Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law that bans ”propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” and threatens openly gay or “pro-gay” citizens and foreigners with fines, arrests and possible jail time. Another new law restricts adoptions of Russian children by people in countries that allow same-sex marriage.

With the 2014 Winter Olympics set to take place in Sochi, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) says it has received assurances ”from the highest level of government in Russia that the legislation will not affect those attending or taking part in the Games.” It pledged to ensure there would be no discrimination against athletes, officials, spectators or the media during the games.

Many equal-rights activists are unimpressed with the IOC’s response, and feel that whether or not the laws directly affect the games is far from the point. ”They should be advocating for the safety of all LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people in Russia, not simply those visiting for the Olympics,” said Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin. ”Rescinding this heinous law must be our collective goal.”

In order to make their voices heard, activists have been writing petitions and staging boycotts.

The “Dump Russian Vodka” campaign, started by internationally syndicated sex columnist Dan Savage, has prompted bars across the US, UK, Canada and Australia to stop serving Russian brands like Stolichnaya. In response, Stolichnaya’s CEO Val Mendeleev wrote an open letter last week condemning the recent laws and reaffirming the brand’s commitment to the LGBT community. The brand’s website has also undergone an overhaul, and now features a rainbow block of text boasting that the brand “stands strong and proud with the global LGBT community against the attitude and actions of the Russian government.” (We’d call this a winning damage control response) Read more

The Catholic Church is usually one of the last institutions we would associate with words like “progressive” and “tolerant” in reference to homosexuality, but comments made by Pope Francis on Monday may signify the beginning of a major shift in attitude.

During a press conference aboard the pope’s overnight flight home from a week-long trip to Brazil, His Holiness was asked how he would respond to learning that a cleric in his ranks was gay, though not sexually active. Pope Francis answered by saying, “Who am I to judge a gay person of goodwill who seeks the Lord?…You can’t marginalize these people.”

Considering that the Vatican has long regarded homosexuality as a disorder, and previous popes like Benedict XVI formally barred gay men from entering the priesthood, the weight of these remarks — though brief and simple as they may seem — cannot be overstated. Read more

Let’s play the hypothetical game: Say you’re a government agency that many see as a necessary evil, but you still get singled out as an example of everything wrong with our system. It’s tough to be popular when your job involves insisting that everyone remove their shoes, belts, wallets, ice picks, meat cleavers, spear guns, brass knuckles, gasoline canisters, and any other vaguely metallic objects before entering a full-body scanner with an NC-17 rating.

What do you do to improve your public profile? Start an Instagram account to show the world what you’re doing right—because who reads things anymore?

Our point: here are some fun weapons that the Transportation Security Administration confiscated and featured on its brand new picture page. Oh hey, it’s a loaded pistol small enough to fit in your toiletry bag!

Next comes another tiny, poorly hidden handgun:

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“Gambling makes life more intense” — and it also made life a lot more prosperous for Monaco. The quote was from a docudrama about the petite principality and the building of a casino in Monte Carlo 150 years ago. The medieval town and surrounding area was impoverished before Prince Charles III of Monaco decided gambling was their best economic bet. The name Monte Carlo, or Mount Charles, reflects the elevated terrain and the proximity to Italy.

Monaco launched a year-long celebration for its monumental anniversary, with events at home and abroad. “Monte Carlo is the epitome of luxury. It’s known for style, sophistication and architecture, and many architects have left their footprints on Monte Carlo”, said Maguy Maccario Doyle, consul general and director of the Monaco Government Tourist Office. She spoke at a Wednesday event at the French Institute/Alliance Francaise (FIAF) in New York.

The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (NMNM) commissioned documentary photographer Gabriele Basilico to convey Monte Carlo in a series of black and white photographs. Those are on display at FIAF through August 23 alongside a wall of colorful Monaco postcards. “The exhibit shows an interesting approach to the principality and the neighborhoods”, noted FIAF’s director of visual arts, Antoine Guerrero.

As an international capital of “sport and spectacle”, Monaco has long attracted high-rollers. Its commemorative programs this year are especially alluring. Last month they turned Casino Square into a tennis court for an exhibition match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. In July they’re hosting a concert featuring rock stars like Rihanna and Elton John. An August exhibit at NYC’s Forbes Gallery will feature photos of celebrities who frequent Monte Carlo.

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There’s a subtle art to PSAs, those heavy handed, publicly funded campaigns designed to remind us taxpayers to stand away from the platform edge, resist donating money to panhandlers, and avoid the dangers of tobacco (thank you, C-3PO).

But before last week, we’d never heard of a government’s PR team working to convince the rest of the world that local prostitutes are healthy, happy, and proud of their chosen line of work.

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“It was a moment of elation. I’d been waiting for six and a half years. I’d worked hard, waited so long and rehearsed it in my head, so I was impatient.” That’s how tightrope performer Philippe Petit described his experience when he first ventured out onto the wire that extended between the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center (WTC) in August 1974. He traversed the span between the towers for 45 minutes, making spellbinding history that’s never been repeated.

Petit was speaking outside at the Bryant Park Reading Series in New York on Wednesday about his latest book, Why Knot?: How to Make More Than Sixty Ingenious, Useful, Beautiful, Lifesaving and Secure Knots. True to form, he turned the session into a lively performance, complete with magic tricks. He imparted his knotting knowledge to audience members and enlisted their help with demonstrations.

