CULTURE AND SPORT

Large predators are on the decline worldwide, a trend that is disrupting the Earth's ecosystem in all kinds of unusual ways, researchers said.

European customs intercepted EUR1 billion worth of counterfeit goods in 2010, with 85% of the fakes from China, the European Commission said.

Attacks on the world's seas are soaring as armed and dangerous pirates become increasingly emboldened, an international body said Thursday.

The 2011 Dogma Prize in Self Portraiture, the first self-portrait contest organized in Vietnam, announced its winners on Tuesday in HCM City.

A Federico Macheda brace helped Premier League champions Manchester United canter to a 4-1 win over New England Revolution.

A small plane crashed near the Brazilian city of Recife after reporting an onboard emergency, killing all of its 16 occupants, officials said.

Three bombs ripped through India's commercial capital Mumbai, killing 21 people and injuring more than 100 in the deadliest attack in the city.

Two screenwriters have lodged a complaint against a director who nominated films written by them for State Awards.

Heterosexuals who take daily AIDS drugs reduce the risk of being infected by HIV by nearly two-thirds, ground-breaking studies said on Wednesday.

Eurozone leaders mulled convening a crisis summit as global pressure mounted for a swift and solid response from Europe to stop debt contagion.

Two US astronauts have wrapped up the last spacewalk of the shuttle era at the International Space Station.

The ADB will help the Greater Mekong Subregion scale up the use of agricultural biomass waste for its growing clean energy and food security needs.

The International Monetary Fund named Chinese economist Zhu Min to a new deputy managing director's position.

Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami in March are set to make 2011 the costliest year on record for natural disasters, a German firm said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's younger brother was assassinated on Tuesday depriving NATO of a vital if controversial ally.

China's central bank said the risks from local government borrowing were "controllable", despite growing concerns over bad loans.

A reborn Argentina swamped Costa Rica 3-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the Copa America in style.

While Vietnam annually tries to find its representatives for international beauty contests, many winners of local pageants are neglected.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou warned fellow EU leaders to end division over the bloc's sovereign debt crisis.