French resorts defiant as top court suspends burkini ban
France's highest administrative court suspended a controversial ban on the burkini by a French Riviera town, although other resorts remained defiant, vowing to keep the restrictions in place.
In a judgment expected to lead to bans being overturned in around 30 towns along the French coast, the State Council ruled the measure was a "serious and clearly illegal violation of fundamental freedoms".
But the ruling - which only applied to the ban imposed by the town of Villeneuve-Loubet - was quickly dismissed by several other towns, including Nice, which vowed to keep the restrictions in place and continue imposing fines on women who wear the full-body swimsuit.
'I thought I was going to die': Billionaire Richard Branson in harrowing bike crash
Billionaire Richard Branson said he thought he was going to die after crashing head first onto the road while training for a fundraising adventure.
He was cycling downhill at the British Virgin Islands with his two children, Holly and Sam, when he hit a hump in the dark, he wrote in a blog post.
"The next thing I knew, I was being hurled over the handlebars and my life was literally flashing before my eyes," said the 66-year-old founder of the Virgin Group.
Italy mourns earthquake dead as hope for survivors wanes
The first funerals for victims of the devastating earthquake that hit central Italy this week were held as the country prepared for an emotionally charged day of mourning.
Flags will fly at half-mast across the country on Saturday in respect for the victims of a disaster that claimed at least 278 lives, according to an updated official toll.
At least 388 people have been hospitalised with injuries. No one has been pulled alive from the piles of collapsed masonry since Wednesday evening.
Man gets stuck in public toilet over lost phone
Firemen in Norway came to the rescue of a man who climbed into an outdoor public toilet to retrieve a friend's cellphone, after he got stuck in the tank.
Cato Berntsen Larsen, 20, was able to climb through the toilet seat opening to recover the phone lying at the bottom of the outhouse, but was unable to climb back out again.
"I was down there an hour, I was panicking," he said, adding there were "animals" crawling on his body.
Football: Lewandowski hat-trick as Bayern rout Bremen in season opener
Robert Lewandowski claimed a hat-trick as defending champions Bayern Munich brushed Werder Bremen aside with a 6-0 win in Friday's opening match of the new German league season.
Lewandowski, the Bundesliga's top-scorer last season with 30 goals, could have finished with five as Bayern ran riot.
After Xabi Alonso scored the first goal of the 2016/17 campaign at Munich's Allianz Arena, Lewandowski netted either side of the break before captain Philipp Lahm added a fourth. It was no more than shooting practice for Bayern by the time Franck Ribery fired home, with Lewandowski then converting a penalty to claim his third and Munich's sixth.