Petit has personified his brand since the age of five when he taught himself the art of tightrope walking. He said it was “a way to escape authority”. Starting in the 1970s, the Frenchman set his sights on world renowned landmarks, including the towers of Notre Dame in Paris, and the pylons of Australia’s Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Petit’s gravity-defying promenade across the World Trade Center towers was his biggest “coup”. In order to gain access to the site, he pretended to be a journalist at an architectural magazine. After his widely publicized risky stunt and subsequent arrest, (charges were later dropped), he gained worldwide fame. He was even feted at WTC’s Windows on the World restaurant, (on the same evening as this PRNewser contributor was celebrating a birthday!)

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Well, it looks like those of you with lofty dreams of chowing down on a Burger King Whopper while keeping both hands free to paint a masterpiece or build a jet engine will have to keep on dreaming.

A recent video released by Burger King in Puerto Rico in celebration its 50th anniversary featured customers getting creative with their new-found hands-freedom by playing music, giving tattoos, and performing other feats of manual dexterity all while eating a whopper.

But multitasking burger eaters everywhere have had their hopes dashed by Burger King’s announcement that “The video featuring a ‘hands-free’ Whopper Sandwich holder was produced by an agency in Puerto Rico to celebrate the brand and the iconic Whopper Sandwich in a humorous way. However, the product depicted in the spot was not produced, or distributed to guests as some reports indicate.”

While it seems burger-eaters will still have to take lunch breaks like the rest of us, we suppose no one is stopping a particularly driven engineer from creating a burger-holding apparatus of their own…someone get on this.

New Yorkers have often heard about Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveling domestically and overseas to meet with city leaders to compare notes on urban innovation projects. On Monday during the first day of Internet Week, representatives from a dozen cities around the globe, including New York, convened on the Mayor’s home turf.

The officials appeared at the symposium to describe their initiatives for improving their residents’ lives using digital technology. These represent quality of life and business issues rather than the most pressing urban problems. Each speaker was allotted only ninety seconds, so here’s a brief snapshot:

New York City: Last year the Big Apple launched its Made in NY website to promote local entrepreneurship. Since then they’ve expanded the effort with increased access to workspaces, partnerships with academic institutions as well as other programs and competitions to assist startups.

Boston: launched its Street Bump app, a citizen enabled sensing device for potholes. This project was introduced following extensive road construction, including the Big Dig tunnel project that lasted several years and took its toll on locals’ automobiles.

Philadelphia: The PHL program is a social enterprise partnership with funding from Michael Bloomberg. The civic challenge asks entrepreneurs to identify, select and pilot new programs that solve a host of local issues.

Chicago: Mayor Emmanuel’s ‘Broadband Challenge’ is aimed at improving the city’s fiber network by offering free wi-fi and low cost connectivity. The process even involved updating the sewer network infrastructure.

Quebec City: The Canadian city has its own social network and also has the capability for residents to send personal text messages to help with snow removal. That way they don’t ended up stranded in their cars during snowstorms.

Ottawa: The Canadian city encourages citizen engagement and government transparency. Through an open source website, the public has access to all data. The Apps4 Ottawa open data contest rewards developers who create the most valuable uses and visualizations of the open source data.

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Coke has been doing some creative things with vending machines of late; the Diet Coke Slender Vender can fit in places no hefty drink-dispensing device has gone before, while a Coke-sponsored flag dispenser in a Denmark airport helped welcome people to the “happiest country on earth”. Now, it seems Coke has bestowed an even loftier task upon its vending machines: world peace.

In partnership with agency Leo Burnett, Coke created “Small World Machines“, vending machines that function as soda-dispensing communication portals. In an experiment aimed at promoting mutual understanding and camaraderie between citizens of India and Pakistan, two countries engaged in long-standing religious and political disputes, one machine was placed in Lahore, Pakistan and another in New Delhi, India. The machines allowed people to see and interact with each other, and, perhaps most importantly, complete shared tasks. Once the tasks were successfully completed, the machines rewarded people’s amicable teamwork by dispensing a Coke.

Jackie Jantos, global creative director at Coca Cola, said that the idea of creating stories around shared experiences goes back to the roots of Coke as a brand that started at a soda fountain, which is in itself a communal experience. Coke’s website says: “In 1971, Coca-Cola taught the world to sing through its iconic ‘Hilltop’ ad. More than 40 years later, the brand invited the people of India and Pakistan – two groups used to living with conflict – to share a simple moment of connection and joy with the help of technology.”

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Right on the heels of the genius marketing partnership that allows gamers to order Pizza Hut directly from their Xboxes (we wonder whether the most devoted players have left their living rooms since the introduction of said diabolical dietary dichotomy), comes another creative — if slightly odd — pizza/leisure activity partnership: pizza-scented DVDs.

Settling in to watch a movie often necessitates some serious snacking, so Domino’s Pizza in Brazil is hoping their latest ad gimmick will get movie-watchers to pass up the popcorn and candy in favor of a cheesy pie. The restaurant chain partnered with ten video rental stores in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to stock store shelves with roughly ten discs each of ten different newly released films, each stamped with thermal ink and scented varnish.

When a DVDs is played, the disc heats up, activating the varnish and releasing the tantalizing aroma of just-baked pizza. And when the film is over, viewers eject the disc to find that the thermal ink has transformed the image on the DVD into that of a miniature pizza, complete with the message: “Did you enjoy the movie? The next one will be even better with a hot and delicious Domino’s Pizza.”

While the popularity and accessibility of movie streaming in the US means it’s unlikely we’ll encounter Domino’s scented DVDs here, we must give the company some props for creativity from afar. Shameless? Yes. Cheesy? Double yes. But when was the last time you smelled pizza and didn’t get immediate, ravenous cravings?