Fans bidding in a charity online auction to buy a teacup used once by pop diva Lady Gaga had offered more than four million yen ($50,000) by Tuesday, with five days left before the hammer falls.The china cup and saucer set was used by the star at a press conference inTokyo three months after the massive tsunami of March last year swamped a large stretch of coastline.Lady Gaga told reporters at the

An online bucket list a Houston couple created for an infant daughter with a fatal illness has drawn more than 2.1 million page views, the blog's counter says. Avery CanahuatiLaura and Mike Canahuati created Avery's Bucket List for their 6-month-old daughter, Avery, in hopes of raising awareness about her condition, spinal muscular atrophy, the No. 1 genetic killer of infants under 2, The Grand Ra

A Korean-American former nursing student pleaded not guilty Monday to killing seven people in an execution-style shooting rampage at a religious college in California.One Goh, 43 -- who has refused to eat for several weeks -- is charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder for the April 2 shooting at Oikos University, a small Christian school in Oakland.Law enforcement

South Korea's consumer prices grew at a slower pace in April than a month earlier as the government sought to tame inflationary pressure, a report showed Tuesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the country's consumer price index rose 2.5 percent in April from a year earlier, slowing from a 2.6 percent on-year gain in March. The index was unchanged from a month earlier.April's reading

An unfolding scandal over an under-age call girl has shaken Singapore's political and economic elite after businessmen, civil servants and uniformed officers were charged in the case.Prostitution is legal in Singapore, but 48 men ranging in age from their early 20s to late 40s have so far been charged under a 2008 law making it a crime to pay for sex with a girl under 18.Singapore has long been pe

Iran on Monday slammed a US pastor's burning of a Koran, calling it provocative and demanding US authorities take action to prevent any recurrence.Iran's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency that it "strongly condemns this ridiculous, insulting and provoking act by a so-called American priest in overt contempt of the holy Koran."The condemnation was in reac

Teen girls happy with the size and shape of their bodies report higher levels of self-esteem, U.S. researchers said. Kerri Boutelle, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, said the study involved 103 overweight adolescents surveyed between 2004 and 2006. The girls were assessed for body satisfaction, weight-control behavior,

A Russian man died after being hit on the head with a frying pan by his wife, who was "driven by jealousy," a local investigation committee said Saturday.Police said the man, 50, was hospitalized in the Urals city of Orenburg with acute cerebral circulatory problems and died the next day, RIA Novosti reported."The woman said she was driven by jealousy and hit her husband with a frying pan during a

Police tracked the location of the phone of a man who attempted suicide and saved his life on Sunday. The man, who is in his 40s, drank pesticide at a fishing spot in Ansung, Gyeonggi province.Before the suicide attempt, the man made a phone call to his sister and said “I’m sorry.” The sister dialed 112, the state’s emergency hotline, to ask for help.Two officials from Ansung Provincial Police Age

Britain's Prince William (L) and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (R) arrive to attend the UK premiere of the film "African Cats" in London on April 25, 2012. Their attendance at the premiere of African Cats was their first public engagement since Prince William arrived back from his deployment in the Falklands. The royal couple will mark the first anniversary of their marriage on April 29, 2012. (

A blind legal activist who escaped house arrest in his Chinese village is under the protection of American officials, activists said Saturday, creating a diplomatic dilemma for the U.S. and China days ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.Chen Guangcheng, who has exposed forced abortions and sterilizations in villages as a result of China's one-child policy, fled from his g

British police on Wednesday asked Portugal to reopen the case of missing girl Madeleine McCann, saying that as the fifth anniversary of her disappearance approaches there is a possibility she is still alive.Police also released a new image of what McCann would likely look like today, expressing hope that she would be found even years after the then-3-year-old vanished on May 3 while on a trip to P

Sruffy Robin and Snickers Carter getting marriedMore than 100 people turned up at a California country club to witness the unusual wedding of a pair of small and furry lovers -- two dogs.Ernie Rubin's dog, Scruffy, donned a custom couture dress, leash and veil made by Jan Farber for the canine wedding Sunday at the Palm Desert Resort Country Club; while Ann Carter dressed her dog, Snickers, in a d

A man was in custody on Thursday after he allegedly kidnapped, handcuffed and repeatedly sexually assaulted a Japanese woman, reportedly a tourist, in Sydney.Chief Inspector Rick Johnson told reporters the victim, 29, got to know the man after arriving in Australia in January. She travelled around the country and met up with him again on Tuesday.It was then that her ordeal began."The offender made

Almost 70 dwarves will soon live with dignity and comfort in a village in north-eastern India that is being set up with special homes adapted to their stature, a news report said Tuesday.A theatre personality in Assam state planned the village in the central Udalguri district, the IANS news agency reported."I have got land for the project 'Amar Gaon' meaning Our Villagein Assamese," Pabitra Rabha

U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday he knows what it's like to come out of college in debt and that's why Congress can't let student loan rates skyrocket.Obama took his campaign to get Congress to take action to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where 8,000 people jammed Carmichael Arena to hear him."Michelle and I, we've been in your shoes. Like I said, we didn't come from weal

South Korea plans to take bids for its stake in Woori Finance Holdings Co. in a third attempt to sell the nation’s largest financial company by assets.The government will hold an international auction and announce details on the plan soon, Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Seok Dong said in Seoul today. Local and foreign investors’ bids will be treated equally, he said.The sale is part of

Standard & Poor's on Monday downgraded its credit rating outlook for Argentina from stable to negative, after Buenos Aires seized control of the country's largest oil company YPF."In our view, the recent government policies could increase risks to Argentina's macroeconomic framework, squeeze its external liquidity, and hinder medium-term growth prospects," the ratings agency said in a statement.As

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with a top North Korean envoy in a reaffirmation of traditional ties following Chinese pique over Pyongyang's recent attempted rocket launch.State broadcaster CCTV made no mention of the failed April 13 launch in its report on Hu's meeting Monday with Workers' Party international relations chief Kim Yong Il at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing.Hu

The FBI warned Monday that more than 300,000 Internet users worldwide could lose their Web access starting in July following a multi-million-dollar scam.But users can breathe a sigh of relief as a solution is just a few clicks away at dcwg.org, a website the FBI created so people could check whether they have been infected with malware and remove any malicious software.Six Estonians were arrested