Home > AFP News
  

Daily news from around the world.
From Agence France-Presse
New Zealand's colossal squid defies legends: scientists New Zealand's mysterious colossal squid, the largest of the feared and legendary species ever caught, was not the T-Rex of the oceans but a lethargic blob, new research suggests.
21 August 2008- 4:39 a.m. EDT
Four horses banned from jumping Olympic final for doping - FEI Four horses have been banned from competing in Thursday's Olympic Games jumping competition for doping, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) announced here Thursday.
21 August 2008 - 7:41 a.m. EDT
Rare leopards found in Borneo forest: researcher A new population of rare leopard has been found living in thick forests on the Indonesian half of Borneo island, a researcher said Thursday.
21 August 2008 - 6:57 a.m. EDT
Water fountains making comeback as bottles banned The Canadian city of London, Ontario on Wednesday halted sales of bottled water at all of its municipal facilities, heralding the return of water fountains, despite beverage industry protests.
20 August 2008 - 4:47 p.m. EDT
Taiwan invokes greener 'Ghost Month' amid global warming "Ghost Month" in Taiwan draws out devotees who prepare food offerings, burn incense sticks and ritual paper money, and set off firecrackers to honor their ancestors as well as wandering spirits.
21 August 2008 - 4:10 a.m. EDT
Some fruit juices can harm drug absorption: study Grapefruit, orange and apple juices can harm the body's ability to absorb certain medications and make the drugs less effective, said a Canadian study released in the United States.
20 August 2008 - 4:01 a.m. EDT
Beijing's Olympic quest to delete 'Incense of Furious Bullfrog' For seven years, David Tool has patrolled Beijing's streets hunting for embarrassing signboards, inspecting menus and teaching residents English to help the city prepare for the Olympics.
20 August 2008 - 1:53 a.m. EDT
Stem cells can be used to create limitless blood supplies: report Scientists from a US firm claim to have created a large number of red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells, opening up the prospect of having a limitless supply of blood for transfusions.
20 August 2008 - 6:32 a.m. EDT
Nepal court in landmark 'goddess' rights ruling A Nepali tradition of locking a young virgin girl in a palace and worshipping her as a "living goddess" has been dealt a blow with the country's Supreme Court ruling she has the right to go to school.
20 August 2008 - 12:19 a.m. EDT
London double-decker cruises to new life in Japan The double-decker Routemaster bus, a phased-out London icon, is gaining a second life in a Japanese city that believes the red road giant fits right in.
20 August 2008 - 2:31 a.m. EDT
Indian tea tourism helps spread Darjeeling aroma Touring tea gardens in India's famous Darjeeling hills and tasting several varieties of the gold-coloured brew has got Audrey Dreyer thinking about a career in the trade.
19 August 2008 - 12:24 a.m. EDT
Equestrian show jumps reflect China's self-image, say designers Leopoldo Palacios and Steve Stephens have been designing show jumping courses together for 20 years, but it was here in Hong Kong that they met their biggest challenge.
18 August 2008 - 9:50 p.m. EDT
Baghdad statues being pieced together again Shahryar has recovered his hand and Abu Nuwas will soon be clutching his wine goblet again — statues damaged during the US-led invasion are being restored to their former glory across Baghdad.
19 August 2008 - 4:57 a.m. EDT
US publishers cancel book on Prophet Mohammed's wife A US publisher has canceled the publication of a novel about the youngest wife of the Muslim prophet Mohammed amid a growing controversy over the book.
18 August 2008 - 6:53 p.m. EDT
Aboriginal children 'can count without numbers' Australian Aboriginal children can count even without having words for numbers, according to a study by British and Australian experts released Tuesday.
19 August 2008 - 8:27 a.m. EDT
Back to school for girls serving Togo's voodoo priests Hundreds of young girls will be able to abandon their roles serving Togo's voodoo priesthood and go to school, ending what some rights campaigners blasted as a deeply abusive system.
18 August 2008 - 1:57 a.m. EDT
World's largest monastery library restored to its baroque splendour The world's largest monastery library, in the quaint Austrian town of Admont, has re-opened after four years of restoration work that have returned all its rococo splendor to this baroque jewel.
