Austrian police say thieves have made off with an unusual heist — 21 tons of mustard and ketchup.
The loot was in a semitrailer parked in a lot over the weekend northwest of Vienna. Police say the truck driver showed up Monday to deliver his cargo only to see the trailer missing.
Full StoryAt the end of a long day, many gamers zone out by competing in online death matches, or they check out by escaping to virtual realms. Spiritual leader Deepak Chopra is hoping gamers will instead choose to chill out with "Leela," his ambitious new effort to combine gaming and meditation.
"I personally believe that you can accelerate neural development and biological evolution through video games," said Chopra. "Unfortunately, that's not what we're doing right now. What we're doing is creating addictions to violence, adrenaline and mindlessness, rather than mindfulness. That was my personal motivation to get involved in this medium."
Full StoryAn assistant museum curator who questioned the authenticity of a Leonardo da Vinci has been murdered — but before he died he left a code in his appointment calendar and a cryptic trail of clues connected to secrets in works of art that point to the killer.
Now, would-be gumshoes must figure out what drove one of four suspects to kill him. Was it greed? Fame? Lust? Or revenge?
Full StoryEgypt's antiquities minister, whose trademark Indiana Jones hat made him one of the country's best known figures around the world, was fired Sunday after months of pressure from critics who attacked his credibility and accused him of having been too close to the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Zahi Hawass, long chided as publicity loving and short on scientific knowledge, lost his job along with about a dozen other ministers in a Cabinet reshuffle meant to ease pressure from protesters seeking to purge remnants of Mubarak's regime.
Full StoryWorld Bank President Robert Zoellick has criticized the United States for its lack of leadership in pushing for a new global trade agreement.
Zoellick says U.S. administration complaints that the so-called Doha round of trade talks are structurally flawed are an excuse for failed leadership.
Full StoryRain turned to sunshine on the last afternoon of the Gurten Festival Sunday, as Liam Gallagher, Beady Eye's hard-rocking front man, charged through songs from their new album.
Former Oasis frontman Gallagher and his band took advantage of the timely change in weather, lifting the packed crowd with "Four Letter Word," ''Beatles and Stones" then rattled off "Millionaire" and "The Roller" — their updates on classic British rock.
Full StoryThe Washington building known as the "temple of invention" when it was built in 1836 to hold the nation's patents is revisiting its roots, hosting a new "Great Hall of American Wonders" to explore 19th-century innovations through art.
The idea for this major exhibit that opened Friday at the Smithsonian American Art Museum was sparked in part by talk among experts that the United States is losing its edge in innovation as other countries spend more on research and export more technology and foreign companies gain more U.S. patents. Curators pulled together artworks, inventions and scientific discoveries from the 1800s in an unusual project for the museum to show how Americans came to believe they have a "special genius" for invention.
Full StoryKids may be safest in cars when grandma or grandpa are driving instead of mom or dad, according to study results that even made the researchers do a double-take.
"We were surprised to discover that the injury rate was considerably lower in crashes where grandparents were the drivers," said Dr. Fred Henretig, an emergency medicine specialist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the study's lead author.
Full StoryA large study in older veterans raises fresh concern about mild brain injuries that hundreds of thousands of troops have suffered from explosions in recent wars. Even concussions seem to raise the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or other dementia later in life, researchers found.
Closed-head, traumatic brain injuries are a legacy of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Body armor is helping troops survive bomb blasts, but the long-term effects of their head injuries are unknown.
Full StoryMillions of children around the country are singing 'Happy Birthday' to former South African President Nelson Mandela, to celebrate his 93rd birthday.
More than 12 million school pupils sang a special version of the song, written for the anti-apartheid leader, before lessons began Monday.
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