A Megaflood Made England an Island

Poppy on the mend after plunge into ocean off England

(NEWSER) - Poppy the springer spaniel is on the mend after chasing a seagull over a cliff and right into the English Channel. Despite suffering a partially collapsed lung, the dog swam to shore beneath the "Seven Sisters" chalk cliffs on the East Sussex coast and awaited the arrival of a lifeboat. "She ran so fast there was no chance of her stopping," says her owner. "She was shivering," one of Poppy's rescuers tells the Telegraph . "She was cold and nervous but apart from that she was as good as gold." More»

Brazil, meanwhile, lands with Portugal in Group of Death

(NEWSER) - The US team was among the squads getting a favorable draw for next year’s soccer World Cup in South Africa, landing in a four-team group where it and England are the top sides. The top two teams advance from each of eight groups; while the Americans will be expected to advance, five-time champ Brazil isn’t as fortunate, finding itself in the so-called “Group of Death” with powerful Ivory Coast and Portugal. More»

400 went down on Mary Rose as dismayed king watched

(NEWSER) - The bones of King Henry VIII's faithful fighters will soon go on display in a Portsmouth museum, nearly 500 years after they were defeated at sea by the French. The sailors of the flagship Mary Rose went down to defeat in a battle among 80 other Tudor vessels against 225 French ships packed with 30,000 soldiers sent by King Francis I in 1545. The underwater wreck of the Mary Rose was discovered in 1846 by a fisherman. More»

Just how close were Diana and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing?

(NEWSER) - Did they or didn't they? That's what the French wonder now that Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has penned a steamy novel about a French president's affair with an "unhappy" English princess who could be Diana's doppelgänger, reports the Guardian. The pair consummate their love in The Princess and the President after D-Day celebrations. The former president, 83, left office the year Diana married Prince Charles, but they met at charity events. More»

(NEWSER) - Europeans may have longer lives and longer vacations, but red-blooded Americans don't want their socialist ways on this side of the ocean, right wing media mouths are eager to remind everyone, MIchael Freedman writes in Newsweek. Underlying much of the opposition to health care reform is the fear that it's part of an anti-American conspiracy to transform the US into a "European social welfare state," according to Rush Limbaugh. More»