18 August 2008 - 1:54 a.m. EDT
Scrap ships crowd Bangladesh shore on demand for cheap steel Omar Faruq winces in pain as medics stitch up his leg in a makeshift first aid hut at a ship-breaking yard on Bangladesh's southeastern coast.
18 August 2008 - 1:03 a.m. EDT
Home alone: old men left lonely in Britain's aging society Britain is likely to face a growing problem of "home alone" old men as the number of male over-60s living alone in Britain hits one million for the first time, according to research by the Help the Aged charity.
17 August 2008 - 3:36 a.m. EDT
Extramarital sex during divorce no crime: SKorea court Having sex with a third party during consensual divorce proceedings is not illegal, South Korea's supreme court has ruled, even though adultery remains a criminal offense in the country.
17 August 2008 - 10:43 p.m. EDT
Veil shed for bikini on Egypt's women-only beaches Islamic hymns fade out giving way to Arabic pop music as women remove their veils to reveal bikinis or one-piece swimsuits at a religiously correct beach for women only in Egypt.
15 August 2008 - 7:54 a.m. EDT
'Toxic Tour' takes in Los Angeles' dirty little secrets Whether you want to see the multi-million dollar home of a Hollywood celebrity or the scene of an infamous crime, Los Angeles has a guided tour to suit almost every taste.
14 August 2008 - 1:49 p.m. EDT
Moustache protector, anyone? Weird inventions on show A grenade that puts out fires, a self-pouring teapot, periscope spectacles, a peach peeler and a moustache protector are among oddball inventions on show at the British Library.
14 August 2008 - 1:34 p.m. EDT
Ministry gives French tourist eateries hygiene thumbs-down One in four cafes, snack bars and seafront restaurants in tourist hotspots across France are breaking hygiene rules or serving food unfit for consumption, the agriculture ministry said Thursday.
14 August 2008 - 1:44 p.m. EDT
Swedish restaurants soon 'allergy free' Restaurant-goers with food allergies can soon chow down in Sweden with confidence in eateries bearing 'allergy-free' certificates, Sweden's Asthma and Allergy Association said Thursday.
14 August 2008 - 4:48 p.m. EDT
Iraq's new — but scorned — matchmaker: Internet Young Iraqis in Baghdad are surfing the Internet to search for partners to tie the knot as violence and sectarian tensions take their toll on more traditional forms of socialising.
13 August 2008 - 1:31 p.m. EDT
Spanish holiday village becomes symbol of property crisis It was the promise of a dream come true for many Spaniards: an affordable and comfortable home by the Mediterranean with year-round sunshine.
13 August 2008 - 1:30 a.m. EDT
US white population a minority by 2042: census bureau Whites in the United States will no longer be a majority of the population by 2042, a decade earlier than previous projections, according to US Census Bureau figures released Thursday.
14 August 2008 - 9:30 a.m. EDT
'Don't Worry Be Happy': happiness is key to longer life Keep humming "Don't Worry Be Happy". The 1980s New Age-inspired hit got it right. New research shows being happy can add several years to life.
14 August 2008 - 12:36 a.m. EDT
Chinese crowds whipped into patriotic frenzy at Olympics With raucous chants of "Jia You", Chinese fans have created an electric atmosphere inside many Olympic venues and dampened fears that unruly spectators would tarnish the nation's image.
14 August 2008 - 3:40 a.m. EDT
Phelps carves name as Games' greatest Michael Phelps became the greatest Olympian of all time Wednesday winning two gold medals in the space of an hour to lift his career total to an unprecedented 11 on his charge to Olympic immortality.
13 August 2008 - 7:53 a.m. EDT
US happy hour goes to the dogs Almost all US restaurants have a no-pets policy, so the happy hours that have sprung up over the past few years have become a big hit -- not only because they give people a chance to socialize with their canines, but also because they give them a chance to meet other dog lovers.
13 August 2008 - 1:21 a.m. EDT
Taking the pill 'can make women pick Mr. Wrong' Contraceptive pills taken by tens of millions of women around the world can disrupt the innate ability to sniff out a genetically compatible partner, a study released Wednesday has found.
13 August 2008 - 8:57 a.m. EDT
Nepal debates who should take over king's roles in festivals As Nepal adjusts to life without a monarchy, the country is now trying to decide who should inherit the role of keeper of its all-important Hindu celebrations.
13 August 2008 - 2:33 a.m. EDT
Obese people can be healthy: study Some obese people are in good health and are not predisposed to heart ailments, according to a surprise study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
12 August 2008 - 1:58 p.m. EDT
Japanese 'dream grapes' fetch nearly 1,000 dollars Guests at an upscale Japanese hotel had a special treat after dinner: "dream grapes" that are fresh, juicy -- and cost nearly 30 dollars a pop.
12 August 2008 - 4:58 a.m. EDT
Prehistoric giant animals killed by man, not climate: study The chance discovery of the remains of a prehistoric giant kangaroo has cast doubts on the long-held view that climate change drove it and other mega-fauna to extinction, a new study reveals.
12 August 2008 - 6:23 a.m. EDT
Seals give scientists unique glimpse under Antarctic ice Huge elephant seals have been recruited to help scientists break through a critical blind spot and chart climate change under the Antarctic sea ice in winter, researchers said Tuesday.
12 August 2008 - 8:11 p.m. EDT
Running slows aging process: study Running can slow the aging process, according to a study conducted over two decades by American researchers and published on Monday.
11 August 2008 - 5:17 p.m. EDT
Olympics bring no joy for Tibetan monks As monks in red and orange robes stroll past tourists snapping photos of the temples, the quiet of the Kumbum Monastery seems a world away from the Olympics in far-off Beijing.
11 August 2008 - 5:10 a.m. EDT
Invisibility cloak now within sight: scientists The age-old fantasy of making yourself invisible has taken a step toward reality, with scientists saying they have created three-dimensional materials that can bend visible light.
11 August 2008 - 10:01 a.m. EDT
Is the Spanish language under threat ... in Spain? Spanish may be one of the world's most-spoken languages, but a group who masters it better than most fear the lingua franca of Cervantes is under threat in the very place it started -- Spain.
11 August 2008 - 1:33 a.m. EDT
'Wurst' fears allayed as Swiss sausage saved Swiss carnivores can breathe a sigh of relief after producers told Swiss media Sunday that the country's national sausge -- the cervelat -- has been "saved."
10 August 2008 - 3:32 p.m. EDT
Track champions in clover at Australian racehorse retirement home Horseracing can be a tough, unsentimental sport, but an equine retirement home in Australia is giving champion thoroughbreds that excelled at tracks across Asia a chance to relax in clover.
10 August 2008 - 1:17 a.m. EDT
African 'tree of life' recast as European superfruit In Senegal, villagers have always known about the health benefits of baobab fruit, which only now have been discovered by Europe in what could spell magic for localities like Fandene.
10 August 2008 - 2:01 a.m. EDT
Deep mystery: why sea turtles plumb the depths Researchers say they have figured out why sea turtles that normally feed and breed in shallow water or on land will, very rarely, go deep sea diving: the reptiles are on reconnaissance.
7 August 2008 - 11:06 p.m. EDT
Vietnam allows some sex-change surgeries Vietnam has legalized some types of sex change surgery but will let government physicians have the final say on what gender a patient is, a health official in the communist country said Thursday.
7 August 2008 - 1:11 p.m. EDT
Berlin ceremonies mark Olympic history's darker side As the Beijing Olympics start, small ceremonies in Berlin on Friday will remember the fate of two athletes under the Nazis, one of whom survived a concentration camp to go on to train Indian athletes.
7 August 2008 - 11:27 p.m. EDT
Modern art project befuddles uncool Japanese town Sitting in her quiet shoe store on the main shopping street of this far northern Japanese town, 79-year-old Yoshiko Sugawara wonders what exactly the huge red object was supposed to be.
8 August 2008 - 1:26 a.m. EDT
Parents, couples seize chance with lucky Games' date China's maternity wards and registry offices were crammed Friday with parents and couples desperate to share the lucky date with the Beijing Games, with one proud father even naming his baby "Olympics."
8 August 2008 - 5:46 a.m. EDT
Egypt to DNA test Tutankhamun's 'children' Egypt is to carry out DNA tests on the mummified remains of two foetuses found in the tomb of Tutankhamun to determine if they were the children of the boy king, antiquities authorities said on Thursday.
