One of the world’s most famous department stores yesterday won a legal fight with fur trade protesters after complaining that families were “harassed” when pop star Lady Gaga visited to advertise perfume.
A High Court judge tightened restrictions on protests outside Harrods in Knightsbridge, London, after being told that anti-fur demonstrators had caused a “nuisance” during Lady Gaga’s appearance in October 2012.
Harrods’ bosses had complained about the behaviour of protesters during Lady Gaga’s visit and the judge agreed that the protesters had caused “a nuisance, annoyance and harassment to members of the public in attendance enjoying the event”. (AP)
Fine for unmarried mothers in China
The Chinese city of Wuhan is planning to fine mothers who have a child out of wedlock.
The government of the city, in central Hubei, has published a draft family planning policy which says that the parties involved should pay a “social compensation fee” in cases of births that are out of wedlock or when one side knowingly has a child with someone who has a spouse. Hubei province sets its social compensation fee at three times average annual disposable income.
Unmarried mothers in China are barred from receiving maternity benefits from the government. They also face stigma because premarital sex traditionally has been frowned upon. (AP)
An abundance of food ignorance
Cheese comes from plants and fish fingers are made of chicken, according to a significant number of children questioned on their knowledge of where food comes from.
The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) included more than 27,500 children in the research and found that nearly a third (29 per cent) of primary school children think that cheese comes from plants, and nearly one in five (18 per cent) primary school children said that fish fingers comes from chicken.
The survey also found that one in 10 secondary school children believe that tomatoes grow under the ground. (PA)
A word is coined for French kissing
After centuries of lacking a French word for the sloppy Gallic export “to French kiss”, a verb has finally been given its rightful place in the French dictionary.
Galocher – to kiss with tongues – is among new entries added to the “Petit Robert” 2014 edition.
Laurence Laporte, of the Robert publishing house, says the French have “always had many expressions to describe it, like ‘kissing at length in the mouth,’ but it’s true, we’ve never had one single word”. (PA)
Past X Factor judgein drugs deal claim
British police are looking into claims that chart star and past X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos was involved in a drug deal.
Scotland Yard said it was “considering” information after a newspaper suggested she had acted as a go-between in the deal by introducing a journalist to an alleged supplier. The Sun On Sunday reported that half an ounce of cocaine changed hands as a result of the deal conducted at London’s Dorchester Hotel.
Contostavlos, 24, is said to have boasted to the reporter: “Half my phone book sells it. Of course I can get it for you. Half the guys I know are drug dealers.”
The star said that she did not take the drug herself. (AP)
‘Treasure hunter’ finds $10,000 in hotel
A 10-year-old boy who found $10,000 (€7,651) in a drawer at a Kansas City hotel where he was staying with his father turned the money over to police.
Tyler Schaefer found the bills when he was checking the drawers in the room where he and his father were staying at a hotel. Mr Schaefer said Tyler is always on the lookout for clues and treasure. (PA)