Hundreds killed in Brazil floods, mudslides

Disaster hits the poor hardest, rickety homes builts on steep inclines swept awayRIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ― Summer rains sent tons of red mud and torrents of water rushing down mountainsides in towns outside Rio, enveloping homes of rich and poor alike and killing at least 257 people in 24 hours. Some survivors clung to trees to escape the water and landslides.Rescuers used heavy machinery, shovels and

Jan. 13, 2011

Jessica Szohr strips naked for new advertisement

U.S. actress Jessica Szohr posed nude for a new advertise (Captured from New York Daily News)ment campaign to promote a soft drink, New York Daily News reported.The 25-year-old actress, who came into the spotlight after starring in the hit television series Gossip Girl, removed all her clothing with nothing but body paint covering her. In the photos, the star is seen naked holding a bottle of SoBe

Jan. 13, 2011

S. African police fine 'no pants' train passengers

JOHANNESBURG - Dozens of men and women who tried to emulate New York's "No pants Subway Ride" on South Africa's first high-speed train were arrested and fined, the rail operator said on Tuesday.Gautrain said 34 people were detained after they dropped their trousers and skirts and took a pantless ride from Rhodesfield, east of Johannesburg to Sandton in the city's north."They were fined 700 rands (

Jan. 13, 2011

Torrential rain, mudslides in Brazil kill 257

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) _ Summer rains sent tons of red mud and torrents of water rushing down mountainsides in towns outside Rio, enveloping homes of rich and poor alike and killing at least 257 people in 24 hours. Some survivors clung to trees to escape the water and landslides.Rescuers used heavy machinery, shovels and bare hands to dig through debris in a search for survivors Wednesday. It was not

Jan. 13, 2011

UK beauty queen set for deployment to Afghanistan

LONDON (AFP) – A former Miss England may be deployed in Afghanistan as early as next year after she returned to the Army following her term as a beauty queen.Corporal Katrina Hodge, who has already served in Iraq, swapped active duty for the glitz and glamour of the catwalk when she took the title last January.But she has now handed over her crown and is back on exercise in Army fatigues preparing

Jan. 12, 2011

NASA spots tiny Earth-like planet

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― NASA has spotted a tiny, rocky planet about the size of Earth doing a speedy orbit of a star outside our solar system, but its scorching temperatures are too hot for life, the space agency said Monday.The exoplanet, named Kepler-10b, is the smallest-ever planet discovered outside our solar system, and was located by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft.It is about 1.4 times the size of Eart

Jan. 11, 2011

Why the CIA is spying on a changing climate

WASHINGTON ― Last summer, as torrential rains flooded Pakistan, a veteran intelligence analyst watched closely from his desk at CIA headquarters just outside the capital.For the analyst, who heads the CIA’s year-old Center on Climate Change and National Security, the worst natural disaster in Pakistan’s history was a warning.“It has the exact same symptoms you would see for future climate change e

Jan. 11, 2011

NASA finds smallest planet outside solar system

WASHINGTON — A NASA telescope has found the smallest planet outside our solar system and it is rocky just like Earth. But it is way too hot for any life. One side of the planet is about 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. The planet is called Kepler 10-b after the telescope that found it.NASA scientist Natalie Batalha (Bah-TAL'-ya) said the planet is about 1.4 times the size of Earth and has a mass about 4

Jan. 11, 2011

Ex-NASA worker charged military tech sale to SKorea

(MCT)WASHINGTON - An American who worked for NASA was charged with illegally shipping infrared military technology to South Korea, the Department of Justice announced Monday.Kue Sang Chun, 66, of Avon Lake, Ohio, was charged with one count of illegally exporting US defense articles and one count of knowingly making and subscribing a false US individual income tax return, the department said.Chun,

