A commercial rocket has blasted off with a load of supplies for the International Space Station.

A prominent Palestinian writer who was jailed in Syria for nearly three weeks described the facilities as "human slaughterhouses," saying security agents beat detainees with batons, crammed them into stinking cells and tied them to beds at night.

Pups in her womb, a large eye visible behind the rib cage, one baby stuck in the birth canal, all fossilized in stone, modern-day evidence of how this ancient marine beast, the Ichthyosaur, died: in childbirth.

A 13-year-old boy rescued at the top of a 270-foot waterfall in Washington state says he just wanted to cool off, but soon found himself stuck precariously on a rock for hours as crews tried to reach him.

Days after four people died amid a "traffic jam" of climbers scrambling to conquer Mount Everest, Nepal officials said a similar rush up the world's tallest peak will begin soon, and there's little they can do to control it.

Mexican artist Diego Rivera's 1939 oil painting "Girl in Blue and White" is headlining Sotheby's Latin American art auction in New York.

The sight of Chicago police raising billy clubs against demonstrators Sunday was the kind of image that has dogged the city's police force longer than most of those who clashed with protesters have been alive.