'Liquid cats' and other oddities honored at spoof awards

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts - Scientists taking on the deep questions of whether cats are liquid or solid, how holding a crocodile influences gambling and whether playing the didgeridoo can help cure snoring were honored on Thursday at the Ig Nobel Prize spoof awards.

IN BRIEF (Page 8)

Building strong foundation to end world's ills

The world has cut extreme poverty and child deaths in half and reduced HIV and maternal deaths by nearly half, but more needs to be done.

Museum stakes claim as battle begins to clear giant 'fatberg' in London sewer

LONDON - Sewage workers have found a 130-tonne ball of congealed fat - dubbed a "monster fatberg" - clogging a Victorian-era sewer in London, utility company Thames Water said Tuesday.

Province provides key green line of defense against threat of deserts

The history of economic and social development of northwestern Shaanxi province is also a history of desertification control, according to local experts.

Family reunited after year apart

KOKKINOTRIMITHIA, Cyprus - After more than a year of separation, Syrian refugee Ammar Hammasho was finally, albeit briefly, reunited with his wife and four children through a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire in Cyprus.

Orangutans settling in after rescue

RATCHABURI PROVINCE, Thailand - Two baby Sumatran orangutans rescued by border officials who foiled a bid to smuggle them into Thailand arrived at a wildlife center on Wednesday, and will stay until Indonesia decides on their return, officials said.

Healing wounds in Irma's wake

MIAMI, Florida - "It felt like a big bomb on top of the roof," Hector, a homeowner in South Miami's Coconut Grove, said on Monday as he remembered the scene from Sunday's storm.

Morocco tourists make tracks on 007's desert train

BOUARFA, Morocco - Edouard Kunz knows timekeeping is important but the former Swiss watch mechanic admits that James Bond's Oriental Desert Express in remote eastern Morocco never runs on schedule.

Couple marries after 50 years apart

ROCHESTER, New York - He was an Elvis Presley-loving sailor who spun records for the US Navy radio station on the Caribbean base where he was stationed. She was a local woman whose brother worked at the facility.

Costs dish out stress for families

SYDNEY - Australia's poorest families are struggling to afford healthy food, a new study revealed on Wednesday.

Warning as hurricanes hit US

It is sobering to learn that Florida, known among Chinese as a popular tourist destination and a place where heads of state of the two countries held their first meeting in April, is being devastated by the Hurricane Irma.