Is it worth life in a wheelchair to take a funny photo to impress somebody you don't know on the Internet?
After the euro debt crisis, another symbol of European integration faces a key test as governments consider resurrecting barriers within the cherished border-free travel area.
Southeast Asian terror networks appear to believe the killing of Osama bin Laden by US special forces in Pakistan is the equivalent of a bloody nose, rather than a body blow, to their jihadist cause.
Tattooed celebrity trailblazers as diverse as David Beckham, Angelina Jolie and British "first lady" Samantha Cameron have helped bring body art into mainstream culture, but will they be regretting their choice as the years pass?
A baby girl starves to death as her parents raise a virtual child online; a boy scolded for excessive gaming kills his mother then commits suicide -- technology addiction is taking a toll in Asia.
"Opium requires less work, less water and makes more money," Afghan farmer says. "I would say nearly 80 percent of people in our district grow opium for very obvious reasons... it is easy."
The worst maritime oil spill in history began nearly a year ago with a drop in pressure in a poorly drilled well deep in the Gulf of Mexico. It hasn't really ended even though BP's runaway well was eventually capped 87 days later.
"The consequences ... of failure to raise the debt ceiling would be Armageddon-like in terms of the economy," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
World military spending rose only 1.3 percent in 2010 to $1.63 trillion, after average annual growth of 5.1 percent between 2001 and 2009.
A list of key events since a massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a 10-meter tsunami devastated northeastern
Explosion and meltdown fears at Japan's quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant renewed debate about the safety of atomic energy Sunday and cast doubt over its future as a clean energy source.
Climate change is rapidly transforming the Arctic and the U.S. Navy is falling behind as international powers jockey for power over vast oil resources.
The H1N1 swine flu that swept the globe in 2009/10 could easily morph into a more transmissible form, while an older, mid-20th century virus could also come roaring back, scientists warn.
