California woman carrying human skull on stick prompts investigation

A woman in Sacramento, California who this week carried a human skull on a stick through the streets has prompted an investigation into the identity of the deceased and the cause of death, police said on Friday.
Sacramento Police Department officers on Wednesday responded to the 2900 block of Connie Drive after receiving reports of a woman walking down the street with the skull.
When stopped by police, the woman led them to a nearby abandoned homeless camp where she found the skull. Police soon discovered a decomposed body in the vacant lot, they said.
“Detectives have not released the name of the woman who was in possession of the skull and she has not been charged with anything at this time,” the police department said in a statement.
“Foul play has not been determined, therefore we are awaiting the Sacramento County Coroner’s report for further information.”
The coroner’s report is expected to be released next week.
Children’s bed shaped like missile that downed MH17 plane stirs unease in Russia
A Russian firm has caused a stir after putting on sale a children’s bed in the shape of a Buk missile launcher of the kind that shot down a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
International prosecutors said last month the airliner had been shot down by a Buk missile fired from a village held by pro-Russian rebels. Moscow denies any involvement and points the finger at the Ukrainian army. All 298 people on board flight MH17, most of them Dutch, were killed.
The children’s bed, made by the company in St Petersburg, has angered many Russian consumers who have vented their spleen online complaining that it is in bad taste.
But Anton Koppel, who runs CaroBus, which makes unusual furniture for children, shrugged off any political overtones as he spoke next to a camouflage-colored bed crafted to look like the Buk surface-to-air self-propelled launcher.
Retailing at 11,000 rubles ($176.78) at a shopping center in St Petersburg, Russia’s second city, the bed has a red star and Russia’s tricolor flag. But instead of “Buk” it bears the name “Defender” – a concession to angry consumers.
“We didn’t want to traumatize people, many people wrote about this being related to the situation in the Donbass (separatist region), to the downed plane and other horrific things, but this is not what we think,” Koppel told Reuters.
He said the bed’s frame was simply a design that had proved popular with customers.
“This is simply a military vehicle which looks really cool. But nevertheless, we understand that people can be different, we appreciate their interest in this. And of course, we didn’t mean to traumatize anyone and we simply renamed it Defender.”