Russian investigators confirmed on Wednesday that 90-year-old bone fragments found in the Ural region belong to last Russian tsar Nicolas II and his murdered children Alexei and Maria. The Russian prosecutor's office said, "The final results of DNA studies, using three genetic testing systems, confirm the hypothesis that the second grave contained the remains of Grand Duchess Maria and Tsarevich Alexei. "

An international cover model fell to her death from her nine-story apartment Saturday. Ruslana Korshunova, 20, landed on the street of Manhattan's busy financial district at 2:30 pm. Authorities are calling her death a suicide, as reportedly there was no sign of struggle inside her apartment.

A controversial plan for a 54,000-square-foot mansion proposed by Russian mogul Valery Kogan was rejected by officials after receiving a flurry of complaints from neighbors saying the house would be too large. The permit was denied Tuesday by the Greenwich Planning and Zoning Commission, halting construction of what would have been the largest single-family residence since the city began reviews back in 2001.

he riches of Britain's 1,000 richest people grew even more by almost 15 percent last year to reach US$819 billion, according to The Sunday Times Rich List. Indian-born steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal was ranked Britain's wealthiest man for the fourth consecutive year, with a fortune worth Ł27. 7 billion (US$55 billion), from Ł19. 25 billion last year. He is now the sixth richest person in the world.

Fourteen members of a Russian doomsday cult returned to civilization on Tuesday after six months of living in a primitive underground cave. They were anticipating the end of the world in May. A total of 35 people entered the cave in early November to await the end of the world, which they said would happen in May. They told authorities that they would detonate gas canisters if police tried to remove them by force. Vice Governor Oleg Melnichenko said the cult's underground hillside shelter, which was built in the Penza region, about 400 miles southeast of Moscow, had collapsed around dawn Tuesday due to melting snow.