Czech billionaire sets aside business for power politics
The Czech Republic's second richest man whose fledgling party came in second in parliamentary elections, Andrej Babis, said Monday he is setting aside his business portfolio to take up a political one, as finance minister.
Lifestyle disorders top health issues in Arab world
Heart disease and stroke have replaced infectious disease as the top causes of early death in the Arab world, tracking the West in a trend towards lifestyle disorders.
21 January 2014
Ethiopia's Timkat draws crowds to ancient royal baths
The sun has not yet come up, but hundreds of people -- cloaked in white shrouds and chanting biblical hymns -- are already gathered at the holy baths in northern Ethiopia to celebrate Timkat.
Fugitive campaigner hails Japan anti-dolphin hunt messages
Fugitive eco-activist Paul Watson said Monday he hoped anti-dolphin hunting comments like those by US ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, would put pressure on Tokyo to halt the practice.
83yo Kazakh man crushes rocks with his bare hands83yo Seken Tolebekov lives in Almaty Oblast, Kazakhstan. It spite of his age, his hands possess an unusual strength: he crushes rocks with his bear hands.
Body of Indian minister's wife taken to hospital for autopsyThe body of the wife of an Indian minister, found dead in a luxury hotel days after accusing her husband on Twitter of being unfaithful, was moved to a hospital Saturday for an autopsy.
18 January 2014
EU envoy criticises 'tightening' curbs on China human rightsThe European Union's outgoing ambassador to China on Friday criticised growing curbs on human rights in the country, raising several individual cases including an arrested activist and a detained Uighur academic.