Astronomers in Chile and Japan have for the first time seen part of the "cosmic web" of galaxies that permeates the known universe in a gigantic assembly some seven billion light-years from Earth.

• Fla. baby missing for 5 days found alive under bed
• Genes may be important in back, neck pain
• Man appears alive at own funeral in Brazil
• Somali marriages are made via mobile phones
• Drinking rainwater doesn't increase risk of illness: Study
• 'Metrotextuals' seal messages with a kiss

• More Stories

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who engineered a change in the city's term-limits law so he could run again and set a record for financing his campaign, narrowly won a third term on Tuesday, local media declared.

• US man gets 3 years in prison for sex with horse
• Former Thai PM appointed as adviser of Cambodian PM
• Truth about exercise: Kate Winslet wins libel pay-out
• Claude Levi-Strauss dies at 100
• Japan celebrity Oshio receives suspended sentence for drug use
• 'This Is It' tops charts with $101M worldwide

• More Stories

Japan struggled with the touchy issue of reorganising US military bases on the island of Okinawa, just a week ahead of Obama's first visit to Japan as leader.

• Thailand recalls ambassador to Cambodia
• UN pulling out 600 staff after Afghan attack
• Vietnam storm death toll rises to 99
• Malaysian charged with killing wife in acid attack
• UN to pull out 900 staff from Afghanistan-source
• Former Thai PM appointed as adviser of Cambodian PM

• More Stories

A 42-year-old woman was killed last month in Sao Paulo, Brazil, by a man she had met on the Internet after having an argument, police said on Wednesday.

• US Congress set to clear aid to jobless, homebuyers
• Fla. baby missing for 5 days found alive under bed
• US man gets 3 years in prison for sex with horse
• Ousted Honduran leader asks Clinton stand on coup
• 1/3 Americans die in hospitals, study finds
• Canada celebrates 100-day countdown to 2010 Winter Games

• More Stories

Iraqi politicians have been turning up their rhetoric over Kirkuk, the oil-rich city that both Kurds in the north and Arabs in the south want to control.

• Diplomats: Saudi forces attack rebels in Yemen
• Iran wants to be seen as regional power
• EU deplores loss of life in Gaza conflict
• Iraq vote may be delayed, election head warns
• Iran protesters rally at US Embassy
• Clinton discusses Middle East peace process with Mubarak

• More Stories

An Italian judge on Wednesday convicted 23 Americans of the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric on a Milan street, in a landmark case involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program in the war on terrorism.

• EU deplores loss of life in Gaza conflict
• Flu death toll rises to 86 in Ukraine
• GM's U-turn on Opel sale irks Germany
• Obama vows to redouble effort on climate change
• French ex-president Chirac releases first memoir
• Germany marks the collapse of Berlin Wall

• More Stories

Somali courtship was different in Hassan Aden's day. When he was a teenager, you gave the girl's parents 11 camels and an AK-47 assault rifle as bride price and then waited respectfully.

• Africa resumes climate talks
• Egypt, Uganda in fresh talks on Nile water share
• World's largest malaria vaccine trial underway in Africa
• Obama's brother emerges in China with novel
• Gunmen attempt to hijack plane in Somalia
• Snow cap disappearing from Mount Kilimanjaro

• More Stories