Interactive exhibition features work of Icelandic singer Bjork

LONDON (Reuters) - London's Somerset House is hosting the European premiere of "Bjork Digital," an immersive exhibition of digital and video works produced by the famous Icelandic singer and a team...

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Thailand's first halal hotel hopes to help boost Muslim arrivals

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Predominately Buddhist Thailand has opened its first halal hotel as hopes to attract more Muslim visitors and boost one of the few bright spots in its economy.

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U.N. rights office urges French towns to repeal burkini bans

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights office has called on French beach resorts to lift their bans on the burkini, calling them a "stupid reaction" that did not improve security but...

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Old machiya houses in Japan's Kyoto given new lease of life by niche loans

KYOTO (Reuters) - For generations, artisans and merchants in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto lived in thousands of traditional "machiya" townhouses that are steadily disappearing or falling into...

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Fall from a tree may have caused death of 'Lucy' the famed fossil

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Lucy, one of the best known ancestors of humans to ever roam the earth, may have died after a fall from a tree, University of Texas researchers said on Monday after studying...

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Pasta all'Amatriciana served with 'lots of love' for Italy's quake victims

Residents of the Umbrian town of Perugia gathered on Sunday (August 28) evening in the main square to eat pasta all'Amatriciana in support of the earthquake victims from neighboring communities.

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Freak lightning storm kills 323 reindeer in Norway

OSLO (Reuters) - A freak lightning storm has killed 323 reindeer in a remote mountainous area of Norway, officials said on Monday.

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Hollywood stars pose for 2017 Pirelli Calendar

LONDON (Reuters) - Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Lupita Nyong'o have posed for the 2017 Pirelli Calendar, which features a host of Hollywood's biggest names.

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French court suspends burkini ban, controversy goes on

PARIS (Reuters) - A French court on Friday suspended a ban on women wearing full-body "burkini" swimsuits on a Mediterranean town's beach but the prime minister said the debate was not over, calling...

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Australian teen completes record round world solo flight

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian teenager made history on Saturday by becoming the youngest person to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world in a single engine aircraft.

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Office workers turn urban gardeners on Paris luxury store rooftops

PARIS (Reuters) - Le Bon Marche and La Grande Epicerie, two landmark Paris luxury stores have turned their joint rooftops into an urban garden for staff who can grow their own crops in their free...

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Eating while petting a bunny in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's first rabbit cafe opened in a small upstairs space over the busy commercial district of Causeway Bay.

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Searching for history along the Thames

LONDON (Reuters) - A torch on his head, Jason Sandy scours the nighttime London foreshores of the Thames river, searching for objects that could offer a glimpse of life in the British capital...

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American guitarist uses music as healing force in Kabul

KABUL (Reuters) - Strumming their guitars and clapping together, American musician Lanny Cordola and his Afghan pupils sing a Bob Marley tune as they sit on a hill in Kabul.

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Belgians are hunting books, instead of Pokemon

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Inspired by the success of Pokemon Go, a Belgian primary school headmaster has developed an online game for people to search for books instead of cartoon monsters, attracting...

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Hundreds challenge human pyramid limits at Indian Hindu festival

(Reuters) - Hundreds of people attending a Hindu festival in India's western Maharashtra state on Thursday defied India's Supreme Court order limiting the height of human pyramids due to safety...

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Egypt's economic crisis weighs heavily on heritage: minister

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt cannot afford to keep its museums open let alone search for ancient buried treasures because of the economic crisis, the antiquities minister says.

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French fashion designer Sonia Rykiel dies aged 86

PARIS (Reuters) - French fashion designer Sonia Rykiel, known for her brightly colored striped sweater dresses, has died at the age of 86, the owner of the fashion label she founded said on Thursday.

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Australian burkini designer profits from French ban

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The Australian designer of the burkini said she has enjoyed increased sales of the body-covering swimwear for Muslim women since three French cities banned it.

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Czech locksmith builds plane to fly to work 10 miles away

ZDIKOV, Czech Republic (Reuters) - Frantisek Hadrava thought driving to work for 14 minutes was too much, so he built an plane to cut the commute by half.

