Looking at the new running shoes unveiled by Spanish start-up FBR you would be forgiven for thinking it incomplete, but the missing heel in the sole is actually by design.

Athletic trainer Franc Beneyto came up with the idea for a heelless running shoe five years ago, after reading the book “Running with the Kenyans”, by Adharanand Finn, a journalist and amateur runner who lived for a few months in Kenya with athletes and coaches to investigate why they were able to run more, faster and get injured less frequently than others. In the book, Finn wrote that Kenyans had refined a natural running technique that didn’t require the support of the heel, but instead relied on the Achilles tendon, plantar arch, soleus and calf muscle. That got him thinking, and one day he just cut off the heel of a running shoe to see what running in it would feel like.

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Weddings are generally considered personal events reserved for family and friends, but some couples in India are more than happy to have total strangers from all over the world attend their traditional weddings, for a fee.

Paying hundreds of dollars to attend the wedding of two total strangers in a foreign country may seem strange to some, but according to JoinMyWedding, a company specializing in wedding tourism, it’s “the ultimate cultural immersion” for tourists looking to experience as many elements of Indian culture in the shortest time possible. Clients get to put on traditional Indian clothing, taste exotic food, witness and take part in beautiful wedding customs, and soak up the unique atmosphere. As for the couples getting married, they get to share the happiest day of their lives not just with family and friends, “but with the world” and make some extra money in the process.

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Colombian singer Maluma is one of the world’s most popular reggaeton stars, but while millions of people love listening to his hits, one jailed Mexican official claims he has been driven crazy by Maluma’s music after police “tortured” him by playing loud reggaeton non-stop for 10 days straight.

Gilberto Aguirre Garza, the former director of the Attorney General’s Office in the Mexican state of Veracruz, was jailed in April for his alleged involvement in the concealment and alteration of evidence relating to the mass burial of 13 human bodies. On January 19, 2016, the remains of 19 victims of enforced disappearance allegedly perpetrated by public servants of the Public Security Secretariat of the State were discovered in a place called La Barranca de La Aurora. However, prosecutors claimed that Garza instructed personnel under his command to report the finding of only 6 bodies, a charge that he has always denied. The jailed official’s lawyer recently told reporters that, in an effort to force his client to admit to the crime and denounce other public servants, the current Verracruz Governor and the state’s Attorney General have been subjecting Garza to music torture.

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A 22-year-old female fan of the hit TV show “The Vampire Diaries” who considered herself the real-life vampire heroine Elena Gilbert was recently sentenced to two and a half years in prison after stabbing a man that she allegedly considered a werewolf.

The bizarre attack occurred in the Russian city of Novosibirsk, back in February. Ekaterina Tirskaya, a fan of supernatural-themed video games and TV shows, met her unnamed victim on social media, and, after hitting it off online, the two decided to meet up in person as well. They went for a date and when it came time to call it a night, the man reportedly asked Ekaterina if she wanted to come to his place for a nightcap. She accepted, and as it often happens in such cases, the two ended up spending the night together. But things got weird the following morning, as the man later told police that the woman he woke up next to was very different than the one he had bedded. And by different, he meant violent vampire out for blood.

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Yoshitaka Sakurada, Japan’s new cybersecurity minister, recently left the whole world dumbfounded after admitting that he has never used a computer.

Sakurada made the stunning admission during a question and answer session with Japan’s Lower House cabinet committee. When asked about things like the power grid and malware, the newly appointed cybersecurity minister seemed overwhelmed, and at one point said that USB was “basically never used” in Japan’s nuclear power stations, which led many to believe that he didn’t understand the technology at all. Most of his replies were met with laughter from the other politicians, but no one actually expected him to casually admit that he had never even used a computer before.

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The Maltese city of Zebbug, on the island of Gozo, recently welcomed its newly appointed archbishop in a very unusual way – having the prelate ride in a convertible Porsche Boxter S pulled by dozens of young children.

A video of the unusual welcome that took place on Sunday went viral both in Malta and abroad, with most viewers declaring themselves outraged by the sight of a high-ranking member of the church riding in a luxury sports car pulled by young children dressed in white. Footage showed Archbishop Ġwann Sultana standing up and waving from the grey Porsche Boxter S, as dozens of children pulled the sports car through the streets of Zebbug, to the local church.

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Plastic surgery is more popular than it’s ever been, but women looking for a less invasive way of getting a perfect nose are turning to a special wax that lets them mold their noses into the desired shape.

Microcrystaline wax has been used in Asia – particularly in China – for a while now, but it has recently been gaining popularity in the western world as well thanks to makeup enthusiasts and influencers showing off their temporary nose jobs on Instagram. Videos of women applying bits of white, clay-like material on their nose to drastically adjust its shape, and later deconstructing their work have been going viral on the popular social network lately, leaving people scratching their heads.

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“Relax We Post” is a new service offered by Swiss hotel chain Ibis Hotels to guests who want to take a break from social media and enjoy their holiday, but still keep their accounts updated. All they need to do is share their Instagram login details with the hotel’s “Instagram sitters” who will post photos and stories on their behalf and even reply to comments.

