World

Singer Adele insists special guests at her concerts donate cash to her favourite cause in return for complimentary tickets. The Someone Like You singer helps raise funds for Sands, an organisation dedicated to supporting parents coping with the death of an infant, by demanding that everyone who scores a free pass to her shows hand over at least $20 (£12.50) …

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck Los Angeles early Monday morning, but there were no reports of major damage or injuries, officials said. The quake, which was swiftly downgraded from an initial magnitude of 4.7, hit a few miles northwest of Westwood at a depth of 8.5 kilometers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The last words from the cockpit of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 – “all right, good night” – were uttered after someone on board had already begun disabling one of the plane’s automatic tracking systems, a senior Malaysian official said, Reuters reports.

Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson has said she has no regrets about quitting her role as an Oxfam ambassador to promote SodaStream. The actress dropped her title last month after becoming the face of the fizzy drinks firm which has a controversial factory in an Israeli settlement in Palestine.

Nigerian officials say at least 16 people were killed in stampedes when a half-million people were invited to apply for fewer than 5,000 government jobs.

Olivia Wilde, who stars as a suburban sex kitten in Better Living Through Chemistry, writes eloquently in Darling magazine about her volunteer work in Haiti, which had her burying victims with pal Babs Burchfield.

Some California communities want to rely less on water piped in from distant sources and tap their own supplies instead. California is in its third dry year. The historic drought has affected farmland, dried up reservoirs and forced some rural communities to ration water. The Southern California beach city of Santa Monica wants to be water independent by 2020. In …

Target Corp. is acknowledging that its security software picked up on suspicious activity after a massive cyberattack was launched, but says it decided not to take immediate action. The acknowledgement came after a media report said Thursday that Target’s security team in Bangalore received security alerts on Nov. 30 that indicated malicious software had appeared in its network.

Wayne Knight is not dead, contrary to a fake “TMZ Today” report. The site was also the source behind the Chumlee (of “Pawn Stars” fame) death hoax. The actor best known for his portrayal of “Newman” on Seinfeld took to his verified twitter account to dispel the false rumor of his death.

The former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger is reportedly set to wed her longtime boyfriend Lewis Hamilton, according to a report. Pop star and the ex-Formula 1 champion ended their five-year relationship last year, but got back together shortly afterwards. Now the couple has decided to focus on the future after Scherzinger accepted the Brit’s proposal, and they are putting …

Back in 1999, getting a Keanu Reeves-led sci-fi film off the ground would have been a piece of cake. Now it appears that we might never launch Keanu into the atmosphere, with his long-postponed vehicle Passengers hitting yet another snag, as co-star Rachel McAdams exits the film.