ALEPOCHORI, Greece (Reuters) – Paralyzed from the waist down, Lefteris Theofilou has spent nearly half his life bound to a wheelchair and recalls as if it were a dream the first time a solar-powered chair enabled him to swim on his own in the Greek sea. “It wa... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Cue up the indignant reactions: President Barack Obama and his family are about to go on an eight-day vacation on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard, an elite playground for the East Coast wealthy set. Beset by budget fights w... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Furniture, art and memorabilia from the estate of U.S. comedian Bob Hope, including presidential books and photographs, will be sold at live and online auctions next month, Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, California, said on Tuesday. H... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The world’s first laboratory-grown beef burger was flipped out of a petri dish and into a frying pan on Monday, with food tasters declaring it tasted “close to meat”. Grown in-vitro from cattle stem cells at a cost of 250,000 euros ($332,000... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A corner of west London will see culinary and scientific history made on Monday when scientists cook and serve up the world’s first lab-grown beef burger. The in-vitro burger, cultured from cattle stem cells, the first example of what its cr... More »
TAIPEI (Reuters) – The smellier, the better. That’s the rule in Taiwan for stinky tofu, a popular fermented snack that assaults the nose but pleases the palate. The scent, a cross between burning garbage and body odor, wafts through the narrow alleys of street... More »
KEY WEST, Florida (Reuters) – A Tennessee musician on Friday became the first paddleboarder to cross the Florida Straits between Cuba and the United States, making the 110 mile journey in 28 hours as his father watched from a support boat. Ben Friberg, 35, arr... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – About 25 Russian Orthodox celebrated a divine liturgy on Friday for the first time in four decades at their rooftop church they fear may be demolished to make way for a tourism project. A choir chanted hymns and women wearing scarves bowed... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – He walks backwards, emptying the magazine of his rifle into the three soldiers charging toward him with bayonets raised. They drop dead, and a small Japanese flag, its red sun stylized to resemble a bullet wound, flashes onto the screen. Th... More »
(Reuters) – The world’s largest geyser has exploded to life at Yellowstone National Park for the first time in eight years, sending a high-pressure burst of steamy water 300 feet into the air, a park official said on Thursday. The stream of 160 degree water re... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Television musical series “Glee” will address the death of star Cory Monteith in the upcoming season, writing his character out of the show and touching on Monteith’s real-life drug use, U.S. TV network Fox said on Thursday. Monteith, w... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Sergei Filin, the artistic director of Russia’s Bolshoi ballet who nearly lost his sight when a masked attacker threw acid in his face six months ago, said on Thursday he hoped to be back at work next month. The attack on January 17 shocked ... More »
(Reuters) – A top officer at the Detroit Institute of Arts predicts near-certain closure for the museum if Detroit sells major pieces from the 60,000 works in the institute’s art collection as a way to address the city’s dire financial situation. In an intervi... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actress Lindsay Lohan on Wednesday completed her 90-day stint in a rehabilitation facility to comply with court-ordered treatment for a reckless driving charge, but still faces more than year of weekly therapy sessions, a Los Angeles ju... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Tweeting and texting while watching TV is supplanting the traditional water-cooler chat about the previous night’s viewing among increasingly media-savvy Britons, the country’s telecoms regulator has found. “Just a few years ago, we would be... More »
BAYREUTH, Germany (Reuters) – The gods did not go up in flames but the audience erupted in a fury of booing on Wednesday night as an unorthodox new staging of Richard Wagner’s “Ring” cycle for his 200th birthday at his opera house in Bayreuth came to a near-ri... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lady Gaga had a “huge breakage” and “giant craters” in her right hip that forced the pop singer to cancel about two dozen concerts this year and undergo surgery. Her tour promoter, Live Nation, said in February that the “Born This Way” ... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – There was a time when Vladimir Putin’s macho antics inspired pride among Russians, but many are finding it hard to believe the president’s latest stunt – catching a huge pike in Siberia. Video footage released by the Kremlin last week showed... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin landed a giant pike and then shared the delicacy with Prime Minister Dimitry Medvedev, who many say is battling for survival, as both men were pictured together on relaxed weekend fishing expedition. Footage ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Author Jennifer Finney Boylan says there is more to being a mother than giving birth and in her newest book, “Stuck in the Middle with You,” she chronicles her transgender journey from being a father to a mother. For much of her life as ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A German town has halted a scheme offering asylum seekers 1.05 euros an hour to carry luggage at a station after rail operator Deutsche Bahn refused permission due to a public outcry and criticism that the project harked back to colonial tim... