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Multimedia by Isabel Ríos.

Funny Story: Offbeat News from Around the Globe

A selection of the most amusing headlines of late, including a space-bound chicken nugget and a milkshake order that risked a government security breach.

Iceland Foods Ltd., a British supermarket chain, recently launched a chicken nugget into space to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The chain is the first entity to pull off such a feat. They hired a “space marketing” company to send the nugget all the way from rural Wales to “near space”, 110,000 feet above the Earth’s surface. The nugget, which was launched in a weather balloon, stayed in space for an hour under low atmospheric pressure and temperatures before it descended at a speed of 200 mph.
“What better way to show that our products are out of this world than by sending one of our customer favorites into space?” explained trading director Andrew Staniland.
The Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown, appointed himself the head of 17 ministries, including finance, telecommunications and police, after being sworn into office on Oct. 1. The Leader of the Opposition, Tina Browne, believes that the move suggests the lack of faith the Prime Minister has in his colleagues’ ability to take on high-ranking duties. According to a statement, the Prime Minister will eventually step down from some of these duties and reappoint ministers.
The Château des ducs de Bretagne History Museum in Nantes, France, postponed an exhibit on the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan following what they described as “censorship” by the Chinese government. The exhibit — organized in conjunction with the Inner Mongolia Museum in Hohhot, China — was jeopardized when the museum refused to concede to a demand from the Chinese Bureau of Cultural Heritage that certain words, including “Genghis Khan,” “Empire” and “Mongol,” not be used. The authorities also asked for control over exhibit materials such as brochures and maps. The museum criticized these demands as including “elements of biased rewriting of Mongol culture in favor of a new national narrative.”
Storyhouse, an arts center located in England, was planning to hold a Halloween-themed film screening at a car park when organizers realized that the England-Wales border runs right through the venue, separating the screening area from toilet facilities. The event was initially supposed to take place entirely in Wales, but the screening area was moved across the border to England after the Welsh government announced a regional lockdown. Despite the logistical conundrum, if the event does go ahead as planned, police will be present to ensure attendees do not accidentally cross the border and violate Wales’ lockdown rules.
In the wake of the United States presidential election, it has been reported that in 2017, President Donald Trump risked exposing U.S. secret intelligence by ordering milkshakes into a classified briefing room. Senior officials were gathered to discuss national defense issues when Trump halted the briefing to proclaim, “We have the best malts, you have to try them,” and summon a waiter into the “code-word-secure” room. The episode would become legendary inside the CIA and foreshadow the U.S. president’s resistance to daily briefings, according to Politico.
Naeema Mohammed Sageer is Deputy News Editor. Email her at feedback@thegazelle.org.
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