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'Beluga whale' spotted in River Thames near London

A beluga whale was spotted on Tuesday near barges in the River Thames near London, hundreds of miles from its normal Arctic habitat, naturalists said. "Can't believe I'm writing this, no joke - BELUGA in the Thames off Coalhouse Fort," ecologist Dave Andrews wrote. Video footage showed the white mammal surfacing in the Thames near Gravesend, Kent.

Cambodia's Festival of the Dead: rice offerings and Buddhist chants

Cambodians threw rice on the ground on Tuesday to mark the 'Festival of the Dead' or Pchum Ben and feed the spirits of the dead. "During the first day of Pchum Ben, our dead relatives came to find us for food," Mang Noy, 74, told Reuters at Tuol Tumpoung pagoda. Mang Noy said her family's food offerings were for more than 20 relatives killed by the regime.

Flyers introduce odd-looking mascot, soak in the comments

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Flyers have introduced an odd-looking new team mascot — a 7-foot fuzzy creature named Gritty with a wild, orange beard.

U.N. debut for New Zealand's 'First Baby': diaper change, peace summit

With a mock security pass that lists her as the "First Baby" of New Zealand, 3-month-old Neve Te Aroha made her United Nations debut on Monday when her mother - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern - spoke at a peace summit in the General Assembly. Ardern, 38, is only the second elected leader to give birth while in office, after Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto in 1990.

Agency says two-headed snake may go to educational facility

WAYNESBORO, Va. (AP) — A wildlife and conservation research hospital says a two-headed snake recently found near the nation's capital may be sent to an educational facility.

Walk into my parlor: Greek spiders spin giant web over shore

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — It's not quite the World Wide Web — but the spiders of Aitoliko in Greece have made a good start.

The artist as an algorithm: robot-made Rembrandt for sale

A team of French entrepreneurs who believe so have written a computer algorithm that can create original paintings with some resemblance to works by Old Masters such as Rembrandt. "We are artists with a different type of paintbrush. The artworks are created by the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), an algorithm that learns to generate new images by being fed a database of existing paintings - 15,000 portraits in the case of the "Belamy" pictures.

Get ready for 'Bongzilla,' selfie frenzy at Vegas pot museum

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A glass bong taller than a giraffe. Huggable faux marijuana buds. A pool full of foam weed nuggets.

Too soon? Fans find Red Sox division title banner in street

SOMERVILLE, Mass. (AP) — The Boston Red Sox have not clinched this year's American League East division championship, but a banner marking the accomplishment has already been accidentally unveiled.

Scaly, scary lodgers: Frenchman shares home with 400 reptiles

In an unassuming house on France's River Loire, a cobra lives on the coffee table, a 50 kg (110-pound) tortoise roams the garden and a two-meter (seven-foot) alligator sleeps in the owner's bed while another keeps watch at the door. Over two decades, 67-year-old reptile enthusiast Philippe Gillet has amassed a collection of more than 400 phobia-inducing animals, including rattlesnakes, tarantulas and lizards in his home in western France near the city of Nantes. Gillet says the two alligators, named Ali and Gator, were rescued from a leather farm but most of the animals are pets that outstayed their welcome elsewhere and have been abandoned or donated.

Too soon? Fans find Red Sox division title banner in street

SOMERVILLE, Mass. (AP) — The Boston Red Sox have not clinched this year's American League East division championship, but a banner marking the accomplishment has already been accidentally unveiled.

Tired Londoners rent sleep pods for some zzz's

Exhausted Londoners hoping to take a rest from their busy schedules are being offered an alternative to coffee breaks: a sleep pod where they can grab some shut-eye for £15 ($20) an hour. Inspired by Japanese capsule hotels, Pop & Rest in London’s trendy Shoreditch area boasts four "sleep pods" – rooms with dark walls and a lavender aroma to aid relaxation, each supplied with ear plugs and an eye mask. Mauricio Villamizar, 28, said he and his Pop & Rest co-founder Yoann Demont came up with the idea for their venture after observing Londoners’ hectic lifestyle and long working hours.

Man who walked near boiling-hot Old Faithful geyser ticketed

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park officials have ticketed a man caught on video wandering close to Old Faithful geyser, where he risked burns from the boiling-hot water that erupts every hour or so.

Authorities pull globe, not honey pot, from bear cub's head

BALSAM LAKE, Wis. (AP) — A bear cub in Wisconsin had a Winnie the Pooh moment, but it wasn't a honey pot that got stuck on its head. It was a hard plastic globe.

Huge squirrel population chomps crops, driving farmers nuts

There's a bumper crop of squirrels in New England, and the frenetic critters are frustrating farmers by chomping their way through apple orchards, pumpkin patches and corn fields.

'Jaws of Life' used to free bear with head stuck in milk can

ROSEAU, Minn. (AP) — Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to help free a black bear whose head was stuck in a milk can in northern Minnesota.

Labrador dog named Lucy saves Oregon man from sex conviction

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The discovery of a black Labrador named Lucy led to the unraveling of a criminal case Monday against an Oregon man who had begun serving a 50-year prison sentence.

Hundreds of fun-loving Philadelphia bicyclists ride nude

Hundreds of bicyclists spent the afternoon gearing up for a ride around Philadelphia and then took off — their clothes.

Texas animal control seizes hundreds of snakes, rodents

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Animal control officials have removed more than 100 snakes and more than 400 rodents from a San Antonio home following concerns about the animals' living conditions.

St. Louis apartment with kitchen-bathroom combo creates stir

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis man is the new tenant of a tiny apartment with a unique layout — the kitchen and bathroom are in the same place.

Oregon officer rescues baby deer stuck in fence

An animal welfare officer in Oregon is getting attention after her body-worn camera captured her heroics.

Smallest North Dakota city to double in population _ to 4

RUSO, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's smallest incorporated city was on the verge of dissolving after the death of its longtime mayor. But now it's rebounding, with expectations to double its population — from two residents to four.