AFP
AFP Features

Filipino presidential candidate Rigoberto Madera displays the copy of his "certificate of candidacy" (COC) after filing his candidacy at the Commision on Elections office. Madera was the first to register as a candidate at the election commission on November 20, waving handouts identifying him as "Star General Ace Diamond, Commander-in-Chief on Earth... Emparador (Emperor), Ultimate Messiah.(AFP/File)

Bizarre candidates kick off Philippine election race

2 hours, 43 minutes ago

MANILA (AFP) - Bizarre candidates such as the "Ultimate Messiah" and a man who crows like a chicken are seeking their moments of fame by making unlikely bids for president in next year's Philippine elections.

  • Mothers take their children to a playground in Taipei on November 8. Taiwan, with a population of 23 million, now has the dubious distinction of having the lowest birth rate in the world, according to the Population Reference Bureau, a think tank based in Washington DC.(AFP/File/Patrick Lin)
    Taiwan's dwindling birth rate causes concern 2 hours, 33 minutes ago

    TAIPEI (AFP) - As a schoolteacher, Ariel Shen has been observing Taiwan's declining birth rate from up close.

  • A restaurant employee (L) takes care of grilling lamb skewers beneath the glow of swirling neon signs in Yiwu. Yiwu, a city of two million people 300 kilometres (190 miles) south of Shanghai, has become a crossroads on what has been dubbed a "New Silk Road" between China and the Middle East, attracting more than 200,000 Arab traders each year.(AFP/Philippe Lopez)
    Mosques, Chinese goods, Arabic classes rebuild Silk Road Mon Nov 23, 12:44 AM ET

    YIWU, China (AFP) - Smoke from hookah pipes and the aroma of lamb skewers on the grill mix in the chilly autumn air as men talk loudly in Arabic over pulsating music beneath the neon glow of restaurant signs.

  • An Uruguayan schoolboy tries the new laptop that is being distributed to all public primary school students, during a demonstration in May 2009. A laptop is now finding its place alongside a notebook and pen in schoolbags in Uruguay, the first and only country to offer an Internet-connected computers to all public primary school students.(AFP/Panta Astiazaran)
    Laptop becomes reality for Uruguay's schoolchildren Sun Nov 22, 7:13 PM ET

    LAS PIEDRAS, Uruguay (AFP) - A laptop is now finding its place alongside a notebook and pen in schoolbags in Uruguay, the first and only country to offer an Internet-connected computers to all public primary school students.

  • Renelly Morel (R), digital marketing manager for Ubisoft, works out with Your Shape on November 6, in San Francisco. French videogame powerhouse Ubisoft will have a virtual fitness coach whipping Wii users into shape. "Your Shape" ramp-up the healthy videogame genre by using a camera to put people on-screen and under the scrutiny of an animated coach devoted to making workouts go strong.(AFP/File/Glenn Chapman)
    Ubisoft steps up videogame fitness with virtual coach Sun Nov 22, 6:46 PM ET

    SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - French videogame powerhouse Ubisoft will have a virtual fitness coach whipping Wii users into shape starting Tuesday.

  • A copy of Darwin's book the "Origin of Species" is pictured in front of a life size stone bust of Charles Darwin at London's Natural History Musuem, in 2006. A first edition of Charles Darwin's seminal "On the Origin of Species" will be sold this week after it was found in a family's toilet in southern Britain, an auction house said Sunday.(AFP/File/Shaun Curry)
    Rare Charles Darwin book in toilet in Britain Sun Nov 22, 5:31 PM ET

    LONDON (AFP) - A first edition of Charles Darwin's seminal "On the Origin of Species" will be sold this week after it was found in a family's toilet in southern Britain, an auction house said Sunday.

  • An Indian woman looking into a jewellery shop display window in New Delhi on November 2009.(AFP/File/Prakash Singh)
    Flashy Indian brides struggle with high gold prices Sun Nov 22, 7:25 PM ET

    NEW DELHI (AFP) - For Indian brides buying jewellery, the bigger the better is the general rule, but record gold prices during this year's wedding season are forcing many to compromise.

  • A Lebanese woman carries a Christian Lacroix bag as she exits the designer shop in downtown Beirut on November 5. Brimming with style, Beirut is regaining its reputation as a shoppers' paradise, with luxury labels such as Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton among a slew of shops opening in the city's renovated souks.(AFP/File/Joseph Eid)
    Beirut sets out to woo back shoppers Sun Nov 22, 6:19 AM ET

    BEIRUT (AFP) - Brimming with style, Beirut is regaining its reputation as a shoppers' paradise, with luxury labels such as Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton among a slew of shops opening in the city's renovated souks.

