Sweden's happy, generous image challenged by four-day riot
STOCKHOLM -- Hundreds of youths have torched cars and attacked police in four nights of riots in immigrant suburbs of Sweden's capital, shocking a country that dodged the worst of the financial crisis but failed to solve youth unemployment and resentment among asylum seekers.Violence spread from the north to the south of the city on Wednesday as groups of youths pushed through Stockholm's suburbs ...
First Thoughts: Obama to scale back drone policy
Obama to scale back his administration?s drone policy? Also expected in his 2:00 pm ET national security speech: better securing diplomatic facilities and stating his desire to close Gitmo? About that Holder letter? WaPo on the White House trying to shield Obama from IRS investigation? Cruz: ?I don?t trust the Republicans?? Scott Walker heads to the Hawkeye State? And Happy (upcoming) Memorial Day...
Light of my life: Homemade engagement ring glows when fiance is near
An inventor's romantic proposal idea has come to happy fruition. It took months of work, but Ben Kokes crafted an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Julie, that would light up from within ? but only after he put it on her finger and took her by the hand.(First, for those who can't stand the suspense, don't worry: She said yes, and she loves it.)The idea of a ring that glows when he's near it occu...
Urban renewal? Census figures show cities surging
New census estimates show that most of the nation's largest cities further enhanced their allure last year, posting strong population growth for a second straight year. Big cities surpassed the rate of growth of their surrounding suburbs at an even faster clip, a sign of America's continuing preference for urban living after the economic downturn quelled enthusiasm for less-crowded expanses. Farth...
One child missing, one killed in Minnesota field trip landslide
Authorities said they would continue their search Thursday for a Minnesota child who remained missing after a gravel slide swept several children on a school fossil-hunting trip into a pit, killing one.The fourth-graders from a St. Louis Park elementary school were hiking in Lilydale Regional Park on Wednesday when a steep slope soaked by rain gave way, authorities have said. Two trapped children ...
UK mom calms man with blood-soaked knife after suspected deadly terror attack
LONDON - A mother-of-two who confronted a blood-soaked, knife-carrying man in the moments after the suspected ideologically motivated murder of a British soldier said she did so in order to protect the crowd of onlookers.Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, 48, jumped off the bus she was riding in southeast London Wednesday when she saw a man slumped on the sidewalk next to a crashed car.British police said on T...
Amid the rubble, laughter and tears for one family devastated by tornado
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. ? A little treasure in the debris of a home that once welcomed Rebecca Garland's four grandchildren gave her such a delight as her friends and family scoured the mountain of rubble for any mementos left behind by Monday's powerful tornado.?This is where we measured the kids' height!? she exclaimed as her son Lee held up a piece of a wall showing the rising tick-marks as his th...
Boy Scouts vote on gay members: What's at stake
After years of emotional debate, the Boy Scouts of America are considering a proposal at their annual meeting to allow gay youths to participate openly in the popular organization for the first time.The exclusion of gay Scouts has been the subject of much wrangling and soul searching in the century-old organization -- from local troops and councils to online petitions to national board meetings. T...
Solar Impulse plane sets distance record for a solar-powered flight
The Swiss-made Solar Impulse plane landed in Dallas on Thursday, breaking the distance record for a solar-powered flight on the second leg of its coast-to-coast odyssey across America.The super-light, super-wide plane rose from its runway at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport at 4:47 a.m. MST (7:47 a.m. ET) Wednesday with Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse's co-founder and CEO, at the control...
Japanese climber, 80, becomes oldest atop Everest
An 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer became the oldest person to reach the top of Mount Everest on Thursday - although his record may last only a few days. An 81-year-old Nepalese man, who held the previous record, plans his own ascent next week.Yuichiro Miura, who also conquered the 29,035-foot (8,850-meter) peak when he was 70 and 75, reached the summit at 9:05 a.m. local time Thursday, according...
'Europa Report' packs realistic chills into trailer for science-fiction thriller
The first trailer for the science-fiction film "Europa Report" has been launched onto the Internet, and it just might be the most realistic ? and harrowing ? depiction of space travel on the big screen in years.In "Europa Report," an intrepid crew of astronauts leaves Earth behind for Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, on a private space mission to seek out alien life. As the first two-minute trailer...
Teen birth rate drops, especially among Hispanics
Across the nation fewer and fewer teens are giving birth, especially Hispanic girls, according to a new government report.Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that from 2007 to 2011, the overall rate of teen births plummeted a full 30 percent. The biggest decline was among Hispanic teens, whose birth rate dropped 34 percent. Among non-Hispanic black teens there was...
Solar Impulse airplane is setting solar-powered flight record in Texas
The Swiss-made Solar Impulse plane was assured of setting a distance record for solar-powered flight on Wednesday as it sailed from Phoenix to Dallas-Fort Worth, on the second leg of its coast-to-coast odyssey across America.The super-light, super-wide plane rose from its runway at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport at 4:47 a.m. MST (7:47 a.m. ET) with Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse's co-...
