Syrian security forces have killed at least 34 people, including an 11-year-old boy, according to witnesses, in the latest crackdown on anti-government protests.

Twelve people were killed in the central city of Homs, while 15 died in the town of Maaret al-Naaman, located near the western city of Idlib, activists said.

The owner of a UPS store stole gift cards that were supposed to be mailed to tornado-ravaged victims in Alabama, and he then spent the money at a Target store, according to police.

Edward Michael Copenhaven, the owner of a UPS outlet in Johns Creek, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of felony theft, the Alpharetta Police Department said Friday. Also arrested and charged with felony theft was his employee, Margaret Kate Carlisle.

The Target gift cards were destined for storm victims in Tuscaloosa. A customer brought the donated cards to Copenhaven's UPS store at 3000 Old Alabama Road and was told they'd be boxed and mailed. Weeks later, when the customer learned from her relatives that the cards had not arrived, she went to the Target in Roswell where they'd been purchased and was told the cards had been used at an Alpharetta Target.

Some 10,000 Georgians rallied in Tbilisi demanding President Mikheil Saakashvili resign, while in the southwestern town of Batumi a witness said demonstrators tried to break into a television building.

Tsira Abuladze, head of news at state television in the autonomous Adjara region on the Black Sea, told Reuters by telephone from Batumi that a crowd of up to 400 people had pushed at doors and threw stones at windows.

So far, so good. No major global earthquake. No airline pilots or critical military personnel suddenly abandoning their posts to ascend into heaven. No rapture. No Apocalypse. No doomsday.

There's still time, of course. Harold Camping's prediction of Rapture today could still come, but time seems to be running out on this round of the beginning of the end of the world.

Camping had predicted that 200 million believers - about 3 percent of the world's population - would disappear today. Those left behind would face 5 months of living hell. So far, the only reported disappearances involve attempts at humor called "rapture bombing," in which people set clothes out to give the impression of a body gone; seems there's always someone conveniently there to snap a picture and post it on Flickr.

With tents, mattresses, a kitchen, a workshop and even a pharmacy, a protest camp in Madrid has grown into a real 'urban village' for thousands of young people. Under blue plastic tarpaulins, demonstrators have gathered in the landmark Puerta del Sol square in the centre of the Spanish capital.

If the world were going to end today - as some Christian evangelicals insist - then chances are good that Qinya Liu would already have picked up on the signs.

As an assistant professor of geophysics at the University of Toronto, Liu understands the mechanics of the planet, but she doesn't seem inordinately concerned about fire and brimstone consuming her neighbourhood any time soon.

"I haven't seen in recent history any hazards that could wipe out life on Earth."

In Liu's view, there are five main mechanisms by which the planet could come to a sudden and sorrowful demise: Meteorites, volcanoes, earthquakes, nuclear wars and attacks by extra-terrestrials.

But of that day and hour no one knoweth, no, not the Angels of Heaven, but the Father alone.

- Jesus of Nazareth

A few weeks ago, my wife and I took a drive to visit friends and family in her small hometown out in western Pennsylvania. It was what you'd expect from a region that has been dealing with economic recession since the steel and rail industries dried up and blew away forty years ago - sweet and beautiful in places, blighted and depressing in others, but with the first faint bloom of spring on the trees whispering of better days to come - except for one strange, glaring thing.

It was one of those digital billboards, looming and gaudy amid the neglected sprawl of Altoona, and displayed on it was something I'd only heard about in passing. According to that blinking monstrosity, Jesus was going to ride back to Earth on the wave of a planet-annihilating earthquake that would summon The Faithful to Heaven and consign the remaining mass of sinful humanity to the yawning doom of the damned. This was to happen on May 21st, roundabout six in the evening (Eastern Standard Time), and the last dregs of the un-chosen would be completely scourged from the Earth by October.

By the time we left for home, I had spotted three more billboards of varying sizes and technologies espousing the same apocalyptic message, and upon our return, I did some digging. As it turned out, these things had been popping up all over the country; even here in liberal Boston, I discovered the existence of one of these billboards not three miles from where I now sit. Something called Family Radio Worldwide, in the guise of a fellow named Harold Camping, laid out the scratch to buy all that billboard space across the continent, because ol' Harold had consulted his trusty Bible, done some wildly questionable math, and pulled the exact moment of the End Times out of his cash-filled hat.

Tragedy strikes tech factory

An explosion at one of the factories Apple uses to make the iPad 2 has claimed the lives of at least two workers.

At approximately Friday 7 p.m. local time in Chengdu, China, the A05 building at the Foxconn campus exploded, propelling debris away from the site. The building structure remained intact, but smoke billowed out from the damage. The situation is now under control, with attentions now turned to the wounded.

10 fire engines, 10 ambulances and many police were at the scene. A Foxconn official statement confirms that there are two dead and 16 other employees injured.

Foxconn said that it is cooperating fully with authorities in determining the cause of the explosion. Early reports are ruling out human factors.

Elberton, Ga. -- Thirty-one years after being erected on a hilltop in Elbert County, the Georgia Guidestones continue to fuel conspiracy theories about its origins and message.

"It says we're simply going to get rid of billions of people," said a visitor from North Carolina about the monument's inscriptions.

The paddlewheel of granite slabs has been a tourist attraction since unveiled on a hilltop just off Highway 77 in Mar. 1980. The 19-foot walls are arranged to track the time of day and seasons.

But it's the 10 "guides" translated into eight languages that have drawn the ire of conspiracy theorists.

Auction site eBay says a bidder has offered 75,000 pounds ($120,000) for the spiraling headpiece worn by Princess Beatrice to last month's royal wedding.

The 22-year-old granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II startled commentators with the swirling hat she wore to the wedding of her cousin Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The silk Philip Treacy creation has been compared to antlers, a toilet seat and a pretzel, and has been photoshopped into scores of unlikely scenarios on the Internet.

Beatrice has taken the joke in stride and put the hat on sale for charity. Proceeds will go to UNICEF and Children in Crisis.

On Saturday 38 bidders were competing for the hat, described on eBay as a "unique sculptural celebratory headpiece."

The auction ends Sunday.

Source: Associated Press