  • A sign on display at the Nations Gunshow in Chantilly, Virginia. Recession-stoked fears of rising crime and tougher gun laws under a Democratic government are sending US gun sales sky high, and big crowds at the Chantilly Gun Show this weekend proved it once again.(AFP/Karen Bleier)
    Pistols, Tasers, assault rifles sell fast at US show Sun Nov 22, 3:23 AM ET

    CHANTILLY, Virginia (AFP) - Recession-stoked fears of rising crime and tougher gun laws under a Democratic government are sending US gun sales sky high, and big crowds at the Chantilly Gun Show this weekend proved it once again.

  • A Pakistani man is seen looking at Buddha sculptures at a museum in Peshawar. Archaeologists warn that the Taliban are destroying Pakistan's ancient Gandhara heritage and rich Buddhist legacy as pilgrimage and foreign research dries up in the country's northwest.(AFP/File/A Majeed)
    Taliban suffocate Pakistan Buddhist heritage Sun Nov 22, 1:57 AM ET

    TAXILA, Pakistan (AFP) - Archaeologists warn that the Taliban are destroying Pakistan's ancient Gandhara heritage and rich Buddhist legacy as pilgrimage and foreign research dries up in the country's northwest.

  • Nao (left) and Rinko, "maids" girls clad in classic frills, are seen posing next to a banner with anime characters at Ryohoji temple in Hachioji, a western suburb of Tokyo. The centuries-old Buddhist temple set up a makeshift cafe with anime-like characters in frilly aprons and bonnets on the weekend as it borrows the power of pop culture to woo visitors.(AFP/Toshifumi Kitamura)
    Japanese temple resorts to manga to woo visitors Sat Nov 21, 10:27 PM ET

    HACHIOJI, Japan (AFP) - Girls clad in maids' outfits are not traditionally associated with Buddhism, but that has not stopped monks at a centuries-old temple using Japanese pop culture to woo visitors.

  • Tourists love to watch herds of elephants trekking across Botswana's famed Okavango Delta, but nearby farmers watch in dismay when the animals trample their crops, leaving them little to eat.(AFP/File/Roberto Schmidt)
    Botswana tries spicy solution to keep elephants at bay Sun Nov 22, 6:22 PM ET

    GABORONE (AFP) - Tourists love to watch herds of elephants trekking across Botswana's famed Okavango Delta, but nearby farmers watch in dismay when the animals trample their crops, leaving them little to eat.

  • A father and child stop to look at the Christmas display at Macy's department store in New York. US retailers are taking desperate measures to spark holiday sales in the face of what promises to be another troubled year-end shopping season.(AFP/Getty Images/Mario Tama)
    Desperate retailers seek holiday season rescue Sat Nov 21, 11:32 PM ET

    WASHINGTON (AFP) - US retailers are taking desperate measures to spark holiday sales in the face of what promises to be another troubled year-end shopping season.

  • Hair is displayed for sale in Justino Delgado's natural hair store in Madrid. With the economic crisis, more and more Spanish women are selling their hair to make ends meet, delighting Delgado, who exports it for wigs and extensions(AFP/Pierre-Philippe Marcou)
    Crisis forcing hard-up Spaniards to sell their hair Sun Nov 22, 12:04 AM ET

    MADRID (AFP) - Cash-strapped Spaniards are pulling their hair out over the economic crisis -- literally.

  • French designer Celine Boulud dresses a chihuahua named Edgar at her boutique for dogs "Bonchicbonchien" on November 9 in Lyon. France may well be the world's fashion capital, but when it comes to suiting up pooches, America does it best.(AFP/File/Philippe Desmazes)
    French designer wolfs down US doggy rags Sat Nov 21, 1:57 PM ET

    LYON, France (AFP) - France may well be the world's fashion capital, but when it comes to suiting up pooches, America does it best.

  • A woman takes part in a stiletto race in Paris. Dozens of shoe addicts took part in the National Stiletto Championship on an indoor track in the old stock exchange building in central Paris. The only rule is to be perched on heels at least eight centimetres (three inches) high -- the prize is boxes and boxes of shoes.(AFP/Miguel Medina)
    Women run in style in Paris stiletto race Sat Nov 21, 11:11 AM ET

    PARIS (AFP) - Dozens of shoe addicts have taken part in the National Stiletto Championship on an indoor track in the old stock exchange building in central Paris.