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai, best known for pensive dramas “Chungking Express” and “In the Mood for Love,” explores the life of Kung Fu master Ip Man in the new film “The Grandmaster,” which will be released on August 23 in the Unit... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When George Goldner went to feed his six pet pigs earlier this year, his 730-pound (331-kg) companion Nemo was acting strangely. Nemo had suddenly stopped eating and laid in the mud. So Goldner loaded Nemo into a trailer and drove more t... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate kept the world guessing about the name of their first child as they left hospital to start family life with the future king. “We are still working on a name, so we will have that as soon as we can,”... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian rappers and graffiti artists who captured the spirit of the youthful rebellion that toppled president Hosni Mubarak are toning down their outrage as the path to democracy has become more complicated. Three weeks since the military ou... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Bribery is the lubricant that helps keep China’s public hospitals running, and the health system would struggle to function without illegal payments to poorly paid doctors and administrators, say medical practitioners and industry experts.... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even the Jersey shore might have had enough of Snooki. Some residents of tiny Pelican Island say they do not want the star of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” reality show there to film the latest season of her spinoff show, “Snooki and JWoww.” The un... More »
TORONTO (Reuters) – The world premiere of “The Fifth Estate,” a ripped-from-the-headlines drama about Julian Assange and the creation of WikiLeaks, will open the 38th Toronto International Film Festival, which typically yields a number of Oscar contenders. Wid... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Troubled actress Amanda Bynes has been taken to a hospital for involuntary psychiatric care after the former teen star was involved in a disturbance in Southern California, authorities said on Tuesday. Don Aguilar, a spokesman for the V... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A team of paleontologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a 72 million-year-old dinosaur tail in a desert in northern Mexico, the country’s National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) said on Monday. Apart from bein... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The Firm, as Britain’s royal family calls itself, has a new asset. With the world media in a frenzy over the birth of Prince William and his wife Kate’s son, companies from airlines to champagne-makers have jumped on the chance to cash in on... More »
(Reuters) – Traditionally Catholic Ireland has allowed an atheist group to perform weddings this year for the first time, and the few people certified to celebrate them are overwhelmed by hundreds of couples seeking their services. Demand for the Humanist Asso... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The world was awaiting the first glimpse of Britain’s new prince on Tuesday with camera crews poised to photograph Prince William and his wife, Kate, leaving a London hospital with their baby son. Kate, 31, gave birth to the couple’s first c... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Pope Francis arrived in Brazil on Monday on his first foreign trip as pontiff and was swarmed by well-wishers as he drove into Rio de Janeiro, where more than one million people are expected to gather to see the first Latin American ... More »
(Reuters) – A booming market in recent years for selling and renting used college textbooks has saved students across the United States a ton of cash. But it has put textbook publishers in a bind. They don’t make a cent unless students buy their books new. So ... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A team of archaeologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a 72 million-year-old dinosaur tail in a desert in northern Mexico, the country’s National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) said on Monday. Apart from being... More »
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked North Dakota’s new abortion law, the most restrictive in the country because it prohibits ending a pregnancy once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks after conception. ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Married Californians Jeremy Turpen and Randy Brock celebrated last month’s U.S. Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage. Now they face a tax headache. Living in a state that recognizes gay marriage, they are entitled under the rulings to f... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Cellphones are ubiquitous and research shows that although most users think they have good mobile manners, many people report being irritated or annoyed by the use of the phones in public places. Clearly there’s a lack of understanding o... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Despite hip surgery that forced the cancellation of part of her tour, Lady Gaga still earned an estimated $80 million in the past year, propelling her to the top of Forbes list of highest earning celebrities under 30 years old. Canadian po... More »
