offbeat
New York (AFP) - Was it God feeling angry? A dire portent? Or perhaps Joe Biden's superhero alter ego pursuing Donald Trump? Many were reluctant to admit that the 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattling New York on Friday was just an unimpressive little shake. This is New York after all. And with a rare total eclipse set to blot out the sun up the eastern United States on Monday, some are already looking for answers. "God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent. Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come," Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene -- a noted conspiracy ...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - Travelers flying into the US capital could soon be landing at "Trump International Airport" if several devoted lawmakers triumph in a legislative campaign that is almost certain to fail. Trump supporters in the House of Representatives on Tuesday launched the effort to rename Washington's main airport in a gesture of admiration for the former president who is running to regain the White House. The airport is currently named after John Foster Dulles, secretary of state in the 1950s, while a smaller airport in the city is named after former president Ronald Reagan. Congressma...
AFP
Paris (AFP) - From an off-the-scale honour for a heavy metal icon to how love blinds us all... your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world. Love comes with handcuffsTwo Peruvian women who thought they were being serenaded by secret Valentine's Day admirers fell straight into the arms of police sent to arrest them for dealing drugs. An officer dressed as a giant teddy bear held up gifts outside the women's Lima home while another waved a heart-covered sign saying, "You are my reason to smile." But love can be deceiving. When one of the excited women rushed downstairs the cuddl...
AFP
New York (AFP) - The New York City subway has pulled its controversial security robot out of service after little more than five months patrolling the busy Times Square station. K-5, as the robot's call sign goes, has been retired to a storage lot, The New York Times reported Friday. Its short stint on the force was reportedly marked by frequent charging breaks, the need to be chaperoned by human officers, and an inability to tackle stairs. "The Knightscope K-5 has completed its pilot deployment in the NYC subway system," a police spokesman told AFP of the device, which was introduced to much...
AFP
New York (AFP) - Finally, some good news? Pennsylvania's primo prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow during annual Groundhog Day celebrations Friday meaning that, according to legend, there will be an early spring. The US state's tradition of using a large rodent to predict the seasons dates back to the Pennsylvania Dutch belief that if a groundhog left its burrow and saw its shadow, it would scurry back inside and winter would go on for six more weeks. Groundhog Day is now a major yearly event in Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, complete with top-hatted compere...
AFP
London (AFP) - A US professor's suggestion that salt and warm milk should be added to tea caused a collective shriek of horror in Britain on Thursday. The US embassy weighed in on the storm in a tea cup by suggesting brewing up in the microwave, which drew a rebuff from a top British government department. Michelle Francl who teaches chemistry at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania says in her new book "Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea" that salt can rescue an overbrewed cup. "A pinch of salt is not even enough to taste and it turns out salt can moderate your perception of bitterness," she told th...
AFP
New York (AFP) - Two Madonna fans are suing the megastar for damages over concerts in New York that started two hours late, accusing her of "flippant difficulty," court documents show. Michael Fellows and Jonathan Hadden are suing Madonna as well as touring giant LiveNation and New York venue the Barclays Center for an unspecified amount over late starts of her "Celebration Tour" gigs in December 2023. "The concerts at the Barclays Center were advertised to start at 8:30 pm, but Madonna did not take the stage until after 10:30 pm on all three nights, with most concert attendees leaving the Bar...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - A 32-year-old woman from Alabama who was born with two uteruses and became pregnant in both gave birth to twin girls on different days, she announced on Friday. "Our miracle babies were born!" Kelsey Hatcher, who is documenting her story on her Instagram account "doubleuhatchlings," wrote in a post. She added that the girls "decided they were rare enough statistically that they should just go ahead and have their own birthdays too." The first one, named Roxi Layla, was born on Tuesday at 7:49 pm (0149 GMT Wednesday). She was joined by Rebel Laken on Wednesday at 6:09 am. Eac...
AFP
Los Angeles (AFP) - Do you secretly dream of being Walter White, the chemistry teacher-turned-druglord from "Breaking Bad"? Now's your chance to own a luxury California home complete with meth lab -- for sale at $1.55 million. The six-bedroom house in tony San Jose offers a "great location" with easy access to the freeway, according to a realtor's listing, which notes it affords more than 2,700 square feet (250 square meters) of living space. That might appeal to anyone needing an easy commute into Silicon Valley, with Apple's Cupertino campus just 20 minutes' drive, and Google's Mountain View...
AFP
Los Angeles (AFP) - A monster pumpkin weighing the same as a hippopotamus has claimed the world record for the mightiest gourd -- and bagged its grower a $30,000 prize. Travis Gienger squashed the competition with his enormous fruit weighing in at an improbable 2,749 pounds (1,247 kilograms) at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival in California on Monday. An orange-shirted Gienger punched the air and offered hugs all round after the weigh-in, as Queen's "We Are The Champions" blasted out, according to video from the event. The contest, in its 50th year, pits growers of mega-gourds from all over...
AFP
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