The end of the Spanish siesta?
Why Spain no longer wants an afternoon nap
From Panama to Sparta: A brief history of leaks
The sultan and the crushed testicles – a brief history of leaks
Tourists join bareheaded protest against Iranian clothing laws
Female visitors to Iran are posing for photos without the mandatory hijab as part of an online campaign.
Moroccans divided over video of homophobic attack
A video showing two gay men being beaten up has provoked two very different social media campaigns in Morocco.
Bookshops reject Mafia family book
Booksellers protest against book about life in notorious Mafia family.
Credit blacklist for disloyal children
Shanghai plans to punish offspring who don’t visit their elderly parents.
Quiz of the week’s news
The Magazine’s weekly quiz of the news, 7 days 7 questions.
Why are Northern Ireland’s abortion laws different?
Every year women travel from Northern Ireland to England, Scotland or Wales for an abortion. Why?
The train track optical illusion that’s bewildering the internet
A video of a father shuffling around his son’s toy train tracks has left many people scratching their heads.
‘Patriotic’ Putin cafe divides opinion
Krasnoyarsk cafe adores Putin but confines images of Western leaders to the toilets.
Music fans share most embarrassing memories in Indie Amnesty
Guitar band fans have been revealing their most hilarious cringe-making stories.
Born free, killed by hate
After a spate of murders, gay people say more needs to be done to stop hate crimes in South Africa.
The tragedy that ‘chemsex’ drugs can cause
Barrister Henry Hendron had it all. But then a terrible mistake changed everything.
Ants deployed to protect fruit trees
Danish researchers are using ants to control pests in an organic orchard.
China restaurant sacks robot waiters
Unreliable mechanical staff turn out to be more trouble than they’re worth.
Is this Gap advert racist?
Clothing giant says it will pull advert photo showing a white girl resting her arm on a black girl’s head in response to online controversy.
Been and Gone: The actress whose attack scene became notorious
Our regular column covering the deaths of significant – but lesser reported – people of the past month.
Why Nigerians melt their gold jewellery in Dubai
Dubai likes to describe itself as the city of gold and many, including Nigerians, come here to melt down their old jewellery and swap it for something new.
Can electric shocks really make you fitter?
Is an exercise fad which involves sending small electric shocks to muscles actually beneficial?
The great cabbage myth
Does the EU have 26,911 words regulating the vegetable?
The accidental jihadist
The teenager who just wanted to travel
‘Hello governor, I have my period’
Governor Mike Pence has been fielding protest calls from women across Indiana and the US after passing an anti-abortion bill. What do they talk about? Their periods.
China’s ‘Great Firewall’ blocks creator
Fang Binxing bypasses his own system after it blocks website access during a speech.
Yoga guru outrages India with beheading remark
Celebrity yoga teacher says only respect for the law is stopping him from murdering those who refuse to say a controversial nationalist slogan.
Traffic offender made to write lines
Vietnamese police win plaudits for unconventional approach to traffic enforcement.
A new threat to the American cowboy?
Ranchers who graze their cattle in Oregon say plans to create a conservation area will threaten their way of life.
What effect has The Archers domestic abuse story had?
The long-running storyline on emotional abuse has generated headlines.
The man who brought jihad to Britain
Masood Azhar was once a VIP guest of Britain’s leading Islamic scholars. Why?
The Eminem cover inspiring millions online
Despite his disability, one New Jersey boy is ‘not afraid’ to chase his dreams
The Mexican who raised his flag on Trump’s tower
Mexican construction worker stages flag protest against Republican front-runner’s views on top of the Trump Tower in Vancouver.
Drones to catch Dubai litterbugs
Waste management team says using drones to monitor beaches and campsites will save time.
A strange echo of the 1970s
With talk of steel nationalisation, not to mention a referendum on Europe, is the UK re-living the crises of the 1970s?
Egypt TV host dons ‘energy bill outfit’
Egyptian presenter wears utility bills to highlight public anger over price rises.
Go Figure: The week in numbers
The week’s big numbers visualised.
The Chinese bodies still being found in South Korea
As the bodies of Chinese soldiers are repatriated from South Korea, Stephen Evans asks if Beijing is turning its back on North Korea in favour of its wealthier neighbour.
How do the lights on cricket stumps work?
The flashing stumps at the ICC World T20 have drawn plenty of interest from spectators. How do they actually work?
Does violence on screen make society more violent?
Moviemakers excel at recreating violence and gore on screen. But Will Self asks if we should view fictional violence with more caution.
Inside the UK’s white-collar cage fighting scene
Mixed martial arts, or cage fighting, has an amateur scene fast growing in popularity among working professionals.
Why babies all over the world are now sleeping in boxes
The Finnish baby box, which the state has given to expectant mothers for 75 years, has sparked copycat boxes across the globe.
The stalker and the woman who refused to give in
What’s it like to be stalked for a decade? One woman tells her story.
Obstacles to ‘coding while black’
An incident at an Atlanta cheque-cashing facility points to broader problems in making tech more inclusive
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