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Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is looking into a tense exchange between a pilot and an air-traffic controller. According to WSB-TV – Atlanta, the exchange happened Friday when a controller told a pilot his plane was approaching the wrong taxiway. “Hey, you know what? We’ll taxi out there any way we want unless you tell us to. I don’t like your attitude,” the pilot said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday it is proposing a $12 million civil fine against Southwest Airlines for failing to comply with safety regulations related to repairs on Boeing 737 jetliners. It is the second-largest fine the agency has proposed against an airline. The largest proposed fine was against American Airlines for $24.2 million in August 2010. That one was ultimately settled for $24.9 million as part of American’s bankruptcy proceedings, although the final settlement included other safety violations not part of the original proposal. …

America's position as the world's leading power inevitably makes it a love-it-or-hate-it nation. Such is the complexity of global politics and conflict, its reputation is constantly in flux - whether its providing humanitarian aid with one hand or diving into a war with the other. But a new survey has been released which could well give Washington a clearer idea about where to focus its attention in the coming years.

The collective noun is a terror of tyrannosaurs: a pack of the prehistoric predators, moving and hunting in numbers, for prey that faced the fight of its life. That tyrannosaurs might have hunted in groups has long been debated by dinosaur experts, but with so little to go on, the prospect has remained firmly in the realm of speculation. But researchers in Canada now claim to have the strongest evidence yet that the ancient beasts did move around in packs. At a remote site in north-east British Columbia - in the west of Canada - they uncovered the first known...

Ötzi’s human genome was decoded from a hip bone sample taken from the 5,300 year old mummy. However the tiny sample weighing no more than 0.1 g provides so much more information. A team of scientists analyzed the non-human DNA in the sample. They found evidence for the presence of Treponema denticola, an opportunistic pathogen involved in the development of periodontal disease. Ötzi's human genome was decoded from a hip bone sample taken from the 5,300 year old mummy. However the tiny sample weighing no more than 0.1 g provides so much more information. A team of scientists from EURAC...

The panel, carved in Nubian Sandstone, was found recently in a tomb at the site of Sedeinga, in modern-day Sudan. It is about 5.8 feet (1.8 meters) tall by 1.3 feet (0.4 m) wide, and was found in two pieces. Originally, it adorned the walls of a temple at Sedeinga that was dedicated to Queen Tiye (also spelled Tiyi), who died around 1340 B.C. Several centuries after Tiye's death — and after her temple had fallen into ruin — this panel was reused in a tomb as a bench that held a coffin above the floor. Scars of a revolution...

“One of the odd burials is in Grave 1003, which had been excavated by our Italian colleagues,” Sajjadi said. The skeleton of 45-year-old man is located in the center of the circle-shaped grave and skulls of two dogs are placed above his head. In addition, 12 human skulls were placed on the north side of the grave, he stated, adding that to date, no other example of such a burial has been discovered in the Burnt City. Due to the structure of the grave, Sajjadi stated, “The grave undoubtedly belongs one of the peoples who had migrated from the Central...

For the first time in three decades, paleontologists are about to revisit one of North America's most remarkable troves of ancient fossils: The bones of tens of thousands of animals piled at the bottom of a sinkhole-type cave. Natural Trap Cave in Wyoming is 85 feet (25 meters) deep and almost impossible to see until you're standing right next to it. Over tens of thousands of years, many, many animals—including now-extinct mammoths, short-faced bears, American lions and American cheetahs—shared the misfortune of not noticing the 15-foot-wide (4 meters) opening until they were plunging to their deaths. Now, the U.S. Bureau...

...an ancient naval ram used by the army of Mithradates VI of the Bosporan Kingdom to quell a popular uprising against him in Phanagoria in 63 B.C. One-meter long ram and presumably made of bronze, it has an engraving of Mithradates VI, the king of Pontus from 119 to 63 B.C. who was the most powerful king in Anatolia during the 1st century B.C... The ram was found in the submerged part of Phanagoria, the largest Greek colony on the Taman peninsula, not far from the 15-meter-long ship that was previously unearthed in 2012... and proves that the ship was...

An ancient inscription discovered on a 14th century church in Spain's Galicia region has been identified as Gaelic; the first written evidence of the northern region’s Irish and Scottish heritage. For centuries it has gone unnoticed, weathered by Galicia’s incessant drizzle but still visible to those with an eagle-eye. On one of the granite walls of Santiago church in the small town of Betanzos, a small previously unintelligible inscription five metres above ground kept historians and epigraphists, or people who study ancient inscriptions, baffled for decades. Researchers working for a private association called the Gaelaico Project now believe they've finally...