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Thailand's tiger tourism expands despite raid on infamous tiger temple

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's tiger tourism business is booming and the captive tiger population is growing fast, experts say, more than two months after Thai wildlife authorities found scores of...

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Penguin promoted to brigadier at Edinburgh Zoo

LONDON (Reuters) - Standing in line for a special ceremony, uniformed soldiers of His Majesty the King of Norway's Guard are carefully inspected -- by a penguin.

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Vienna zoo panda twins continuing to 'develop splendidly'

VIENNA (Reuters) - The twin panda cubs born at Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo turned 16 days old on Tuesday and are said to be fit and healthy.

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Disabled Afghan girl painter dreams of international fame

Like many other young artists her age, 16-year-old Robaba Mohammadi dreams of holding international art exhibitions.

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Yugos, Corvairs and Vegas: the Cream of the Clunkers at the Concours d’Lemons

SEASIDE, Calif. -- David Swan nicknamed his car Wilma, after Fred Flintstone's wife.

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Japanese monks take part in 'most handsome monk' contest

Japanese monks competed based on their inner beauty at a funeral expo to compete in the second annual "Most Handsome Monk Contest" on Monday (August 22).

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Jordanians lather up as Turkish baths become more popular

In an ornately decorated steam-filled room in Amman, a group of men are getting scrubbed, washed and massaged.

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Ark-shaped museum to show evolutionary crossroads in Israel

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Legions of insects, sea creatures and ancient fossils are lining up in a new museum shaped liked a giant Noah's Ark, telling the story of a crucial evolutionary byway across...

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Berlin Wall chunk, Ronald Reagan's cowboy boots to be auctioned

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A chunk of the Berlin Wall and a pair of cowboy boots that belonged to late U.S. President Ronald Reagan will be auctioned in September as part of the private collection of...

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Thousands flock to Mexico City streets for Pokemon Go

Mexico City, Mexico, August 21, 2016 - - Thousands gathered in Mexico City's Chapultepec Park on Sunday (August 21) to play Pokemon Go and celebrate the worldwide app phenomenon.

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World's largest indoor theme park to open in Dubai

DUBAI (Reuters) - The world's largest indoor theme park is set to open in Dubai this month to lure back some of the tourists and residents who often flee abroad during the scorching desert summer.

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The Quail is the ultimate candy shop, if your candy is cars

CARMEL VALLEY, Calif. - Call it the “Lifestyle of the Rich and Automotive.” The official name of the event, which was held Friday, is “The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering.” To those attending Monterey...

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Eager fans line up for Kanye West's 'Pablo' clothing

(Reuters) - Rapper and fashion designer Kanye West is turning his tour merchandise into high-demand fashion, and eager fans lined up on Friday to be among the first to get their hands on the...

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Muhammad Ali auction items seen fetching heavyweight prices

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Muhammad Ali's 1974 WBC heavyweight championship boxing belt and a handwritten letter about his conversion to Islam are among items that will hit the auction block in September,...

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Gamescom fair kicks off in Germany under tighter security

COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - Video games trade fair Gamescom opened its doors to fans in the German city of Cologne on Thursday, with organizers saying they had stepped up security for this year's...

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Schwarzenegger says he wants world to be fitter

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger says being a bodybuilding champion, movie star and governor of California is not enough - he wants people to be fit too.

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Spanish police try out drones to patrol beaches

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police have started using drones to help patrol some of the country's most popular beaches at a time when tourist arrivals are reaching record highs.

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Hops and glory: Belgian beer fans are brewing their own

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - In a country where some 200 breweries produce well over 1,000 different beers, surely no one is considering brewing their own?

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Treasure-hunters hopeful about search for elusive Nazi 'gold train'

STRUGA, Poland (Reuters) - Treasure-hunters said on Wednesday they were optimistic they would find a Nazi-era train believed to be hidden underground in southern Poland as they launched a second day...

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Half the world still watching Games as viewer habits change: IOC

(Reuters) - The IOC expects that by the end of the Olympics about half the world's population will have watched the Games in some way as gains in internet delivery of the event have outpaced viewing...

