As part of India's attempt to reach every potential voter, a team of 10 election officials were required to travel for two days along unpaved roads through the last remaining habitat of the endangered Asiatic lion to collect one vote. Mahant Haridas Udaseen, a 42-year-old Hindu monk, is its only inhabitant of the remote precinct, which is located in the Gir forest. Although Udaseen showed up before lunch to cast his ballot, rules required the election workers to stay until the country's polls officially closed that evening. "In a democracy, every single person is important," said Padhiyar Sursinh, the election officer who dispatched the crew. Udaseen was an enthusiastic voter: "I am loving the attention that I am getting as a lone voter in the forest," he said.
An awesome deal
When a pair of 18k gold diamond earrings from Cartier popped up on the Instagram feed of Rogelio Villarreal, 27, of Tamaulipas, Mexico, he couldn't resist: They were priced at just $13. "I swear I broke out in a cold sweat," Villarreal said, according to the New York Times. He ordered two pairs, but Cartier tried to cancel the order. A Cartier representative called him and said the earrings were supposed to be listed at $13,000 "and that because of the inconvenience, they would give me a gift," he said — a bottle of champagne and a leather Cartier item. Instead, Villarreal complained to Mexico's Office of the Federal Prosecutor for the Consumer. Ahead of a scheduled hearing in early May, Cartier contacted Villarreal and said the earrings would be delivered.
Speed art
Rajacenna van Dam, an artist in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, is capturing the attention of the art world with her approach to her work, AFP reported. The 31-year-old said she originally taught herself to paint with both hands, "to go quicker." When someone challenged her to try painting with her feet, she accepted. Her social media fame has come from painting 10 pictures at once using both her hands and feet. "Doing all this at the same time gives me a sort of feeling of meditation," van Dam said. Her paintings sell for up to $13,000, and she says only she can tell which ones were painted with which limbs. Her talent is more than a party trick; neurologist Onur Gunturkun revealed that a brain scan showed "the left and right sides of her brain are three times more connected than average."
Prostitutes' rights
Belgium is the first country in the world to approve a labor law for employment contracts for sex workers, Yahoo! News reported. To wit: Health insurance, pensions, unemployment and family benefits, holidays and maternity leave are all covered. A pimp can ask for intervention by a government mediator if a prostitute refuses a client more than 10 times over six months but cannot fire the worker. Pimps must have a registered office and apply for approval before they can open for business. "With this model, Belgium is really demonstrating that it aims to protect sex workers, regardless of any moral judgments about the profession people may have," said Daan Bauwens, a spokesman for the sex workers' union in Belgium.
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