Top World News

The world's most expensive purse, valued at nearly $3.8 Million and encrusted with some 4,500 diamonds, has been unveiled by jewelers in Dubai.

The purse is called the 'The Mouawad 1001 Nights Diamond Purse.' It has been certified by the Guinness World Records as the most valuable purse in the world.

The heart-shaped purse, handcrafted from 18kt gold, incorporates 4,517 diamonds (105 yellow, 56 pink and 4,356 colorless) with a total weight of 381.92 carats.

The jewelers will not disclose the buyer, they only said it is a man who bought it for his wife.

A new dinosaur species, nicknamed "thunder thighs" due to the enormously powerful thigh muscles it had, has been discovered in Utah.

The discovery of fossil remains in a quarry near the Colorado River in Grand County, Utah, has been examined by scientists from the U.K. and the U.S. The scientists said Tuesday that the creature's legs were unusually large.

Researchers deem the species, Brontomerus mcintoshi, used its powerful leg muscles to kick predators or to help it travel over rough, hilly terrain. The shape of the bone signifies that the animal would likely have had the largest leg muscles of any dinosaur in the sauropod family. This is reflected in the name Brontomerus, which literally means "thunder-thighs."

"Brontomerus mcintoshi is a charismatic dinosaur and an exciting discovery for us," said Dr. Mike Taylor, a researcher from University College London.

He added: "When we recognized the weird shape of the hip, we wondered what its significance might be, but we concluded that kicking was the most likely. The kick would probably have been used when two males fought over a female, but given that the mechanics were all in place it would be bizarre if it wasn't also used in predator defense."

Guinness World Records has declared the top 50 video game characters of all time, with Nintendo's Mario was rated top. The Legend of Zelda's Link came second, while Microsoft's enigmatic space soldier Master Chief followed in third place.

Nintendo had 11 characters in the Top 50, followed by Sony and Capcom with six and five, respectively. However, there are several widely recognizable characters that were not feature in the top 50, such as Mario's brother Luigi, Mortal Kombat's Scorpion and Bioshock's Big Daddy.

Gaz Deaves, Guinness World Records gaming editor, said: "The world has seen so many pivotal characters throughout the history of gaming that asking our readers to narrow it down to just 50 was a challenge in itself."

Mr Deaves added that while some of the inclusions could be disputed by gamers, the list will prompt much debate.

The 135th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show crowned a Best in Show Tuesday night (Feb. 15) and it was Hickory the Scottish Deerhound.

The show kicked off with the Sporting group. The breeds singled out were the Pointer, the German Wirehaired pointer, the Curly-Coated Retriever, the Irish Setter, the Black Cocker Spaniel, the English Springer Spaniel, the Irish Water Spaniel, the Weimaraner and the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. The top four in order were: the Black Cocker Spaniel, the Irish Setter, the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and the Irish Water Spaniel. The Boykin Spaniel was the new breed in the Sporting group, but was not brought down.

The Working group was up next. The dogs brought down were the Alaskan Malamute, the Boxer, the Doberman Pinscher, the Kuvasz, the Portuguese Water Dog, the Rottweiler and the Samoyed. The top four were the Portuguese Water Dog, the Boxer, the Kuvasz and the Samoyed.

The last group of the night is the Terrier group. The breeds singled out are the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Smooth Fox Terrier, the Irish Terrier, the Norfolk Terrier, the Norwich Terrier, the Scottish Terrier, the Seelyham Terrier, the Sky Terrier and the West Highland White Terrier. The top four finish the Smooth Fox, the Norfolk, the Sky and the Westie.

The Best in Show group included from last night the Scottish Deerhound from the Hound group, the Pekingese from the Toy group, the Shar-Pei from the Non-Sporting group and the Bearded Collie from the Herding group. From tonight, we had the Black Cocker Spaniel from the Sporting group, the Portuguese Water Dog from the Working group and the Smooth Fox from the Terrier group, who is the favorite according to odds-makers.

The Best in Show judge, whose first language is not English, said of the win, "Scottish Deerhound ... is exactly the same like I studied in the standard that was about 150 years ago. Outstanding dog! Moving and type was super. All the others were wonderful."

Cornwall Police reopened the Seaway International Bridge on Sunday afternoon, about three hours after it was shut down because of an accident on the Canadian side of the span. The bridge connects Cornwall Ontario to Akwesasne Mohawk Territory before connecting to a second bridge to the US.

Sgt. David Michaud of the Cornwall Police Service said a northbound tractor-trailer and a passenger vehicle in the opposite lane clipped each other. The exact cause of the 10:30 a.m. accident was under investigation.

The tanker truck, which was empty at the time, wound up partially blocking the southbound lane, prompting police to close the bridge in both directions. Both drivers were taken to hospital with minor injuries; there were no passengers in either vehicle.

During the closure police had police urged motorists to seek alternative border crossings, such as the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge or the land crossing at Dundee, Que.

Mitsubishi is out to reveal that the Outlander and Outlander Sport crossovers have some real SUV capabilities. Recently, the automaker took one of each Outlander’s and made five Guinness World Records within 24 hours.

