CANBERRA (Reuters) - Staff at an Australian zoo have received hate mail after shooting dead a lioness that escaped from its enclosure near a coastal resort and wandered toward visitors, the zoo owner said on Wednesday.

Just when it seemed that the Chinese had plumbed the depths of animal humiliation, along comes something even worse.

A game that involves the player stalking victims and then raping them in a virtual world is being offered for sale by online retailer Amazon.com, the Belfast Telegraph's website can reveal.

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - An Iraqi town has unveiled a giant monument of a shoe in honor of the journalist who threw his footwear at former U.S. President George W. Bush.

Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was killed on Monday 27 October, by a group of 50 men in a stadium in the southern port of Kismayu, in front of around 1,000 spectators. Militia members also killed a boy, when bystanders tried to save the girl.

Here you can find information about a range of destinations in Africa, Asia, North and South America, and in Europe. Background information is first provided about the history of a country, and its economy, political structure and social conditions.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker signed a long-awaited accord on Monday requiring Washington to withdraw its forces within three years.

MEXICO CITY, Nov 14 (IPS) - "I don't see any investigation, only grief and despair," said Heyman Vázquez, a Catholic priest who runs a shelter for migrants on the border between the southern Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca

CHICAGO (Reuters) - It may seem unlikely, but simply clutching a warm cup of coffee can bring on a flood of warm feelings, U.S. researchers said on Thursday in a finding that suggests a strong link between physical and emotional warmth.

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A dog was hailed as a hero on Sunday after it risked its life to save a litter of newborn kittens from a house fire, rescuers said.