The Miss Universe Organization announced Monday that it might reverse an earlier decision and allow a transgender woman to enter the Miss Universe Canada pageant.Jenna Talackova, 23, was born male, leading organizers to disqualify her last month as a finalist in the 61st Miss Universe Canada pageant in May.The rules of the contest run by Donald Trump’s New York City-based organization say entrants

A prehistoric monster snake the length of a school bus, which probably fed on supersized turtles and crocodiles, has made its way to the Smithsonian Institution for an exhibit opening Friday. A boy stands next to a life-size replica of Titanoboa at Smithsonian museum. (Bloomberg)The National Museum of Natural History is featuring a life-size replica of Titanoboa along with a cast of its large vert

A Michigan teacher's aide says she was suspended for refusing to allow school administrators access to her Facebook account to examine a picture she posted.Kimberly Hester, an aide at Frank Squires Elementary School in Cassopolis, Mich., found herself in trouble with the Lewis Cass Intermediate School District after posting a picture in April 2011 of a co-worker's pants around her ankles and a pai

Flying cars aren’t just science fiction anymore.Woburn, Massachusetts-based Terrafugia Inc. said Monday that its prototype flying car has completed its first flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of selling the flying car within the next year. The vehicle -- dubbed the Transition -- has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. Last month, it flew at 4

A group of sixth-graders scooping trash out of a California lake discovered sunken treasure, including rings, coins and brooches.Richard Bailey, executive director of the Lake Merritt Institute, said the students from the St. Paul's Episcopal School in Oakland were pulling trash out of Lake Merritt Thursday when a girl discovered two bags that were too heavy for her pull out with her net, the San

Syria told international envoy Kofi Annan that its military will withdraw troops and heavy weapons from populated areas by April 10, in what could be a first step toward ending the bloody yearlong conflict, U.N. diplomats said Monday.The announcement came as Syrian troops hunted down activists and destroyed their homes in the country's rebellious areas, and the United States remained skeptical of

Oakland Fire officials work outside of Oikos University after a school shooting in Oakland, California, Monday. (AP-Yonhap News)OAKLAND, California (AP) ― A 43-year-old former student of a small Christian university in California opened fire at the school, killing at least seven people and setting off an intense, chaotic manhunt that ended with his capture at a nearby shopping center, authorities

The debt service burden of South Korean households rose sharply last year, as their debt payments increased amid high inflation, the country's central bank said Monday.The so-called household debt service ratio (DSR), an estimate of the ratio of debt payments to disposable personal income, stood at 12.9 percent last year, compared with 11.4 percent a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (B

A passenger plane carrying 43 people crashed in Siberia shortly after taking off Monday morning, and Russian emergency officials said at least 32 were confirmed dead..The ATR-72, a French-Italian-made twin-engine turboprop, operated by UTair was flying from Tyumen to the oil town of Surgut with 39 passengers and four crew.The aircraft went down outside Tyumen, a major regional center in Siberia. T

"Jack and Jill," a big-screen comedy starring Adam Sandler as the titular twin siblings, "won" 10 Razzie Awards at a Santa Monica ceremony Sunday night.The movie is the first to sweep all categories in the Razzies' 32-year history.It was named Worst Picture of 2011, while Sandler was declared Worst Actor and Worst Actress, and the cast was dubbed Worst Ensemble.Sandler's Oscar-winning co-star Al P

Moody's Investors Service upgraded its outlook Monday on South Korea's sovereign credit rating to "positive" from "stable," citing the country's improving fiscal status and solid economic growth, the finance ministry said.The move came after the credit rating agency raised the government bond rating of South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, from A2 "stable" to A1 "stable" in April 2010."The c

South Korea will attack Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, in retaliation if the communist country strikes Seoul, the capital of the South, an official said Monday.South Korea has set up the principle of tit-for-tat retaliation in dealing with North Korea's possible aggression against Seoul and its adjacent areas, the senior military official said in a recent meeting with reporters.South Korea

A U.S. language instructor who fled South Korea after being suspected of child molestation was recently arrested in his native country and extradited to the South, police here said Monday.The 56-year-old teacher, whose identity was withheld, is accused of five counts of molestation of four boys between June and July 2010, the police said.The suspect allegedly forced the boys into areas at an eleme

Most U.S. women say the reason they don't cook frequently was having a partner who does most of the cooking, a survey indicated. The survey of 2,806 U.S. women, commissioned by Asia Food Recipe, indicated 58 percent of the respondents said their husbands are better cooks, but 36 percent said they didn't have sufficient time to cook and 12 percent said they didn't want to clean up afterwards. Almos

Sun Young Yoo birdied the first playoff hole to win the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship on Sunday after I.K. Kim missed a one-foot putt for the win on the final hole of regulation. Yoo Sun-young (AFP-Yonhap News)Yoo was steady down the stretch in the first women's major championship of 2012, but it was only Kim's heartbreaking miss that made her playoff triumph possible.Both South Koreans carded f

A Pakistani boy who set himself on fire because his parents could not afford to buy him a new school uniform has died, his family and officials said Sunday.  Pakistani children play cricket at a park in Islamabad. (MCT)The tragic story is a reminder of the woeful lives of Pakistan's many dirt-poor citizens. It brings out the challenges facing those clinging to the hope that education could be the

A New Jersey high school senior who has battled leukemia twice said it's "insane" he's singer Taylor Swift's date to the Academy of Country Music Awards.Taylor Swift (MCT image)Kevin McGuire, a senior at Sterling Regional High School in Stratford, said he hopes his blood cell and hemoglobin counts are good enough for him to make the trip to Las Vegas for the Sunday awards show, the Cherry Hill (N.

A 35-meter tsunami could hit the Japanese coast in the wake of a massive earthquake, an expert panel has said after revising its worst case scenario projections following last year's disaster. In this Nov. 12, 2011 file photo, the Unit 4 reactor building of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station is seen through a bus window in Okuma town, north of Tokyo. (AP-Yonhap News)If a

Employers looking to ramp up productivity in these dog-eat-dog times might consider letting their staff bring Fido to the office, a scientific study published Friday suggests. (Bloomberg image)Dogs at work can not only bring down stress levels among their owners, but they can also help make work more satisfying for other employees as well, according to the study in the latest issue of the Internat

A New York professor of audiology identified more than 30 people who lost hearing after being kissed on the ear and he's searching for more.Dr. Levi Reiter of Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., said a woman came to him five years ago because she had lost hearing immediately after her 5-year-old child kissed her on the ear, MSNBC.com reported.Reiter said he thought at the time the woman's case