The White House announced today it's new immigration program called "You Think You Had It Bad". Josh Earnest, the new White House paid liar, announced that the President was earnest and not joshing with the new program. Under the "You Think You Had It Bad" program, all new illegal immigrants (or new Democratic voters) will be shipped to Chicago for 10 days. Immigrants will be housed and processed in the Chicago Southside. Success of the program hinges upon the immigrants being exposed to at least two weekends in the city. It is felt that after two weekends in Chicago most...

They were intended to be among the first animals to join the 350-mile-high club, but now a group of geckos sent into space to reproduce may be at risk. The five lizards - four male and one female - launched on a research satellite on 19 July to study the effects of weightlessness on their sex lives.

His pilot's license fresh in his hands, an Indiana teenager set out in June for the adventure of a lifetime: an around-the-world flight with his father designed to break a record and raise money to build schools in his father's native Pakistan. Just days before the father and son were to return home to Indiana, the trip turned tragic when their plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean shortly after leaving Pago Pago in American Samoa on Tuesday night. The body of 17-year-old Haris Suleman was recovered, but crews were still searching Wednesday for the father, Babar Suleman. The Sulemans left...

It is hardly the way to win over tourists, but this Irish cafe doesn't seem to care. Peter's Place, a pretty eatery in County Kerry, has placed a notice in its window banning 'loud American's from entering. The cafe lists the undesirables it would prefer not to receive in its establishment, including bus and coach tours and rowdy tourists from across the Pond.

It may seem to some as something of a dream job - working alongside childhood heroes such as Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck. But in order to get, and keep, a job as a character at a Disney park or resort, employees must abide by a number of strict rules, ranging from the obvious to the bizarre. For anyone thinking of trying to get a job at a Magic Kingdom, here is a rundown of some of the more idiosyncratic employee rules implemented by the bosses at Disney.

Once a year rental marketIt is that time of year when San Diegans open their homes to strangers. People across the county rent rooms, apartments, condos and houses to visitors of Comic-Con. It is the largest convention in San Diego, and places to stay are hard to find and expensive -- leaving the door open the locals who want to make some extra money renting out space for the convention. But there can be complications. Besides the fact that you are opening your door to complete strangers, many rental contracts and Condo Association rules ban renting out your property. Regardless,...

Thousands of litres of beer were spilled on a motorway near Duisburg in western Germany on Monday night, when a truck carrying several hundred crates of Bitburger toppled over, shutting the Autobahn. Germans damage World Cup trophy at afterparty (21 Jul 14) Police find cannabis growing on motorway (18 Jul 14) Burglars steal 300,000 litres of beer (15 Jul 14) The truck was on the A40 motorway heading towards Dortmund and was approaching the A3 motorway towards Arnheim at the Kaiserberg interchange. The 66-year-old driver then lost control of the vehicle and slid off the road. Hundreds of bottles were...

The craters, believed to be formed by an underground explosion, are now filled with snow and ice. Reindeer herders in Russia's Far North have discovered yet another mysterious giant hole about 30 kilometers away from a similar one found days earlier. Located in the permafrost of the subarctic Siberian region of Yamal, which means "end of the earth" in the local Nenets language, both craters appear to have been formed in recent years and have icy lakes at their bases. Scientists who examined the first hole theorized that it could have been created when a mixture of water, salt and...

The highlight of the excavation was the discovery of a Judea Capta coin, which was minted by Roman Emporor Domitian during his reign of 81 – 96 CE in honor of the conquest of Judea and the destruction of Jersusalem in 70 CE by his father, Vespasian, and brother, Titus. Christie Cobb, a doctoral student at Drew University in New Jersey, discovered the coin. There are only 48 other versions of this coin that have been found, and fewer still at Biblical sites such as Bethsaida. “The coin confirms other ceramic data about the date of the large Roman period...

The peer-to-peer property renting website, artAirbnb, makes it possible for people in crisis-stricken states to earn extra money, but the company itself has placed its headquarters in places like Ireland, Jersey and Delaware to avoid paying tax. EurActiv France reports. […] In late March 2014, the website announced that one million French holidaymakers used Airbnb since it launched in 2008, the same number as in the UK. In Spain, one million tourists used the website to rent property. The French Ministry of Finances has condemned this kind of revenue. “France has nothing to gain from developing this kind of renting…...