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romanian experts believe that three out of seven paintings stolen last year from a Dutch museum, a haul that included works by Picasso and Monet, have been destroyed by fire, the team’s head told Reuters on Monday. Their findings appeared... More »
CHAMPAGNOLLES, France (Reuters) – The French have long appreciated snails on a plate with butter and garlic. But one rural snail farmer believes the humble molluscs have more to offer alive than dead. Louis-Marie Guedon says the mucus secreted by snails are fu... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Although “American Horror Story: Asylum” bested HBO’s fantasy epic “Game of Thrones” in picking up the most Primetime Emmy nominations on Thursday, the fright-filled FX miniseries could face another tough year at the fickle Emmys. “It’s... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ryan Gosling’s latest film, “Only God Forgives,” has deeply divided critics and the Canadian actor concedes that the blood-spattered crime thriller set in Bangkok’s underworld of boxing clubs and brothels may not appeal to everyone. “The f... More »
(Reuters) – The younger brother of country music superstar Randy Travis was hit with more charges on Thursday stemming from his arrest earlier in the week on suspicion of making and distributing methamphetamine from his home in North Carolina, authorities said... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – By 2012, Eastman Chemical seemed to be perfectly positioned when it came to producing plastic for drinking bottles. Concerns about a widely used chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) had become so great that Walmart stopped selling plastic bab... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – By 2012, Eastman Chemical seemed to be perfectly positioned when it came to producing plastic for drinking bottles. Concerns about a widely used chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) had become so great that Walmart stopped selling plastic bab... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Queen Elizabeth joined the band of increasingly impatient royal baby watchers hoping Prince William and his wife Kate’s first child arrives soon, saying she is due to go on holiday. With the future heir to the British throne due any day, the... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have created an “intelligent” surgical knife that can detect in seconds whether tissue being cut is cancerous, promising more effective and accurate surgery in future. The device, built by researchers at London’s Imperial College,... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actress Daryl Hannah defied the ingenue stereotype early in her career to transform into a futuristic robot, a mermaid and a sword-wielding killer, and in her latest role she battles age and sexist stereotypes as a lesbian basketball pl... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – The world-famous Vienna Boys’ Choir faces a financial crisis that could put it out of business if it does not reach a deal over the rent for its concert hall and school. The choir, whose roots go back to the 13th century, may have to pay 200... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – A spacewalk to work on the International Space Station ended abruptly on Tuesday when a water-like liquid started building up inside an Italian astronaut’s helmet, NASA officials said. U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy and Italy’... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Members of Britain’s royal family were “waiting by the telephone” for word of the imminent birth of Prince William and his wife Kate’s first child, expected this week amid a heat wave in London and rising royal baby fever. Photographers and ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fitness experts have long advised clients choosing a running shoe to forget fashion and consider the roll or pronation – the way the foot leans inward upon impact. Analyzing the roll of the foot remains standard practice among fitness and ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A postage stamp depicting France’s cultural symbol Marianne has touched off a flurry of controversy after one of its creators revealed it was inspired by a topless feminist activist who hacked down a Christian cross in Kiev last year with a c... More »
ABOARD THE ALEXANDER PUSHKIN IN THE GULF OF FINLAND, Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin took to a red submersible on Monday to dive 50 meters and examine the wreck of a 19th century frigate, his latest stunt in 13 years of power to assert his ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have unraveled how a gene long associated with obesity makes people fat by triggering increased hunger, opening up potential new ways to fight a growing global health problem. A common variation in the FTO gene affects one in six ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson and multi-millionaire art collector Charles Saatchi confirmed on Monday they were getting divorced, a month after a newspaper published photographs of him with his hands around her throat outside a London restau... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A detective novel secretly written by J.K. Rowling surged to the top of bestseller lists on Monday after the true identity of the author was revealed, embarrassing some publishers who had rejected the manuscript. Rowling, whose Harry Potter ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron fell victim to a Twitter spoof on Monday when he sent a message linked to a fake account that lampoons the government and portrays ministers as a privileged elite. Cameron once said that the trouble with ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Welder Mark Moynihan crawled down a narrow tube into a space the size of a car interior to seal the crack in the fermentation tank at Calhoun’s Bar-B-Q & Brewery in Knoxville, Tennessee. The space was oversaturated with oxygen. He lit his ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Eight more cities in China, the world’s biggest auto market, are likely to announce policies restricting new vehicle purchases, an official at the automakers association said, as Beijing tries to control air pollution. Shi Jianhua, deputy s... More »
