CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - Scientific research into how polyester pants affect the sex life of rats, what it's like for a human to live like a badger and how different the world looks when viewed through your legs was honored at this year's Ig Nobel spoof awards.

BEIRUT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Syria announced a new offensive against rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Thursday while diplomats failed to find a way in New York to revive a U.S. and Russian-brokered ceasefire that collapsed this week.

CARACAS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Foes of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed on Thursday to push for a recall referendum against him this year, defying the country's election authority which said any vote to remove the unpopular socialist leader could not take place until early 2017.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton played it strictly deadpan while parrying decidedly off-the-wall questions from comedian Zach Galifianakis on his online parody talk show, "Between Two Ferns," released on Thursday.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Sept 22 (Reuters) - A black man killed by a Charlotte, North Carolina, police officer this week did not aggressively approach officers and had his hands by his side when he was shot, a lawyer said on Thursday after the man's family watched two police videos of the incident.

Sept 22 (Reuters) - Officials are keeping video of a fatal police shooting of a black man from the public in Charlotte, North Carolina, part of what open records advocates consider a disturbing trend nationally about police transparency.

TULSA, Okla. (Reuters) - The white Tulsa police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black man whose car had broken down and blocked a road was charged with first degree manslaughter on Thursday and a warrant has been issued for her arrest.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales gave a fiery speech against corruption at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, a week after a judge barred his son and brother from leaving the country due to a pending fraud investigation.

Sept 22 (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc said on Thursday that at least 500 million of its accounts were hacked in 2014 by what it believed was a state-sponsored actor, a theft that appeared to be the world's biggest known cyber breach by far.