Beyonce takes over the internet with twins news

Beyonce is pregnant - and this time, she's expecting twins with her husband, rap mogul Jay Z.

Syrian refugees find unlikely home amid volcanoes, glaciers

The wind blows in icy gusts and the rain gently melts the snow: welcome to Iceland! Far from their hometown Damascus, Joumaa Naser and his family don't mind the Arctic cold, they're just happy to be living in safety.

Campaigners mount last-ditch attempt to save 30 vaquita porpoises left in wild

Mexico's vaquita marina is edging closer to extinction as scientists warned on Wednesday that only 30 were left despite navy efforts to intercept illegal fishing nets killing the world's smallest porpoise.

Wartime singer to mark 100th birthday with new album

British singer Vera Lynn will celebrate her 100th birthday by releasing an album of remastered classic songs next month, which could make the wartime singer the first centenarian to hit the UK charts.

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.