Links

Image source, College of Integrated Philosophyin WashingtonA messianic leader of a multi-million dollar spiritual organisation in western Canada has been charged with four counts of sexual assault.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.BBC NewsA boy who taught himself to read as a toddler has been accepted as the UK's youngest member of Mensa.Four-year-old Teddy, from Portishead in Somerset, can count to 100 in six non-native languages, including Mandarin.

Japan's prime minister says his country is on the brink of not being able to function as a society because of its falling birth rate. Japan - population 125 million - is estimated to have had fewer than 800,000 births last year. In the 1970s, that figure was more than two million.

Your gut is a bustling and thriving alien colony. They number in their trillions and include thousands of different species. Many of these microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea and eukarya, were here long before humans, have evolved alongside us and now outnumber our own cells many times over.

Peru has closed its famous tourist site Machu Picchu indefinitely over the ongoing protests against the country's president. The government said it took the decision to protect tourists and its own citizens.

In Japan, houses are like cars. As soon as you move in, your new home is worth less than what you paid for it and after you've finished paying off your mortgage in 40 years, it is worth almost nothing.

Fire up the giant digital billboards with their ever-increasing dollar displays. Start calculating how much every American man, woman and child owes. Cue the comparisons to a family budget, or credit-card spending or running a small business.

The number of stars that people can see with the naked eye has reduced dramatically over the last decade. The cause is "Skyglow" from artificial lighting - the brightness of that glow has increased every year since 2011.

It's a new hydrogen-diesel hybrid engine affectionately known as "baby number two" that could help to decarbonise some of Australia's heaviest industries.

In the summer of 2002, thousands flocked to the banks of the River Usk in Newport, to see a piece of history. In the middle of a building site, the mud had been cleared to reveal the 500-year-old remains of a trading ship.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.BBC NewsWith almost 2,500 pieces, measuring 30 metres and weighing 25 tonnes, it has been called the world's largest 3D puzzle.

Images of Sajjad Heydari carrying Mona's severed head in Ahvaz after the so-called "honour killing" last year caused widespread outrage. Her father previously said that he had not given his consent for the killing.

The world's oldest living person, French nun Lucile Randon, has died aged 118. Ms Randon - who assumed the name Sister Andre when she took holy orders in 1944 - died in her sleep at her nursing home in Toulon, France.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.BBC NewsItaly's most wanted mobster was heading to a cafe outside a private Sicilian clinic when a policeman approached him and asked him his name.He did not lie. He merely looked up and said: "You know who I am.

China's population has fallen for the first time in 60 years, with the national birth rate hitting a record low - 6.77 births per 1,000 people. The population in 2022 - 1.4118 billion - fell by 850,000 from 2021.

They are best known for their remarkable ability to carry heavy loads and a tenacious – almost stoic – approach to toil. In some parts of the world, the donkey has become associated, perhaps unfairly, with terms of insult or mockery.

How do you like to spend your weekend off? Do you put your feet up in front of the TV? Maybe shopping is your way to unwind? Perhaps you're a bit more adventurous and enjoy a stroll in the countryside?

It was an innocuous-looking photograph that turned out to be the downfall of Zheng Xiaoqing, a former employee with energy conglomerate General Electric Power.

It is three months since Elon Musk swept into Twitter's San Francisco headquarters - and the company has barely been out of the headlines.

Five months after setting out from the tip of Australia, marathon runner Erchana Murray-Bartlett has reached the country's southern edge. The 32-year-old on Monday finished her 6,300km (3,900 miles) journey - a marathon every day for 150 days.

Millions of years ago thylacines, also known as Tasmanian tigers, were widespread across Australia. About the size of an American coyote, these dog-like creatures with stripes disappeared from the mainland around 2,000 years ago.

There is a new order emerging in space - a race between America and China. But with the demands of space exploration, even these great superpowers won't be able to do it alone.

Mushrooms aren't known for their ornamental value, but for this scientist they are a thing of beauty. The plant pathologist is on a mission to spread the word that fungi need conservation just as much as plants and animals.

Today the River Jordan lacks its biblical proportions, but some 200,000 visitors still flock to the traditional spot for Christian baptisms in Jordan in a typical year. "When you're in the area you have to visit. It's part of history," enthuses Oliver, who is French.

Last week in Las Vegas I boxed, hunted for cute aliens, flew a laser-shooting robot and drew my own masterpiece - all in virtual reality. Some of the headsets I used to try out these experiences cost almost twice as much as the smartphone we used to snap the photo above.