Instead of focusing all their attention on taking cool photos to post on Instagram, social media addicts staying at one of the 17 Ibis hotels in Zurich and Geneva will be able to enjoy their vacation while Instagram sitters do all their work for them. For the Relax We Post service, the Swiss hotel chain teamed up with  with over 10 well-known influencers, including Anna Maradan, Cristina Gheiceanu, Pascal Erband and Elay Leuthold, who will login into guests’ Instagram accounts and post high-quality photos, cool Stories as well as reply to comments.

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Pinocchio may be just a children’s fairy tale, but Spanish scientists at the University of Granada recently investigated the so-called ‘Pinocchio effect’ and found that our noses don’t grow when we tell a lie, but actually shrink a bit.

Dr Emilio Gómez Milán and his team developed a lie detector test that used thermography to tell if people were lying, and found that whenever participants in their research were being untruthful, the temperature of the tip of their nose dropped up to 1.2 degrees Celsius, while the temperature of their forehead increased up to 1.5C. Scientist also found that drop in temperature at nose level actually caused it to slightly shrink, although the difference is undetected by the human eye.

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A California man’s unexpected recovery has left doctor’s baffled. A day before his scheduled surgery to have a presumed brain tumor removed, a final head CT exam showed that the mass in his brain had miraculously disappeared.

Paul Wood, a resident of Lodi, in California, started complaining of excruciating headaches and dizziness several months ago, and received several serious diagnoses from doctors. A neurosurgeon at UC San Francisco told him that he had a brain bleeding, while a radiologist told him that his CAT scans showed a brain tumor. Both required risky brain surgery, but a day before the scheduled intervention to have the suspected tumor removed, a fresh CT scan revealed no sign of anything unusual in his brain. Doctors couldn’t, and still cannot explain what happened, but Wood is convinced that it’s nothing short of a miracle from God.

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A Peruvian woman claims that her possessed doll frightened her boyfriend into leaving her after it attacked him out of jealousy.

Berliz, a young woman from Callao, Peru, told reporters that Deisy, a doll she received from her mother as a Christmas gift when she was younger, has been exhibiting Poltergeist-like behavior, including moving its head and limbs, and even attacking people she doesn’t like. The doll’s latest victim was Berliz’s boyfriend, who broke off their relationship after Deisy “grabbed and hit him” while he was sleeping.

According to Berliz, the possessed doll moves by itself, knocks things down around the house and appears to be the source of several phenomena that cannot be explained. The woman says that Deisy appears to be very jealous and acts out whenever someone gets close to its owner. For example, she recalled a bizarre occurrence from when she was 18-years-old. Her father hugged her and then the lights suddenly went out. When they went back on, her face was full of cuts.

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A 95-year-old man from rural Rajasthan , in India, recently stunned his family when he woke up during his pre-funeral bath after a doctor had pronounced him dead.

Budh Ram, a resident of Bhaktanwalan Ki Dhani, had fainted on Saturday afternoon, after complaining of chest pain. When his family found him, they called a private doctor, who, after inspecting the 95-year-old’s body, declared him dead. The man’s family then notified his relatives and contacted a priest to perform his last rites. The men of the family shaved their heads as per tradition, and prepared to give Budh’s body a customary last bath. But when they started poring cold water over him, something unexpected happened – the “dead man” miraculously came back to life.

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China’s state news agency Xinhua unveiled two very realistic looking AI news anchors that can “tirelessly” report the news 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from anywhere in the world.

We’ve known that robots and artificial intelligence were coming for our jobs, but somehow I never thought news anchors would be among the first to be replaced. However, if the two AI broadcasters who made their debut last week during China’s annual World Internet Conference are anything to go by, the future of human news anchors looks very bleak. The newest additions to Xinhua’s team of broadcasters not only look disturbingly realistic, but they can also move their mouths to match the audio, blink, nod their head in emphasis, or raise their eyebrows. But their most important quality is that they can work 24/7, both on the agency’s website and on social media platforms, greatly “reducing news production costs and improving efficiency”.

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A 35-year-old Japanese man who shunned romantic relationships with real women after being humiliated and bullied by them recently married a popular virtual pop-star named Hatsune Miku.

Akihiko Kondo had been planning his dream wedding to the love of his life since March, and on November 4 the two finally tied the knot during a ceremony in Tokyo attended by around 40 guests, including a member of the Japanese Parliament. Unfortunately, his mother, refused to attend the event and so did all of his other relatives. Not being there on her son’s big day may sound cruel, but Kondo’s mother apparently couldn’t accept the fact that he would rather marry a two-dimensional virtual idol rather than look for love in real life. Akihiko Kondo married Hatsune Miku, an animated 16-year-old hologram with huge anime eyes and aquamarine pigtails, because he simply wasn’t interested in real women.

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A 69-year-old Dutch man who claims to feel much younger than his actual age has gone to court to make himself legally 20 years younger.

Emile Ratelband, a media personality and self-described “positivity guru”, recently told a court in Arnhem, Holland, that he did not feel comfortable with his true age and compared his desire to have it legally changed with that of people who identify as transgender. Ratelband said that he would gladly renounce his pension to ensure that there were no unforeseen consequences, and tried to convince the judges that slashing two decades from his real age would have a hugely positive impact on all aspects of his life.

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