A pair of French men said their 35-year friendship has ended due to a dispute over a $1.3 million winning lottery ticket.Messouad Boudissa, 79, and Cheikh Guendouzi, 73, from the village of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, said they ended their friendship following a dispute about the winnings from a $26 lottery ticket. Guendouzi said he loaned Boudissa the money to buy the ticket in July 2011, with the unders

A soccer ball swept into the Pacific Ocean in Japan's deadly earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 has washed ashore in Alaska, its owner confirmed.The ball was found by David Baxter on the shore of Middleton Island, south of the Alaskan mainland, the Kyodo news agency reported.His Japanese wife Yumi translated writing on the ball as messages from Grade 3 school children in 2005 for a 16-year-old h

An Australian court sentenced a Sydney man to six months in jail for posting nude photos of his ex-girlfriend on his Facebook page.Ravshan Usminov, 20, admitted he plastered six revealing pictures for all of his "friends" to see in order to get back at the young woman for dumping him.The Sunday Age said Sunday that Usminov's mortified ex called police in October after he refused to remove the imag

In a large study involving almost 75,000 adults in Sweden ages 45-83, those who ate low-fat dairy products had less risk of stroke, researchers said. First author Susanna Larsson, an associate professor of epidemiology at the National Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, said at the beginning of the study participants were free of heart disease, str

Francois Hollande, a mild-mannered French Socialist who wants to take better care of the jobless and the poor, is heading to a presidential runoff election against tough-on-immigration Nicolas Sarkozy in a vote that could alter Europe's political and economic landscape. France`s President and 2012 presidential candidate for UMP Party Nicolas Sarkozy (left) and Socialist Party candidate Francois Ho

A hen in Sri Lanka gave birth to a chick without an egg, veterinary officials said.(Photo courtesy of Manula Kumarage)Instead of being laid by the hen and incubated in the nest, the egg was incubated inside the hen for 21 days and then the chick hatched inside the mother.The chick is normally formed and healthy, veterinarians say, although the mother hen died.The government veterinary officer in t

A spell of cold weather may have sparked the infamous Salem witch trials in 1692, as witches were thought capable of controlling weather, U.S. researchers say.Witch hunts have coincided with cold periods throughout history, possibly because people sought out scapegoats to blame for crop failures and general economic hardship during such times, LiveScience.com reported.The most active period of wit

The continent of Africa is sitting on a vast reservoir of groundwater in underground aquifers holding 100 times the amount found on the surface, scientists say.Researchers from the British Geological Survey and University College London have mapped the amount and potential yield of groundwater resources for the entire continent.While rivers and lakes are subject to seasonal changes that can limit

The continent of Africa is sitting on a vast reservoir of groundwater in underground aquifers holding 100 times the amount found on the surface, scientists say.Researchers from the British Geological Survey and University College London have mapped the amount and potential yield of groundwater resources for the entire continent.While rivers and lakes are subject to seasonal changes that can limit

A Swedish researcher warns parents against strict rules on what children may eat because such rules can result in less healthy eating.(MCT)Nutritionist Elisabeth Lind Melbye at the University of Stavanger in Sweden studied what worked and what didn't when parents sought to teach their offspring about healthy eating practices.The proportion of child obesity in the United States and Britain and sout

Ethics Commission to convene after collecting all information　The International Olympic Committee is looking into allegations surrounding its member Moon Dae-sung over plagiarism, an official confirmed. Lawmaker-elect and IOC member Moon Dae-sung (Yonhap News)Moon, who won a National Assembly seat, has been under fire for plagiarizing his doctoral thesis.“The IOC has been in contact with Moon sinc

Two trains collided head-on just outside Amsterdam on Saturday, injuring at least 60 people, up to 20 of them seriously, Dutch transport police said. Police and other rescuers search victims at the accident site of trains collision in the west side of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Saturday. (Xinhua-Yonhap News)"There are 60 people injured -- some 15 to 20 badly," police spokesman Ed Kraszewski to

 Kim Moon-soo, governor of Gyeonggi Province, on Sunday declared his candidacy for the presidency, becoming the first to throw his hat into the ring for the December vote.  Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo (Yonhap News)“I am here to tell you about my decision to run for the 19th president of Korea,” Kim told a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul. The two-term governor said he

An Australian lawyer admitted in court to stealing 81 cents from a wishing fountain nearly two decades ago.Simon Matters, 38, of Victoria was charged in 1992 with grabbing a handful of change from the wishing fountain in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, when he was 19 years old and he went home after denying the allegations to police, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported Wednesday.However, he recently di

Japanese researchers have successfully grown hair on hairless mice by implanting follicles created from stem cells, they announced Wednesday, sparking new hopes of a cure for baldness.This handout picture taken on April 13, 2012 and released by the Tsuji Lab Research Institute for Science and Technology of the Tokyo University of Science shows a hairless mouse with black hair on its back at the la

The graphic image of a naked woman caused shockwaves in Thailand's parliament on Wednesday when it flashed across big screens during a legislators' debate.Monitors that had been showing a close-up shots of the parliamentarian addressing the house suddenly flashed a picture of a woman of Asian appearance in a provocative pose.MP Sanong Thepaksornnarong, from Thailand's Bhumjaithai Party, spotted th

An Illinois school district sent a letter to parents after a father made his 8-year-old daughter stand outside a school with a sign saying she likes "to steal."Superintendent Mike Brink of High Mount School District 116 said he sent the letter home after Montrail White forced his third-grade daughter to hold a sign reading "I like to steal from others and lie about it" outside of High Mount School

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta apologized Wednesday for newly published photographs that purport to show U.S. soldiers posing with the bloodied remains of dead insurgents in Afghanistan, and without excusing their ``very foolish'' action the Pentagon chief suggested that it could be explained by the rigors of war. The front page of the Los Angeles Times newspaper is shown at the Hollywood Universa

Police detained nine teenagers Wednesday for killing a 17-year-old girl and burying the body in a park.Police in Ilsan, on the outskirts of Seoul, said the runaway boys and girls beat the victim with blunt weapons on April 5 for badmouthing them. Two of them, however, felt guilty and later turned themselves in.Police will seek arrest warrants for the five suspects who are believed to have led in c

China's ruling Communist Party said Wednesday that it is committed to investigating a political scandal that includes the suspected murder of a British businessman, following new appeals from Britain for a swift probe free from political meddling.The statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency came hours after Prime Minister David Cameron and British Foreign Secretary William Hague both h