A revered mystic who cursed Saddam Hussein, criticized Madonna and influenced Israeli elections, has died of pneumonia. He was believed to be about 106.

A British warship that went to the bottom of the Mediterranean in 1694 with a cargo of coins now worth up to 4 billion dollars, becomes embroiled in a bitter diplomatic dispute that pits Spain against Britain.

The snow-laden roof of an exhibition hall collapses during a pigeon racing show, killing 66 people and injuring 141. Some trapped victims call loved ones on their mobile phones from the ruins of the hall, describing the frozen corpses around them during their last moments alive.

Real state agents and brokers hold gatherings to bring unmarried clients together, while at the same time promoting their business.They say they want to help out ambitious unattached progessionals who have little time to seek out romance.

At 23, a serious and driven performer with washboard abs, winsome looks and a Gene Kelly-like dancing ability, wants nothing less that to break down barriers, build cultural bridges and become the first Asian pop star to succeed in America.

Two top Germany generals are dismissed after allegations of racist abuse by one general’s son, favoritism and misuse of official information. The son, a student at the military academy, was accused of making racist and far-right comments.

A widow’s long quest for justice in Indonesia: in a conference room of the national police headquarters here, Patsy Spier once again relived the attack that robbed her of ther husband on a Saturday afternoon in 2002 in remote Papua province.She described how attackers fired into the convoy carrying her, her husband and eight other Americans.

Torture by Proxy.

A teenager found dead in the snow in a field near his home in Barnard Castle on Saturday, was named by the police last night as John Winter, aged 15.

Lure of distant lands draws adventurous retirees.

In Venezuela, glamour factories start young.

Utah tribe presses a nuclear dump.

Looking for happiness in all the wrong places.

Kremlinology makes a come back.

New plastic alters shape under light.

A paranoid and personally-secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered. The he starts suspecting he is under surveillance, that his apartment is bugged, and that he might be murdered too.

Harry Caul is a nationally known expert on surveillance. The Director of a large company has hired him to record the conversations of two of the Director's employees. Some years previous, Harry's work directly led to the murder of three people, and now he has reason to fear that it will happen again.

A northern bottlenose whale measuring about 5 meters and weighing up to 7 tons is spotted on a Friday heading upstream the Thames, near the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, London.

An American comedian is sent overseas by the State Department to find out what tickles Islam's funny bone.

Scarf morphs into iconic accessory.

A former teenage idol pleads not guilty to drug possession charges in Los Angeles after being arrested for allegedly trying to ride the subway without a ticket. Now 44, he is charged with felony possession of heroin and fare evasion.

A failed policeman sells out his Irish rebel buddy to the British authorities for passage to America. After being caught and marked for execution, he cried: "Isn't there a man here who can tell me why I did it?"

I survived two years of near-starvation, beatings and dengue fever, but dozens of cell-mates died in my arms. From the depths of that madness, I took and oath that if I ever got out, I would fight for justice.

Jewish heir wins Austrian fight over art stolen by Nazis.

Former exile wins race for president.

Star dust falls to Earth.

A 20-year-old skinhead burst into a synagogue and stabs eight people before he is wrestled to the floor and disarmed.

A hustling Hollywood native whose charm, flamboyant deal-making and readiness to bend or break rules propel him first to the pinacles of success and probably next will lead him to jail.

The government put into effect one of the more radical attempts to achieve sexual equality: requiring that within the next two years, 40 percent of the board members of the large, publicly traded private companies be women.

A hot commodity: Language.

Abused men have to fight an uphill battle to be taken seriously.

Scientists find a galaxy joining ours.

He did not want people to pity him. Pity -in fact, any public display of emotion- was perceived by him as weakness. It conflicted with the upbringing he received from his mother and contradicted the norms accepted by his generation.

11 miners try to shelter from poisonous air in one of the farthest reaches of the mine. One of them takes a paper and a pencil from his pocket: in faint sentences of farewell and religious conviction, he lets his family know that death, as it approached, came gently.

When asked if the drug had deepened his understanding of death, he appeared mildly startled and said no. "I go back to where I came from, to where I was before I was born, that's all".

Robbers from upper middle class backgrounds, dressed in wigs and dark glasses, briefly take control of a bank and hold several people hostage until the police arrives on the scene. As they attempt to escape, one of the robbers is shot and killed.

It took years for a single mother to drum up the courage to join the growing stream of Mexican women illegaly crossing the border on the promise of a job, in her case working in a meatpacking plant for $5,15 an hour.

A Labour foreign secreatary in the 1960s stumblingly invites a guest in flowing purple robes to dance.
"First, you are drunk," replies the guest. "Second, this is not a waltz, it is the national anthem. And third, I am not a woman: I am the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima."

A married couple are terrorized by a series of videotapes planted on their front porch.

A woman falls into a coma as a young girl, just shortly after she had some visions of the future. She wakes up just in time to experience that future, as if she did not need the time in between.