7 August 2008 - 6:52 a.m. EDT
IOC hails Beijing pollution effort as smog persists International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge on Thursday hailed Beijing's "extraordinary" effort to cut pollution, despite familiar smog pervading the city on the eve of the Games.
7 August 2008 - 8:47 a.m. EDT
A streetcar named Israel tours Vienna A tram called Israel has begun touring Vienna's city centre with films, photos and food, in a bid to paint a different picture of the small country than what is regularly seen on the news.
6 August 2008 - 2:12 p.m. EDT
'Miss Nepal' pageant scrapped after Maoists object A contest to choose the next "Miss Nepal" slated for Thursday was canceled after Maoist female lawmakers denounced the beauty pageant.
6 August 2008 - 1:30 p.m. EDT
Beijing skyline rises faster, higher, stronger As the waves of tourists converge on Beijing for the Olympics, they will look up to see a stunning new skyline that China's leaders hope will showcase the nation as a modern world power.
6 August 2008 - 1:03 p.m. EDT
Millionaires snub Beijing Olympic village life Even the prospect of staying in million-dollar apartments isn't enough to tempt the likes of Roger Federer and the superstars of the NBA to bed down at the Olympic Village.
6 August 2008 - 12:19 a.m. EDT
Child matador bullfight to go ahead in France A banned bullfight involving a 10-year-old child matador will go ahead Thursday in the southern French town of Arles despite protests from anti-corrida campaigners, organizers said.
5 August 2008 - 2:43 p.m. EDT
'Fire safe' cigarettes to go on sale in Europe by 2011: EU All cigarettes sold throughout the European Union will be self-extinguishing "fire-safe" brands by 2011, the EU Commission said Tuesday.
5 August 2008 - 1:18 p.m. EDT
In shadow of Olympics, Myanmar mourns failed '88 uprising As China celebrates the start of the Olympics on Friday with much fanfare, activists in neighbouring Myanmar will silently mourn the bloody end of an uprising that crushed their dreams of democracy 20 years ago.
5 August 2008 - 11:58 p.m. EDT
Baby born to surrogate Indian mother in legal limbo The future of a 12-day-old baby girl born to an Indian surrogate mother hung in legal limbo Wednesday after the Japanese couple who planned to take her home divorced.
6 August 2008 - 9:25 a.m. EDT
Scientists warn forest clearing more harmful than thought Clearing natural forests in Australia would pose a greater danger to the global climate than previously thought because they hold three times as much carbon as estimated, a report released Tuesday said.
5 August 2008 - 7:18 a.m. EDT
Gorillas, monkeys veering toward extinction: study Humankind's closest cousins — gorillas, orangutans, and other primates — are disappearing from the face of the Earth, with some being eaten into extinction, according to a new study.
5 August 2008 - 9:14 a.m. EDT
Australian mining boom leaves workers rich, but homeless Wharfie Tony 'Turtle' Hampson lives the Australian working man's dream —plenty of work, plenty of beer and a fat weekly paycheck which allows him to spend months of each year traveling. Yet despite earning 1,700 dollars (1,600 US) a week in Dampier, a Western Australian port town central to the state's mining boom, Hampson cannot afford to rent a room, let alone a house, anywhere near his workplace.
5 August 2008 - 8:12 a.m. EDT
Instant messaging world confirms six degrees of separation A social graph derived from billions of instant messages validates folklore that there are about six degrees of separation between any two strangers on the planet.
4 August 2008 - 9:50 p.m. EDT
Bordeaux reaches out to top-class tourists Known for its high-end wines, sumptuous chateaux and aristocrat vineyard-owners, Bordeaux has been strangely short of luxury tourist activities, but times finally are a-changing.
3 August 2008 - 1:50 a.m. EDT
Polish monk preaches divine sex — with Church's blessing He has been dubbed the high priest of Catholic Kama Sutra, but Polish Friar Ksawery Knotz says that by giving married couples tips on how to practice divine sex he is simply doing God's work.
3 August 2008 - 12:23 a.m. EDT
Traditional British brewers beat the beer sales hangover The traditional British pint of ale is undergoing a revival, despite pub beer sales sinking to their lowest level since the 1930s Great Depression.
4 August 2008 - 12:18 a.m. EDT
Survival, not revolution, consumes China's Uighurs Speeding down a remote desert highway, Yusup reflects on life as one of China's eight million ethnic Muslim Uighurs and his tone turns as bleak as the sun-fried landscape.
