'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' shatters box-office record with $238 million

Disney/Lucasfilm"The Force Awakens."

The opening weekend box-office run by "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is nothing short of historic.

It goes without saying that the seventh episode in the "Star Wars" saga topped the weekend box office, but the question is was it enough to surpass "Jurassic World" as the biggest opening weekend of all time?

The answer is yes. "Force Awakens" surpassed the record of $208.4 million set by "World" over the summer with an astounding estimated $238 million in North America, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Industry insiders believe the number could be closer to $240 million. Final weekend totals come out on Monday.

Wuse market, Abuja razed by fire

Some parts of the popular Wuse market in Abuja was razed by fire with goods running into millions lost in the disaster. Men of the fire service are still working to put out the fire. The cause of the fire is not yet known. See more photos after the cut...

Kenya releases photos of Al-Shabaab suspects who are planning attacks, issues nationwide alert

A security alert has been issued in Kenya following reports that 11 terrorists (pictured) are planning to carry out attacks in the country during the festive season.

Some of them have been on the police watch list of most wanted terrorists for more than a year but fled to Al-Shabaab camps in Somalia. Intelligence reports label them as "armed and dangerous" and indicate they may have sneaked back into the country.

Large billboards of their photographs have been erected in counties bordering Somalia. Similar billboards were mounted in Nairobi when their identities were first made public. The billboards also display police hotlines 999, 112, 020-2199151 and 0702432877.

Bus carrying tourists plunges off a cliff in Thailand, killing people

A bus carrying Chinese tourists collided with another vehicle and plunged off a cliff in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Sunday, December 20. Number of fatalities is unknown at the moment. More photos after the cut...

Six passengers are reportedly being questioned over the Air France bomb scare

A plane heading to Paris, France made an emergency landing in Kenya this morning following a bomb scare.

Air France's Flight AF 463 was heading to Paris from Mauritius but it was forced to land inKenya after a suspect package was found in the toilets.

The package in question looked like "a stopwatch mounted on a box," an unnamed police official told the Associated Press.

Hillary Clinton made clear that she's already looking ahead to the general election

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went into the third Democratic debate on Saturday with a clear message: Democrats need to nominate a candidate who can beat the Republican nominee.

Clinton bookended her appearance at the debate in New Hampshire by drawing a "stark contrast" between herself and the Republican Party.

“We have to prevent the Republicans from rolling back the progress that we’ve made,” Clinton said during her opening remarks.

Bomb found inside a Catholic Church in Kenya, device set to be denotated by experts

 

A mass service was cut short this morning at Our Lady of Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Kirinyaga, Kenya, after an explosive was found on one of the pews. Photos of bomb experts about to denotate the device.

Will Smith: Movie 'Concussion' touches raw nerve for NFL

By now, even the most casual NFL fans are aware that head injuries are a serious cause for concern in the sport. But this Christmas the Hollywood blockbuster "Concussion" is set to spread that message to the masses.

"I probably won't be getting my free Super Bowl tickets this year," said actor Will Smith, who plays Dr. Bennet Omalu, the man who discovers the link between American football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Democratic debate: Clinton, Sanders spar over ISIS, taxes and Wall Street

"Thank you, good night and may the force be with you," is how Hillary Clinton wrapped up her closing statement in Saturday night's Democratic debate.

Really.

Clinton, confident enough to wink at the new "Star Wars" movie, played up the differences between Democrats and Republicans, arguing that gains in gay rights, voting rights, funding for Planned Parenthood and more would be reversed if the GOP took the White House.

Football manager Neil Lennon in 'knife threat' to mistress after she threatened to tell his partner about affair

Alleged threats: Bolton manager Neil Lennon

Soccer boss Neil Lennon’s mistress has told of their ­relationship – and how he made a knife threat to her when she told him she would tell his partner.

It is a story the Bolton boss and BBC pundit tried to ban after he claimed he was the victim.

But today we can reveal how he had a year-long romance with the woman – 20 years his junior – behind his long- term partner’s back.

He began dating the girl after meeting her in a pub. But she claims their affair soured when she found Lennon had started seeing a third woman.

It was then that she threatened to go to his partner – only for Lennon to turn nasty, telling her someone “could” put a knife to her throat if she spoke out.

