Apocalypse flick '2012' swamps box office
AFP - Tuesday November 17, 11:23 AM
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - North American film-goers embraced the apocalypse over Christmas this weekend as disaster flick "2012" beat Disney's "A Christmas Carol" to top the box office, final figures showed Monday.

'Unfriend' is New Oxford American word of the year
AFP - Tuesday November 17, 11:10 AM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The New Oxford American Dictionary named "unfriend" -- as in deleting someone as a friend on a social network such as Facebook -- its word of the year on Monday.

First Latin America gay marriage on December 1
AFP - Tuesday November 17, 10:29 AM
BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - Latin America's first gay marriage will be held on World AIDS Day on December 1, the Argentine couple, who are both HIV positive, said Monday.

China fuels US foreign student boom
AFP - Tuesday November 17, 09:18 AM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The number of foreigners enrolled at US universities shot to a record high in the last academic year fueled by an influx of Chinese students, an educators' group said Monday.

Crisis-beating Italian online fashion retailer launches IPO
AFP - Tuesday November 17, 09:06 AM
MILAN (AFP) - Yoox, an Italian online fashion retailer that sells top brands and has been growing rapidly during the global economic crisis, launched an initial public offering (IPO) in Milan on Monday.

Calls mount for woman to take a top EU post
AFP - Tuesday November 17, 08:46 AM
BRUSSELS (AFP) - Calls mounted Monday for a woman to be appointed to one of the European Union's new top jobs, with the race wide open just days ahead of a key summit meant to resolve the problem.

Fearless kids more likely to be adult criminals: study
AFP - Tuesday November 17, 08:21 AM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Children who lack a normal fear response are more likely to commit crimes when they grow up, a study published Monday in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggested.

Mock funeral for Venice's dwindling population
AFP - Sunday November 15, 09:53 AM
VENICE, Italy (AFP) - Hundreds of people turned out on Saturday in Venice for a symbolic funeral procession to highlight the Italian city's dwindling population.

Bees provide pain relief in beleaguered Gaza
AFP - Sunday November 15, 05:32 AM
GAZA CITY (AFP) - In a clinic in the beleaguered Gaza Strip, Ratib Samur makes his way from one patient to the next armed with little more than a small box filled with enraged bees.

Groups at risk from swine flu should avoid hajj: study
AFP - Saturday November 14, 01:12 PM
PARIS (AFP) - People at risk of suffering severe consequences from swine flu should postpone going to the hajj in 2009, according to a study released on Saturday.