2 Million displaced by Beijing Olympics?

More than two million displaced by Olympics -- rights group

GENEVA -- More than two million people have been moved or evicted from their homes by preparations for the Olympic Games in the past 20 years, including more than half due to the 2008 Beijing Games, a housing rights group said Tuesday.

Global temperatures inch up

Global temperatures inch up ahead of G8 summit

LONDON -- Global temperatures were almost 0.5 degrees Celsius above average in the first third of 2007, weather experts said Tuesday ahead of a G8 summit focused on climate change.

Suite offering sex?

Los Angeles news, California news - Los Angeles Times

A suite with a fireman's pole?

San Diego's racy (and pricey) Ivy Hotel and other hot spots are offering guests more than just pillow mints.

By Kimi Yoshino, Times Staff Writer
June 3, 2007

SAN DIEGO — With rooms starting at $450 a night, this city's newest hotel is keeping company with some grand dames of San Diego County: Four Seasons Resort Aviara, Hotel del Coronado and the US Grant.

But the only thing strait-laced about the Ivy Hotel is the leather-covered, corseted columns in the lobby.  (LATimes.com)

CalEarth house

View of a house at the CalEarth (The California Institute of ...

(AFP/File) - View of a house at the CalEarth (The California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture), in Hesperia, California in April 2007. For just over two decades students have been coming to Iranian-born architect Nader Khalili's CalEarth to learn how to build a kiln-fired home from little more than soil stuffed into sacks.(AFP/File/Gabriel Bouys)

Wall Street investment banker paid 103 million dollars for a beachfront building

A Wall Street investment banker has paid a record 103 million ...

(AFP/Illustration) - A Wall Street investment banker has paid a record 103 million dollars for a beachfront building plot in the upmarket Hamptons area near New York City.(AFP/Illustration)

Rain floods parts of Midwest, Plains

Rain floods parts of Midwest, Plains (AP)

AP - Torrential rainfall hit parts of the Plains and Midwest, flooding towns in Kansas and Texas on Thursday, toppling trees and power lines and pelting the countryside with hail.

Chinese Hackers multiply

Chinese Hackers Grow in Number, Skills (PC World)

PC World - China's hacking scene appears poised for growth, as the number of Internet users rise with a commensurate interest in criminal hacking and government spying, according to a new Symantec Corp. study.

Hooked ads spark complaints

"Hooked" anti-smoking ads spark record complaints (Reuters)

Reuters - British Government anti-smoking posters featuring men and women with fish hooks through their mouths attracted one of the highest numbers of complaints the advertising standards watchdog has ever received.

Mountaineers die on Everest

2 Korean mountaineers die on Everest -- report

SEOUL -- Two South Korean mountaineers died Wednesday on Mount Everest while trying to find a new route to the world's highest peak via its southwest wall, a report said.

eBay condemned for rampant ivory trade

eBay condemned for allowing "rampant" ivory trade (Reuters)

Reuters - The elephant, the world's largest land mammal, is being threatened with global extinction by a "rampant trade" in ivory on the eBay online auction site, animal welfare campaigners said on Tuesday.

Smart cameras versus abandoned luggages

"Smart cameras" to tackle abandoned luggage alarms (Reuters)

Reuters - A suitcase lies abandoned in a busy airport terminal. Was it planted by a bomber, or carelessly left for a couple of minutes while the owner went to buy coffee?

40 arrested in child porn

40 arrested in Austrian child porn sweep (AP)

AP - Authorities said Friday they have arrested 40 suspects and seized thousands of videos, CDs and DVDs as part of a yearlong crackdown on child pornography.

US Immigration sedates two foreigners against their will

US immigration sedates two foreigners against will

LOS ANGELES -- Two foreign nationals were sedated against their will by US immigration authorities during attempts to deport them, it was reported here Wednesday.

Ready to face consequences

Hilton: `Ready to face the consequences' (AP)

AP - Five days after she was sentenced to jail, Paris Hilton says she understands the seriousness of driving under the influence and that she is not "above the law."

Disgusting profiteers

Some profit off Va. Tech domain names - Yahoo! News

BLACKSBURG, Va. - When Fred McChesney heard about the Virginia Tech shooting spree on April 16, he was appalled. But what he did next has appalled many others.

Within hours of the rampage, the Phoenix man began buying dozens of domain names — CampusKillings.com, VirginiaTechMurders.com, SlaughterInVirginia.com — in the hopes of selling them later to the highest bidder.

Aborigines live much shorter in Australia

Australia's Aborigines live much shorter span: study (Reuters)

Reuters - Australia's Aborigines live 17 years less on average than other Australians, and a government pledge to spend millions more in their remote communities would do little to close the gap, rights groups said on Wednesday.

Babelgum to take on YouTube

Spike Lee, Italian billionaire take on YouTube

Chew on this. A startup called Babelgum is looking to make waves in the burgeoning world of online video.

LA Park fire forces home evac

Los Angeles park fire forces home evacuations (Reuters)

Reuters - Firefighters evacuated 300 residents of an affluent Los Angeles neighborhood and pushed back flames from the edge of upscale homes as a wildfire in the city's largest park flared on Tuesday night.

It looked too Oriental

Oddly Enough - Reuters on Yahoo! News

Forget it, Jake... It's Chinatown Mon May 7, 9:01 AM ET

ROME (Reuters) - The local government in Treviso has ordered the northern Italian city's Chinese restaurants to remove red lanterns from their windows because they look too "oriental."

Australian mobster gets 35 years

Australian mobster gets 35 years for gangland murders
Sun May 6, 11:58 PM ET

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australian gangster Carl Williams was sentenced on Monday to 35 years in jail for murdering three underworld rivals in a gangland war which lasted almost 10 years and killed 28 people.