The U.S. Department of State issued an apology Wednesday after posting a tweet that seemed to proffer travel advice for those whose looks are less than a perfect 10.

"Some have been offended by our earlier tweet and we apologize that it came off negatively," the Bureau of Consular Affairs posted on its Twitter account, after pulling down the offending message.

One of China's biggest private-sector conglomerates is seeking a magical solution to the horns of a dilemma about its future, pledging to "become a giant 'Unicorn' with enormous power".

Fosun International used the word "unicorn" at least 19 times in its annual report, in which it declared net profits of more than eight billion yuan ($1.2 billion).

A British man who caused online debate Wednesday after having his picture taken with the hijacker of an Egyptian plane said that he did it to take a "closer look" at his supposed suicide belt.  

Montenegro has deported 58 foreign members of a Japanese doomsday cult, most of them Russians, for lacking the right permits to visit the Balkan country, police said on Tuesday.

A Sri Lankan police officer was in a critical condition Monday after a man he was trying to arrest over a drunken brawl bit his genitals.

A 40-year-old Jewish man tempted fate by walking into a Paris synagogue dressed as a jihadist, carrying a fake rifle and shouting "Allahu Akbar", a police source said Friday. 

Most days, Lutheran pastor Kazuhiro Sekino preaches to his congregation in a soft voice with religious hymns playing in the background of a Tokyo church.

But as night falls, he hits a smoky stage criss-crossed with whizzing strobe lights, shedding his pious day job in a battle of the bands against a group of Buddhist monks.

Los Angeles police say diners scattered when a man dropped a 13-foot python on the floor of a sushi restaurant.

Officer Drake Madison says the man had argued with an employee and stormed out of Iroha Sushi of Tokyo in Studio City on Sunday evening. Madison says a short time later, the man returned with the giant snake, threw it into the dining room and walked out again.

English pubs will be allowed to open longer during the weekend in June celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday, Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament on Wednesday to cheers from MPs.

New York's World Trade Center was lit black, yellow and red in solidarity with Belgium over the Brussels attacks, a spokesman said Wednesday despite confusion that the lights looked wrong.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that the 408-foot (124-meter) spire on the tallest building in the United States would be lit in the colors of the Belgian flag after dark.