NEW YORK (AP) -- An elf school in Iceland. A hospital for falcons in the Middle East. A museum in Independence, Missouri, for artwork made from hair.These are the types of attractions featured on the Atlas Obscura website, a fan favorite among curiosity-seeking travelers. Now the site is bringing its geeky and magical world of wonders to the printed page. The new “Atlas Obscura” book offers a sampling of 700 of the website’s 10,000 curious attractions, from a pile of rocks in Butte, Montana, tha

Authorities scramble to assess full scope of damages, conduct emergency repairs amid lack of integrated monitoring system

LONDON (AP) -- Luxury British fashion house Burberry unveiled its highly anticipated display at London Fashion Week on Monday, an opulent affair featuring frilly blouses, velvet blazers and silky pajama shirts -- for both men and women. Elsewhere, Christopher Kane and Erdem were among designers showing off their newest collections to the fashion pack before they jet off to Milan. Some highlights from day four of fashion week:Post-gender opulence at BurberrySoaring live orchestral music, opera si

NAUCALPAN, Mexico (AP) -- Architect Javier Senosiain looks out over his sinuous snake’s nest of a building, which seems to writhe amid a green and tranquil vista on the very edge of Mexico City’s urban sprawl, and reflects on over 30 years of building egg- and cocoon-like dwellings that are quite literally out of the box.“When a child is born we put him an incubator, which is a box,” said Senosiain, 68. “Then we put him (in) a playpen. The child is placed in a succession of boxes throughout his

MONTPELIER, Vermont (AP) -- Vermont in the 1970s was a hotbed for the counterculture, and the influx of young people had a lasting influence on the state’s politics, agriculture and food and offbeat culture.After two years of research, the Vermont Historical Society’s exhibit “Freaks, Radicals & Hippies: Counterculture in the 1970s in Vermont” opens at the Vermont History Center in Barre on Sept. 24.“We quickly realized it was more than just getting back to the land and living on a commune and h

ARLINGTON, Virginia (AP) -- George Washington's adopted son was a bit of a ne’er-do-well by most accounts, including those of Washington himself, who wrote about his frustrations with the boy they called “Wash.”“From his infancy, I have discovered an almost unconquerable disposition to indolence in everything that did not tend to his amusements,” the founding father wrote.At the time, George Washington Parke Custis was 16 and attending Princeton, one of several schools he bounced in and out of.

LONDON (AP) -- London Fashion Week swung into its third day Sunday with Topshop Unique debuting a new “runway to retail” model for fashion-hungry consumers, while luxury goods brand Mulberry showed off a collection rich in feminine ruffles and school uniform-inspired stripes.Some highlights from day three of the five day style extravaganza:Faster fashion at Topshop UniqueTopshop Unique’s ‘80s-inspired collection has something for everyone: Zebra prints, sassy high-slit dresses, tuxedos and hot p

Damage greater than initially thought

TOKYO (AP) -- Eighty-eight places in Japan are going to be designated as “animation spots” to encourage tourism, using train stations, school campuses, rural shrines and other fairly everyday places where the characters of popular “manga,” or Japanese comics, are depicted. Such landmarks number in the tens of thousands, given the popularity and volume of manga in Japan. But this is being billed as the official list for any fan’s animation “pilgrimage,” as the places are known as “seichi,” or “sa