When western diplomats seek concessions from Iran, they typically dish out tough rhetoric and threaten sanctions. Neil MacGregor, the cherub-faced director of the British Museum, uses a more refined arsenal: cultural relics and priceless artifacts. In January, MacGregor traveled to Tehran to finalize the loan of treasures from eight of Iran's best museums. In exchange, he promised to loan the National Museum of Iran the Cyrus Cylinder, a 2,500-year-old clay cylinder inscribed with decrees from the Persian emperor Cyrus the ...

A six-month-old baby had a miraculous escape after his stroller rolled off a railway station platform and into the path of an incoming train. The incident, which happened Thursday at Ashburton railway station in Melbourne, Australia, was captured by CCTV. The footage shows the baby's mother momentarily letting go of the stroller, which then rolls over the edge of the platform. Second later, a train pulls in to the station. The stroller and baby were dragged 30 meters further up ...

In his darkest moment, Kenneth Brown lost it all. His wife and kids, the housebroken dog, the vacation home on Cape Cod all vanished when he was sent to prison for an arson in 1996. Trapped in his gloomy cell and serving a 20-year sentence that felt like an eternity, Brown, then 49, found himself stretched out on the floor. He was silent. His eyes were shut. His body did not move. Brown, a man raised as a Baptist and ...

Raymond J. Clark III, charged with murder in the death of Yale graduate student Annie Le, was smart, amiable and loved his dog, say those who knew him. One researcher said he often went by the lab in the Yale School of Medicine building where Le was found strangled and stuffed in a wall. Lufeng Zhang worked with Clark, he said, and thinks the police may have the wrong man. "He's a nice man, always," he said. Clark, ...

General Motors will unveil a new Pontiac sedan at the Chicago Auto Show today. One researcher said he often went by the lab in the Yale School of Medicine building where Le was found strangled and stuffed in a wall. Lufeng Zhang worked with Clark, he said, and thinks the police may have the wrong man. "He's a nice man, always," he said. Clark, 24, the same age as Le, was a technician in the school of medicine's ...