People power may have come to modern-day Egypt and not Sudan, but the unearthing of ancient pyramids in Egypt's southern neighbour shows that greater social equality existed there 2,000 years ago, a French archeologist says.

Three years of digging by a French team at Sedeinga, about 200 kilometres (120 miles) from the Egyptian border, has unearthed 35 pyramids that emphasise the contrast between the two ancient cultures, said Claude Rilly, director of the mission.

Do not try this on your next vacation.

Egyptian authorities cracked down on climbing the Pyramids at Giza in the 1980s, but that didn't stop adventurer Vitaliy Raskalov and his friends from dodging local guards this year to take a few very hard-to-get shots from atop the Great Pyramid.

The Russian photographer said his motivation was simple: "We saw the old photographs of the Pyramids and decided to climb on it.".

Pew Research has found that a record high 52% of Americans believe marijuana should be legal. That's up from 45% in 2011 and just 41% in 2010. The charge has been led by 18 to 29 year olds. So does that mean that weed is on its way to becoming legal in more places than it is now? Perhaps, but the public's opinion of marijuana is a lot more murky than the Pew surveys indicate.

First, Pew Research is on its own with seeing a rapid rise in weed legalization over the past three years. Other pollsters show the percentage of Americans who want to legalize weed staying steady. Angus Reid has polled the question five times since 2009 and has come away with 53%, 52%, 55%, 52%, and 54% in November 2012 in favor of legalization. There's no trend there.

Many traditionally write off the Southern United States as an area dead to cannabis law reform, but one Representative is behind a new effort that can change all of that.

This week, Rep. Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham) has introduced House Bill 550, the Alabama Cannabis and Hemp Reform Act of 2013. This measure would legalize the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and the cultivation of up to 12 mature marijuana plants by those over the age of 21. It would also authorize the Department of Revenue to establish marijuana retail outlets. You can read the full text of the measure here.

THE haul from Japan's whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean was a "record low" this year, a government minister says, blaming "unforgivable sabotage" by activists.

The hunt netted just 103 Antarctic minke whales, less than half its tally last year and no fin whales, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Friday, adding it was the lowest total since "research whaling" began in 1987.

First there were the flies, a plague of them that, even in December, swarmed inside the imposing clapboard house as George and Kathy Lutz were unpacking their belongings.

Then there were the cold spots in rooms and hallways, the odd smells of perfume or excrement and the jolting sounds at night.

George became increasingly volatile and would wake at the same time — 3.15am, a time that would later assume a sinister significance.

Other disturbances were far more terrifying: objects that flew across the room, walls oozing green slime, the crucifix that turned upside down on the wall, the hidden red room in the basement and — who can forget — the glowing eyes at night of some demonic, pig-like creature.

WOUNDED KNEE, S.D. — Ever since American soldiers massacred men, women and children here more than a century ago in the last major bloodshed of the American Indian wars, this haunted patch of rolling hills and ponderosa pines has embodied the combustible relationship between Indians and the United States government.

British archaeologists said Thursday they have unearthed a sprawling complex near the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq, home of the biblical Abraham.

The structure, thought to be about 4,000 years old, probably served as an administrative center for Ur, around the time Abraham would have lived there before leaving for Canaan, according to the Bible.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Saplings from the chestnut tree that stood as a symbol of hope for Anne Frank as she hid from the Nazis for two years in Amsterdam are being distributed to 11 locations in the United States as part of a project that aims to preserve her legacy and promote tolerance.

The tree, one of the Jewish teenager's only connections to nature while she hid with her family in a Secret Annex in her father's company building, was diseased and rotted through the trunk when wind and heavy rain toppled it in August 2010.

A German property developing firm has removed parts of a historic stretch of the Berlin Wall amid heavy police presence, despite a week of protests.

Builders removed four segments of the so-called East Side Gallery stretch on Wednesday morning to open access to a building site for blocks of flats.

Some 250 police officers were deployed as the sections were dismantled.

Bumblebees and Pavlov's dogs have something in common: Both can learn to associate two things they've never seen together before.

A new study finds that bees use simple logical steps to learn from other bees which flowers hold the sweetest nectar.

"It really gives us an insight into how complex social-learning behaviors can arise in animals," said study researcher Erika Dawson, a doctoral student at Queen Mary University of London.

Sprinkled with pollen, buzzing bees fly from one blossom to another, collecting sweet nectar from brilliantly colored flowers. Bees tend to symbolize the pollination process, but there are many wild insects that carry out the same function. Unfortunately, wild insect populations are in decline, and, according to a recent study, adding more honey bees may not be a viable solution.

For several decades, scholars have been searching for tangible evidence of Pre-Columbian contacts between the Old and New Worlds. Whether based on cross-cultural comparisons, historical records, studies of linguistics, or anthropological inquiry, these claims have stimulated heated debates and controversy in various fields. In recent times however, there appears to be a growing body of evidence to suggest that there were exchanges between Polynesian seafarers and native peoples in the Americas. From c. 300 to c. 1450 CE, the Polynesians traversed the Pacific Ocean, settling remote island chains like those of present-day Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island. Could they have also made it to the New World? .