Photo: AFP

Government plans to illuminate the Taj Mahal every evening and night has run into fierce criticism from worried environmentalists and archaeologists. They argue that illuminating the monument, one that is already browning, would only serve to speed up the rate of damage to the Taj Mahal. The prime concern is that lighting it up damages the monument as insects that are attracted to the light defecate and dull the Taj's surface. It's not that the Taj isn't ever illuminated - at present it lights up five days in a month around the full moon, though only for a few hours.

The Islamic State, or ISIS, has been minting money off the oil-rich territories under its control in Iraq and Syria. According to US and Iraqi officials, ISIS are making close to $50 million a month by selling oil from the oil fields have controlled. Neither diplomacy nor the US campaign against the terrorist group has stopped the lucrative trade that serves as ISIS' largest source of income. ISIS have also brought experts and equipment in from abroad to ensure the trade continues. ISIS claims to have 161 operational oil fields in its Syrian territory alone.

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As part of Ukraine's ongoing efforts at decommunisation, a statue of communist icon Vladimir Lenin has been transformed into the iconic Star Wars villain, Darth Vader. As part of the decommunisation efforts the statue in Odessa was scheduled for demolition, however workers interjected, asking for it to be re-designed instead. Local artist Alexander Milov stepped in and the result is a statue of Darth Vader, armor and all. Not only is the statue decidedly more badass and communism-less, it also has a WiFi router that supplies the surrounding area with free internet.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is about to declare that bacon, sausages and other such processed meats cause cancer. It isn't just processed meat, red meat will in all likelihood be listed as "probably carcinogenic". The WHO is expected to make the announcements this coming Monday and in doing so will put processed meats in the same category as asbestos, alcohol and cigarettes. The World Cancer Research Fund already states that, "there is strong evidence that eating a lot of these foods [red and processed meat] increases your risk of bowel cancer." The WHO report apparently looks to adopt the same stance. There has already been predictable outrage from the meat industry who say it will be bad for business.