Author: newsfilegh

Metro system riders in California’s San Francisco Bay Area may have noticed a new station guard in recent months. A 5-year-old Harris’s hawk named Pac-Man has taken up the perch at El Cerrito del Norte station, where he’s on the look out – not for fare evaders, but pigeons. Ricky Ortiz, a falconer with Falcon Force and Pac-Man’s handler, began patrolling with the bird at the station this summer, contracting with the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, or BART, to keep the pigeons at bay and protect commuters from pigeon poop. The team patrols three days a week, starting their…

In life and in fiction, what outfit we wear to a social gathering can make us feel empowered – or ashamed. Rosalind Jana explores the worst – and best – sartorial mishaps. Parties are often ripe territory for failure. Amid the dancing and the talking and the new encounters, there can lie within you a great, dark pool of apprehension about all the possible ways in which the evening could go wrong. You could arrive at an incorrect time and not know what to say or where to place yourself. You could drink too much. You could say too little.…

From plus size to silver fox, the accepted ideal of male beauty is constantly shifting. Myra Ali explores the world of the really, really good-looking. What makes a man handsome – or beautiful? In past decades, the most famous icons of Western male beauty have been a rather narrow cohort – blue-eyed stars of the screen like Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio come to mind. But the idea of what the “perfect” male looks like is evolving as the film and fashion worlds embrace greater diversity, and the importance of representation is understood by global brands.  All over the world,…

For sneakerheads, there is a style of trainer for every taste and identity. Arwa Haider explores the pop-culture currency of the footwear favourite, from ‘Satan Shoes’ to customised creations. Boxfresh or battle-scuffed; on the court, the catwalk, or at the club or corner store – sneakers (or trainers, or sports shoes, or whatever you might call them) seem to enlace every form, function and fantasy – across sport, fashion, art, movies and music. Over several decades, sneakers have sealed their status as a pop-culture currency. In 1986, New York hip hop legends Run DMC created a ground-breaking anthem (and $1.6million…

Giuseppe Paterno, who is 98, has become Italy’s oldest graduate – again. Paterno has added a masters in history and philosophy from the University of Palermo to an initial degree in the same subjects he earned there two years ago. He passed the latest degree with top marks, again, his proud family said on Facebook. He has no plans to rest and wants to write a novel using his trusty typewriter. Born in 1923, Paterno grew up in a poor family in Sicily and despite his love of books and studying, he wasn’t able to go to university as a…

Tired of seeing his family’s money being donated to the local church, an exasperated Russian man set the place of worship ablaze in a feat of rage. On the morning of June 26, a fire broke out at the Church of St. Basil the Great in the village of Pargolovo, Russia’s Saint Petersburg district. The fire quickly engulfed the wooden roof and walls of the building, and the entire place would have probably burned to a crisp until the firefighters arrived, if the parishioners didn’t put the fire out themselves. Still, the damage was considerable, and local news outlets reported…

Residents of Ampabame No-1 in the Ashanti Region cannot use a new 32-seater toilet facility because a river deity has demanded 5 human beings to be sacrificed before it can be commissioned. A priestess serving the Tano gods, guardians of the Bomofia stream, close to the facility told Nhyira FM that the gods are angry with residents’ constant dumping of waste in the stream. She also said the gods are unhappy with the siting of a septic tank for the facility. The Ampabame community self help toilet project was started in 2005 in the Atwima Kwanwoma district of Ashanti. It was completed…

A Chinese father who reportedly tutored his son daily for a year went viral for bursting into tears after his son scored six out of 100 points on a math exam. The child’s parents from Zhengzhou, Henan Province, received his test score on June 23. Upon learning that their son had only received six points for his final math test, the father burst into tears, as seen in a video posted to Weibo by Qilu Evening News. “I don’t care anymore, my efforts are wasted, let him struggle by himself!” the father reportedly said. He can be seen crying in a bedroom and…

From ballgowns to Barbours, why Her Majesty’s evolving dress sense is a masterclass in royal image making. Daisy Woodward looks back at a fashion journey like no other. In her 70 years on the throne, the Queen has witnessed huge social change, previously unthinkable scientific and technological breakthroughs, and – inevitably – the emergence, decline and re-emergence of countless fashion trends. Some of these she has helped spark: it could be argued that Her Majesty pipped Billie Eilish to the post in the pioneering of neon green, popularised the Gucci horse-bit loafer, and set the ultimate standard for British countryside…

What is #prairiecore? Addison Nugent explores why fashion can’t get enough of the ruffles and romance of Victoriana – and its US equivalent. From its beginning, Instagram was dominated by a certain look – a perfectly coiffed, immaculately made-up, Kardashian-type sensibility. However, around 2018, a new Insta aesthetic, named #prairiecore, emerged on the platform. Featuring fresh-faced young women with touselled hair frolicking through bucolic settings, wearing long, flowing dresses – the images stamped with the prairiecore hashtag are pretty much as far as you can get from the endless stream of models posing in bikinis at lounges in Ibiza. Gone…