Monaco's Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene promised each other love and fidelity in an extravagant religious wedding attended by international celebrities and royalty, bringing new allure to the tiny principality known for its luxurious casinos and as stomping ground for the rich and famous.
The Catholic service Saturday followed an intimate civil ceremony Friday, which saw Charlene officially transformed from commoner into royalty. The marriage of the 53-year-old prince and the 33-year-old Charlene Wittstock, a one-time Olympic swimmer from South Africa who is now known as Princess Charlene, ended a three-decade wait for a new princess.
Full StoryA buildup of volatile gas hampered rescue efforts in one Chinese coal mine and high levels of water slowed them in another as emergency crews raced to reach 40 miners trapped Sunday for a second day, officials and state media reports said.
The accidents — a cave-in at one mine and a flood at the other — occurred Saturday in two southern provinces after days of heavy rains.
Full StoryHizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday ruled out the arrest of four members of his party indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafik Hariri.
In his first reaction to the charges by the STL, Nasrallah also rejected "each and every void accusation" made by the Netherlands-based court, which he said was heading for a trial in absentia.
Full StoryBoommi Gowda used to fear the night. Her vision fogged by glaucoma, she could not see by just the dim glow of a kerosene lamp, so she avoided going outside where king cobras slithered freely and tigers carried off neighborhood dogs.
But things have changed at Gowda's home in the remote southern village of Nada. A solar-powered lamp pours white light across the front of the mud-walled hut she shares with her three grown children, a puppy and a newborn calf. Now she can now cook, tend to her livestock and get water from a nearby well at night.
Full StoryThe eurozone is set to release a vital installment of aid money for Greece Saturday, but will leave the final decision on a second bailout for the debt-ridden country until later this summer.
The finance ministers of the 17 countries that share the euro will sign off on an €8.7 billion ($12.6 billion) tranche of Greece's existing bailout in a conference call Saturday evening. An extra €3.3 billion will come from the International Monetary Fund, whose board is expected to approve the loan next week.
Full StoryMaria Shriver stood by Arnold Schwarzenegger when he ran for California's governorship in 2003, even after several women accused him of lecherous behavior.
On Friday, 25 years after their fairytale wedding on Cape Cod, she filed for divorce.
Full StoryNissan's plant is busily rolling out the Leaf electric car and other models on a Saturday, having shifted production schedules for an aggressive nationwide effort to fight the power crunch created by a tsunami-crippled nuclear plant.
"Setsuden," or "save electricity," is now Japan's biggest buzzword. The March 11 disaster sent several reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant into meltdowns, prompting the government to demand that major companies, shopping malls and universities reduce electricity consumption by 15 percent.
Full StoryHaving ensured his first trip to a Wimbledon final and first turn at No. 1 in the rankings with a thrill-a-minute victory, Novak Djokovic dropped to his back at the baseline, limbs spread wide, chest heaving.
Moments later, he knelt and kissed the Center Court grass, while his entourage bounced giddily in unison, huddling in a tight circle up in Djokovic's guest box.
Full StoryZynga, the online game maker behind "FarmVille" and other popular Facebook pastimes, is going public, the latest in a crop of high-valued Internet IPOs expected after LinkedIn Corp. showed that the online networking craze is a hot commodity on Wall Street.
Zynga Inc. hopes to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering that follows LinkedIn's sizzling stock market debut last month. The amount of money Zynga is seeking in its IPO will likely change as its bankers determine how many shares should be sold and at what price. That process typically takes three to four months.
Full StoryWhen Maria Sharapova says her game is getting better and better at Wimbledon, it's hard to argue.
The fifth-seeded Russian, the only quarter finalist at the All England Club with a Grand Slam title to her name, dominated her match on Center Court on Tuesday, moving back into the semifinals for the first time since 2006.
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