Limbless Frenchman swims between US, Russian islands
Quadruple amputee Philippe Croizon swam between islands in the icy Bering Strait Friday to cross from America to Asia in the final part of a quest to link all continents.
19 August 2012 15:39
US men prefer beer, women love wine
US men like to drink beer, though wine is the beverage of choice for women and older adults, a poll showed Friday.
19 August 2012 13:26
Australia 'preparing' for Assange extradition to US
Australia confirmed Saturday that its diplomatic post in Washington had been preparing for Julian Assange's possible extradition to the US but played it down as "contingency planning".
19 August 2012 09:24
Arrests, breasts, chainsaws: Punk world backs Pussy Riot
A topless Ukrainian feminist felled a cross with a chainsaw, balaclava-clad New Yorkers braved arrest to picket an Orthodox church and Bulgarian punks re-decorated a war memorial.
Americans back guns, even after shootings: poll
An overwhelming majority of Americans, particularly whites, are adamant about the constitutional right to bear arms, a poll showed this week amid a rash of shootings across the US.
17 August 2012 19:09
Ecuador grants Assange asylum in confrontation with Britain
Ecuador granted political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Thursday, setting up a diplomatic confrontation with Britain, which angrily insisted it would extradite him to Sweden.
17 August 2012 10:42
Asylum-seekers 'force' Singapore ship to Australia
A boatload of asylum-seekers picked up by a Singaporean merchant vessel after a distress call were Thursday accused of acting like pirates after forcing the captain to take them to Australia.
16 August 2012 17:48
US migrants sign up to Obama deportation deferral
Long lines of undocumented immigrants sprang up across the US on Wednesday as thousands took advantage of President Barack Obama's decision to grant many of them temporary residency.
Quadruple amputee prepares for Bering Strait swim
Two silhouettes cut through the water a few hundred yards (metres) from a rainy, windswept beach bordering the flat grasslands near the small Inuit community of Wales, in the far west of Alaska.
15 August 2012 12:37
Cosmo editor Helen Gurley Brown dies at 90
Helen Gurley Brown, the saucy Cosmopolitan editor who delivered thousands of sex tips to single women and more than a few curious men, died Monday. She was 90.
14 August 2012 18:47
Australia boatpeople plan wins crucial support
Plans to transfer asylum-seekers who arrive in Australia by boat to Pacific states won crucial support Tuesday, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard saying they could be processed offshore within a month.
Taiwan couple in same-sex Buddhist wedding
Two women tied the knot on Saturday in Taiwan's first same-sex Buddhist wedding, a move rights groups hope will help make the island become the first place in Asia to legalise gay marriage.
11 August 2012 14:53
Kazakh journalist wins Peter Mackler prize
An investigative journalist in Kazakhstan who survived an attempt on his life is this year's winner of the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism.