DETROIT (Reuters) – With the threat of a city bankruptcy looming, Detroit city workers and retirees are pushing back against the state-appointed emergency manager, filing lawsuits to limit his options and refusing to accept demands to keep details of their dis... More »
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – An Alaska glacier is exposing remains from a military air tragedy six decades later. Relics from an Air Force cargo plane that slammed into a mountain in November 1952, killing all 52 servicemen on board, first emerged last summer... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – On a sunny day in Oslo, Vegard Groeslie Wennesland, a survivor of the shooting at the Labour Party’s youth camp on Utoeya island, gives out roses and discusses politics with shoppers. The 29-year old is hoping to get elected to parliament in S... More »
NAUNG CHEIN, Myanmar (Reuters) – A year ago, Wun Naung Lay left his village in northern Myanmar to look for work and found heroin instead. Today, the skeletal 25-year-old is locked up and going cold turkey beneath a filthy blanket in a bamboo cell. Wun Naung L... More »
(Reuters) – Activists will focus efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in four U.S. states this year and next, hoping to capitalize on political momentum following Supreme Court victories for gay rights, the Freedom to Marry advocacy group said on Tuesday. The... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Corruption has worsened in most Arab countries since their 2011 revolutions, even though anger with corrupt officials was a major reason for the uprisings, according to a public opinion poll released on Tuesday. The survey by Transparency Int... More »
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Thousands of supporters and opponents of abortion rights converged on the Texas Capitol on Monday for hours of protests as the state House of Representatives prepares to debate the proposed abortion restrictions on Tuesday. The state ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A majority of people worldwide believes corruption has worsened in the last two years and they see governments as less effective at fighting it since the 2008 financial crisis, a survey by Transparency International organization showed on Tu... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Photographers are camped outside the hospital, social media are buzzing, and stores are touting baby goods ahead of the expected arrival this week of the future heir to the British throne. Britain is officially on baby watch with Prince Will... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The Queen’s granddaughter, Zara Phillips and her husband, rugby player, Mike Tindall are expecting their first baby in the New Year, Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Monday. Phillips’ mother, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, her fa... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Can’t take the heat? Fitness experts say one way for outdoor exercisers who dread the long, hot summer days of steamy runs and breathless aerobics during a heat wave is to embrace it. “It takes most healthy people 10 to 14 days to fully ac... More »
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis said on Saturday it pained him to see priests driving flashy cars, and told them to pick something more “humble”. As part of his drive to make the Catholic Church more austere and focus on the poor, Francis told young and ... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Hong Kong judge on Friday jailed a former lover of late billionaire tycoon Nina Wang for 12 years for forging a will naming him the sole heir to one of Asia’s largest fortunes, estimated at $4 billion. Justice Andrew Macrae delivered th... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Hong Kong jury found the lover of the late billionaire tycoon Nina Wang guilty on Thursday of forging a will naming him the sole beneficiary of her estimated $4 billion estate. After more than 20 hours of deliberations, the jury voted 6... More »
TAIPEI (Reuters) – A dark figure stands alone in the centre of a bleak, shadowy landscape in one painting, while an ethereal tree-like form claims attention in another. The haunting black-and-white paintings are the work of Gao Xingjian, the first Chinese-born... More »
DETROIT (Reuters) – Chevrolet’s marketing campaign for its redesigned Silverado pickup truck is the U.S. automaker’s latest attempt to appeal to American patriotism, in a vehicle segment where its offering has been the oldest on the block. General Motors Co’s ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Jennifer Lopez would not have performed a private concert in Turkmenistan at the weekend had she known about charges of human rights violations in the Central Asian nation, her publicist said on Monday. Human rights campaigners, who acc... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – When it comes to fitness, experts say men generally want to be bulkier and women want to be trimmer and everyone wants to do what they are good at. That’s why as more women tackle brawny boot camps and men seek flexible peace on the yoga m... More »
