A new set of eco-friendly but completely exposed urinals deployed on the streets of Paris are provoking uproar from locals. One of the bright red "urinoirs" installed on the Ile Saint-Louis, not far from Notre Dame cathedral and overlooking tourist boats passing on the Seine, has caused particular indignation. "There's no need to put something so immodest and ugly in such an historic spot," said Paola Pellizzari, 68, owner of a Venetian art store.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island is marking the end of World War II as a state holiday, although it remains the only state in the U.S. to do so.

GLOUCESTER, Mass. (AP) — Massachusetts firefighters say a man who donated to their muscular dystrophy drive accidentally dropped his wedding ring into their boot.

A new set of eco-friendly but completely exposed urinals deployed on the streets of Paris are provoking uproar from locals.

Torchings, trashings, dismemberments celebrated on social media.

A row of newly built cottages have been destroyed by a builder using a digger just weeks before people were due to move in.
It is believed that the houses in Buntingford, Hertfordshire, were knocked down by disgruntled workman Daniel Neagu, 30, in a row over pay.
Witnesses described seeing the man laughing and taking pictures as he damaged the £2.5million row of houses, telling police that he hadn’t been paid.

A super-organised young mother has already finished her children’s Christmas shopping four months before the big day.
Last Christmas was barely over when Paige Ridlings, 21, started buying gifts for two-year-old Oscar and Rogan-Leigh, who is 11 months old.
She’s spent around £600 on 40 items and she says she does it to avoid the last-minute rush.

A painting bought for £165,000 and attributed to William Nicholson has failed to convince the artist’s leading expert of its authenticity and been rejected as close to worthless.
The still life of a glass jug and pears was rejected by the leading authority on Nicholson, Patricia Reed, and left out of the artist’s latest catalogue raisonné – the official list of all his known works.
The piece was examined on BBC One’s Fake Or Fortune? but a thorough forensic case was not enough to persuade Reed that the painting is genuine.

A teenager has had the words ‘shalom Jackie’ burned into her arm after getting a black henna tattoo while on holiday in Zante.
Beth Fitzsimmons, 18, was with a group of around 50 people on holiday in Greece and they amused themselves by shouting the phrase from Friday Night Dinner repeatedly.
They decided to get the tattoos done by a random family they met on the street. She’s now been told it may take six months for the scarring to go down.

STARK, Minn. (AP) — It was not a fairy tale, but a rescue on a Minnesota lake did involve a rainbow unicorn.