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The Russian tour boat Bulgaria, carrying 208 people despite being certified to carry only 120, sank Sunday on Russia's Volga river. Yesterday, prosecutors opened a wide ranging investigation into Russia's transportation industry, including an examination of the failure of governmental regulation and safety inspections of the tour boat industry. Around 80 people were saved and perhaps as many as 128 drowned, including up to fifty children caught in a playroom. Children were undocumented passengers who came aboard with their parents. Rescuers

Television producer and creator of shows The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island Sherwood Schwartz has died at the age of 94. His daughter Hope Juber announced his death. The cause of death was announced by his son Lloyd as natural causes. Schwartz had a career that lasted six decades after he starting writing jokes for Bob Hope’s radio show in 1939. After his brother got Schwartz a role on Hope's writing staff he went onto work for the Armed Forces Radio and became a writer for the radio series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. He first ente

Three blasts occurred in Mumbai Wednesday evening in one of the busiest areas of the city. It has been estimated that 21 people have been killed and up to 113 injured. According to a regional government official, Prithviraj Chavan, the explosions were "a co-ordinated attack by terrorists." The first blast took place in South Mumbai's Zaveri Bazar at 1854 local time (1324 UTC), in which several were injured. Here, a motorcycle had a bomb attached to it that exploded next to a jewelry shop. According to eyewitnesses, fire broke out immediately a

A recently-published international study shows that in long-term couples, men are more satisfied with their relationships, and women are more satisfied with their sex lives. The study, which also says that men enjoy cuddling (i.e. hugging and kissing) more than women, was published in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour by the Kinsey Institute in Indiana University Bloomington. More formally known as the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, the organization is also known for reporting in the 1940s that young adults were

Many factors of a child's birth and the condition of the newborn are linked to the future development of autism, but no single factor has been identified as the cause, a meta-analysis of forty previously published research studies concludes. Autism refers to a cluster of neurological developmental disorders, ranging to mild and severe, that interfere the child's ability to adjust normally, including defects in normal communication and social interaction. The systematic review, published in Monday's issue of Pediatrics, presented the results

Former First Lady of the United States Betty Ford died Friday at the age of 93. Ford died of complications following a stroke in Rancho Mirage, California. She was the wife of former U.S. President Gerald Ford. Ford was born Elizabeth Ann Bloomer on April 8, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois. She was the First Lady from 1974 to 1977. She also founded the Betty Ford Center in 1982, where more than 90,000 patients were treated. Her husband Gerald Ford died in December 2006. She was survived by four children, Michael, Jack, Steven, and Susan. Funera

Syrian forces have raided the city of Homs, and has killed at least one civilian and injured twenty from machine gunfire and armor activity in heavily populated areas. This raid is reportedly the heaviest since troops were deployed to the city two months ago in an effort to crush dissent against the country's President Bashar al-Assad, whose family has ruled the country for 41 years, from ongoing protests. In Hama, which is 50 km north of Homs, Security forces made arrests, and gunshots were reported by activists in the area. No causalities we

The cleaning crew of JetBlue Airways found a stun gun in the back pocket of a seat on a Boston-Newark flight in Newark, New Jersey. The gun was reported to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, then handed over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Transportation Security Administration, who is responsible for investigating how the weapon came aboard the aircraft despite intensive security screenings. "Obviously it got on the plane somehow," said FBI spokesperson Bryan Travers. "Did it get smuggled through security? Was it

British-based utility company Centrica, which holds ownership of British Gas, has announced its intentions to increase the prices of domestic electricity and gas later this year. On August 18, 2011, the company plans to raise the costs of gas and electrical supplies by eighteen and sixteen per cent, respectively. According to The Guardian, nine million customers will be affected by these changes. British price comparison website uSwitch has reported that the "[a]verage household bill for a dual fuel British Gas customer will now go up from £1,

The US government has released a report with mixed news on the health of American children, ranging from a fall in the rates of teen births, premature births, deaths from injury, and binge drinking, to a rise in the rates of drug abuse, poverty, and obesity. The report, named America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011, was prepared by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, with participants from 22 federal government agencies and their private partners. This year's report — the group's fifteenth —

At 0000 EAT Saturday (2100 UTC Friday), the Republic of South Sudan achieved independent recognition, becoming the newest country on the planet. The parliament speaker for the new country recited a formal independence declaration. After independence was declared, the South Sudanese flag was lifted for all to see, with Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement secretary general Pagan Amum stating: "Today we shall raise the flag of South Sudan to join the nations of the world". Thousands of jubilant people celebrated in the new country's capital

British tabloid newspaper the News of the World has been axed after a week of devastating allegations about phone hacking in the paper that has struck at the heart of News International, the media giant owned by Rupert Murdoch. The announcement that the paper will close came after advertisers backed out of the publication due to emerging allegations that journalists at the paper may have hacked into the voicemail messages of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, victims of the 7/7 terror attacks and families of servicemen killed in Afghanistan. The