As many as 100 people are feared dead in an earthquake and landslide that buried more than 20 houses in northern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.Rescuers have so far pulled two women's bodies from the rubble of the landslide in Baghlan province, said provincial Gov. Abdul Majid. The U.N. confirmed one other death and said houses were destroyed across five districts.A massive landslide of mud

South Korea's public rail and airport authorities ranked top in terms of international competitiveness in 2011 for the service they offered to users, a government report showed Monday.The report by the finance ministry showed the country's KTX bullet trains outperformed overseas rivals in timely operations according to data published by International Railway Statistics. It said the KTX, run by Kor

Pop diva Lady Gaga suffered concussion when a dancer accidentally hit her on the head with a metal pole during her final New Zealand show, reports said Monday.The US artist was performing her hit "Judas" at Auckland's Vector Arena on Sunday night when the accident left her seeing stars, 3News reported.Footage of the incident showed her staggering briefly after the pole crashed on the top of her he

South Korea's military warned Monday it would immediately retaliate against North Korea's "core command forces" for any attack, after a series of threats from the communist state.Seoul's armed forces held an unscheduled readiness drill Monday due to a "series of peculiar activities", a defence ministry spokesman said.Cross-border tension has been high since the North's military on June 4 threatene

A Missouri woman was caught making meth in her purse inside of a Walmart store, police said.The woman and a man were pulled aside by store security who discovered that the woman was making methamphetamine in her purse, KMOX-TV, St. Louis, reported.The store was evacuated out of fear for customers' safety.St. Louis County Police Lt. Mark Cox said if the meth concoction leaked or spilled, fumes coul

A Barcelona man says he is selling his body fat for charity.Oscar Rando is raising money by running and walking the full length of Spain -- 1,864 miles -- and having people donate per gram he loses, thinkSpain reported Sunday.Sponsors are paying Rando 2.5 euros ($3.12) per gram of fat he loses. So far, he has raised 31,500 euros ($39,393) and has lost 63 pounds, or 28,576 grams.Rando said he hopes

Peruvian rescue officials said Sunday they have recovered the bodies of all 14 people killed in a helicopter crash last week, including those of eight South Koreans.The wreckage of the ill-fated helicopter was discovered Saturday on Mama Rosa mountain at about 4,950 meters above sea level near Coline in southern Peru.The chopper had gone missing Wednesday while returning from a trip to a potential

Two former U.S. college football players were among three people shot dead at a pool party near Auburn University, a renowned powerhouse in the sport, Alabama police said Sunday.The three victims in the incident in the southern U.S. state were identified as Ed Christian, Ladarious Phillips and Demario Pitts, all 20 years old.Christian and Phillips were former players at Auburn, one of the leading

Quick advances in cyber war technologies could soon lead to a new generation of so-called "intelligent cyber weapons" which top global IT defence experts warn could be virtually unstoppable."Rapid developments in cyber (technology) might lead to intelligent cyber weapons that are hard to control and it's practically impossible to use formal methods of verifying the safety of intelligent cyber weap

Forty-seven members of the new National Assembly were exempted from mandatory military service for various reasons, including imprisonment and illness, data showed Friday.According to the Military Manpower Administration (MMA), 47 of the 253 newly elected male lawmakers, or 18.6 percent, gained exemption due to imprisonment, illness, old age and lack of education. One lawmaker was excluded because

A guest room at the Clarion hotel featuring unique artwork. (clarionhotel.com)A hotel in the Swedish capital is offering free stays to guests who donate a piece of self-made art to the facility.The Clarion Hotel in Stockholm said the art-for-stays scheme was inspired by New York's Chelsea Hotel, which allowed prominent artists and musicians to stay for free in exchange for their works of art, The

Japan on Friday said its economy grew by 1.2 percent in the January to March quarter from the previous three months, revising upward a preliminary figure of 1.0% growth.The latest data underscore a recovery driven largely by government spending and recovering domestic demand after Japan was battered by last year's quake-tsunami disaster.On an annualized basis, the economy grew a revised 4.7 percen

Spain is under rising pressure to find a lifeline for its deeply troubled banks.Politicians in Europe and investors around the world are worried that the recession-hit country can't come up with the money needed to save its banks without bankrupting the government. Expectations are rising that Spain's leaders will have to seek an international bailout for banks crumbling under the weight of bad re

Global markets rose on Thursday, boosted by China's decision to cut interest rates, hopes that the Federal Reserve will consider new support for the U.S. economy and speculation Europe is preparing to give Spain financial aid.China cut its benchmark lending rate by a quarter percentage point to 6.31 percent for the first time since 2008 to support growth in its cooling economy, the world's second-

The United States and China share responsibility for resolving the issue of North Korea's proliferation activities, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said.On a trip to Asia, Panetta singled out North Korea as a continuing threat, along with the terrorism, not only in Pakistan but in Yemen and Somalia and North Africa."We continue to face the instability of North Korea and the potential for so

Fitch Ratings slashed Spain's sovereign credit rating by three notches Thursday, citing ballooning estimates of the cost of a banking crisis, mushrooming debt and a deepening recession.The long-term rating was chopped to BBB from A and left with a negative outlook, said Fitch, swooping as expectations mounted that the Europe Union would have to throw a lifeline to Spanish banks."The likely cost of

Kristen Stewart holds Lucky Diamond (AP-Yonhap News) Actresses Betty White(left) and Kristen Stewart hold Lucky Diamond.(AP-Yonhap News)A dog declared by the Guinness Book of World Records to be ``the animal photographed with the most famous people'' has died of cancer.Lucky Diamond died Tuesday in New York. The Maltese was about 15 years old, according to her owner, Wendy Diamond, who dedicated h

 A Seattle billionaire who purchased the world's most expensive car for $35 million is now attempting to sell his private Canadian island for $75 million.Craig McCaw, who sold his company, McCaw Cellular, to AT&T for $11.5 billion in 1993 and now runs high-speed wireless provider Clearwire, is attempting to sell the 780-acre James Island, part of British Columbia's Gulf Islands, with an asking pri

British researchers say people concerned about heart disease and diabetes should watch their height-to-waist ratio rather than the body mass index.A team of British scientists found people should keep their waist measurement to half of their height, The Daily Telegraph reported.In a study of 300,000 people, the team found this ratio was a better predictor of high blood pressure, diabetes and cardi

A progressive South Korean party decided Wednesday to oust two pro-North Korean lawmakers at the center of political controversy in the new National Assembly session.The move by the beleaguered Unified Progressive Party (UPP) will apparently spur efforts by conservative lawmakers to deprive Reps. Lee Seok-gi and Kim Jae-yeon of their seats.The duo has faced weeks of pressure to voluntarily step do