Seven vinyl banners draped this month along one of Chicago's most iconic bridges — advertisements some have dubbed "a visual crime" and "commercial graffiti" — are reviving a debate about how governments raise money in tough economic times.

In the aftermath of the recession, a public school district in Colorado is selling ads on report cards and Utah has a new law allowing ads on school buses. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration, straining to fill a $600 million budget hole, is looking to raise $25 million from ads on city property — including bridges, electrical storage boxes and garbage cans.

A ninth-grade South African arts exam quizzed students on soap operas, drawing a furious reaction from a parent who said it discriminated against children without TV, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The exam asked students to "name two soapies that you enjoy watching and name three characters from each", according to The Star. Bonus points were offered for students to say who was their favorite character and why.

Ai Weiwei fans have again rallied behind the outspoken Chinese artist after he revealed he is being investigated on pornography charges -- by posting naked pictures of themselves online.

Supporters of Ai -- who disappeared into custody for 81 days earlier this year -- this month donated nearly nine million yuan ($1.4 million) to the artist after he was handed a huge bill for alleged back taxes.

There is no place in the U.S. more expensive to smoke than New York City, where the taxes alone will set you back $5.85 per pack. Yet, addicts who visit Island Smokes, a "roll-your-own" cigarette shop in Chinatown, can walk out with an entire 10-pack carton for under $40, thanks to a yawning tax loophole that officials in several states are now trying to close.

The store is one of a growing number around the country that have come under fire over their use of high-speed cigarette rolling machines that function as miniature factories, and can package loose tobacco and rolling papers into neatly formed cigarettes, sometimes in just a few minutes.

U.S. officials in China for trade talks could be forgiven for doubting Beijing's claims it is doing all it can to stamp out piracy. Especially if they happened to spot the "Amornini" store in the hotel hosting the talks.

The clothing store, whose bird logo closely resembles that of Italian fashion house Giorgio Armani, is just meters away from the hotel conference center where top U.S. and Chinese officials were holding their annual trade talks on Monday.

Two trains, including one weighing almost a ton, have been stolen from a miniature train park in western Switzerland, the park said Saturday.

The Swiss Vapeur Park said in a statement online that "the offenders have forced open the doors of two different depots, and took the two trains".

A Russian consul stopped for driving bizarrely on a Polish road was found to be 15 times over the drink-driving limit, but could not be busted due to diplomatic immunity, police said Monday.

The consul's BMW was spotted on Sunday driving on a road near the Baltic port city of Gdansk, police spokesman Mariusz Sokolowski said.

Italian clothing firm Benetton went ahead Saturday with a controversial ad campaign featuring key world figures kissing each other, despite outcry last week from the Vatican and the White House.

A photo-montage of an embrace between the Pope and a Muslim cleric was dropped after the Vatican threatened legal action but the rest of the campaign remains unchanged.

With a taste for tropical fruit and a reputation as thieves, a herd of giraffes on a remote Philippine island is one of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos's most intriguing legacies.

The 20 giraffes, along with dozens of zebra and antelope, are descendants of a boatload of animals imported from Africa in the 1970s -- supposedly in a Noah's Ark-style effort to save them from extinction.

A Ukrainian wearing a Darth Vader costume made an unexpected appearance at a city hall in the south of the country, demanding a plot of land on which to park his spaceship, local authorities said Friday.

The man wearing the Star Wars villain's costume was shown in a video posted online walking up to the white pillars of the Odessa City Hall with a plastic light saber as wind ruffled his long black cloak.