'Hero Cop' Charged with Rape, Assault

In 2007, now-former Philadelphia police officer Richard DeCoatsworth was hailed as a hero for chasing down a suspect after being shot in the face. Yesterday, he was arrested on charges of rape, sexual assault and terroristic threats, as police raided his home, also confiscating guns and drugs, NBC Philadelphia reports....

Don't Use Racism as Excuse, Obama Tells Black Grads

Obama delivered the commencement speech at the historically black, all-male Morehouse College today, encouraging graduates to use their education to help others in their communities, act as role models to other young black men, and to achieve success in spite of racism, rather than using it as an excuse to...

Honeybees Trained to Find Land Mines

Honeybees are better known for producing delicious condiments than saving lives, but all that could change thanks to a team of Croatian researchers, who are training them to find unexploded land mines. Bees have an excellent sense of smell, which they use to find food, so the researchers are reprogramming...

Trek Blasts to No. 1

The Star Trek franchise may be living long, but it hasn't quite prospered as well as expected this time around. Star Trek Into Darkness topped the box office charts in its opening weekend, but "only" made $84.1 million domestically—well under the $100 million many had expected, reports the...

France Goes Shopping for US Drones

France is looking to assemble a fleet of intelligence gathering drones to use in its military operations in Mali, and is in talks with both the US and Israel to get its hands on some. The Pentagon has already approved the sale of two Reaper drones (Congress still needs to...

GOP Shreds White House 'Cronyism,' 'Intimidation'

The GOP pulled no punches in lambasting the Obama administration over the series of scandals—ranging from the IRS to Benghazi and the AP—dogging it of late. On Benghazi, Mitch McConnell says he wants "the investigations to go forward," because clearly the White House "made up a tale here,...

18 Male Celebrity Divas

You certainly don't have to be female to be a diva, as these 18 men rounded up by Radar prove: While performing, Kanye West will only use $400 Versace towels to wipe his face. Tom Cruise recently demanded a Montenegro restaurant clear out so he could eat there alone. Elton...

Yahoo to Buy Tumblr for $1.1B

The rumors were apparently pretty accurate : Yahoo will indeed acquire Tumblr, and its board has approved a $1.1 billion cash deal for the blogging site. The board met today and unanimously OKed the deal, in what AllThingsD 's Kara Swisher reports was "a foregone conclusion." It's the biggest acquisition...

Guy Mad at Neighbor's Tall Grass Torches House: Cops

There's probably all kinds of good ways to resolve an argument with a neighbor about mowing the lawn, but none involve two cans of gas and a match. That's what 58-year-old Phillip Roger Bennett used to set his neighbor's house ablaze, say police in Cartersville, Ga. Luckily, the neighbor and...

Nadal, Serena Triumph at Italian Open

Rafael Nadal controlled the Italian Open final from start to finish, beating Roger Federer 6-1, 6-3 today in the 30th meeting between the two stars. Nadal improved to 20-10 in his career against Federer, and won the Italian Open for the seventh time. He also showed once again that he'll...

Star-Studded SNL Finale Bids Hader Farewell

Last night's season finale of Saturday Night Live didn't have many snoozy moments: Oscar winner Ben Affleck hosted, taking on his marriage-is-work gaffe in the opening monologue with wife Jennifer Garner at his side, the show bid dramatic farewell to longtime heavyweight Bill Hader vis a vis his Stefon persona,...

Want Health? Feed the Bacteria Living Inside You

Don't look now, but roughly 100 trillion bacteria live in and on your body. According to scientists, these microbes—especially the ones in your gut—may be fending off chronic diseases, moderating your weight, and strengthening your immune system. But our society's processed foods and war on bacteria are posing...

N. Korea Launches 4th Missile

Just in case anybody missed the three short-range missiles North Korea fired off into the sea yesterday, Pyongyang launched a fourth missile in the same area today, reports CNN . That flies in the face of Western calls to cool it already, notes Reuters , after UN chief Ban Ki-moon voiced concern,...

11 Weird Things Named After Celebs

You know you've made it when you get a house fly named after you , as Beyonce did last year. The Huffington Post rounds up 10 more interesting things dedicated to celebrities: A hairy crab: Scientists discovered a new species of Yeti crab with a hairy chest and thought of one...