  • The logo of social networking website 'Facebook' is displayed on a computer screen in London inr 2007. Facebook can be a double-edged sword, a Canadian woman learned when an insurance company cut her health benefits, claiming she was healthy after seeing pictures of her smiling in bikini at the beach.(AFP/File/Leon Neal)
    Smiling on Facebook costs Canadian her insurance Sat Nov 21, 2:08 PM ET

    MONTREAL (AFP) - Facebook can be a double-edged sword, a Canadian woman learned when an insurance company cut her health benefits, claiming she was healthy after seeing pictures of her smiling in bikini at the beach.

  • People play "Hungry Hungry Hippos" during a PlayDate night at a local hotel in Arlington, Virginia in October 2009. Growing numbers of single Americans have discovered PlayDate, a popular new game night that is also the hottest new venue for meeting Mr or Ms Right.(AFP/File/Jewel Samad)
    US singles on PlayDate search for soul mate Fri Nov 20, 11:59 AM ET

    ARLINGTON, Virginia (AFP) - Forget singles bars and the mad dash through the speed-dating circuit: Americans in search of love now can find that special someone across a Scrabble or Monopoly board.

  • A golfer and his caddy survey the distance for the next stroke at a course in Sanya, China's southermost tropical island province of Hainan. Golf courses have sprouted like mushrooms across the country as the sport catches on, but no place has hitched its wagon to the sport's boom quite like Hainan, which resembles an oval golf green on a map of the South China Sea.(AFP/File/Frederic J. Brown)
    Sun shines on golf's growth in China's Hainan Fri Nov 20, 2:24 PM ET

    SANYA, China (AFP) - It's chilly and wet back home in Sichuan province, but Chen Ming cheerfully tees off in shorts on a sunny palm-lined golf course on China's southern Hainan island.

  • South African women walk on a dirt road in South Africa's Eastern Cape. Women in Africa have yet to receive the financial recognition they deserve for the time and effort put into domestic and reproductive work, a UN report has concluded.(AFP/Alexander Joe)
    African women remain undervalued: UN report Fri Nov 20, 11:57 AM ET

    BANJUL (AFP) - Women in Africa have yet to receive the financial recognition they deserve for the time and effort put into domestic and reproductive work, a UN report launched Friday concluded.

  • A view of the Marigny theater in Paris on the first of four auction days led by Christie's of Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Berge collection, which profit will fund campaigns against HIV-AIDS. Buyers from Asia purchased all but one of the top 10 priciest items at the sale of the last belongings of late couturier Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge, Christie's said Friday.(AFP/File/Jacques Demarthon)
    Strong Asia presence at Saint Laurent auction Fri Nov 20, 2:47 PM ET

    PARIS (AFP) - Buyers from Asia purchased all but one of the top 10 priciest items at the sale of the last belongings of late couturier Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge, Christie's said Friday.

  • A poker player collects his chips. Poland's parliament on Friday adopted a law that confines gambling to casinos and phases out the slot machines currently in many Polish cafes, clubs, shops and service stations.(AFP/File)
    Poland restricts gambling outside casinos Fri Nov 20, 3:49 PM ET

    WARSAW (AFP) - Poland's parliament on Friday adopted a law that confines gambling to casinos and phases out the slot machines currently in many Polish cafes, clubs, shops and service stations.

  • A South African prostitute waits for a client on a Johannesburg street corner. Cape Town has set up a vice squad tasked with "cleaning up" the city's brothels ahead of the 2010 World Cup in a country which has the world's biggest HIV caseload.(AFP/File/Yoav Lemmer)
    Prostitutes fear S.Africa's World Cup clean-up Fri Nov 20, 10:29 AM ET

    JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Jabulisile works the streets in Hillbrow, a rough area normally avoided by tourists, but just a stone's throw from one of the World Cup stadiums that she hopes will bring in visitors looking for sex.

  • Santa Claus reading letters coming in from the world. No matter if children are naughty or nice, they won't get a reply from Santa this year, as the US Postal Service has blocked mail to a tiny Alaska town that answered Christmas letters for decades.(AFP/File/Olivier Morin)
    No reply this Christmas as US blocks Santa mail Fri Nov 20, 11:31 AM ET

    WASHINGTON (AFP) - No matter if children are naughty or nice, they won't get a reply from Santa this year, as the US Postal Service has blocked mail to a tiny Alaska town that answered Christmas letters for decades.