Jan. 11, 2011

Turtle on wheels

A male turtle named Zvilka lost the use of his back legs after he got run over by a lawn mower. The serious injury fractured his spine and disabled his back legs. (Captured from Telegraph video clip)Now he is able to move again with the help of wheels, British newspaper the Telegraph reported Wednesday. According to the report, the Israeli Wild Animal Hospital attached wheels to his abdomen to hel

Jan. 11, 2011

Kardashian sisters sued over debit card debacle

  FRESNO, California (AP) -- The Kardashian sisters have been sued by a California company that created a prepaid debit card endorsed the reality show starlets.   The Fresno Bee reports that Revenue Resource Group LLC filed suit in Fresno County Superior Court last week against Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian.   The sisters pulled out of the endorsement deal in November under criticism over the

Jan. 11, 2011

Plane with 106 people crashes in Iran; 29 survive

TEHRAN (AP) ― An IranAir passenger jet carrying 106 people crashed as it was making an emergency landing on Sunday in a snowstorm in the country’s northwest and broke into several pieces, killing 77 of those on board, Iranian media reported. The others survived with light injuries.The pilots of the Boeing-727, operated by Iran’s national airline, attempted the emergency landing in the city of Orum

Jan. 10, 2011

U.S. charges gunman in lawmaker shooting

Suspect claims he planned attack alone; prosecutors charge five countsTUCSON, Arizona (AFP) ― U.S. prosecutors Sunday charged a lone young gunman over the attempted assassination of a congresswoman as doctors voiced guarded hope she would recover from the attack that killed six others.President Barack Obama called on Americans to observe a moment of silence on Monday for victims of the attack in A

Jan. 10, 2011

Chilly Spanish shoppers bare all for free clothes

(AFP) BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - Hundreds of shoppers in Spain braved chilly weather to queue outside shops in their underwear on the first day of the winter sales Friday to take advantage of an offer of free clothes."Come in your underwear and get a free outfit", so declared an offer by Spanish-based clothing retailer Desigual for the first 100 people to enter each of their stores in cities around

Jan. 10, 2011

Gisele Bundchen, Mark Wahlberg have the hottest bodies

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen and actor Mark Wahlberg were selected as having the most desired bodies by plastic surgeons of Beverly Hills in the 14th Annual “Famed Hottest Looks” survey, Fox News reported Nov. 6. Although the Brazilian-born supermodel gave birth in December, 2009, she was the most requested by the doctors‘ patients.  Gisele Bundchen (MCT)The survey conducted by Dr. Richard Fleming a

Jan. 10, 2011

51 dead in Mexico, including 15 beheaded

MEXICO CITY - Drug-related violence over the weekend claimed 51 lives across Mexico, including a record-setting 15 decapitations in the beach resort of Acapulco, authorities reported Sunday.The beheadings, mutilations, drive-by shootings and summary executions were carried out in southeastern Guerrero and northern Chihuahua states, as well as in the Mexican capital, despite the government's five-y

Jan. 10, 2011

Border collie understands more than 1,000 vocabularies

(Captured from the Metro)One border collie has proved she is smarter than the average 3-year-old child.According to British daily Metro, Chaser has the broadest “vocabulary“ ever seen in an animal after learning the names of more than 1,000 objects. Chaser was trained intensively for three years to be able to identify 1,022 objects. Not only that, Chaser can also categorize things by function and

Jan. 10, 2011

Man carries out self-castration to become woman

A 22-year-old British man has chopped off his own testicles, apparently seeking to become a woman.According to the British tabloid the Sun, the 22-year-old man last Friday cut off his private parts and threw them into Queens Park, Chesterfield. The man, believed to have waited nearly 24 hours before going to the hospital, told the staff he experienced “a lot less” pain than he had anticipated, was

Jan. 9, 2011

Arizona congresswoman shot, at least 5 killed

   TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday when an assailant opened fire outside a grocery store during a meeting with constituents, killing at least five people and wounding several others in a rampage that rattled the nation.   Giffords was among at least 10 people wounded, and the hospital said her outlook was ``optimistic'' and that she was resp

Jan. 9, 2011