Here in America, we've had a relatively cold winter. April's temperature measurements were only about average. However, if you look worldwide, it turns out April 2014 was the second-hottest April ever recorded, according to preliminary measurements. This discrepancy is because while some places were only average or below-average in temperature, more places were above-average, some ludicrously so. This fact is brought home in the latest temperature anomaly world map from NASA:

Check out that chunk of planet in eastern Asia. Roughly speaking, eastern Russia, Mongolia, and northeast China were getting absolutely fried last month, pegging the chart's maximum over an area about the size of the whole U.S. Remember that next time someone pulls the old "it's cold where I can see, how about that global warming?!" routine.

For Joel Ifergan, seven seconds might as well be an eternity.

The Canadian man purchased two tickets for the lottery in 2008, and one printed out seven seconds after the cutoff time. That one had the winning numbers for the $27 million jackpot, and Ifergan said that since he purchased the ticket before the deadline, he was entitled to his portion of the money. He sued Quebec's lottery, and his case was rejected in provincial courts, the BBC reports.

On Thursday, Canada's Supreme Court also said it would not hear his case, leaving Ifergan out of options. He's said to have spent $100,000 in legal fees, and still stands by his assertion that Quebec's slow machines are to blame for his status as a non-millionaire. "I'm really disappointed in the decision, and it's not because it's just about the money," Ifergan told CTV News. "Had those tickets been bought anywhere else in Canada, I would have been a millionaire seven years ago."

In Israel, four women have won their suit against the city of Beit Shemesh, which would not take down signs calling for women to wear "modest" clothing on the streets.

The signs are illegal, but this is the first time a court has ruled against one, The Guardian reports. Judge David Gidoni said the signs were "hurtful, degrading, and discriminatory," and "delivered a mortal blow to the rights of women in the city." The municipality must pay each woman 15,000 shekels, or $3,813. The city says that the signs were put up without permission, but they are afraid violence will break out if they remove them.

The population of Beit Shemesh is 45 percent ultra-Orthodox Jewish, and signs call for women to stay out of certain buildings and walk on the other side of the street. One billboard stated it was "forbidden to walk on our streets in immodest dress, including slutty clothing worn in a religious style." Plaintiff Miriam Zussman said she has been spit on and called names while wearing skirts below the knee, long-sleeved shirts, and covered hair. "It is quite shocking," she told The Guardian.

The placebo effect is well known, but researchers from the University of Cincinnati decided to test the theory that patients would respond better to a placebo that they thought had an enormous price tag.

A meta-analysis found that placebos used in clinical trials of Parkinson's treatments improved symptoms by an average of 16 percent, the Los Angeles Times reports, and the University of Cincinnati team decided to study 12 patients with "moderately advanced" Parkinson's in a clinic trial of "a new injectable dopamine agonist." With Parkinson's, patients lose brain cells that make dopamine, something this drug could combat.

The participants were told that they were taking two versions of experimental drugs that worked the same but were made differently, with one costing 15 times more than the other. They were actually given the same exact saline solution. The results showed that both improved motor function compared with a base line test, but those who took the $1,500 dose placebo had an improvement that was nine percent greater than the $100 per dose placebo. "Patients' expectations have an important role in the efficacy of medical therapies," the researchers wrote. The results were published Wednesday in the journal Neurology.

University of Virginia sorority sisters were ordered by their national chapters to stay away from fraternity brothers' parties this weekend, The Washington Post reports. The mandate comes after a now-discredited Rolling Stone article on sexual assault in Greek life prompted a close look the school's safety and culture.

Saturday is fraternity Bid Night. Different sorority chapters told members they'd risk suspension, fines, and other penalties for attending parties that night. Some chapters were told to avoid fraternity gatherings in general, not just Bid Night parties.

An online petition against the mandate started earlier this week read:

Instead of addressing rape and sexual assault at UVa, this mandate perpetuates the idea that women are inferior, sexual objects. It is degrading to Greek women, as it appears that the [National Panhellenic Conference] views us as defenseless and UVa’s new fraternal policies as invalid. Allowing the NPC to prevent us from celebrating (what used to be) a tight-knit community, sends the message that we are weak. [Change.org]

Some sororities are planning mandatory in-house retreats Saturday to avoid violating the rule, The Post reports.

In simultaneous attacks on Thursday, militants hit more than a dozen army and police targets in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 25 soldiers and one policeman and wounding more than 60.

At least one car bomb went off outside a military base at the same time mortars were fired, bringing down buildings and burying soldiers underneath the debris, The Associated Press reports. The attacks took place in the Northern Sinai provincial capital el-Arish, the town of Sheik Zuwayid, and the town of Rafah, bordering Gaza. An Army spokesman blamed the Muslim Brotherhood, but the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt took responsibility on Twitter, the SITE Intelligence Group reports.

A New Delhi woman who said she was raped by an Uber driver filed a U.S. federal lawsuit against the car service Thursday, Reuters reports.

The woman, who is not named, called Uber "the modern day equivalent of electronic hitchhiking," in the lawsuit. "Buyer beware — we all know how those horror movies end."

In the lawsuit, the woman asks for an overhaul of the company's safety practices and for unspecified damages.

India is Uber's largest international market, going by cities covered, according to Reuters. India banned the San Francisco company from operating last month after allegations and arrest of the driver, but Uber restarted services there last week.

The New York Police Department is creating an anti-terror strike force, Commissioner Bill Bratton announced Thursday. The 350-cop unit will focus on "disorder control and counterterrorism protection capabilities," he said.

The squad, which is expected to recieve funds from New York City as well as federal Homeland Security grants, will be trained in high-tech weaponry. They'll handle a variety of situations, like protests, Charlie Hebdo-esque terrorist attacks, and lone-wolf attacks, CBS New York reports.

Pick a scientist at random, and she'll almost always say climate change is real and influenced by humans.

Pew Research found 87 percent of scientists in the American Association for the Advancement of Science will say so. By contrast, only half of U.S. adults surveyed believe the same thing. The rest believe, in almost equal measure, either that climate change is real but natural, or that there is no solid evidence to support the existence of climate change.

Pew covered other topics in science as well. Take evolution: 98 percent of AAAS scientists say humans evolved over time, yet only 65 percent of the general population is on board.

To see where else the public disagrees with science, check out Pew's full report.

Brandishing a pistol with a silencer and declaring himself part of a "hackers' collective," a man threatened his way into Dutch television broadcaster NOS Thursday evening, demanding airtime to broadcast a personal message.  In dramatic footage recorded in a virtually empty news studio, the attacker was arrested by police:

Before the gunman's arrest, he described himself as part of a group "hired in by intelligence agencies," and produced a letter claiming there were "eight heavy explosives placed in the country, containing radioactive material."

During the incident, staff were evacuated from the building and the evening's news broadcast was canceled.

Disney has crowned another princess. Elena, the Princess of Avalor, will debut in the Disney Junior series Sofia the First before spinning off into her own series:

In a statement, Disney described Elena as " a confident and compassionate teenager in an enchanted fairy tale kingdom inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore." The character will be voiced by Aimee Carrero, who was born in the Dominican Republic.