A video documenting the exhumation of two puppies buried alive was recently disclosed by The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). The video was taken August last year at Tamworth, Staffordshire.It was taken during rescue efforts to save two puppies buried by three backstreet dog breeders -- James Perks, 74, his wife Lorraine, 49, and their lodger Stephen Jenkins, 35. They were sentenced to six months in jail after pleading guilt to ten animal welfare offenses.The Royal

A Russian YouTube video revealed that a dog can be a good pal to his owner’s cat. The video shows a small black dog lifting a similar-sized grey cat on to his back, carrying it around a corner and all the way into their home.(YouTube)The dog, which appears to be a chihuahua, stops for a few breaths but continues to carry the cat on the floor inside the house.The cat shows little interest in moving

An 89-year-old South Carolina woman said she used her .38-caliber pistol to ward off two men who broke into her home.Ruby Hodge of Blenheim said she heard knocking on her door just after 8 a.m. Monday and was on her way to answer when two men forced their way through the door, the Florence Daily News reported Wednesday.Hodge said she retrieved the gun, which belonged to her late husband, from beneath her mattress and the men arrived at her bedroom to find her pointing the revolver at them.“They

CHICAGO (AFP) ― Actor Sherman Hemsley, who rose to fame in the 1970s as the wise-cracking father in the hit sitcom “The Jeffersons,” has died at the age of 74, U.S. media reported Tuesday.Hemsley was found dead in his El Paso, Texas home, People Magazine and celebrity website TMZ reported, citing local police who did not immediately return requests for confirmation.“The Jeffersons” was one of the longest-running U.S. television shows with a predominantly black cast. It focused on how the family

AURORA, Colorado (AFP) ― Batman actor Christian Bale paid a low-key visit Tuesday to Aurora, Colorado to comfort victims of last week’s shooting massacre, which occurred during a screening of his latest film.Pictures posted on Twitter showed the Welsh-born actor at the Medical Center of Aurora, where 20 of the 58 people wounded in Friday’s massacre are still receiving treatment, some of them in critical condition.“Christian Bale meeting with Aurora heater shooting victim Carey Rottman,” read one

ACCRA (AFP) ― Ghana President John Atta Mills died suddenly Tuesday, hours after being taken ill and months before he was to seek re-election in a country seen as a bastion of democracy in west Africa.The 68-year-old Mills, who oversaw the start of large-scale oil production in Ghana in December 2010, had recently traveled to the United States for a medical check-up. His cause of death was not given.In accordance with Ghana’s constitution, Vice President John Dramani Mahama was sworn in as presi

LONDON (AP) ― Britain’s phone hacking scandal entered a new and expanded criminal phase Tuesday, with charges brought against two former members of Prime Minister David Cameron’s inner circle over a campaign of illegal espionage that has rocked the country’s establishment.The Crown Prosecution Service announced Tuesday that Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks ― both former editors of Rupert Murdoch’s now-shuttered News of the World tabloid ― were among eight people being charged with conspiring to i

NAYPYIDAW (AFP) ― Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday called for laws to protect the rights of the strife-torn nation’s myriad ethnic minorities in her inaugural address to the fledgling parliament.The Nobel Peace Prize winner won her first seat in the legislature in landmark April by-elections, marking a dramatic transformation from a longtime political prisoner to a key political figure in the budding reform process.The veteran activist used her first speech to lawmakers to

A British designer says his line of sarcastic tote bags for London residents annoyed by the Olympic Games is proving popular.Toby Leigh said he took great care not to violate any Olympic copyrights when he created the totes, which are modeled on the London 2012 logo but do not contain the word “Olympics” or any associated symbols, The Sun reported Tuesday.“You can‘t use the words London 2012 or the Olympic rings, but they can’t copyright the word London,” Leigh said. “The typeface isn‘t the same

Hundreds of industrial facilities located in Japan’s Kyushu and Yamaguchi regions reportedly forced many Koreans to work during the Japanese colonial era, according to the prime ministerial investigation commission. The Japanese government has tried to register the two regions as UNESCO World Heritage sites, claiming that these facilities represent Japan’s modernization and rapid growth.The Commission on Verification and Support for the Victims of Forced Mobilization under Japanese Colonialism i

  Police in the Pittsburgh area said they believe a bear seen crossing a road was trying to get to a mall where another bear was captured Sunday.Frazer police said the bear, estimated to weigh 300 pounds, was seen several times around the Northbound side of Route 28 between 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sunday nearby the mall where a smaller bear was captured Saturday, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Monday.Officers said they stopped traffic on the road around 9 p.m., when it appeared the bear was

This photo is not directly related to the article.The hooting and catcalls began as soon as the Cabinet minister stood, wearing a blue and white flowered dress. It did not cease for the entire time she spoke before France's National Assembly. And the heckling came not from an unruly crowd, but from male legislators who later said they were merely showing their appreciation on a warm summer's day.

MANILA (AFP) ― China, Vietnam and Thailand are among the worst offenders in fuelling a global black market that is seeing record numbers of elephants and rhinos killed in Africa, environment group WWF said on Monday.Releasing a report rating countries’ efforts at stopping the trade in endangered species, WWF said elephant poaching was at crisis levels in central Africa while the survival of rhinos was under grave threat in South Africa.In parts of Asia, rhino horns are highly prized for their us