(CNN) -- It was another December afternoon back in 2000, spent like hundreds of others combing the rocky hills of the Dikika region, when Ethiopian scientist Zeray Alemseged heard one of his assistants nearby calling him.

Special operations troops at a small military outpost in Afghanistan gave alcohol and steroid-like drugs to a U.S. Army sergeant accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, the soldier's lawyer said Thursday. Attorney John Henry Browne said the special operations troops "pumped" Staff Sgt. Robert Bales with the substances.

Gleaming skyscrapers towering over upwardly mobile professionals and flashy cars cruising along brightly lit avenues; young urbanites zipping past manicured lawns to enter their luxury condos; state-of-the-art labs fostering tech savvy entrepreneurs' million-dollar ideas.

(CNN) -- When Brazilian judges announced their decision to grant bail to the defendants in a nightclub fire that killed 242 people, a woman in the courtroom let out a yell.

(CNN) -- For the second time in five months, Timbuktu's treasured collection of ancient manuscripts is under threat.

(CNN) -- Nearly 5,000 cave paintings found in northeastern Mexico were made by at least three groups of hunter-gatherers who lived in an area previously thought to have been uninhabited, archeologists said.

LONDON (CNN) -- A gruesome cleaver attack on a British soldier left London reeling Thursday, as Britain grappled with questions over who was responsible and whether Islamist extremism was to blame.

LONDON (CNNMoney) -- Pope Emeritus Benedict had made cleaning up the Vatican's reputation for shady money a top priority, and Pope Francis is continuing the effort.

A police shooting of a 69-year-old immigrant has triggered rioting in Sweden.

The number of Syrian civilians who have fled their country to escape the civil war has passed 1.5 million, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday