Insider • 22nd June 2022

Hailey Bieber is being sued for trademark infringement over her new skin-care line by a celebrity-loved fashion brand with the same name

The document obtained by Insider and filed on behalf of Purna Khatau and Phoebe Vickers, the fashion company's cofounders, claims Bieber's brand detracts attention from their business and creates "consumer confusion." The fashion brand's lawsuit is seeking for Bieber's company to stop using the Rhode name to avoid "irreparable harm" to their business.

Insider • 30th May 2022

The Mona Lisa was attacked with a pastry by a man disguised as an elderly woman in a wheelchair

The Mona Lisa was smeared with a pastry by a man disguised as an elderly lady at the Louvre in Paris on Sunday, a museum representative confirmed to Insider. According to video footage of the incident shared on Twitter by Luke Sundberg, a 20-year-old witness who uses the username @lukeXC2002, the world-famous Leonardo da Vinci painting was attacked by a man who jumped up from a wheelchair and covered the protective glass over the artwork in cream.

Insider • 30th May 2022

Portraits of the Queen have been projected onto Stonehenge in tribute to her 70-year reign

Portraits of Queen Elizabeth II throughout her 70-year reign have been projected onto Stonehenge ahead of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations. On Monday, it was announced by English Heritage, a charity that manages over 400 historic buildings, monuments, and sites, that the 5,000-year-old stone monument in Salisbury, England, had received a temporary makeover to honor the 96-year-old royal.

Insider • 28th April 2022

A 9-year-old fashion designer who was sent a sewing machine by Vera Wang creates viral TikToks about making her own dresses

It's common for children to fantasize about what they want to be when they grow up, but a 9-year-old Colorado fashion designer is already turning her dream career into reality. Kaia Aragon made her first dress in November and now has a closet full of original designs, a sewing machine gifted by Vera Wang, and over 600,000 followers on her mom Tonya Aragon's TikTok account, @middle.mom.

Insider • 26th March 2022

Details 'Spencer' got wrong about the royal family, according to the royal chef who's portrayed in the film

McGrady told Insider he wasn't consulted for the film but could see traces of media interviews he had given over the years woven into the story. "Whoever's done the research on that was like, 'Here's a bit about Darren McGrady, let's read this and put it in there,'" he said.

Insider • 26th February 2022

Bill Clinton would visit Nelson Mandela's home and ask to eat the exact same meals as him, says Sanctuary Mandela hotel manager

"He actually visited quite often to a point where he would want to eat exactly what Madiba used to eat and he wouldn't want it all prettied up in a specific way," Maritz said. The manager also said Ndoyiya told him that when Clinton enjoyed meals prepared by her, Mandela would send the then-president to the kitchen to thank her personally.

Insider • 21st February 2022

An American au pair working in Paris for $114 a week says 'Emily in Paris' shows a 'distorted image' of French people

When asked whether she really can relate to the Netflix character — a young social-media marketing professional portrayed by Lily Collins who unexpectedly moves from Chicago to Paris — Smith said some moments were applicable but that she thought it was broadly inaccurate.

Insider • 15th February 2022

3 van life couples share what every traveler should know before committing to mobile living

Speaking about expectations versus the reality of living in a van, El Kotni said: "There's a lot of glorified videos out there of how amazing it is and how it's the ultimate freedom, but we have to acknowledge it's not for everyone." She advised finding a friend with a van and asking them to borrow it or renting one for a week to two to ease into it and see if it's a good fit.

Insider • 25th January 2022

A woman says she found wedding photographs from 1987 in an old set of drawers, and now she's reuniting the bride with them

The woman also told Yau it was a shock seeing photos of her younger self on the news, but she and her husband are still "happily married" all these years later, according to Yau. "One of my concerns was that they might have split up and you just don't know who it's going to upset," said Yau of her initial hesitance to find the bride.

Insider • 13th December 2021

A couple held a live online wedding ceremony in the metaverse where their avatars married at a virtual chapel in the sky

"I think it shows that the world has changed and what could be possible next. It is a very exciting thing," she said, adding that Virbela had hosted a Bar Mitzvah in the metaverse but this was their first wedding. According to the American Marriage Ministries' website, marriages that solely occur in a metaverse or video game are not legally recognized.

Insider • 9th December 2021

A viral review eviscerated a Michelin-starred restaurant for serving citrus foam inside a mold of the chef's mouth

"Absent utensils, we were told to lick it out of the chef's mouth in a scene that I'm pretty sure was stolen from an eastern European horror film," DeRuiter wrote of the menu item. She added in her post that the serving dish is sold on the Pellegrino Brothers' online gift shop, "in case you want to have a restraining order filed against you this holiday season." At the time of writing, the item is on sale and costs €45, or around $51.

Insider • 7th October 2021

A collection of artwork by Muhammad Ali including a 'sting like a bee' sketch sold for almost $1 million at auction

A collection of original artwork by American heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali fetched just under $1 million at auction on Tuesday, according to Bonhams auction house. Ali, who died aged 74 in 2016 as a result of complications of Parkinson's disease, was also a celebrated artist and activist. A statement published on Bonhams' website on Tuesday said that 26 of the 28 pieces in the collection sold for a total of $945,524, which was "over 3 times the low estimate."

Insider • 6th October 2021

Auschwitz museum staff say anti-Semitic graffiti has been found in an 'outrageous attack' on the former concentration camp

Nine wooden barracks located at the South Poland memorial site were said to have been graffitied with English and German anti-Semitic slogans in what staff described as an "outrageous attack." In the statement tweeted by the official Auschwitz Memorial account after the graffiti was discovered on Tuesday, representatives for the memorial site said the spray-painted inscriptions included references to the Old Testament in a way "often used by anti-Semites," and "denial slogans."

Insider • 15th September 2021

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris has been wrapped in silver-blue fabric as part of a new art installation

The Arc de Triomphe has been covered in a silver-blue fabric as part of an art installation in Paris that will open to the public between Saturday, September 18 and Sunday, October 3. Originally conceived by the late artist Christo and his partner Jeanne-Claude, according to the artist's website, "Wrapped" was due to open in 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic. The site adds that the project required 269,098 square feet of recyclable polypropylene fabric and 22,966 feet of rope to cover the monument, which is 164 feet tall and 148 feet wide.

Insider • 13th September 2021

A 9-year-old designed his own dream treehouse with a zip line and trampoline, and rents it out on Airbnb

It's the ultimate childhood dream to have the perfect treehouse but very few people go on to design it themselves. That's precisely how Eli's Treehouse in Murphy, North Carolina, came to be. When 9-year-old Eli Sylvester was six, he told his mother, Rachel Sylvester, that he wanted to have a treehouse on the acreage at their home. Rachel told Insider she assumed this would consist of "a few pieces of plywood in the trees" and encouraged her son, who is homeschooled, to make money to fund it.

Insider • 29th July 2021

An influencer sold her love as an NFT for $250,000 and is going to have dinner with the mystery buyer

She told Insider the idea was inspired by Italian artist Salvatore Garau who sold an invisible sculpture titled "Io sono" (meaning "I am") for $18,300 in May, according to Artnet.com. Rentel told Insider selling her love was more than just an unusual way to make money or consolidate her place in history books, she believes it makes a statement to other women about their autonomy. "For me, selling digital love is empowering for women because we can love without compromising our freedom and individuality," she said.

Insider • 19th July 2021

Norwegian women's beach handball team forced to pay fines after players wore shorts — instead of bikini bottoms — during a game

Speaking to national broadcaster NRK, Norwegian player Katinka Haltvik said the decision to ignore the warnings and wear shorts "was very spontaneous" and that they felt "felt threatened by the regulations." Haltvik hopes the statement paved the way for other teams who feel uncomfortable with the uniforms but aren't able to accept fines."People cheered on us for going in front of several teams and taking the brunt. Not all teams can afford to pay such fines," she said.

