The parents and their three children, all 2 or under, including one buckled in a car seat, held hands on the hallway floor of their neighbor’s mobile home, praying a fast-approaching storm would show them mercy. Mother Nature answered with a fierce tornado, which violently swept them up, separated them and deposited them about 100 yards away. Four of their limp bodies were found soon thereafter.... 

Australians build up a levee to prevent flood waters in the New South Wales town of Charleville on February 4, 2012. Nearly 9,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes in Australia’s flood-stricken south, where the military has joined emergency services to evacuate the residents. Days of heavy rain have caused flooding across three Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria... 

Official figures by the Eurostat data agency show the eurozone unemployment rate has hit an all-time high of 10.7 percent in January 2012. According to the latest figures released on Thursday, more than 16.9 million men and women were unemployed in the euro area in January. The latest number of unemployed people in the eurozone in January increased by 1.4 million compared with the same month in 2011. Meanwhile,... 

President Robert Mugabe, his unity government with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai struggling to restore basic services and social amenities. A typhoid outbreak that began in Harare last year is steadily spreading across Zimbabwe with more than 3 000 cases reported although only one death due to the disease has been reported so far, health officials have said. New infections have in recent months... 

American actor Danny DeVito As Russia prepares to go to the polls in a presidential election, Hollywood star Danny DeVito has called on Russians to vote for him in March. ­Following in the footsteps of Russian celebs, whose pre-election “addresses” have recently caused massive hype on the internet, DeVito decided to throw his hat in the ring too. In fact, the Get Shorty star was perhaps not hoping... 

Hepatitis C virus reconstruction Studies show that deaths from hepatitis C (HCV) infection among US adults outnumber AIDS fatalities. And while greedy pharmaceutical giants advertise new drugs that cost a fortune, Oxford dons claim success in developing anti-HCV vaccine. ­Hepatitis C virus, or HCV, causes serious liver infection which can eventually lead to fatal liver scarring (cirrhosis) and liver... 

An unsettling report prepared by Viktor Seleznyov, director of the Geophysical Institute at the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), on the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the Tyva Republic in Russia’s East Siberia earlier today warns that more seismic activity should be expected within the coming weeks and that this event is part of an ever increasing body of evidence... 

Fasting a day or two a week may protect the brain against degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, according to a study by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Baltimore, USA. Meeting of the AAAS: “Reducing calorie consumption could help the brain, but simply reducing food intake may not be the best way to enable this protection. It’s probably better to alternate... 

Princess Caroline of Hanover's son Pierre Casiraghi (left) A brutal fight over vodka and Russian beauties has spilled royal blood: a brawl in a New York club has landed Monaco’s Prince Pierre Casiraghi in hospital. The punch-up took place on February 18 at Manhattan’s trendy Double Seven nightclub, yet media learned about it only two days later. According to an eye-witness report to the New... 

Worried that the US government might be able to read your emails? Don’t be — they already can! The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the feds to come clean on why — and what — they do with the personal correspondence of its citizens. The ACLU has filed request under the US Freedom of Information Act in hopes of learning more about the powers the government has granted itself to snoop... 

A juvenile Brookesia micra chameleon sits on the head of a match. Scientists say a chameleon species that has been recently discovered on a tiny island off Madagascar is the smallest of its kind ever found. A team of scientists has found four new chameleon species in northern Madagascar including Brookesia micra, which is small enough to easily perch on a match head. As one of the world’s smallest... 

The unassuming painkiller aspirin may hold the key to combating cancer as scientists in Australia have uncovered its ability to halt the spread of tumors. This groundbreaking discovery sheds light on the mysterious mechanism through which the widely available over-the-counter drug effectively inhibits the progression of the disease, potentially paving the way for transformative treatments and, ultimately,... 

Around 300,000 organic farmers think that Monsanto, the biotech giant known for genetically modifying Mother Nature’s handwork for profit and pushing over the little guys all the while, is pretty seedy. Now a judge in New York is debating if Monsanto’s questionable methods will go before a jury. Judge Naomi Buchwald of the Southern District Court of New York says she will have a decision on March... 

The mainstream media reported Mitt Romney the victor of the Maine caucus on Saturday, claiming another win for the frontrunner who had slipped in standing behind Rick Santorum during the previous week’s contests. Then again, when you ignore an entire county, it’s easy to come out on top. News stations jumped the gun and declared Romney the winner over the weekend, and taking into account the available... 

From an unusual method, the study concluded that stripes serve as the best insect repellent… The stripe pattern of three species of zebra was copied to categorically study the reflection of light. Hungarian and Swedish researchers conducted an unusual study that culminated in a good hypothesis about the function of zebra stripes. According to the team, the patterning would be an antidote against...