NASA sent a saucer-like vehicle high into the sky to test technology for a future Mars landing, but its parachute tangled when deployed and the spacecraft splashed into the Pacific Ocean.
A three-course lunch hosted by an eccentric Chinese millionaire for 250 homeless New Yorkers in a posh restaurant degenerated into fury Wednesday when guests were denied $300 cash handouts.
Transportation authorities agreed to fund anti-suicide netting beneath the Golden Gate Bridge to prevent people jumping to their death from the iconic landmark, an official said.
A Mexican military helicopter ventured around 100 yards (meters) into the United States and fired two shots, the US border security agency said Friday in a claim quickly denied by Mexico.
Legendary US soul artist Bobby Womack, who influenced and wrote for generations of musicians, died Friday aged 70, a spokeswoman said, triggering a surge of tributes.
Kenyan Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, Somalia's Barkhad Abdi, "Happy" songster Pharrell Williams and Irish-German star Michael Fassbender are among 271 actors newly invited to join Hollywood's Oscar-bestowing Academy, organizers said.
Jeff Koons, one of world's highest paid artists, unveils his life work in New York on Friday, a chance to understand why his art is so celebrated, so loathed and so expensive.
Uruguay star Luis Suarez exited the World Cup in shame after being hit with the heaviest suspension in the tournament's history for biting an Italian opponent.
The White House has asked lawmakers for $500 million to train and equip vetted Syrian rebels, in what would be a significant escalation of US involvement in a conflict that has spilled into Iraq.
Howard Baker, a former United States Senate majority leader and presidential contender known for his ability to achieve compromise across the political aisle, died on Thursday. He was 88.
France strongly attacked the US-based body that assigns internet addresses, saying it was not a fit venue for internet governance and that alternatives should be sought.
US doctors treating Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala have ruled out lung cancer and diagnosed the 75-year-old with tuberculosis, a spokesman for the premier's Nepali Congress party said.
Michael Jackson fans laid flowers at the pop icon's mausoleum to mark the fifth anniversary of his death, as the singer's doctor recalled his patient's final hours.
Hillary Clinton sought to nuance her remark that she and ex-president husband Bill were "dead broke" when they left the White House, insisting she was not out of touch.
Jewish groups blasted British actor Gary Oldman on Tuesday for alleged anti-Semitic remarks defending Mel Gibson and suggesting that Hollywood is run by Jews.
More than 800 Taliban insurgents have launched a major offensive in southern Afghanistan to try to gain territory recently vacated by US troops, officials said Wednesday, with 40 civilians killed in five days of fighting.
The prolific American actor Eli Wallach, known by many for his role in the western "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" as part of a career spanning six decades, has died at the age of 98, US media reports said.
North Korea denounced a new Hollywood comedy about an assassination bid on leader Kim Jong-Un as a "wanton act of terror" and warned of a "merciless response" unless the US authorities banned the film.