ROME (AP) ― Part of an early 19th-century wall near a panoramic terrace overlooking an ancient square in Rome has collapsed.No one was injured when about 9 meters of the Pincio wall fell over above Piazza del Popolo before dawn on Wednesday. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno inspected the damage and promised the wall would be repaired in two weeks. City culture officials blamed a winter of heavy rains and rare snowfall, followed by this summer’s hot, dry weather for causing an outer layer of brickwork

World heritage experts and activists from non-governmental organizations in the Asia-Pacific region will gather in Seoul next week to discuss how to better preserve the region‘s world heritage, the South Korean government said Thursday.The forum, the first of its kind, will be held from Aug. 27 to 30, the Cultural Heritage Administration said.About 40 world heritage administrators, experts and executives of youth organizations for the preservation of world heritage will take part in the event, t

Usually doctors are the ones that comfort patients when they must break bad news to them. However, the roles were reversed between Dr. Sebastian Schubl, a trauma surgeon at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York, and Aldred, a 75-year-old woman. Schubl assured Aldred and her family that she would be just fine just hours before her surgery. But during the operation, he was shocked to find that the cancer cells had spread throughout her body. Thus, he sat down to tell her the bad news; he could do n

A chemical found in green tea can fight two types of skin cancer cells, experts say.Drinking the tea has no effect on cancer cells because the extract is too weak. However, when green tea extract is directly applied to cancer cells, the cells shrink or even disappear, according to news sources.Scientists at the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow found in their research that green tea extract has epigallocathechin gallate (EGCg), a chemical that fights cancer cells without an

The current West Nile outbreak is one of the largest in the U.S., with four times the usual number of cases for this time of year, federal health officials said Wednesday.It's still too early to say how bad the year will end up because most infections are reported in August and September. But never before have so many illnesses been reported this early, said Dr. Lyle Petersen, of the Centers for D

Researchers have identified a mysterious new disease that has left scores of people in Asia and some in the United States with AIDS-like symptoms even though they are not infected with HIV. The patients' immune systems become damaged, leaving them unable to fend off germs as healthy people do. What triggers this isn't known, but the disease does not seem to be contagious.This is another kind of ac

Adherents of a religious sect in western Mexico are physically blocking school teachers from entering their walled community, setting up one of the most high-profile confrontations between religious and civil authorities in Mexico since the 1930s.  Local officials in the western state of Michoacan said Wednesday it may be time to call in a large-scale police operation to enforce the right to schoo

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Brazilian President Dilma Roussef head this year's Forbes list of powerful women. The trio at the top of annual list of the 100 most powerful women in the world hold traditional positions of power of the kind that until recently were all-male preserves, the magazine said. Two others in the Top 10, Melinda Gates at No. 4 a

SAO PAULO (AFP) ― The beauty industry is booming in Brazil, where meticulous manicures, sophisticated scents and impeccable make-up are a must-have for women who have made the country the sector’s world number three.This month, Sao Paulo hosted “Nails Fashion Week” ― where about a dozen domestic and foreign brands are offering up the latest trends in nail color as well as stilettos, make-up and eyewear in a bid to seduce new customers.“We created this event in order to spark new trends and seal