Royal Deal

Dishes that bear myriad influences warm the heart in cold Northeast China. Wu Yong reports from Shenyang, Liaoning province.

Mermaid's Jelly Good Show

Tang Ying never expected that one day she would become a mermaid and even a jellyfish princess.

World's Largest Migration Underway

Japan ends wait for sumo star

Japan's excruciating wait for a homegrown yokozuna, or sumo grand champion, ended on Wednesday when 30-year-old Kisenosato was promoted to the ancient sport's highest rank.

'Perfect pepper' conquering world's taste buds

A nearby sea, flanking mountains, a quartz-rich soil. It's the perfect spot on earth, devotees say, to yield a product they describe in that rapturous vocabulary usually reserved for fine wines: "aristocratic, virile, almost aphrodisiacal," with subtle notes of caramel, gingerbread and mild tobacco.

Instead of chasing storms, researchers create their own

The sparkling ice spread through a small stand of trees in the White Mountain National Forest so precisely, it could have been applied by Elsa, Disney's Frozen queen. Within the basketball court-size plot, everything glistened. Outside it, branches were bare.

La La Land, black actors score big with Oscar nods

Romantic showbiz musical La La Land topped the Oscars nominations list on Tuesday with a whopping 14 nods, tying a record, as black actors were honored in all acting categories for the first time.

Endangered seal population rises

The population of Hawaiian monk seals - one of the world's most critically endangered marine mammals - has been increasing 3 percent a year for the past three years, federal wildlife officials said.

Blazing a trail of destruction

Lambs suffered broken legs trying to escape the blaze that tore across Tarcila Becerra's land. Today there's nothing on the blackened soil left for the few chickens that survived to graze on, and horses whinny in a makeshift stable a few blocks from her ravaged home.

Pet pigeons return as IS militants take flight

For the first time in over two years, flocks of white and gray pigeons can be seen circling Mosul's rooftops.

Bangladesh plants million trees to cut lightning deaths

Bangladesh has begun planting 1 million palm trees to help prevent hundreds of people being killed by lightning strikes every year, a top official said on Tuesday.

VR makers turn Sundance green

When consumers get excited about advances in virtual reality, they are usually thinking about videogaming, new and immersive movie-watching or - let's face it - pornography.