And also... Ai Weiwei's refugee haircut, Snoop Dogg's Romanian invitation, and more

By Euronews

Published on 18/03/2016 - 14:19

Every Friday journalists from euronews’ various language teams choose a selection of stories from Europe and beyond which you may have missed… or

Every Friday journalists from euronews’ various language teams choose a selection of stories from Europe and beyond which you may have missed… or which perhaps did not make the international headlines.

Greece: Ai Weiwei gets refugee haircut

Chinese Contemporary artist and activist Ai Weiwei visited a refugee camp at Idomeni, on Greece’s northern border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

During his trip Ai spent time with refugees and migrants and later had his hair and beard trimmed by the camp’s resident barber.

The artist said of the experience: “I needed a haircut… And of course, it is obviously symbolic. Anything we do is symbolic. For me that means I have permanently (left) some of my hair on the ground here, and they will never come back to me.”

Iran: Sisters separated in chemical attack meet 28 years later

Chiro and her sister Chiya were separated from each other and the rest of their family on March 16, 1988, when Halabja in Iraq was hit by a chemical gas attack unleashed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces after the city had fallen to the Iranian army and Kurdish forces.

After the massacre in which up to 5,000 people died, including the sisters’ parents, Chiya was picked up by Iranian forces and later adopted by an Iranian family. The two sisters lived on both sides of the Iran-Kurdistan border for years.

Nearly three decades later the sisters were reunited in their home town. Chiya becomes the third person to be located in Iran and reunited with their family in the last seven years.

All-female pilot crew land in Saudi Arabia… where they can’t drive

To mark Brunei’s National Day on February 23, Royal Brunei Airlines organised a landmark flight – sending an all-female pilot crew to a country where if they attempt to drive a car, they risk arrest.

Captain Sharifah Czarena and senior first officers Sariana Nordin and Dk Nadiah Pg Khashiem became the airline’s first all-female flight crew, piloting a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on flight BI081 from Brunei to Jeddah.

The move highlighted the absurdity of Saudi Arabia’s rules on female drivers. Although there is no official law banning women, they cannot apply for driving licences and Saudi clerics argue they “undermine social values”.

Last year women were allowed to stand for election for the first time, and they were able to vote.

Une photo publiée par Royal Brunei Airlines (@royalbruneiair) le 22 Févr. 2016 à 19h14 PST

Romania: Snoop Dogg expected in Bogata after typo

The rapper posted a selfie of himself listing his destination not as Bogota, Colombia – but Bogata.

Inadvertently, the small village in Mures County, Transylvania had received a tourism boost.

Romanians quickly spotted the error and began tweeting about it.

A tourist website visitbogata.com quickly popped up, describing Bogata as “the best place for chillin’ in Romania”.

Bogata mayor Laszlo Barta claims the rural commune with a population of 2,019 already had American visitors, so Snoop Dogg could easily find accommodation and excellent traditional food.

Representing Bogata, Mureș, Romania! Aiiight! SnoopDogg</a> <a href="https://t.co/aTAxAYfIOD">pic.twitter.com/aTAxAYfIOD</a></p>— Sergiu Floroaia (sergiufloroaia) March 14, 2016

Canada: two inmates escape jail by helicopter

Two inmates at a Canadian jail created their own version of “The Great Escape”, fleeing Quebec’s St-Jérôme jail by clinging to a cord attached to a helicopter.

USA: dog lost at sea comes back after five weeks

A dog believed to have drowned after disappearing from a fishing boat off the California coast five weeks ago was found on an island owned by the US Navy and was to be reunited with her owner.

Luna, a blue-eyed German shepherd-husky mix, apparently swam over three kilometres to San Clemente Island, off the San Diego coast, where Navy employees found her. The island is a Navy training base.

MT FoxNews</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USNavy?src=hash">#USNavy</a> staffers find <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/California?src=hash">#California</a> dog believed lost at sea for 5 weeks - <a href="https://t.co/II9kog75lw">https://t.co/II9kog75lw</a> <a href="https://t.co/hWPPcIvBLQ">pic.twitter.com/hWPPcIvBLQ</a></p>— U.S. Navy (USNavy) March 17, 2016

Running the show: Woman, 80, is new viral star in Hungary

An elderly runner has become the latest online star in Hungary.

A video of Tamásné Lóki, who is still competing as an athlete, received 289,000 views.

Lóki took part in the National Senior Athletics Championship in March, where she ran the 60 and 200 metres. Her times were not bad either: 12.77 and 50.62 seconds.

The “supergranny” started running 25 years ago, after retiring from work. She already won a silver medal in a world championship in 2006, but she wants to finish first at least once in her life. She is preparing for her next competition in Ancona.

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)^{0; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));> A március 4.-én a Szenior Atlétika Országos bajnokságon a legnagyobb tapsot a W80-as kategóriában rajthoz álló induló Lóki Tamásné kapta! A 200m-es futás alatt amerre elhaladt megállt az élet és hatalmas tapsvihar kísérte a célba!}