Four Americans aboard a yacht hijacked by Somali pirates were gunned down by their captors Tuesday. U.S. forces responded to gunfire aboard the yacht Quest at approximately 1 a.m. Tuesday, but discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite attempts to save their lives, all four hostages died of their wounds. “We express our deepest condolences for the innocent lives callously... 

Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, speaks during an address on state television in Tripoli. Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, who has been leading the campaign to quell the popular uprising that has reportedly led to the fleeing of his father, has been wounded in gunfire, the Muslim Brotherhood has said citing unofficial reports. The report also says Gaddafi,... 

The Supreme Court has said Russell and Robalee Bruesewitz’s lawsuit was preempted under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. The law grants drug companies immunity from certain lawsuits from injuries or deaths tied to vaccinations. A federal law grants drug companies immunity from certain lawsuits from injuries or deaths tied to vaccines, the US Supreme Court affirmed Tuesday. The family... 

Earthquake topples Christchurch Cathedral's spire, one of many collapsed buildings across New Zealand's second largest city. Country’s second largest city hit by 6.3-magnitude quake on busy weekday afternoon, its second major quake in five months. At least 65 people have died after a powerful earthquake struck the southern New Zealand city of Christchurch, collapsing buildings, burying... 

Starry night: New research estimates that there are some 50 billion planets in the Milky Way. Scientists have estimated the first cosmic census of planets in our galaxy and the numbers are astronomical – at least 50 billion planets in the Milky Way. And some 500 million of those planets are in what is known as the Goldilocks zone, where the climate is thought to be not-too-hot and not-too-cold,... 

This Dec. 1, 2010 photo provided by the University of Georgia, made from the submarine Alvin, shows a dead crab with oil residue near it on a still-damaged sea floor about 10 miles north of the BP oil rig accident. Oil from the BP spill remains stuck on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a top scientist’s video and slides that she says demonstrate the oil isn’t degrading as... 

Popular fury: Government buildings have been set ablaze by anti-regime protesters in Tripoli. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is believed to have fled the capital Tripoli after anti-government demonstrators breached the state television building and set government property alight. Protesters appear to have gained a foothold in Tripoli as banks and government buildings were looted while demonstrators... 

Police officers react during a demonstration outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011, as they follow calls for a ‘Jasmine Revolution.’ Jittery Chinese authorities wary of any domestic dissent staged a show of force Sunday to squelch a mysterious online call for a “Jasmine Revolution,” with only a handful of people joining protests apparently modeled... 

In his interview with CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria, George Soros had some lamenting to do. He told Zakaria that Obama “has lost control of the [county’s ecnomic] agenda” and as a result it’s been left “in the hands of the Republican Party”. Though Soros thinks the GOP will be successful in its pursuit of cutting services and denying any tax increases, he thinks those developments... 

Pakistani authorities charged Raymond Davis with murder, but the Obama administration has insisted he is an 'administrative and technical official' attached to the US consulate in Lahore and is entitled to diplomatic immunity. The American who shot dead two men in Lahore, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Pakistan and the US, is a CIA agent who was on assignment at the time. A number of... 

Tomas Bautista On Thursday, Broward County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Tomas Bautista, 40, who reportedly came home drunk and sexually assaulted a Chihuahua in his backyard. The dog, Mimi, belongs to Bautista’s roommate, who reportedly found her bleeding and Bautista passed out with his pants around his ankles. Bautista admitted to sexually abusing the tiny dog. Mimi was taken to Coral Springs... 

Chugging a Diet Coke or two every day could cause you to have a heart attack, stroke, or other major heart event, suggests new research recently presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles. A team from the University of Miami (UM) Miller School of Medicine found that people who regularly drink diet sodas are 61 percent more likely than others to... 

Iranian warship Alvand. Two Iranian naval ships will sail through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean on Monday, a Suez Canal official said, in what will be the first passage of Iranian naval ships through the canal since 1979. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has described Iran’s plan to send the ships through the canal en route to Syria as a “provocation.” The official... 

A crowd gathers as smoke billows from a building purported to be the internal security headquarters in Libya's second city of Benghazi in this still grab taken from video uploaded February 20, 2011. Libyan forces fired machine-guns at mourners in the eastern city of Benghazi Sunday, a day after commandos and foreign mercenaries pummeled demonstrators with assault rifles and other heavy weaponry. Libyan... 

Jerusalem's dubious UFO. Several videos have surfaced online that supposedly show a UFO hovering over an Islamic shrine known as the Dome of the Rock on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount some time after midnight on Jan. 28. The videos have sparked a furious debate about whether we finally have evidence of UFOs. As a veteran investigator of many UFO photos and videos, these images strike me as highly...