Stuntman Garvin Cross -- Daniel Craig's stunt double -- was the driver of the vehicles on frozen Ghost Lake near Calgary, Alberta, Canada. With temperatures below freezing, the following records were broken. However it's unclear that how many of the Outlander all-wheel-drive competitors have tried similar feats:

Pepsi unveiled the slimmed-down "Diet Pepsi Skinny Can" at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week to “celebrate beautiful, confident women.

The updated design for the zero sugar, zero calories and zero carb soda will be circulated at New York's Fall Mercedes Fashion Week, from February 10 to 17, and will also be featured in a collaborative art installment designed by fashion commentator Simon Doonan. The newly designed can will hit stores in March.

"Our slim, attractive new can is the perfect complement to today's most stylish looks, and we're excited to throw its coming-out party during the biggest celebration of innovative design in the world," Jill Beraud, Chief Marketing Officer at PepsiCo, said in the statement.

Television cameras will be allowed to capture the scene of involuntary manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor next month as long as they do not interfere with proceedings, a judge has ruled.

Los Angeles Superior Court judge Michael Pastor also moved forward the date of Dr Conrad Murray's trial by four days to March 24, when jury selection will begin. The trial is likely to last about six weeks, lawyers for both sides say. Murray was with Jackson at his rented LA mansion on the morning he died - June 25, 2009.

He has confessed giving the 50-year-old singer the powerful anesthetic, propofol, as a sleep aid while he was rehearsing for a series of planned comeback concerts in London. Coroners ruled Jackson's death was caused by an overdose of propofol and a cocktail of sedatives. Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and is free on bail. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

Involuntary manslaughter is defined as unintentional killing without malice and is a lesser charge than murder. Judge Pastor said he wants the "absolute least intrusive placement" of a TV camera in the courtroom and he has sought detailed proposals from local news crews. He also has blocked jury selection from being broadcasted.

The Mazda MX-5, or Miata as it’s called in certain markets, has just set a new Guinness World Record for the "Best selling two-seat sports car".

Interestingly, the MX-5 initially set the record when production of the car reached 531,890 units in May 2000. Guinness updated the record when production passed 700,000 and, later, 800,000 units. Currently, Mazda is reapplying to have the record updated to 900,000 units.
The 900,000th example of the car was built earlier today in Japan and is intended for a home in Germany. This tally has been growing since the launch of the first generation of the car back in 1989. Since then, it has only undergone two complete product redesigns though a series of upgrades have kept it fresh.

Britney Spears' new album finally has got a name: "Femme Fatale."

The pop star publicized the title of her seventh studio set through Twitter and posted the cover art, which, similar to the artwork for her "Hold It Against Me Single," is a close-up shot of Spears against a neutral background.

The album is set for release on March 15. Its first single, "Hold It Against Me" reached No. 1 on the Billboard's Hot 100 chart last month but quickly dropped down the chart.

"I've poured my heart and soul into this album over the last 2 years," Spears tweeted of "Femme Fatale." "I've put everything I have into it. This album is for you, my fans, who have always supported me and have stuck by me every step of the way! I love you all!"

An ancestor to the horned dinosaur Triceratops wandered the earth millions of years prior to its famous descendant, making it the earliest discovered member of the family, scientists say.

The newly named species, Titanoceratops, weighed in at around 15,000 pounds and had an 8-foot-long skull. The ancient dinosaur existed during the Cretaceous period, about 74 million years ago in the American Southwest.

The finding, which will feature in the journal of Cretaceous Research, suggests the triceratopsian group of dinosaurs evolved its large size five million years earlier than previously thought, according to Nicholas Longrich, the paleontologist at Yale University who made the discovery.

Longrich made the discovery by accident and was searching through scientific papers when he happened upon the description of a partial skeleton of a dinosaur discovered in New Mexico in 1941. The skeleton went untouched until 1995, when it was finally prepared and identified incorrectly as Pentaceratops, a species common to the area.

"When I looked at the skeleton more closely, I realized it was just too different from the other known Pentaceratops to be a member of the species," Longrich said in a statement.

The newly identified Titanoceratops is alike to Triceratops, but with a thinner frill, longer nose and bigger horns. Longrich, hopes the discovery of similar skeletons will help further shed light on the origins of horned dinosaurs. "There have got to be more of them out there," Longrich said.

American fashion designer Charles Nolan has died in New York after fighting cancer. The 53-year-old Nolan was known to be a fan of classic styles, but he skewed them with a modern edge and personal touch.

Women's Wear Daily first reported his death on its website Sunday. Charles Nolan store vintage buyer Maggie Savage confirmed the report.

Nolan launched his own label in 2004. He previously was the head designer for Anne Klein and Ellen Tracy. But he was almost as well known for his political interest as his work in fashion.

He took a publicized hiatus from fashion in 2003 to work on former Democratic Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's presidential campaign. Dean tells Women's Wear Daily that Nolan was a "wonderful" person.

Ten people were killed and 43 were injured, 18 serious, when two trains collided in eastern Germany late Saturday, a Magdeburg Police spokesman said.

