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Hundreds of Charlie Chaplin Lookalikes Gather in Switzerland

Some of the 429 people dressed as "The Tramp" pose for a photo during the 10th anniversary of Chaplin's World, the museum dedicated to the life of Charlie Chaplin, in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, 07 June 2026. (EPA)
Some of the 429 people dressed as "The Tramp" pose for a photo during the 10th anniversary of Chaplin's World, the museum dedicated to the life of Charlie Chaplin, in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, 07 June 2026. (EPA)
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Hundreds of Charlie Chaplin Lookalikes Gather in Switzerland

Some of the 429 people dressed as "The Tramp" pose for a photo during the 10th anniversary of Chaplin's World, the museum dedicated to the life of Charlie Chaplin, in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, 07 June 2026. (EPA)
Some of the 429 people dressed as "The Tramp" pose for a photo during the 10th anniversary of Chaplin's World, the museum dedicated to the life of Charlie Chaplin, in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, 07 June 2026. (EPA)

More than 400 people donning black bowler hats, toothbrush moustaches and canes gathered in Switzerland Sunday seeking to break the record for the biggest ever assembly of Charlie Chaplin lookalikes.

The unusual rally, drawing Chaplin fans of all ages, took place at a museum dedicated to the legendary filmmaker at his former home in Corsier-sur-Vevey in western Switzerland.

Timed to mark the 10th anniversary of the museum's opening, the gathering in the end drew 429 Chaplin lookalikes, falling short of the world record set there in 2017, when 662 people took part.

But that did not dampen the mood.

Under a blazing sun, the Chaplins crowded together to form a giant number 10 on the lawn stretching before the large manor where the English movie icon spent the last 25 years of his life.

"I am sincerely the happiest man alive," said Anthony Champeil, a dapper 36-year-old Frenchman who looked the spitting image of Chaplin, explaining that he was an actor who often played the film legend on stage.

"We are at Chaplin's place with people who are passionate about Chaplin," he told AFP.

Suggesting that Chaplin had wanted to encourage people to maintain a childlike capacity for wonder and play for as long as possible, he mused that the actor would have enjoyed having hundreds "of big kids gathered here today".

"I find it marvelous."

The museum is set on the vast estate of Manoir de Ban, about 26 kilometers (16 miles) from Lausanne, where Chaplin lived with his wife Oona and their eight children until his death in 1977, at age 88.

He had moved to Switzerland after being barred from the United States in the 1950s over suspicions that he had communist sympathies, at the height of Cold War paranoia about Soviet infiltration.

Alice Kauffmann, who had brought her young children to participate as miniature Chaplins, said Sunday's gathering was "moving" to behold.

She and other participants said the event brought to mind the humanistic ideas Chaplin promoted with iconic films such as "The Great Dictator", "The Kid" and "Modern Times".

"He defended love, respect and beautiful values," she said.

Sophie Teteule, 52, agreed.

"I love Charlie Chaplin, and I love this place," she told AFP.

"I think it is magnificent that we can gather today, so long after he left us. It is a marvelous moment in his honor."

Organizers of Sunday's event also did not seem too bothered that it had failed to break the world record, which the museum already holds.

"Nothing is lost," spokeswoman Olivia Baliguet told AFP.

"Who knows, we may try again next year, or for the 20th anniversary."

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Varieties

Cat Rescued from Ruins of Venezuela Quake Offers ‘Ray of Hope’

A volunteer rescuer holds a cat after pulling it out from under the rubble of a building damaged by the June 24 earthquakes, in Caraballeda, state of La Guaira; Venezuela, on July 18, 2026. (AFP)
A volunteer rescuer holds a cat after pulling it out from under the rubble of a building damaged by the June 24 earthquakes, in Caraballeda, state of La Guaira; Venezuela, on July 18, 2026. (AFP)
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Cat Rescued from Ruins of Venezuela Quake Offers ‘Ray of Hope’

A volunteer rescuer holds a cat after pulling it out from under the rubble of a building damaged by the June 24 earthquakes, in Caraballeda, state of La Guaira; Venezuela, on July 18, 2026. (AFP)
A volunteer rescuer holds a cat after pulling it out from under the rubble of a building damaged by the June 24 earthquakes, in Caraballeda, state of La Guaira; Venezuela, on July 18, 2026. (AFP)

A weakened cat was pulled from under the rubble of a collapsed residential complex in Venezuela on Saturday in what a rescuer described as a "ray of hope" in the aftermath of deadly earthquakes.

More than 5,100 people were killed when back-to-back quakes struck the South American nation on June 24, with the coastal state of La Guaira hit hardest.

Volunteer rescue worker Andres Carvajal said he spotted the cat during a search in a La Guaira housing complex that had been reduced to rubble.

"We saw the cat, it got scared and went back inside, deeper into the building," Carvajal told AFP. It was unclear when it had become trapped.

"I went in, took off my glove, put some cat food on my arm... It gradually came closer and, of course, ate with a bit of desperation," the 21-year-old university student said.

Carvajal had written "el gato" -- "the cat" -- on his helmet, which he said had been his nickname since elementary school.

He and other students from the Central University of Venezuela, in Caracas, formed an association to help with rescue operations.

Once rescued, the cat was handed over to a small camp where vets were on standby. It was given fluids and cleaned before being sent to a shelter.

"I'm very happy we found it," Carvajal said.

"It's impossible not to feel empathy for any life that's here. And finding this little cat is obviously a ray of light, a ray of hope."