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Australian zoo celebrates birth of one of world's rarest monkeys

(Reuters) - Peeping out from her mother's arms, Embe, a Francois' Langur, makes her debut at Sydney's Taronga Zoo where she was born on July 21, in what conservationists hailed as great news for one...

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Munich raises security for beer festival after Islamist attacks

BERLIN (Reuters) - Organizers of the world's biggest beer festival, Munich's Oktoberfest, have raised security after Islamist attacks in Germany last month, including banning rucksacks, introducing...

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Lima zoo celebrates first lion cub birth in over 20 years

LIMA (Reuters) - A zoo in the Peruvian capital is celebrating the arrival of a lion cub, the first born there in more than 20 years.

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Thousands of Bolivian Catholics break rocks to change fortunes

(Reuters) - Every year, on the third week of August, thousands of Bolivian Catholics gather on the outskirts of capital La Paz to take a swing at fortune by breaking rocks.

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No stone left unturned in Italian artist's workshop

ZEVIO, Italy (Reuters) - Luigi Lineri's home workshop is covered in stones -- tens of thousands of them. They resemble animal heads, human faces and other forms, and the artist and poet believes may...

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Days after giving birth, giant panda wows Vienna zoo with twins

VIENNA (Reuters) - Giant panda Yang Yang gave birth nine days ago and CCTV monitoring at Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo did not show her secret until late last week - she had not one but two cubs keeping...

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Long life, very long cigar: Cuban dedicates a monster smoke to Fidel Castro

HAVANA (Reuters) - A Cuban cigar maker broke his own record on Friday by rolling the world's longest cigar at 90 meters (295 feet), the length of a soccer field, dedicating the monster smoke to Fidel...

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Mermaids make a splash at diversity celebration at the Rio Games

(Reuters) - A gaggle of mermaids made a splash on the sandy shores of Rio de Janeiro's Ipanema Beach on Saturday (August 14) night at a party celebrating diversity organized at the Danish Pavilion.

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South Korea looks to generate buzz for edible insects

SEOUL (Reuters) - Bae Su-Hyeon's lunch of sweet potato soup and funghi pasta has bugs in it. They're part of the recipe.

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Iraqi artist creates sculptures out of scrap metal

He may not have attended art school or received any formal training, but Iraqi artist Abdul Qader al-Na'ib has managed to build a reputation as the man who turns scrap metal into art.

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Firefighters make leap to smokejumping

WINTHROP, Wash. (Reuters) - On a 100-degree day in early June, Matt Mueller did sit-ups in a semicircle with seven other experienced firefighters training to parachute into a wildfire.

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Brussels 'flower carpet' has Japanese theme

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of begonias and dahlias will emblazon the Grand Place in Brussels this weekend for its 20th "Flower Carpet" display, which this year has a Japanese theme.

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Bristol skies lit up by hot air balloons at annual fiesta

The night sky in Bristol was lit up by hot air balloons on Thursday as part of the city's annual four-day International Balloon Fiesta.

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'Life worth more than Pokemon,' Venezuela gamers told

CARACAS (Reuters) - 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.

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My grandmother’s last months

MILAN (Reuters) - My grandmother's life and mine overlapped for 27 years. I always called her "Nonna."

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Tiny bead from Bulgaria may be world's oldest gold artifact

YUNATSITE, Bulgaria (Reuters) - It may be just a tiny gold bead - 4 mm (1/8 inch) in diameter - but it is an enormous discovery for Bulgarian archaeologists who say they have found Europe's - and...

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Gay Qatari's article provokes backlash over World Cup 'values'

DOHA (Reuters) - An opinion article about life as a gay Qatari has stirred debate about the limits of tolerance in the conservative Gulf Arab country which is due to host the 2022 soccer World Cup.

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Mystery magic spells unearthed with ancient skeletons in Serbia

KOSTOLAC, Serbia (Reuters) - Archaeologists are trying to decipher magic spells etched onto tiny rolls of gold and silver that they found alongside skeletons of humans buried almost 2,000 years ago.

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Lion that bit worker in Canada zoo is spared, back on view

TORONTO (Reuters) - A lion that bit a Canadian zoo keeper on Monday and fractured one of her vertebrae will not be killed and will stay at the zoo where the public can view it, a zoo official said on...

