Actor Brad Pitt was punched in the face Wednesday night while signing autographs at the Hollywood premiere of "Maleficent" starring his partner Angelina Jolie, news reports said.
Fugitive self-proclaimed spy Edward Snowden said Wednesday he wants to return home, as he defended his massive leak of US intelligence secrets, saying abuses of constitutional rights left him no choice.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped Forbes's list of the world's most powerful women for the fourth consecutive year, followed by US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, the magazine said.
Apple, seeking to bolster its position in the hotly contested online music sector, said Wednesday it was buying Beats Music and Beats Electronics in a much-hyped deal worth $3 billion.
The owners of the 7-Eleven chain in Australia have taken control of coffee giant Starbucks' struggling local operations in a bid to turn around its fortunes, the company said.
Brazilian health officials have raided hotels that will host visiting World Cup teams, including England and Italy, and confiscated expired food such as shrimp and salmon from their kitchens.
First lady Michelle Obama made a rare but strident foray into political debate Tuesday, slamming a Republican bid to change US school nutrition standards as "unacceptable."
A Guatemalan woman who used to pick coffee and tend sheep -- and who will turn 121 in November -- could be the world's oldest by far, a national newspaper reported.
A campaign on Twitter denouncing misogyny has gathered thousands of followers after a bloody rampage in California by a 22-year-old virgin who said he was motivated by hatred of women.
A Mexican man who was once the world's heaviest human when he weighed, weighing 597 kilos (1,316 pounds) at one point, has died at the age of 48, medical officials said.
Mexico's government presented on Monday 125 new homes to residents of a southwestern mountain village that was buried by a massive landslide that killed 71 people last year.