QUIRKY WORLD ... Artist freed after Paris rooster performance

FRANCE: A South African performance artist who tied a live rooster to his penis during an impromptu open-air show near the Eiffel Tower was found guilty of "sexual exhibitionism", but the court did not impose a sentence

Last September, Steven Cohen danced on the tourist-filled Trocadero Plaza dressed in a corset, high heels, long red gloves, and an elaborate feathered headdress with a rooster attached to his penis by a ribbon.

Under the amused and perplexed gaze of tourists, including a group of nuns, the spectacle lasted a few moments before police arrested Cohen, dragging him across the plaza, rooster attached.

In a March interview with Le Figaro daily, Cohen said that the authorities had “no understanding of what art is, what performance is”.

“If I’m found guilty… I will see it as a failure of French justice,” said Cohen, who has lived in France for about 10 years.

Prosecutors instead asked for a €1,000 fine.

HASH BLAST

USA: The opening months of Colorado’s recreational marijuana industry have seen a rise in fiery explosions as pot users try to extract potent oil from the drug in home laboratories.

The golden concoction can be up to 80% THC — marijuana’s intoxicating chemical — and devotees say one or two drops can produce a more euphoric high than a joint.

However, home cooking is dangerous. Hospital officials said more people are being seriously burned and injured trying to make hash oil.

HUDL IN

BRITAIN: Supermarket giant Tesco will launch an own-brand smartphone this year, as well as a new version of the Hudl tablet.

Chief executive Philip Clarke told the BBC that the success of the Hudl and the growth of digital consumption had led the retailer to add to its technology line with a Hudl smartphone and Hudl 2 tablet device.

BEARD BOTHER

USA: A Muslim university wrestler in the US, who chose to sit on the sidelines rather than shave his beard, has been granted a waiver that will allow him to compete with his facial hair.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations praised the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s decision in the case of University at Buffalo wrestler Muhamed McBryde. NCAA rules say wrestlers must be clean-shaven, but McBryde says shaving his beard would compromise his faith.

The NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee said he could compete with a beard during the 2014-15 season — as long as he wears a face mask and chin strap to cover it.

PETITION DENIED

USA: The Utah Department of Transportation has denied a petition to erect a roadside memorial at the site where hundreds of turkeys were killed last month in a tractor-trailer accident, but animal rights activists have appealed the decision.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) has requested a permit for a sign marking the spot near the rural town of Wallsburg where a truck hauling more than 700 live turkeys crashed through a guard rail on US Highway 189 and plunged into a reservoir on April 24.

The driver survived with injuries suffered when he was thrown from the cab of his truck.

The Peta-proposed sign would include the Transportation Department’s standard safe-driving messages, along with an image of a turkey and the words: “In memory of the hundreds of terrified turkeys who died here in a truck crash. Try vegan.”

However, in a letter sent last Friday, the agency said Peta’s request did not meet Utah Department of Transportation policy standards for roadside memorials, which are designed to pay tribute to highway accident fatalities on behalf of grieving loved ones.