Papua New Guinea appoints minister for coffee

The prime minister of Papua New Guinea has announced an inaugural minister for coffee, in what is believed to be a world first. “Minister Kuli’s focus will be coffee, coffee, and coffee,” said PM James Marape, announcing the appointment of Joe Kuli, from Anglimp-South Waghi. Coffee is the country’s second-largest agricultural commodity after palm oil, accounting for 27% of all agriculture exports and 6% of the country’s GDP, said The Guardian.

People are more selfish when tired

Scientists have found that people are more selfish and less willing to help others when they haven’t slept well, said The Times. Although the willingness of humans to help each other has been “one of the most powerful forces sculpting modern civilisations”, said researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, just one single night of sleep loss “triggers the withdrawal of help from one individual to another”. Exhaustion deactivates the part of our brain that makes us “prosocial”, they found.

Churchill portrait swapped with fake

A portrait of Winston Churchill was stolen from a hotel in Canada and replaced with a replica, according to reports. The black and white image, which was taken by the Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh in 1941, had hung in the Château Laurier hotel in Ottawa since 1998. But last week, after a staff member noticed that the portrait was not hung properly and a rouse was suspected, the director of Karsh’s estate confirmed that his signature on the portrait was a forgery, reported CBC. “We are deeply saddened by this brazen act,” said Geneviève Dumas, general manager at the Château Laurier.

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