4 August 2008 - 3:38 a.m. EDT
Furnished Nazi bunkers surface in Denmark, 60 years on With a tight grip on his flashlight, Tommy Cassoe looks like a Danish Indiana Jones as he crawls out of a bunker buried under the sand, one of 7,000 the Nazis built along Denmark's western shores to fend off an allied invasion.
3 August 2008 - 1:21 a.m. EDT
Former enemies join forces in Vietnam drug war Wearing black helmets and police T-shirts, their handguns levelled, a drug raid team inches along the outside of a compound, throws open the door, spots a man with a gun and opens fire.
3 August 2008 - 2:41 a.m. EDT
Sea trout fished in Seine proves river is cleaner A healthy-looking sea trout fished out of the Seine just outside Paris last weekend is proof of an improved cleanliness of the river, officials said Thursday.
31 July 2008 - 3:21 p.m. EDT
Lithuania's silent memorial to faith under communism Mushrooming on a lone hill in northern Lithuania, tens of thousands of crosses bear witness to this Baltic state's deep Catholicism and tenacity under the old communist regime.
1 August 2008 - 2:02 a.m. EDT
Solar eclipse draws thousands of visitors to Siberia: reports Visitors flocked to witness a total eclipse of the sun in Siberia on Friday, a surge in tourists that prompted astronomical hotel prices in the remote region, Russian media reported.
1 August 2008 - 9:16 a.m. EDT
NASA probe confirms water on Mars NASA scientists have said that the Phoenix lander exploring Mars has confirmed water on the planet after analysis of a soil sample from the Red planet's surface.
1 August 2008 - 8:47 a.m. EDT
Tonga crowns new king in lavish ceremony Tonga's Siaosi Tupou V was crowned king of his tiny South Pacific nation Friday in a lavish, pomp-filled ceremony attended by royalty from around the world alongside Tongans in traditional dress.
1 August 2008 - 4:44 a.m. EDT
Children's books become ideological battleground in Sweden Two new publishing houses for children's books have sparked debate in gender-equal Sweden over their professed aim of instilling the country's open-minded social values in the next generation.
31 July 2008 - 12:24 a.m. EDT
SKorea court rules parents may know baby's sex South Korea's top court ruled Thursday that parents have the right to know the sex of their unborn babies, sparking concerns the decision might result in more sex-selection abortions.
31 July 2008 - 6:43 a.m. EDT
Sale of the century: YSL-Berge collection set to fetch 300 mln euro Expected to fetch at least 300 million euro (almost half a billion dollars), an art collection amassed over four decades by late fashion king Yves Saint Laurent and his companion Pierre Berge goes up for sale next February.
30 July 2008 - 2:57 p.m. EDT
Beijing moves to stop vice industry staining Games ike countless other Beijing prostitutes, "Kelly" had viewed the Olympic rings as akin to dollar signs, expecting a big pay-day as the city shifts into party mode for the Games.
30 July 2008 - 10:22 p.m. EDT
Proposal to kill wild horses angers US activists A proposal to kill thousands of mustangs roaming the western United States has angered animal welfare groups, which say horses are paying the price for years of bureaucratic mismanagement.
31 July 2008 - 12:14 a.m. EDT
Top US astronaut welcomes space tourism The commander of the latest US shuttle mission Tuesday welcomed the advent of space tourism, predicting that such travel is on the brink of the massive growth seen a century ago with airplanes.
29 July 2008 - 1:48 p.m. EDT
Soy reduces sperm count: study Eating or drinking a lot of products containing soy and isoflavones can result in reduced sperm count among men, a Harvard School of Public Health study has shown.
29 July 2008 - 11:03 p.m. EDT
Los Angeles passes ban on new fast-food outlets Los Angeles officials on Tuesday approved a one-year ban on fast-food chains opening in a poor neighborhood of the city plagued by obesity, officials said.
29 July 2008 - 9:50 p.m. EDT
Keeper of Hiroshima flame hands down father's soul Takudou Yamamoto feels a family duty to hand down a message against the tragedy of war. He is the keeper of a legendary flame which his late father lit after the Hiroshima nuclear attack.