Rare plant in danger from logging at Boy Scout camp in California
Expulsion from the Boy Scouts of America is a dishonor few Scouts endure. But that was the punishment imposed on Kim Kuska, a self-taught naturalist and former biology teacher who had been with the organization for more than 50 years.His crime: an obsession with the rare, and unfortunately named, Dudley?s lousewort.Since the 1970s, the Eagle Scout and adult Scout leader-turned-whistle-blower has w...
Light of my life: Homemade engagement ring glows when fiancee is near
An inventor's romantic proposal idea has come to happy fruition. It took months of work, but Ben Kokes crafted an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Julie, that would light up from within ? but only after he put it on her finger and took her by the hand.(First, for those who can't stand the suspense, don't worry: She said yes, and she loves it.)The idea of a ring that glows when he's near it occu...
Neanderthal baby had only breast milk for 7 months
By Stephanie Pappas LiveScience A baby Neanderthal who lived in what is now Belgium about 100,000 years ago started eating solid food at 7 months old, revealing a new aspect of the evolution of breast-feeding.The precision of this estimate is courtesy a new technique that uses elements in teeth to determine when breast-feeding started and stopped. Though researchers can't be sure the young Neander...
Moon or asteroid? Congress debates best Mars pit stop
By Clara MoskowitzSpace.comNASA's plan to lasso an asteroid for astronauts as a deep-space dry run for a future mission to Mars has some members of Congress wondering if the space agency would be better off setting its sights on the moon instead.The asteroid mission was announced when President Barack Obama unveiled his 2014 NASA budget request. The scheme would have NASA use a robotic spacecraft ...
Dirty dogs: Homes with pooches loaded with bacteria
A dog may not only fill a home with joy, it fills a home with a whole lot of bacteria, new research suggests. But that doesn't mean you have to kick your pooch out of the bed.Research from North Carolina State University published Wednesday in the journal PLoS ONE found homes with dogs have both a greater number of bacteria and more types of bacteria than homes without dogs. The findings were par...
Solar Impulse airplane heads for solar-powered flight record in Texas
The Swiss-made Solar Impulse plane went after a distance record for solar-powered flight on Wednesday as it sailed from Phoenix to Dallas-Fort Worth, on the second leg of its coast-to-coast odyssey across America.The super-light, super-wide plane rose from its runway at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport at 4:47 a.m. MST (7:47 a.m. ET) with Andre Borschberg, Solar Impulse's co-founder and ...
Arias jury to judge: What if we can't reach a decision?
The Arizona jury deliberating on whether Jodi Arias deserves the death penalty for the brutal murder of her former boyfriend questioned the judge in the case on Wednesday about what to do if they can't reach a decision.Judge Sherry Stephens gave the jury further instructions and sent them back into the jury room to resume deliberations. The jury later adjourned for the day and will start deliberat...
?A hot meal can make people cry?: BBQ volunteers comfort Oklahoma victims
The cooks flipping meat on grills or sweating behind smokers at barbecue competitions are all about seasoning, basting, charring ? and being the best. This week, though, these maestros of meat are putting their competitive nature aside to bring comfort to Oklahoma with classic American cuisine.As soon as news of the tornado broke, dozens of them requested vacation time from their jobs and canceled...
Tornado birth: Mom endures labor as twister destroys hospital
When a devastating tornado touched down in Moore, Okla., on Monday afternoon, Shayla Taylor was on the upper floor of the local hospital, in active labor with her second child.As the floor shook ?like an earthquake? beneath her and ceiling tiles and insulation fell overhead, the 25-year-old huddled with four nurses, braving both the peak contractions of childbirth and the wrath of the worst twiste...
While Oklahoma staggers, Joplin marks 2 years after its own tornado
While Oklahoma begins to clean up after a ferocious tornado, the site of one of the worst twisters in American history ? Joplin, Mo., a little more than 200 miles away ? marked a solemn anniversary Wednesday.On May 22, 2011, a tornado all but wiped Joplin off the map. The twister killed 161 people, injured more than 1,000 and wrought almost $3 billion worth of damage. It was clocked at more than 2...
Fungus found in your nose, in the goop between your toes
Government researchers have just done the first genetic survey of all the fungi that live on our skin. Their findings? They?re in your ears, they?re in your nose and, yes, they are in the goop between your toes.Humans are covered with hundreds of different types of fungus, the team at the National Institutes of Health found. What?s surprising is that one family covers most of our bodies, but our ...
Post-tornado peril: Victims could face deadly fungal infections
Doctors treating victims hurt badly in Monday?s devastating Moore, Okla., tornado should be alert for a rare but deadly complication of wind-whipped debris: fungal infections like those that killed five people after the Joplin, Mo., twister in 2011.That?s the word from government experts in fungal infections, who documented 13 serious cases of necrotizing cutaneous mucormycosis -- terrible soft ti...