The crash between a regional HarzElbeExpress passenger train and a freight train happened less than two miles from the nearby town of Oschersleben shortly after 10:30 p.m. local time. Portions of the train burned in the snow for about 2 hours.

Video showed rescue workers and investigators combing the wreckage and overturned cars. Officials said many passengers were thrown from the train after the incident. The cause is unknown. Investigators and emergency crews were at the scene early Sunday.

Around 48 people died and 121 others were wounded in a car bomb blast at a funeral tent in northwestern Baghdad on Thursday, an Interior Ministry source said.

"The new toll for Shula car bombing today is 48 killed and 121 others wounded," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attack took place in the afternoon when a booby-trapped car parked near a funeral tent in Baghdad's northwestern neighborhood of Shula was set off, the source said. Earlier, the source put the toll at 37 people killed and 78 others wounded.

As a result of deadly blast, dozens of angry residents protested against the security forces, condemning them of failure in protecting the innocent people, the source said. The Iraqi security forces opened fire into air to disperse the protestors, but some armed men responded to the fire and traded fire with the troops, the source added. It was unclear yet whether there was any casualty by the clashes, he said.

The authorities of the area imposed curfew and blocked the neighborhood's entrances, while reinforcement arrived at the area, he added. "The area is under control by the Iraqi forces," he said.

Since early in the day, Baghdad has been the scene for several bomb attacks that killed a total of six people and wounded 21 others, according to police reports.

Violence and sporadic high-profile bomb attacks continue in the Iraqi cities regardless of the dramatic decrease of violence over the last three years.

Top seed and world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain has been knocked out of the Australian Open by compatriot and "friend" David Ferrer.

Hampered by a thigh strain from the start of Wednesday's quarterfinal, the nine-time grand slam champion was visibly suffering as he went down 6-4 6-2 6-3 at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena to his Davis Cup teammate.

Ferrer's triumph -- his 4th  over Nadal from 15 encounters -- will now see the 28-year-old play in just his second grand slam semifinal, following his appearance in the last four of the U.S. Open in 2007.

The world number seven will face Britain's Andy Murray for a place in the final of the opening grand slam of 2011, after the world number five beat unseeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in the earlier match.

The result also means the end to 24-year-old Nadal's quest to become the first man since Australia's Rod Laver in 1969, to win four consecutive grand slam titles.

Nadal was clearly affected by a thigh problem during the match but, despite receiving off-court treatment after just the third game, refused to blame the loss on his injury.

Nadal showed flashes of his usual brilliance but any chance of a comeback in the second set was suppressed by Ferrer, who after a 10-minute break in proceedings for an Australia Day fireworks display, secured a double break of serve to lead the match by two sets to love.

Ferrer then raced to a 3-0 lead in what was to be the third and final set, before wrapping up the ultimately one-sided contest in just over two and a half hours.

A Bomb designed to cause heavy casualties was set off inside Russia's Domodedova airport on Monday. President Dmitri Medvedev says it appears to have been a terrorist attack. The lethal blast at Russia's busiest airport on Monday night left 35 dead and over 150 injured.

Speaking on Russian TV, he called for added security at all of Moscow's airports, and announced an emergency meeting of security chiefs at the Kremlin. Medvedev expressed condolences for the victims and their families.  Medvedev said, "We need to make sure that all those who suffered get the required support."

Authorities are quoted as saying the explosion occurred in the crowded entrance area of the international arrivals terminal. Russian TV says the suicide bomber packed a homemade device containing metal objects to make it that much more deadly. Witnesses said the bomber shouted: "I will kill you all", before triggering the blast that sent ball bearings and shrapnel across the airport, The Independent reported on its website on Tuesday.

The Domodedova airport is closed to international arrivals, which are being diverted to Moscow's other airports, but departing flights are operating normally.

To rejoice the launch of Little Big Planet 2, Sony and Media Molecule organized a special three day event in New York City earlier this week and set various Guinness World Records. These accomplishments will be listed in the Guinness World Records 2011 Gamers’ Edition, which is now available in stores.

 “We’d like to congratulate the dedicated group of gamers and the entire Little Big Planet 2 team on setting five new Guinness World Records, an impressive accomplishment in such a short period of time,” said Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President of Product Marketing SCEA. “With Little Big Planet 2 releasing this week, it’s fantastic to see so many fans embrace this launch, which continues to illustrate the endless fun that this title provides for fans and newcomers, as well as the entire family.”

Fans of Paul the Octopus can admire a memorial to the mollusk at the aquarium where he became the World Cup prognosticator.

On Thursday, The Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen made public the 6-foot plastic replica of Paul clutching a soccer ball in his eight arms.

Aquarium spokeswoman Tanja Munzig says Paul's cremated ashes were placed in a gold-leafed urn inside the ball. Paul died 3 months ago. Munzig says fans around the world had asked for a memorial.

Paul accurately tipped the outcome of all seven of Germany's games at last year's World Cup, plus the Spain-Netherlands final. He made his predictions by opening the lid of one of two boxes, each containing a mussel and bearing a team flag.