The company at the centre of a viral video at a Coldplay concert has released a tongue-in-cheek clip on social media - featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as a "temporary spokesperson". ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/25/2025 1:31 PM
Serial Guinness World Record-breaker David Rush unofficially broke a record when he and a friend popped 10 balloons between their bodies in 7.5 seconds. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/25/2025 1:17 PM
A South Carolina woman whose husband forgot to buy lottery tickets made her own trip to the store, where a "bright, shiny and glittery" ticket won her $500,000. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/25/2025 11:32 AM
Two wallabies escaped from their owner's home in a Belgian border town and one of the animals was captured days later after crossing the border into France. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/25/2025 11:10 AM
A tortoise who escaped from her family's home in an English town was found more than two weeks later outside an ice cream parlor nearly 3 miles from home. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/24/2025 1:41 PM
A North Carolina road was temporarily closed in Asheville so crews could clean up the minty-fresh, "slippery" mess of spilled toothpaste mixed with sawdust. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/24/2025 12:20 PM
A New Zealand cat named Leo earned the nickname "Leonardo da Pinchy" after he was shown to be a literal cat burglar with a penchant for stealing underwear. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/24/2025 11:31 AM
Firefighters in Coral Springs, Fla., came to the rescue of a raccoon that lived up to its trash panda nickname by getting its leg stuck in an outdoor trash can. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/23/2025 4:09 PM
A Des Moines, Iowa, man who received a scratch-off lottery ticket as a present from a friend ended up scoring a $100,000 surprise for his 42nd birthday. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/23/2025 12:55 PM
Sheriff's deputies in Florida had a "loony" situation on their hands when a coyote was struck by a vehicle and ended up wedged inside the front bumper. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/23/2025 11:39 AM
A Canadian woman with a talent for riding big-wheeled bikes broke two speed records at an Australian track while pedaling a Victorian-style penny farthing. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/23/2025 10:30 AM
Sheriff's deputies in Florida had an unusual day on the job when they were called to wrangle an escaped -- and thirsty -- emu on the loose in Orange County. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/22/2025 1:43 PM
Residents of a California neighborhood are complaining about a local pet pig named Wiggly that they say frequently escapes to dig up and damage their yards. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/22/2025 1:09 PM
A merchant marine from New York City ended up at the Port of Baltimore on assignment and won a $1 million prize from a Maryland Lottery scratch-off ticket. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/22/2025 12:55 PM
Firefighters in a Chicago suburb were called to a train to help capture a ball python that got loose from its owner and slithered into a control box panel. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/22/2025 12:14 PM
Firefighters in Carlisle, England, responded to a local riverbank where four cows had sank into quicksand that hardened overnight into a thick mud. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/22/2025 12:01 PM
An arcade in the Philippines earned a Guinness World Record by installing the world's largest claw machine, which encompasses an area of 1,761 cubic feet. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/22/2025 11:24 AM
A zoo in Thailand used a mascot version of its most famous resident, Moo Deng the pygmy hippo, for a drill testing zookeepers' response to an animal escape. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/21/2025 4:09 PM
A Maryland woman who won a $100,000 lottery prize a few years ago scored another $50,000 prize from a scratch-off -- and this time, she's keeping it a secret. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 7/21/2025 1:47 PM
An animal services officer in Colorado's Arapahoe County came to the rescue of a baby raccoon found taking a nap in the engine compartment of a semi truck. ... Read full Story
"Shell art isn't a new genre; it's been with us for centuries. The Victorians often framed their family photos with shells. ... The medium also came to the fore in the 1970s when everything was embellished with shells, from photo frames and mirrors to trinket boxes and even furniture." — Stephen Crafti, The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 June 2025
Did you know?
Embellish came to English, by way of Anglo-French, from the Latin word bellus, meaning "beautiful." It's in good company: modern language is adorned with bellus descendants. Examples include such classics as beauty, belle, and beau. And the beauty of bellus reaches beyond English: its influence is seen in the French bel, a word meaning "beautiful" that is directly related to the English embellish. And in Spanish, bellus is evidenced in the word bello, also meaning "beautiful."