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Panda twins born in China's Sichuan province

(Reuters) - Twin panda cubs, a male and a female, were born at a breeding research base in China's southwest Sichuan province on Tuesday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

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Stinky cheese ice cream becomes Czech summer hit

LOSTICE, Czech Republic (Reuters) - An ice cream made out of a traditional pungent cheese has become a surprise hit in a small Czech town, with happy buyers scooping all the innovative producer can...

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Venezuelan art exhibition honors legacy of Frida Kahlo

An art gallery in the Venezuelan capital is honoring the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo with an exposition featuring the works of 50 female Venezuelan artist.

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Giant panda cub born in Vienna after zoo sets the right mood

VIENNA (Reuters) - A naturally conceived giant panda cub has been born in Vienna, the city's main zoo announced on Monday, a rare event that it said is unique in Europe to the Austrian capital.

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Stop press: Last two journalists leave London's Fleet Street

LONDON (Reuters) - Three decades after media mogul Rupert Murdoch instigated its demise as the centuries-old home of Britain's newspaper industry, London's Fleet Street bade farewell on Friday to its...

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Rio's informal foods a key part of the 'Carioca' life

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - If the most popular foods of Rio de Janeiro have one thing in common, it is their informality.

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Amid economic hard times, Venezuelans turn to city farming

CARACAS (Reuters) - Facing a national food crisis, Venezuela's pumpkin-growing socialist president is exhorting compatriots to grow fruit and vegetables on balconies and roofs and in barracks across...

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Refugee crowned 'wine queen', as German tradition evolves

TRIER, Germany (Reuters) - A Syrian refugee has been crowned "wine queen" in Germany, winning a traditional annual honor that used to go to local young women from wine-growing families.

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Bosnian 'Indiana Jones' digs for controversy again with park

VISOKO, Bosnia (Reuters) - In a far-flung valley of Bosnia, volunteers are building a spiral-shaped botanical garden in a new park and carving marble obelisks with cosmic signs while visitors...

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Hostel chain targets new generation of backpackers

LONDON (Reuters) - A European hostel chain that offers youngsters the chance to stay in quirky buildings and events such as DJ sessions plans to double in size to 28 sites within five years, aiming...

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Bolivians honor Mother Earth with celebration

(Reuters) - In the Andean city of El Alto indigenous Bolivians gathered at dawn to honor "Pachamama," the goddess of the earth and fertility, on what is known locally as Mother Earth Day.

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Calais 'jungle' camp shelters set up in London installation

LONDON (Reuters) - The tents and shelters of Calais' infamous "jungle" camp have been rebuilt in London in a new installation hoping to teach Britons more about Europe's migrant crisis.

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Spectre of hunger keeps Syrian refugee children out of school

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - With just 60 days to go before the start of the new school year, hundreds of thousands of Syrian parents are faced with the stark choice of whether to feed their...

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Opponents target North Carolina transgender bathroom law

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - For 20-year-old Payton McGarry, a transgender man and college student, the North Carolina law barring him from using public bathrooms consistent with his gender...

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British couple vow to honor rubbish food at their wedding

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A British couple committed to tackling the massive amount of food wasted daily will be serving their wedding guests a meal with a difference this weekend –...

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Actor Ewan McGregor says children in Iraq at risk of death, sex abuse, traffickers

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Scottish actor Ewan McGregor called on Tuesday for greater efforts to help refugee children in Iraq, warning they are at serious risk of death, sexual violence,...

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Lego presents Olympic model of Rio city ahead of games

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Lego, the world’s biggest toymaker, has developed a large model of Rio de Janeiro city to celebrate the host of the 2016 Olympic Games, set to open in a few days.

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Pilots take to skies for World Glider Aerobatic Championships

(Reuters) - Pilots have been taking to the skies for the World Glider Aerobatic Championships in Hungary, displaying their skills in twists and loops in the air.

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Wild nature claims place in Romanian capital

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - On an early morning walk through the Romanian capital’s newest park, photographer Helmut Ignat points out cormorants, harriers, terns and several other birds flying high over...

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