Cops Fired Bullet That Killed Hofstra Student

The Hofstra University junior who died early Friday in a home invasion was killed by a bullet fired by police, reports the New York Daily News in a sad coda in the death of Andrea Rebello. Police say the fatal bullet was one of eight fired by a veteran cop...

Some of Earth's Oldest Water Found

"Old" might not top the list of the adjectives you'd use to describe water, but that could very well change after reading this story: Scientists say they've found water whose age clocks in at no less than 1.5 billion years, making it the oldest cache to have ever been...

Rare Dialect Dying in US: Texas-German?

Another unique American dialect is fading into obscurity, and it's a safe bet that most never knew it existed in the first place: "Texas German." It's so unusual that University of Texas linguist professor Hans Boas tells the BBC he has "found no two speakers that speak roughly alike." And...

Iran: We Hanged CIA, Mossad Spies

Iran is claiming that it has today hanged a pair of spies it convicted of slipping information to the CIA and Israel's Mossad, according to a state radio report. The report is sketchy on when the men were arrested or convicted, but says the dead are Mohammad Heidari, who was...

Navy Dolphins Make Amazing Torpedo Find

The discovery itself is notable enough: Navy specialists found a rare torpedo off the San Diego coast, an 11-foot brass gem called the Howell that dates back 130 years or so and was one of the first torpedoes to propel itself, reports dvids . Only 50 were made, and only one...

1 Lucky Winner in $590M Powerball

Get ready to shake your fist at Florida, where one lucky winner has beaten incredible odds to hit the highest Powerball jackpot in history at an estimated $590.5 million. The single winner was sold at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, Fla., according to a Florida Lottery executive. "This would...

IRS' Planted Question Adds to Its Misery

It probably seemed like a wise idea to the IRS at the time, but it's becoming clear that the strategy of planting a question in the apparent hope of spinning its recent scandal has, as the headline in USA Today puts it, backfired. If you missed it, outgoing chief Steven...

Alaska Town to Vanish by 2017

When it comes to the fate of the 350 residents of Newtok, Alaska, the Guardian pulls no punches: "Exile is inevitable," it writes. That's because their coastal village, located some 480 miles west of Anchorage, is in the process of being washed into the Bering Sea. As the Guardian explains...

No Triple Crown: Oxbow Wins Preakness

Oxbow won the Preakness today, ruining Orb's bid to capture the Triple Crown. Oxbow led from start to finish in the race, which ended up being the sixth Preakness victory for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas and his 15th Triple Crown victory, the most in horse-racing history. "I...

Americans Are Cheating on Their Partners ... on Netflix

Are you guilty of "Netflix adultery"? That's secretly watching a video on Netflix you were supposed to be waiting to watch together with your significant other. According to a survey by the site itself, 51% of adults in committed relationships said they had or would cheat. Only 12% of those...

Car Plows into Parade Crowd, Injures 60

Up to 60 people have been injured, some critically, after a man drove a car into a crowd during a parade in southwestern Virginia. Three victims were flown to hospital via helicopter, and another 12 to 15 went by ambulance, after being struck while watching the Hikers Parade at a...

New Psychiatry 'Bible' Under Fire

A new edition of the manual doctors use to diagnose mental illness, the DSM, has just been released by the American Psychiatric Association—but it has already been stirring up controversy for months, reports CBS . Most critically, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health has spoken out against...

19 Best-Kept Secrets of the Stars

Angelina Jolie managed to keep her double mastectomy a secret from February 2, when procedures started, through April 27, when they were completed, and all the way until May 14, when she revealed everything. But some stars have kept their secrets even longer: Radar lists 18 of them. Janet Jackson...

100M Facebook Users Are Not Human

Apparently not everyone on Facebook has an actual face. A new analysis of Facebook user data has found that of the site's much-boasted-about 1 billion users, only 889.3 million of them are actual people, reports Quartz . The other 100 million? Probably brands, pets, parodies and kitchen appliances . Yet Facebook...

Bieber Owes Thousands for Monkey Vet Bills

Justin Bieber has now officially ditched his pet monkey in Germany—but he still owes several thousand in vet bills, food and care for the abandoned primate, the AP reports. "You can bet we are going to ask for that money back," says a German customs spokesperson. Bieber had until...

Town Sued for Requiring Residents to Own Guns

The tiny town of Nelson, Georgia, is facing a court battle after passing a law that requires all households to own a gun and ammunition. The DC-based Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence had filed a federal lawsuit against the town on the grounds that the law, which was passed...