30 July 2008 - 3:13 a.m. EDT
Robo-relationships are virtually assured: British experts David McGoran cradles his baby in his arms. As he looks down into its big, dark eyes, it turns its head towards him and blinks, looking contented as it curls a bony white finger around his hand.
30 July 2008 - 5:39 a.m. EDT
Mediterraneans abandoning region's healthy diet: FAO People in Mediterranean countries are abandoning the region's widely praised healthy diet in favour of food that has too much fat, salt and sugar, the Food and Agricultural Organization warned Tuesday.
29 July 2008 - 8:09 a.m. EDT
New York's MoMA exhibits architecture in the Big Apple New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) showcases the inspiration the Big Apple exerted on the world's top architects in the 1970s through a collection of drawings, projects and scale models reflecting both the pragmatic and utopian views of the city.
29 July 2008 - 9:36 a.m. EDT
Tide turns for English pier as cash-strapped Britons stay home With colourful arcades, dizzing rides and rich-smelling food stalls, the English pier has long been a key part of a British seaside holiday -- but this summer could be its busiest for years.
28 July 2008 - 11:11 p.m. EDT
Kyoto, city against global warming, sees threat to gardens Kyoto, the city whose name is synonymous with the fight against global warming, is feeling the effects of climate change first-hand as the moss dries out in its celebrated gardens.
28 July 2008 - 1:05 p.m. EDT
Beer sales slump to Great Depression levels: survey A pint of beer may be an official "Icon of England", but sales have sunk to the lowest level in Britain since the Great Depression of the 1930s, according to figures released on Monday.
28 July 2008 - 2:30 p.m. EDT
Lebanon's Jewish community staring at oblivion It's not easy being Jewish in Beirut where the synagogue is crumbling, the rabbis have left, the community is dwindling and where Jews are commonly branded "Israelis".
26 July 2008 - 4:05 p.m. EDT
Fans walk in footsteps of Stieg Larsson's 'Millennium' trilogy On a recent sun-drenched evening in Stockholm, fans of the bestselling "Millennium" crime trilogy by the late Stieg Larsson met up for a walking tour of the sites featured in the books that have taken Europe by storm.
28 July 2008 - 12:04 a.m. EDT
Vietnam to freeze new golf courses to protect rice farms Communist Vietnam plans to restrict the growth of new golf courses encroaching on rice farms to ensure national food security and protect thousands of poor farmers, state media reported Monday.
28 July 2008 - 3:31 a.m. EDT
Booze blues for Sudan women under sharia Zakia is a Muslim woman living under Sharia law, stigmatized as a criminal for brewing and selling illicit alcohol to feed the family that her father abandoned outside Sudan's booming capital.
27 July 2008 - 2:36 p.m. EDT
Still no place to call home for Arab bidoon Thousands of stateless Arab families known as bidoon hoped a bizarre application for citizenship of the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros might mean an end to their legal limbo.
27 July 2008 - 2:19 a.m. EDT
Moscow world's most expensive city for expats: study Moscow is the world's most expensive city for expats, while Tokyo has pipped London to move into second place, according to a global cost of living survey published Thursday.
24 July 2008 - 11:36 a.m. EDT
China's Web users top 250m on back of disasters, Olympics China's online population, already the world's largest, has swelled to 253 million, an official report said, driven by news events such as natural disasters and the Beijing Olympics.
25 July 2008 - 5:37 a.m. EDT
Scrabble — a national passion for Senegalese Senegal is Scrabble-mad. Street vendors all over Dakar hawk the board game and now the West African nation is the proud host of the French language Scrabble world championships.
25 July 2008 - 9:40 a.m. EDT
Magnetic energy blasts make Northern Lights 'dance': NASA Explosions of magnetic energy between Earth and the moon are behind the sparkles and wavy glows of the Northern Lights that color the night sky, NASA has said.
25 July 2008 - 6:50 a.m. EDT
China's athletes pledge 'glory' as biggest Olympic team unveiled Yao Ming and many of China's other top athletes pledged "glory to the motherland" on Friday as the nation's biggest-ever Olympic team was unveiled for the Beijing Games.
25 July 2008 - 9:24 a.m. EDT
NYC subway ad campaign to promote Islam A US-based Muslim group has stirred controversy in New York with its plan to launch in September a campaign promoting Islam in advertisements on the New York City subway.
