Actor John Travolta testified in an extortion case in The Bahamas on Tuesday, and admitted in court that his late son was autistic. Travolta belongs to the controversial Church of Scientology, an organization which opposes psychiatry and does not recognize autism as an affliction. Prior to the testimony, Travolta had only publicly acknowledged that his son suffered from Kawasaki syndrome.
Travolta's son Jett died in January 2009 at the age of 16 after experiencing a seizure. The ongoing extortion trial focuses on charges that attorney and Baha
On September 24, 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease for the St James' Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. 250 years later, Guinness has grown to a global business that turns over 10 billion euros (US$14.7 billion) every year.
Arthur's Day has been described by Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen as "an excuse for having a great party." Pub-goers across Dublin — as well as cities around the world including Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, Cotonou, Hong Kong, and New York — raised their glasses in tribute to Arthur at exactly 17:59 p.m. to mark the y
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has named former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Kirk to temporarily replace the late Edward "Ted" Kennedy in the US Senate.
Kirk, a longtime friend and former aide to Kennedy, is to be sworn in as senator this Friday. He will serve in the post until voters pick a permanent replacement during a special election next January.
The governor told reporters Thursday that matters before Congress and the nation are "too important for us to be one voice short" in Washington.
The appointment gives Demo
A large hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold has been found in a field in Staffordshire, England.
The hoard, which was found in a private field over the course of five days in July 2009, is in fact the most Anglo-Saxon gold that has ever been unearthed at one site in the United Kingdom. Roughly 1,500 gold and silver pieces were found and the hoard contains roughly 5kgs of gold and 2.5kgs of silver — far more than the previous record of 2.5kgs of gold which was found at Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge.
The big haul in Staffordshire was found by 55-year-old
The Reno Air Races are one of the few remaining air racing events, taking place each year in Nevada, USA.
This year, the Reno Air Races had enough competitors in its classes to warrant an extra day of racing heats, which started on Wednesday. Fortunately, this did not diminish the crowds or the excitement for the weekend. The culmination of the week's events, proved to be an extremely busy Sunday with 12 races and 7 air show performances. These performances included the Red Eagles biplane acrobatics, Patty Wagstaff in her Extra 300S, a C-17
Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter told Venezuelan newspaper El Tiempo that the United States was "likely behind" the failed 2002 coup that briefly unseated democratically elected president Hugo Chávez.
A coup by a civilian-military junta in 2002 removed president Chávez from office, but he quickly regained the position.
"I think there is no doubt that in 2002, the United States had at the very least full knowledge about the coup, and could even have been directly involved," Carter told El Tiempo on Sunday. The Bush administration denied any
Two days before the beginning of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania activists are already claiming harassment from police officers.
The ACLU is filing charges against the Pittsburgh Police Department after claiming that "more than 30 Pittsburgh police officers with semi-automatic weapons" raided a Seeds for Peace food truck in the middle of the night and demanded to search it even though they lacked a warrant. After refusing to allow them to search the truck, the suit claims, the officers then arrested the activists for two hours on
Michael Jackson's This Is It, a documentary film based on world-famous singer Michael Jackson rehearsing for his last tour before his untimely death, will be premiered in at least 15 cinemas in cities all over the world simultaneously.
The film is due to premiere on October 27 and October 28. The world cities may be in different time zones with different dates but they will all be premiering the film at exactly the same time. One such premiere location is Los Angeles, in the US state of California, which will have the film starting at 1800 PT.
A huge dust storm has covered much of New South Wales and southern Queensland, Australia, including the major cities of Sydney and Brisbane. The storm is causing eerie red skies, as well as breathing problems, traffic chaos, and flight cancellations.
Residents have described it as like "Armageddon" or "being on Mars".
Vulnerable people including children, the elderly, and those with respiratory illnesses have been warned to stay indoors, as air pollution levels soared. According to the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate C
Pope Benedict XVI has announced that he will be coming to the United Kingdom in January 2010.
The information was announced that the Pope had accepted an invitation to visit the United Kingdom from Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The latter had visited the Vatican City three times and had invited the Pope to come to Great Britain in February 2009. Downing Street is expected to confirm the arrangements later today. This visit would make the first Papal visit to the UK since Pope John Paul II's visit in 1982. However, John Paul's visit was on a pa
Police in Afghanistan say 12 civilians were killed in two roadside bombings in two days.
Seven civilians, including two young children, were killed Wednesday when their car struck a bomb in southern Kandahar province. Another roadside bombing killed five people in Farah province a day earlier, according to police spokesman Raouf Ahmadi.
In other violence, officials say 21 Taliban fighters were killed in an air strike by international forces in a remote area of southwestern Nimroz province.
Provincial Governor Ghulam Dagastir Azad said that
Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov, two former chess world champions, are playing a twelve-game match against each other in Valencia, Spain, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first world championship match between the two.
As of Wednesday, two of the twelve games had been completed. Kasparov had won both games, which were held at a "rapid" time control, 25 minutes per player per game, with three seconds added after each move.
"I didn't know whether my instincts would work," said Kasparov after winning the first two games.
Kasparov, 46
