Natendorf, Germany / DPA Two polar bears, Nanuq and Sprinter, play in their zoo enclosure: Using their powerful teeth and enormous claws, they press a white ball under the water and then let it shoot up again to the surface. The bears, both males weighing around 500 kilograms and measuring 3 metres in length, are comparable to teenaged human boys ...

  New York / AP Walking through most doors at the Tribeca Film Festival means taking a seat in a theater full of chattering moviegoers. But there are also darkened, cloth-wrapped chambers — like old carnival booths promising never-before-seen wonders — that offer nothing but a headset, headphones and perhaps some advice, like: “Watch for the dragon.” Virtual reality has steadily ...

  London / AFP A plaque was unveiled in central London on Thursday, marking the place where William Shakespeare lodged in the city, in time for the 400th anniversary of the playwriter’s death. Actress Fiona Shaw read out Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 55”, while hand bell ringers and a children’s choir performed. “William Shakespeare had lodgings near here in 1604, at the house ...