Animal rights group, The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), called for theme park operator Six Flags Inc, based in New York, to cancel a competition in which people will try to break the world cockroach-eating record.

Six Flags first came under fire by animal rights activists for staging a contest as part of a promotion leading up to Halloween offering customers free entry or line-jumping advantages if they eat a live Madagascar hissing cockroach, which grow between 1.5 to 3 inches.

This Halloween, the Stokes family says their house will be a lot less spooky.

According to police, someone stole almost $1,000 worth of holiday decorations from David Stokes' front lawn.

Thousands of "superheroes" have gathered for the four-day Comic-Con International being held at the San Diego Convention Center. Comic-Con is the nation's largest celebration of comic books and pop culture.

The convention, which started Thursday, attracted Storm Troopers, Flash Gordon, Batmen, Spider-Men and even characters from toy makers. One photographer was seen wearing a Wonder Woman costume.

A human rights group is alleging the United States uses music by Eminem and Dr. Dre to torture detainees in a secret Afghanistan prison.

New York-based Human Rights Watch quotes an Ethiopian-born detainee as saying he was kept in a pitch-black prison and forced to listen to Eminem and Dr. Dre's rap music for 20 days before the music was replaced by "horrible ghost laughter and Halloween sounds."