Man faces life in prison after killing friend over $700 Super Bowl bet

A New Jersey man may spend the rest of his life in prison after refusing to spend $700 to pay his friend after losing a Super Bowl bet in 2013. Eddie Roberson killed Talif Crowley instead, Essex County prosecutors argued this month, and on Wednesday, a jury agreed, finding Roberson guilty of murder,NorthJersey.com reports. Roberson, 31, is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 22.

The whistleblower who exposed U.S.’s flawed security clearance system finally gets his reward

 He was new on the job, trying to find out why morale was so low. In a gathering with two senior managers, he asked what they didn’t like about their work.

“I hate that we dump,” one of them confided.

“What do you mean?” Blake Percival asked.

The answer — that the company was cutting corners performing the federal background checks used in granting security clearances — put him on a collision course with his superiors and eventually turned him into one of the government’s most significant whistleblowers in years. That confrontation not only cost him his job and dignity, it left him in such financial distress that at the beginning of this week, he had just $54.51 in his bank account, hoping he would make it to his next payday.

They knew they’d marry someday. Then a gunman stole their future on live TV.

 

Chris Hurst wakes up in the two-bedroom condo he shared with slain WDBJ7 reporter Alison Parker. He picks out his wardrobe inside a closet lined with her dresses. He makes smoothies in their kitchen where the whiteboard shows her unerased message: “I ♥ U!”

Now, on a mid-November morning, the 28-year-old anchor stands before a mirror inside the CBS station in southwest Virginia where they met and fell in love. He tightens the magenta tie she picked out at a Men’s Wearhouse, adjusts the striped socks she selected on a trip, then pads into WDBJ’s brand new “Studio A,” the letter “A” signifying a posthumous honor.

One type of legal drug is killing far more people than heroin — and deaths just hit record numbers

In just a year, overdose deaths from opioid painkillers and heroin jumped 14%, hitting record levels in 2014, according to a newCenters for Disease Control and Prevention report released Friday.

Between 2000 and 2014, nearly half a million Americans died from overdoses involving these drugs, which research suggests act similarly in the brain.

The most commonly prescribed opioid painkillers — like oxycodone and hydrocodone — were involved in more overdose deaths than any other type of the drug. Those deaths rose by 9%.

"The increasing number of deaths from opioid overdose is alarming," CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a press release.

12yr old Sikh boy accused of plotting to blow up his school in Texas

In a Facebook post shared on Tuesday, December 15, Armaan Singh Sarai's cousin Ginea Haer said that a student at his school in Dallas, Texas, accused him of possessing a bomb which led to Sarai being taken out of school and sent to a juvenile detention center without his parents being told. Since then, however, Arlington, Texas, police said they indeed went to Nichols Junior High School on Friday after a student told a teacher that Sarai told him he was planning to blow up the school. Sarai's family insists he was framed. Read her post after the cut...

Man jailed for 28 years after 'woman dreamt he raped her' to gain freedom

A Colorado man who spent almost three decades in prison after a woman 'dreamed' that he raped her may soon go free. Denver District Court Judge Kandace Gerdes overturned Clarence Moses-El’s 1988 conviction, after he has served more than half of his 48-year sentence.

Miranda Kerr's naked Harper's Bazaar cover pulled from Australian supermarket chain

Banned: Miranda Kerr's raunchy cover

An Australian supermarket chain has pulled Miranda Kerr's racy Harper's Bazaar magazine cover from its shelves.

The former Victoria's Secret beauty stripped completely naked for the latest issue of the monthly glossy, and it appears to have caused quite a stir - and not the good kind.

The magazine hit newsstands just days ago, on December 14, but Coles supermarket has already reportedly removed around 3,000 copies of the magazine from its 800 stores.

A spokesperson for Coles supermarket told The Sydney Morning Herald that customer feedback was the reason for the ban.

See how skinny teen was transformed into 'The Beast' after achieving childhood dream of looking like cartoon villain

Jens Dalsgaard, 31

He boasts over 40 tattoos on his face and body, has 275lbs of muscle and consumes a whopping 5500 calories per day.

Meet the man they call JENS THE BEAST – and he even has his very own BEAUTY.