Insider • 16th July 2021

A 94-year-old woman just fulfilled her dream of wearing a wedding dress — nearly 70 years after she got married

Since she posted her grandmother's story on Facebook, people around the world have shared the images of Tucker dressed as a bride. "She acts extremely excited as if she knows who it is but she's 94," Strozier told Insider. "So when I told her 'Grandma, Snoop Dogg just shared your pictures on his Instagram,' she was like, 'Snoop Dogg?' And we laughed because she probably don't know who Snoop Dogg is." She added: "Now she's saying, 'Do you think Oprah may call me?' I said, 'I don't think so Grandma.'"

Insider • 16th June 2021

A David Bowie painting bought for $4 at a Canadian landfill is now selling for more than $14,000

To authenticate the painting, Cowley said they worked with Andy Peters, "an expert in David Bowie's signatures, based in the UK." Peters runs the website David Bowie Autograph, which documents the changes in the musician's autograph between 1963 and his death in 2016 after suffering from cancer. "He was not only able to confirm that the artwork is by David Bowie, but has also recently discovered that the painting was sold through a David Bowie website, where other Bowie works were sold in 2001 or 2002 for £2,300 ($3,247)" Cowley told Insider, referencing a now-extinct art website.

Insider • 11th June 2021

A Brazilian fashion brand apologized for encouraging shoppers to use a discount code to honor a pregnant influencer who was killed by a stray bullet

Brazilian fashion brand FARM Rio has apologized after encouraging its followers to use a discount code to pay tribute to Kathlen Romeu, a 24-year-old interior designer and influencer who died after being shot on Tuesday, according to the Guardian. Romeu, who announced on Instagram that she was pregnant days before her death, was struck by a single bullet during a police shoot-out in Rio de Janeiro's Lins de Vasconcelos favela, where there has been growing unrest between police and drug gangs, the Guardian reported.

Insider • 2nd June 2021

Louis Vuitton faces backlash for selling traditional Palestinian keffiyeh-inspired scarf

The traditionally black-and-white keffiyeh, or kufiya, has become synonymous with the Palestinian liberation movements and was dubbed by Hirbawi Textile Factory, the Palestinian territories' last and only keffiyeh factory, as "the unofficial Palestinian flag." The intricate pattern, according to Hirbawi Textile Factory's website, "is said to represent a fishing net, a honeycomb, the joining of hands, or the marks of dirt and sweat wiped off a worker's brow, among other things." It also carries a lot of symbolic significance for the community.

Insider • 22nd March 2021

Lebanon's skinniest building was reportedly built by a man who wanted to ruin his brother's sea-front views

According to a Lebanese urban myth, one man turned sibling pettiness into an extreme sport when he erected the country's thinnest habitable building in front of his brother's property. His intentions were simple — to block his brother's seafront views and devalue the property. Situated in the Manara neighborhood of Beirut, the skinny building is known by locals as "al-Ba`sa," which loosely means "the Grudge" in Arabic. It is just 2 feet wide at its narrowest point, 14 feet at its widest, and was built in 1954 after the owner reportedly received a less favorable plot of land than his brother and wanted revenge by way of inconvenience.

Insider • 22nd February 2021

Prince Ernst August of Hanover is suing his 'ungrateful' son for selling a family castle for $1

Prince Ernst August of Hanover is suing his own son of the same name for selling a castle that he had inherited to the German government for €1 ($1.20). The father and son are feuding over Marienburg castle and the surrounding Calenburg estate, which are said to be run-down and in need of €27 million ($32.8 million) worth of renovations. This meant that upkeep for the 135-room Gothic creation in Lower Saxony made it a financial burden for the house of Hanover, rather than an asset.

MESA Magazine • 18th June 2020

Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis: what you need to know

Yemen is currently facing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis of the last 100 years – the country is in dire need of aid or else it faces the increasingly likely prospect of extinction.

Over the last five years, Yemen has been devastated by the atrocities of civil war that have pushed the poorest Arab nation as close to breaking point as it gets, yet it is Coronavirus that may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

As of June 15, Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia and Oman, has reported 844 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 208 deaths