Scientists say there may be a ninth planet out past Pluto at 8 billion miles from the sun. Since its not within the gravitational pull of three of the big planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune it may go out as far as 200 billion miles away from the sun in the future. This giant planet may be 10 times […]
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BERLIN (AP) — German police have arrested five South Koreans on suspicion of murder following the death of a relative in an exorcism ritual in the city of Frankfurt, prosecutors. Officers discovered the body of the 41-year-old woman in a hotel room when the suspects called a priest after it became apparent that the victim had died, prosecutor Nadja Niesen […]
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Judge Joao Filho of Brazil has awarded a former McDonald’s franchise manager $17,500 in damages, after the 32 year-old man sued the chain for making him fat. According to the 32 year-old man, whose name has not been made public, the free lunches provided by the chain were to blame. Of course, he could have opted for a McSalad once […]
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Guatemalans are suffering from “an epidemic of chronic pessimism,” said Jose J. Camacho. We all seem to agree that “everything is bad, nothing is certain, everyone has a price, and something evil lurks behind every good deed.” The media fuel these perceptions by covering every new incidence of violence exhaustively, lavishing special attention on the most frightening and lurid details […]
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■ A California woman is getting plastic surgery to become a real-life Barbie—and hypno-therapy to make her as dumb as a doll. “I just want to be the ultimate Barbie,” said Blondie Bennett, 38. “Being brainless is a big part of that.” Bennett has spent over $41,000 on plastic surgery, lip fillers, and Botox to make herself look like a […]
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Suddenly everyone wants to be low-caste, said Badri Narayan. It used to be considered an extreme disadvantage to be in one of India’s oppressed castes or indigenous tribes. But decades of affirmative action and quota systems have changed all that. Now, many lower-middle castes are agitating to be reclassified as “more backward,” in effect “struggling to move down the ladder […]
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People tormented by a neverending flow of negative thoughts can greatly benefit from an alternative to expensive psychotherapy or medications: a walk in the woods. Psychologists at Stanford University found that walking outdoors in natural settings can ward off the human tendency to harp on that breakup, layoff, or family problem. The study involved 38 city participants, some of which […]
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Bentiu, South Sudan Horrific massacre: Rebels have massacred hundreds of civilians in the South Sudanese city of Bentiu in the worst atrocity of the young country’s civil war. Bodies, including those of children and old people, were piled in heaps in a mosque, a church, and other buildings all over town. The ethnic Nuer rebels killed all non-Nuer they found, […]
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Pyongyang, North Korea Pleasure squad: Now that the mourning period for his father Kim Jong II is over, dictator Kim Jong Un is creating a “pleasure squad” of pretty women. South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported that Kim has ordered that young women be recruited from across North Korea and trained as singers, dancers, and concubines so they can entertain him […]
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A sleepwalking British woman fell 50 feet from a hotel window, but survived because her sleeping body was relaxed when it hit the ground. Amy Wigfull, 24, was on vacation in Spain when she stumbled into the hotel bathroom and crawled out of a sixth-floor window while still asleep and plummeted to the sidewalk below. Experts say that the only […]
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