PILTON, England (Reuters) – British folk band Mumford & Sons brought the annual Glastonbury festival jigging to a close on Sunday, capping three days of music, good-natured mayhem and minimal mud. The bluegrass-inspired set completed a trio of headline acts af... More »
PILTON, England (Reuters) – An octogenarian entertainer and a veteran country music singer had fans of all tastes and ages roaring on the final afternoon of the Glastonbury music festival on Sunday. The sun beat down on the sprawling 900 acre farm in southwest... More »
(Reuters) – It hardly sounds like a dream honeymoon: a week charging around a battleground reverberating with the clamor of 135 cannons, the reek of gunpowder smoke and the cacophony of 12,000 soldiers and 400 horses. Yet for Polish newlyweds Madeline and Luka... More »
MIAMI (Reuters) – Third-generation oceanographer Fabien Cousteau will attempt to spend a record 31 days living and working underwater in a bus-sized laboratory submerged in the warm, turquoise Atlantic off the Florida Keys. If he succeeds he will beat the 30-d... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – The family of a French billionaire and art collector eased a sore point in history on Friday by returning two bronze animal heads, among Chinese treasures pillaged from a Beijing palace by French and British troops more than a century and a... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore residents braved hazardous air, bid hundreds of dollars and queued for hours to lay their hands on a special Hello Kitty stuffed toy, swept up in a craze for the mouthless Japanese cat that peaked this week in the city-state. Th... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a landmark victory for gay rights on Wednesday by forcing the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in states where it is legal and paving the way for it in California, the most populous stat... More »
(Reuters) – With cheers, tears and kisses, gays and lesbians across the United States celebrated Wednesday’s historic Supreme Court decision in support of same-sex marriage, which provided cause for joy after years of protest. Crowds turned out in gay capitals... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California’s attorney general said same-sex weddings would resume statewide within weeks, if not sooner, despite further litigation threatened by opponents after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday paved the way for gay marriages i... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – America’s top court was expected to deliver rulings on Wednesday in two high-profile cases with national implications on gay marriage, an issue that stirs cultural, religious and political passions in the United States as elsewhere. At 1... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Like most things French, the Tour de France starts and ends around a lunch or dinner table. In 1903, when Geo Lefevre told Henri Desgrange, his boss at sports newspaper L’Auto about his idea of a cycling Tour de France, Desgrange summoned him... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A collection of items used in the investigation of former White House intern Monica Lewinsky’s sexual encounters with then U.S. President Bill Clinton is being auctioned online, Nate D. Sanders Auctions said on Monday. The 32-item colle... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – In a country synonymous with larger-than-life mining tycoons and Outback heroes, the geeks are quietly inheriting the earth. As coal magnate Nathan Tinkler, the poster boy for Australia’s fading 10-year minerals boom, publicly battles agains... More »
LITTLE COLORADO RIVER, Arizona (Reuters) – Daredevil Nik Wallenda completed a historic high-wire walk on a 2-inch (5-cm) steel cable over the Grand Canyon on Sunday and was greeted by wild cheers after his hair-raising stunt. Wallenda, the self-described “King... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Plants do complex arithmetic calculations to make sure they have enough food to get them through the night, new research published in journal eLife shows. Scientists at Britain’s John Innes Centre said plants adjust their rate of starch cons... More »
ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel told President Vladimir Putin on Friday that German art seized by the Soviets in the wake of World War Two should be repatriated to Germany, a claim the Russian leader swiftly rejected. The tense excha... More »
ATLANTA (Reuters) – One of U.S. celebrity chef Paula Deen’s employers said on Thursday it was monitoring the controversy over her admission that she has used a racial slur in the past, while Deen’s own company said the cooking star does not condone racism. In ... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The artistic director of Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet, burned in an acid attack allegedly masterminded by a dancer, is nearly blind despite 18 operations to save his sight, a theatre spokeswoman said on Thursday. The attack on Sergei Filin, which... More »
ASCOT, England (Reuters) – Big hats and fancy frocks are an integral part of Royal Ascot and organizers of Britain’s glamorous racehorse meeting want to keep it that way by charging for fashion failures this year. Royal Ascot, a 300-year-old highlight of Brita... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – People will always want to watch movies in theatres despite the growing trend of watching videos at home and on mobile devices, the head of giant movie system maker Imax said. “People are social animals and I don’t think they want to be c... More »
