Pop singer Jennifer Lopez may be thinking life is funny after a group of scientists named a water mite in her honor after discovering a new species near Puerto Rico.

The music of the Bronx, New York-born entertainer who has Puerto Rican roots was a hit with the group while they wrote about their findings, biologist Vladimir Pesic said in an email Wednesday.

The parking spaces outside a Chinese shopping mall are distinctive: marked out in pink, signposted "Respectfully reserved for women", and around 30 centimeters wider than normal.

The slots at the Dashijiedaduhui -- or "World Metropolis" -- centre have sparked debate in China, which officially embraces gender equality but where old-fashioned sexism is rife in reality.

South Korea's top Buddhist organisation held an experimental "prayer competition" Thursday, featuring rapping nuns and singing monks in a bid to attract new, younger followers.

More than 300 monks and nuns packed a large temple in downtown Seoul to take part in the competition hosted by the Jogye Order.

Japan's biggest travel agency is launching a bus tour with some decidedly homegrown touches -- a flying ninja and sword-carrying samurai.

The one-hour "Samurai & Ninja Safari" tour around the Japanese capital features a bilingual guide pointing out key sights and then a roll around the historic Asakusa district where streetside performers jump out of the shadows.

Talk about exploring the past. Police say a pair of thieves stole a baby dinosaur replica from a science museum and took props from a history exhibit at another facility.

A police statement says the 21-year-olds were charged with two counts of theft or destruction of property of public libraries and museums, a felony. Officials say they turned themselves in Thursday.

A suspicious device at a southwest Wyoming power plant turned out not to be a bomb, but it might have hurt a mosquito or two.

Security guards spotted the object at the Jim Bridger Power Plant around midnight Wednesday. The device had wires connected to a small battery.

German police were hunting Wednesday for thieves who made off with 10 truckloads of beer while the country was distracted by World Cup football fever.

"We're following up on two or three leads," said a police spokeswoman from the western city of Krefeld, where the pallets of beer were stolen from a warehouse some time between last Thursday evening and Monday morning.

Pop singer Jennifer Lopez may be thinking life is funny after a group of scientists named a water mite in her honor after discovering a new species near Puerto Rico.

The music of the Bronx, New York-born entertainer who has Puerto Rican roots was a hit with the group while they wrote about their findings, biologist Vladimir Pesic said in an email Wednesday.

A man who used a can of spray paint and a lighter as a makeshift blowtorch to kill a spider in his laundry room started a blaze that caused $60,000 worth of damage, Seattle fire officials said Wednesday.

The man and his mother got out of the house, and no injuries were reported in the fire that broke out in the West Seattle home Tuesday night, said Kyle Moore, a spokesman for the Seattle Fire Department.

China has started selling naming rights for its bullet trains to commercial sponsors, state media reported Wednesday, as it increasingly commercializes its state-controlled railway sector.

Passengers on a train in southern China recently found it had been named for "China Unicom", one of the country's three telecom service providers, the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post said.