22 July 2008 - 5:50 p.m. EDT
Name change for French wine to avoid link with nuclear plant A French wine could soon change its name before next year's grape harvest to avoid being associated with a uranium leak at an eponymous nuclear power facility.
23 July 2008 - 4:05 p.m. EDT
Australian couple's lawsuit over IVF twins dismissed A lesbian couple in Australia failed on Thursday in a bid to sue their doctor after one of them gave birth to twins rather than one baby following fertility treatment.
24 July 2008 - 8:05 a.m. EDT
Donkey tails, dogs and dolphins: Irish island saved by art Locals on a tiny storm-ravaged island off the coast of Ireland have battled to survive over the centuries -- but now hope that art will help save them.
24 July 2008 - 2:33 a.m. EDT
Haute cuisine battles for place in home of Peking Duck The Olympic Games have helped bring high class western cuisine to Beijing but its survival in the home of Peking Duck is far from assured despite a well-heeled potential clientele.
23 July 2008 - 12:08 a.m. EDT
Iranians seeking life abroad look east to Malaysia A number of Iranians are flocking to Malaysia, attracted by a fellow Islamic country with a relatively low cost of living, instead of pursuing their dreams in traditional exile hubs such as Canada or Sweden.
23 July 2008 - 3:47 a.m. EDT
Bratislava's 'Old Bridge' to get a new look The mayor of Bratislava announced Tuesday that the Slovakian's capital's "Old Bridge", a 118-year-old city icon that spans the Danube, is to undergo a costly reconstruction starting next year.
22 July 2008 - 3:12 p.m. EDT
Consumer spending: Why nine is the magic number Retailers' belief that customers like a price ending in a nine rather than a rounded-up zero — 199.99 instead of 200.00, for instance — has been borne out by scientific research on a restaurant menu.
22 July 2008 - 9:18 p.m. EDT
Poland's Elblag Canal - gravity-defying cruise like none other Poland's Elblag canal is a gravity-defying waterway like none other, offering a cruise that is part easy-going romp, part San Francisco cable car ride through idyllic countryside.
23 July 2008 - 2:59 a.m. EDT
Thai teens seeking sex changes grapple with new rules Valee Pancharoen watched her son transform as he became a teenager, first painting his nails, then wearing a wig and, finally, the dresses he had been wearing for years but hiding from his parents.
20 July 2008 - 3:52 a.m. EDT
IOC to monitor 'abnormal' betting in Beijing China has a long history of gamblers willing to place wagers on just about anything and it is exactly this love of betting that is worrying Olympic organizers ahead of the Beijing Games.
20 July 2008 - 11:28 p.m. EDT
Finns take karaoke marathon title to 18 days A tiny mistake ended a Finnish karaoke club marathon that set a new world record Monday for the longest sing-along session of more than 18 days.
21 July 2008 - 1:14 p.m. EDT
Heavy security takes the fun out of Sri Lankan weddings Ahead of a South Asia regional summit in early August, the Sri Lankan government has dealt weddings yet another blow by ordering five-star hotels to cancel all banquet hall and restaurant bookings for a week.
22 July 2008 - 12:38 a.m. EDT
Kremlin youth group seeks new role in Medvedev's Russia Military training, satirical shows and US-style business seminars were among the strange mix of activities on offer at this year's summer camp for Nashi — the Kremlin's youth movement.
22 July 2008 - 2:49 a.m. EDT
Beirut's Jewish community faces slow decline It's not easy being Jewish in Beirut where the synagogue is crumbling, the rabbis have left, the community is dwindling and where Jews are commonly branded "Israelis".
21 July 2008 - 1:56 a.m. EDT
One of world's oldest Bibles to be put online One of the world's oldest Bibles, the Codex Sinaiticus, which was discovered in Egypt in the 19th century, is to be made available online this week, the Leipzig University library said Monday.
21 July 2008 - 8:56 a.m. EDT
In Ghana, coffins can be an art form Coffins in Ghana can be an art form. Craftsmen produce fantasy coffins, catering for every sort of customer from fishermen and farmers to pilots and photographers. Tailor-made coffins reflect the trade of their clients. The aim: to pay tribute to the character of the dearly departed.
24 January 2008 - 9:52 a.m. EST