While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Nov 17 edition

Demonstrators in favor of a military intervention in Brazil invade the lower house plenary session in Brasilia on Nov 16, 2016. PHOTO: AFP

Protesters storm Brazil Congress demanding military coup

Dozens of rightwing protesters burst into Brazil's legislative chamber to demand a military coup.

The approximately 40 people swept past security guards and broke a glass door to get in the lower house of Congress chamber, interrupting the start of the session.

Taking over the podium they chanted "general here, general here," in reference to support for a takeover by the army.

Their action came on the same day that more than 2,000 people, ranging from teachers to off duty police officers, faced off against elite Shock Battalion police outside the state legislature in the centre of Rio over planned austerity measures.

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Bob Dylan won't be at Nobel ceremony to pick up literature prize

Music icon Bob Dylan will not attend the Nobel ceremony in December to accept his literature prize because he has "other commitments", the Swedish Academy said.

The Academy said it respected Dylan's decision, but that it was "unusual" for a Nobel laureate not to come to Stockholm to accept the award in person.

Nobel laureates are honoured every year on Dec 10 - the death anniversary of the prize's founder Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist, inventor and philanthropist.

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China websites block searches for 'Fatty Kim the Third'

Chinese websites have again blocked searches for "Fatty Kim the Third", as many Chinese mockingly call North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with China's foreign ministry saying it did not approve of ridiculing foreign leaders.

Chinese Internet users began reporting last week that searches on the Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo and search engine Baidu for the expression returned no results, the normal sign that something is being blocked despite its wide usage.

The term - which refers to the weight of Kim, his father and grandfather - was last blocked in September after neighbouring North Korea's latest nuclear test. Kim is unpopular in China because of his country's repeated nuclear and missile tests.

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Underground ocean found on Pluto, likely slushy with ice

Scientists have found evidence that tiny, distant Pluto harbours a hidden ocean beneath the frozen surface of its heart-shaped central plain containing as much water as all of Earth's seas.

The finding, reported in two research papers published in the journal Nature, adds Pluto to a growing list of worlds in the solar system beyond Earth believed to have underground oceans, some of which potentially could be habitats for life.

Pluto's ocean, which is likely slushy with ice, lies 150km to 200km beneath the dwarf planet's icy surface and is about 100km deep, planetary scientist Francis Nimmo of the University of California, Santa Cruz said in an interview.

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In a galaxy far, far away, Princess Leia and Han Solo had a real life affair

A long time ago, and in a galaxy far, far away, actress Carrie Fisher had an affair with her Star Wars co-star Harrison Ford, she said.

Fisher spilled her 40-year secret to People magazine this week while promoting her memoir, The Princess Diarist, which goes on sale on Tuesday. The book is based on Fisher's diaries from the time and is billed as telling behind-the-scene stories of the first Star Wars movie.

Fisher said the three-month affair started, and ended, during the filming in 1976 of Star Wars: A New Hope, in which she played Princess Leia to Ford's romantic, maverick hero Han Solo.

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