Jens Dalsgaard, 31, has achieved fame over the internet for his gargantuan appearance, earning him the popular nickname ‘The Beast’.

Jens, from Denmark, stands at 5 foot 10 inches tall with a strapping chest size of 140cm and an arm circumference of 58 cm.

And just like the Beast from the fairy tale, Jens has his very own Belle – in the form of his gorgeous girlfriend, Frederikke.

The 15 defining tech moments of 2015

This year was huge for the tech industry. 

From Apple launching its first wearable to Tesla rolling out its (almost) driverless car, there were a lot of major events that not only captured the attention of the masses, but also helped spur big changes in the advancement of new technologies. 

Here's a look at the 15 defining tech moments that changed our world in 2015. 

Yazidi woman held as sex slave for three months by ISIS and gang raped speaks out about hideous suffering

Brave: Nadia Murad Basee was treated as a sex slave for three months

A young Yazidi woman who was tortured and treated as a sex slave for three months by ISIS fighters has bravely revealed her horrific ordeal.

"Rape was used to destroy women and girls and to guarantee that these women could never lead a normal life again," Nadia Murad Basee Taha, 21, told the UN Security Council.

The young woman, who was abducted in August last year from her village in Iraq, added: "Islamic State has made Yazidi women into flesh to be trafficked in".

Nadia described her horrific ordeal, saying how she was taken by bus to a building in the ISIS stronghold of Mosul, where thousands of Yazidi women and children were exchanged by militants as gifts.

7 qualities you'll never see in millionaires

Looking to make it to millionaire status?

Simply do as the rich do.

You'll never find these seven qualities in millionaires — and we're sharing why.

Super Condoms that kill HIV virus and enhances pleasure

 

A new hydrogel-based condom that contains antioxidants has been invented by a team of Indian-American scientists at the Texas A&M University Health Science Center. Not only does it contain plant-based antioxidants, which kills the HIV-virus in case of condom breakage but it also uses antioxidants to enhance pleasure. Experts say it is the new big player to join the fight against AIDS

"We are not only making a novel material for condoms to prevent the HIV infection, but we are also aiming to eradicate this infection if possible. Supercondom could help fight against HIV infection and may as well prevent unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. If we succeed, it will revolutionize the HIV prevention initiative"

Killer dad hacked to death his six kids, pregnant wife and mum 'over son's parrot HAIRCUT'

Tragic: The murdered children were aged between seven and one-years-old

A dad says he brutally slaughtered his pregnant wife, six children and his own mum because he was furious over his son’s haircut.

Oleg Belov told a court he killed his entire family during a savage ten-minutes because of his six-year-old son’s “parrot” haircut.

Speaking during his trial in Russia, he told how his wife Yulia, 32, wanted to divorce him and said they had been arguing over his son's haircut.

Twisted San Bernardino terrorist plotted more mass atrocities

Farook’s former neighbour Enrique Marquez, accused of supplying the couple with assault rifles, told investigators he and the 28-year-old killer planned earlier mass casualties, according to prosecutors.

US Attorney Eileen Decker said the two men conspired to commit "vicious" assaults on targets including a California community college and a state highway during rush hour.

She said: “Even though these plans were not carried out, Mr Marquez's criminal conduct deeply affected San Bernardino… and the entire United States when the guns purchased by Marquez were used to kill 14 innocent people and wound many others.

UN creates plan to wipe out ISIS by destroying its finances

SAVAGE: The UN wants to wipe out ISIS' funding

The plan has been devised to ruin revenue ISIS gains from oil and antiquities sales, ransom payments and other depraved criminal activities.

ISIS - also known as Daesh - is already subject to UN sanctions under resolutions dealing with al-Qaeda.

The resolution, supported by the US and Russia, elevates the barbaric death cult to the same level as al-Qaeda.

It calls for a financial freeze on ISIS, along with a travel ban and arms embargo.

US treasury secretary Jacob Lew branded the savage terror group "a challenging financial target" because unlike other organisations it gets a relatively small share of its funding from donors abroad.

ISIS controls a large swath of Syria and Iraq, including oil and gas fields, though bombing campaigns by the US-led coalition and ground forces have enabled Iraq to regain some territory.