SOCIETY

The Costa Crociere company has blamed human error for the grounding and subsequent sinking of the Concordia on Friday, claiming that captain Francesco Schettino made an unapproved, unauthorized and ultimately deadly, maneuver.

Anger at the practice of demanding dowries, which can lead to violence against brides, has prompted a takeoff of Angry Birds called Angry Brides that aims to highlight the illegal practice still prevalent in many South Asian countries.

A the Middle East franchise of American fast food giant McDonald's has refuted allegations that lettuce is being washed in a washing machine, prior to being served to customers. The allegations were made after a crudely shot video clip, allegedly from a kitchen of an as yet unidentified McDonald's outlet, was uploaded on YouTube.

The prayers of thousands remained unanswered as the twenty-month-old baby boy Tripp Roth died in his mother's arms on Saturday. Tripp Roth from Ponchatoula, Louisiana, suffered from Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa or EB, a skin disorder with no cure.

The arrest of a Northern California high school teacher for sexual abuse of a 14-year-old male student has raised questions about the boundaries of behavior and whether schools should police social media contact between teachers and students, authorities said on Friday.

Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD) stock, after meandering at $5 for much of the fall, has pushed above $5. What's that mean for the stock, moving forward?

A truncated quotation carved into a Washington memorial to slain civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. that drew criticism for not reflecting the spirit of his full remarks will be corrected, the U.S. Interior Department said on Friday.

Passengers leapt into the sea and fought over lifejackets in panic when an Italian cruise ship ran aground and keeled over, killing at least three and leaving dozens missing.

Friday, the 13th, is surrounded by many superstitions and unexplainable fears. One such phobia is the fear of the day itself, which is called paraskevidekatriaphobia. Here are 10 other phobias you probably cannot pronounce.

On Saturday, Italian authorities questioned the captain of the Costa Cruises ship accident that occurred Friday night. The ship ran aground and turned onto its side, killing three people and leaving dozens more missing, officials reported.

It looks like pennies do add up. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced Thursday that it had collected more than $400,000 in spare change left by airline passengers at airport security checkpoints operated by the agency in 2011.

An auction held in memory of the late British racing driver, Dan Wheldon fetched over $600,000 for the Dan Wheldon family trust fund.

A group of Indian hackers has offered support to an American man who filed a lawsuit against Symantec Corp (SYMC.O) by publishing source code from a 2006 version of Norton Utilities, a software program at the heart of the legal dispute.

The Reserve Bank of India has set guidelines for compensation of senior bank executives, imposing restrictions on guaranteed bonus, severance pay as well as a cap on variable pay, in line with global moves to rationalise pay structures and curb risktaking.

For the first time, researchers working in northern Myanmar have captured the images of the rare snub-nosed monkeys. The elusive species was reportedly discovered in 2010 and their existence was earlier known only through dead specimens.

For most of us Friday the 13th was as uneventful as it could get; for the unlucky passengers on board the cruise ship Costa Concordia, on a trip to the Mediterranean, it was one the worst days of their lives.

In a late night shootout, police shot a killed a man outside of his Brooklyn home around 11 p.m.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown stood with law enforcement officials on Friday as they announced the arrests of heroin pushers using the Long Island Expressway as a heroin highway.

Canada will plug a loophole in its marriage laws that left foreign gay couples in a legal limbo, able to marry in Canada, but in a union that might not be legal, and perhaps without the ability to divorce.

Kathleen Edward, the 9-year-old Michigan girl who made national headlines since 2010 because a neighbor taunted her fatal disease, has made national headlines once again--this time for an even sadder reason. Many took to Twitter to express condolences for Kathleen, who died of Juvenile Huntington's Disease on Wednesday.

This Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a special one because it marks the 30th anniversary since the holiday was created. For three decades, on the third Monday of every January, schools and other public agencies are closed so Americans can get together and give back to the country in honor of the late civil rights champion. Below are the important details on the federal holiday, this year on Jan. 16.

Greg from Lemont gave CSN's Sarah Kustok the shock of her life when he confessed his love for the sideline reporter during her Shoot the Puck segment at last night's Blackhawks vs. Minnesota game (watch here). Later, Kustok joked that she was off the market after Greg's declaration, saying she was prepping for a blind marriage instead of a blind date with the besotted fan.

Consuming a single serving of processed meat, such as sausage, each day could increase your risk of pancreatic cancer, suggests results from a recent study. Though the cancer risk is small, reducing your intake of processed meats is a healthfully beneficial move.

A group of U.S. veterans from Veterans for Peace decided to stage an eat in to show solidarity with an Iraqi family in Lowell, Mass. after Babylon restaurant, their family eatery, had a 20-pound rock thrown through its window in an apparent hate crime. This solidarity gives us the courage to stand, owner Ahmed Al-Zubaydi said. There is no more fear in my heart because there are such nice people behind us.

Borges, 19, took his own life Wednesday after a lifetime of abuse at the hands of his family and peers, just one month after making an It Gets Better video for the Trevor Project. But the aspiring filmmaker didn't just leave behind an appeal to LGBTQ youth: he also left Invisible Creatures (watch here), an ode to love and acceptance across the sexuality spectrum.

A rather tiny Yorkshire terrier name Lucy, from New Jersey, is the Guinness record holder for the world's smallest working dog. She weighs just 2.5 pounds and visits hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers each week, working with children with disabilities and troubled youth.

Teen reality starlet Leah Messer is pregnant again. However, the pregnancy is not with twins.

Kathleen Edward, the 9-year-old girl who suffered from Juvenile Huntington's disease and was taunted by a neighbor for it in 2010, died Wednesday at her Wyandotte home in Michigan with more than 20 friends and family members beside her bed, according to reports.

The Benedictine monk is under investigation after a letter alleging two teenaged victims while he was headmaster at Delbarton prep school in New Jersey in the 1980s and 1990s was sent to the Virginia abbey where he serves as administrator. Although church officials claim he has been under investigation since June, his replacement at the abbey claims the church was told nothing until the letter arrived.