island, Georgia, what initially was thought to be seal identified by one expert as basking shark which took on prehistoric shape while rotting, long neck and small head leads locals to think of legendary sea monster Altamaha-ha

Lack of cat blood banks big issue for Japanese cats in need of transfusions, can be solved by artificial blood partially manufactured in space, first attempt conducted at the Japanese research module Kibo at the ISS, crystallization of protein much easier in gravity free environment, next up is space blood for dogs

Last living male specimen of northern white rhino dies at 45 years of age, only two females remain, scientists will try to secure offspring by artificial insemination

Constantin Reliu fails to persuade Romanian court to repeal his death certificate since appeal period for changing document has passed, certificate was issued after his wife lost contact with him when he moved to Turkey

Former Vietnamese prime minister Phan Van Khai dead at 84 years of age, credited with reforming country's economy

British physicist Stephen Hawking dead at 76, worked on theories unifying quantum physics and relativity and in 1974 set out theory that black holes leak energy, a phenomenon that came to be called Hawking radiation

Dog dies on United Airlines flight between Houston and New York after staff force passenger to put animal cage in overhead storage bin

M Charles Stuart: Andrew Willard Jones' book about social order in kingdom of French king Louis IX shows how Christian monarchy sought to defend primordial condition of peace, while modern political thought starts from sovereign state's monopoly on violence, Medieval example illuminates how church and monarch could cooperate without one being subordinate

88 reported unprovoked shark attacks in 2017 resulting in five fatalities, slightly under average for last five years of six per year, humans kill over 100 million sharks every year

Rhesus macaques prefer logotypes paired with images of genitals and high status monkeys, Duke University study criticized by animal rights activists who say test subjects were dehydrated to compel participation

Invasive emerald ash borer has arrived in Vermont, expert warns that state's ash trees cannot be saved

Scientists say increasing Chinese milk consumption escalates climate threat due to demand for more cows and thereby more emission of greenhouse gases

Denis Urubko aborts attempt at solo climb of K2, expelled from expedition which aims to complete planned climb in March

Chris Power: Writings of Denis Johnson always in touch with death, true greatness achieved as author came close to end of own life in posthumously published The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

Russo-Polish mountaineer Denis Urubko makes risky attempt to climb mountain K2 alone after failing to persuade rest of team to push for summit in February, wants to complete first winter ascent of mountain, participated in January rescue of Elisabeth Revol on nearby Nanga Parbat

Indian state Tamil Nadu offers tax funded breast augmentations to the poor, mitigates risk that women opt for unsafe alternatives or take on large debts, says state health minister

American multiculturalism incompatible with European realities according to German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, idea of humanity as family contributed to fall of Rome and makes comeback as borders and distances which previously enabled generosity are eroded

Japanese farmers create banana with thin edible skin by slowly freezing growth cells to -60 degrees and then thawing them, current price about 6 USD per fruit from small scale production intended to be scaled up

Gerard Depardieu follows example of Eric Cantona by moving to Algeria, says it is a wonderful country with intelligent people which was once colonized by ignorant and illiterate Frenchmen

Billy Graham dead at 99 years of age, was most influential pastor in US during six decades and was confidant of 12 presidents

China demands US severely punish Michael Rohana who is said to have stolen thumb of terracotta soldier on loan to Philadelphia museum

Pope Paul VI will be made saint sometime this year according to Pope Francis, performed miracle where unborn child in fifth month of pregnancy was healed

Henry Eldon who runs restaurant The Cauldron in Bristol publicly shames people on Twitter for booking tables without showing up, increasing problem due to possibility of making reservations anonymously online, restaurants cope by demanding upfront payment on popular days like New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day

Labrador Poppy chases deer onto railway, gets run over by four trains but survives with only a few broken ribs by lying still in middle of tracks

Jonathan Newman: Jordan Peterson's theories about what causes humans to act in line with praxeology of Mises and Rothbard, such as thesis that values of individuals manifest in action

Lani Lewis Hunt in New Plymouth, New Zealand fined for driving a motorized cooler box under influence of alcohol, was going to store to buy cigarettes

Two-year-old Mohammed leaps onto metro train tracks in Milan, Italy, 18-year-old Lorenzo Pianazza who saves him hailed as hero

Competitors in Pyeongchang Olympics receive 38 condoms per person during games lasting 16 days, Tinder reports 1,850% increase in users near Olympic Village

Virgin Atlantic airline describes couscous salad served on plane as inspired by Palestine causing pro-Israel groups to protest on social media, changes description on menu which leads to similar emotional outbursts from pro-Palestinian groups