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Greenpeace Finds Toxic Chemicals in Branded Clothing

Traces of toxic chemicals harmful to the environment and to human health have been detected in products made by 14 top clothing manufacturers, Greenpeace said Tuesday.

Samples of clothing from top brands including Adidas, Uniqlo, Calvin Klein, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lacoste, Converse and Ralph Lauren were found to be tainted with the chemicals, known as nonylphenol ethoxylates, the watchdog said at the launch of its report "Dirty Laundry 2".

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Kim Kardashian Wedding Prompts 22 Calls to Police

Kim Kardashian's weekend wedding kept the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office busy.

Officer Drew Sugars says the Saturday evening ceremony brought 22 calls into the station, mostly complaints from neighbors about loud music and helicopters overhead.

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Prosecutor says Mom Punished Boy to Get on TV

A woman put hot sauce in her adopted 7-year-old son's mouth not to punish the Russian boy for lying but to come up with sensational footage to get on the "Dr. Phil" self-help TV show, a prosecutor argued Monday.

Jessica Beagley, 36, recorded the punishment on Oct. 21, 2010 for a show segment titled "Mommy Confessions," said prosecutor Cynthia Franklin. The Anchorage woman faces misdemeanor child abuse charges stemming from the footage.

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Mexico Marines Rescue Smugglers on The 'High' Seas

Three suspected Mexican drug smugglers have found out the hard way that unlike their boat, marijuana floats.

Mexican marines say they rescued three suspected smugglers whose boat was sinking on the Pacific Ocean and then arrested them after finding bales of marijuana floating around the vessel.

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Iraqis Face New Kind of Power Problem

Iraqis are used to severe electricity shortages, but residents of the central holy city of Karbala have a new kind of power problem: an electricity tower in the middle of a street.

Authorities opened a new street in the Sayed Jowda area of Karbala in mid-July but left the electricity tower, which dates to the 1980s, in place, forcing motorists to drive around it.

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Chinese Diners Flock to Biden Restaurant

Chinese diners are flocking to a restaurant in Beijing whose house specialty is pig intestine in soup after U.S. Vice President Joe Biden lunched there last week, The Global Times reported on Monday.

Biden took time out from official talks in the Chinese capital to eat at the small, family-run eatery in downtown Beijing, earning plaudits from netizens and headlines in China's state-run newspapers praising his "noodle diplomacy".

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Swedish Royal Couple Turned Away from German Restaurant

A red-faced restaurant owner in southern Germany admitted Sunday she had turned away Sweden's king and queen when they asked for a table after failing to recognize them.

Nadine Schellenberger of Zum Gueldenen Stern, a half-timbered inn and pub founded in the 16th century in the center of the southwestern town of Ladenburg, said the royals stopped in while she was hosting a wedding party.

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Brains and Beauty on Show at Naked Readings

Sit back and enjoy readings of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde or Henrik Ibsen, sip a glass of wine -- oh, and gaze upon the readers themselves: they're naked.

That combination of delights is on offer once a month in New York thanks to the enterprising group Naked Girls Reading.

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Nestle Offers Ice-Cream Treat for Lactose-Intolerant Dogs

Swiss food giant Nestle said Friday that it has a treat in store for dogs keen for an ice-cream to cool down in the summer heat.

Its so-called Frosty Paws ice-cream, are "specially formulated for dogs, who are lactose intolerant and cannot digest dairy products such as regular ice-cream properly," said Nestle in a statement.

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Italian Town Honors Mona Lisa Thief as 'Patriot'

The native town of an Italian laborer who stole the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum in Paris 100 years ago on Sunday in the art world's most famous heist will honor him with a play that portrays him as a patriot.

"We believe Peruggia was a patriot," said Simone Toffanin, director of the play entitled "The Trial of Vincenzo Peruggia" -- part of a summer theater festival in the town of Dumenza north of Milan near the shores of picturesque Lago Maggiore.

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