Varieties

Saudi Arabia Wins Four Awards at International Biology Olympiad in Lithuania

File photo of Saudi Arabia's flag.
File photo of Saudi Arabia's flag.
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Saudi Arabia Wins Four Awards at International Biology Olympiad in Lithuania

File photo of Saudi Arabia's flag.
File photo of Saudi Arabia's flag.

The Saudi Biology Team won four international awards at the 37th International Biology Olympiad (IBO 2026), held in Vilnius, Lithuania, from July 12 to 19. The competition brought together 312 students representing 80 countries from around the world, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.

Taha Arshad Kadwai, from the General Administration of Education in Jeddah, won a silver medal. Hamza Mohammed Baissa, from the General Administration of Education in Riyadh, and Elyas Fawzi Asloub, from the General Administration of Education in Jeddah, each won a bronze medal, while Faisal Saad Al-Abdullatif, from the General Administration of Education in Riyadh, received a certificate of appreciation.

Represented by the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba), in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia participated in the competition for the fifth time.

The latest achievement brings the Kingdom's total at the International Biology Olympiad to 19 awards, including five silver medals, nine bronze medals, and five certificates of appreciation. The result followed intensive preparation under the Mawhiba International Olympiads Program, which included training camps held inside and outside the Kingdom under the supervision of national and international experts.

The International Biology Olympiad is the world's leading competition for secondary school students in the life sciences. Held annually since its launch in 1989, it brings together some of the world's most gifted students to compete in advanced examinations that assess scientific knowledge, biological problem-solving, and laboratory skills.

Mawhiba is Saudi Arabia's leading national institution for identifying, nurturing, and empowering gifted students. It operates under a national strategy to develop talent in priority scientific fields.

Varieties

US Cancels Automatic Protections for Imperiled Animals as Critics Warn of Extinctions

FILE - A male alligator snapping turtle is held after being trapped by the Turtle Survival Alliance-North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group, Nov. 24, 2018, as part of the process of tagging turtles. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)
FILE - A male alligator snapping turtle is held after being trapped by the Turtle Survival Alliance-North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group, Nov. 24, 2018, as part of the process of tagging turtles. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)
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US Cancels Automatic Protections for Imperiled Animals as Critics Warn of Extinctions

FILE - A male alligator snapping turtle is held after being trapped by the Turtle Survival Alliance-North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group, Nov. 24, 2018, as part of the process of tagging turtles. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)
FILE - A male alligator snapping turtle is held after being trapped by the Turtle Survival Alliance-North American Freshwater Turtle Research Group, Nov. 24, 2018, as part of the process of tagging turtles. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

The US Interior Department on Friday canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction, the latest step by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismantle key provisions of the landmark Endangered Species Act at the behest of industry.

Instead of receiving automatic protections, imperiled species will need individualized protection plans once they are added to the threatened species list. That's a potentially lengthy process in which companies could seek exemptions for oil and gas drilling, mining and other development where those species live.

Opponents said it would make it harder to save wildlife that’s awaiting federal protections and in danger of disappearing, such as monarch butterflies and alligator snapping turtles.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement that the Endangered Species Act had been used for too long “to stop almost any new project in America, driving up costs for families, weakening our competitiveness, and undermining our national security.”

“Success should be measured by species recovery and delisting, not by adding more species to the list,” Burgum added.

A second change finalized Friday requires officials to analyze economic impacts when deciding whether habitat is critical to a species’ survival. Critics say it gives corporations an opportunity to put their thumb on the scale so that officials will allow development in those areas.

“If you're exempting certain industries that cause habitat destruction, in many instances you'll be exempting the main threat to those species,” said Noah Greenwald with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.

Officials made similar changes during Trump’s first term but they were reversed under former Democratic President Joe Biden.

The rules that gave what some consider “blanket protections” to threatened species were first adopted for wildlife in 1975 and for plants in 1977.

Two groups, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Property and Environment Research Center, sued the Biden administration in 2024 after officials restored the blanket protections rule. They argued the rule unfairly imposed the same restrictions on landowners when a species' status improves from endangered, which is more dire, to threatened.

That removed incentives for landowners to participate in species recovery, said Jonathan Wood, vice president at the Montana-based research center.

Wood said the Trump administration's approach allows officials to “better reward progress and encourage proactive conservation.”

There have been no species added to the endangered or threatened lists in Trump’s second term. By comparison, more than 20 species were added in Trump’s first term, and about 60 during Biden’s presidency, The Associated Press reported.

About 30 species are currently proposed to be listed as threatened. Besides monarchs and alligator snapping turtles, they include California spotted owls and various snakes, fish, clams and insects.

Changes to government policies for endangered plants and wildlife have come faster and extended further in Trump's second term than in his first.

The administration in March exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the US wages war against Iran.

Last week, Interior officials sharply narrowed the definition of what constitutes “harm” to a species. The change would allow development on critical wildlife habitat so long as the animals themselves are not immediately killed or injured.

This week officials sharply reduced the amount of critical habitat in the US Rocky Mountains designated for Canada lynx, forest dwelling wildcats that are threatened by climate change and other pressures.

Also this week, Burgum said in a visit to Montana that the US Fish and Wildlife Service would turn over more management authority for grizzly bears to states where the bruins live. That's been a longstanding priority for the Republican governors of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

The Endangered Species Act is credited with bringing back iconic animals including the bald eagle and American alligator from the brink of extinction.

Burgum noted Friday that 97% of the species that have been given protections still have them. That’s a frustration for Republican lawmakers who say species should be taken off the endangered and threatened lists more quickly once they’ve recovered.