Google Inc. is building a data center in Taiwan — its third in Asia after Hong Kong and Singapore — to meet the rapidly growing online demand across the region, the company said Tuesday.

The three data centers — with investment totaling $700 million — will provide users with faster, more reliable access to various Google products, the Internet search giant said as its Taiwan facility broke ground in the western county of Changhua.

Most people associate the drama of the Titanic with icebergs, lifeboats, and flares fired into the night. Few think of the heartbreak that took place as news of the tragedy filtered home.

A tiny Slavic minority in Germany is keeping alive a long and intricate tradition of hand-painting Easter eggs with the help of feathers and wax.

Shortly after Christmas every year, Karin Hannusch gets to work decorating up to 600 eggs for the annual Easter market in Schleife, a center of the small Sorbian community.

The Miss Universe Organization announced Tuesday that it might reverse an earlier decision and allow a transgender woman to enter the Miss Universe Canada pageant.

Jenna Talackova, 23, was born male, leading organizers to disqualify her last month as a finalist in the 61st Miss Universe Canada pageant in May.

Gene scans for everyone? Not so fast. New research suggests that for the average person, decoding your own DNA may not turn out to be a really useful crystal ball for future health.

Today, scientists map entire genomes mostly for research, as they study which genetic mutations play a role in different diseases. Or they use it to try to diagnose mystery illnesses that plague families. It's different from getting a genetic test to see if you carry, say, a particular cancer-causing gene.

For years, women have been urged to get screened for breast cancer because the earlier it's found the better. Now researchers are reporting more evidence suggesting that's not always the case.

A study in Norway estimates that between 15 and 25 percent of breast cancers found by mammograms wouldn't have caused any problems during a woman's lifetime, but these tumors were being treated anyway. Once detected, early tumors are surgically removed and sometimes treated with radiation or chemotherapy because there's no certain way to figure out which ones may be dangerous and which are harmless.

A new Arabic-language TV news channel, Sky News Arabia, with links to media magnate Rupert Murdoch said on Tuesday it plans to begin broadcasting next month.

The announcement of the May 6 launch comes after more than two years of preparation for Sky News Arabia to join the increasingly crowded Arabic news market. It is also a boost for Abu Dhabi's efforts to challenge Dubai as a regional media hub.

A 21 months old boy from Oregon drowned in a top-loading washer while helping his mother with laundry, the Associated Presse said Tuesday.

Ollie Hebb was his mother's helper on laundry day, climbing atop a bin so he could toss clothes into a top-loading washer.

Auctioneers in Hong Kong sold 10 paintings seized from a South Korean bank that collapsed amid a corruption scandal to raise $2.4 million to help repay depositors, the Associated Presse said Tuesday.

Contemporary paintings by Chinese and Western artists were among the works that went on the block, including works by noted Chinese artists Zeng Fanzhi and Zhang Xiaogang and American Julian Schnabel.

Etihad Airways said on Tuesday that its sales have jumped 28 percent to $989 million so far this year as it pushed ahead with its rapid expansion, the Associated Presse reported.

The Abu Dhabi-based airline's CEO James Hogan said the airline turned a profit in the first three months of 2012. That follows its first year in the black in 2011. He declined to provide quarterly earnings figures.