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Vladimir Putin helped release rare, orphaned Amur tigers into the wild on Thursday, the latest of several events apparently meant to portray the Russian president as an outdoorsman with a strong interest in wildlife conservation. _0"> Russian TV footage showed Putin, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, tugging on a rope to help open a gate and let the tigers - two males and a female - lope off into the wooded taiga of the remote Amur region in eastern Siberia. The males were found as cubs in 2012, presumably orphaned when poachers killed their mothers, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which helped organize what it called the largest release of rehabilitated Amur tigers ever.   true       It said there are some 360 tigers in the wilds of class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Russia , down from more than 400 at the turn of the century, and that poaching, logging, wildfires and shrinkage in the population of the hoofed animals they prey upon post

Costa Rica's social security system has agreed to extend medical benefits to same-sex couples, in a fresh step toward equal rights for gays and lesbians in Latin America. _0"> The board of directors of the country's social security system, known as the Caja, voted unanimously to extend the benefits on Thursday night. It now has three months to implement a framework to recognize same-sex couples for class="mandelbrot_refrag"> health insurance and hospital visitation rights. Costa Rica, a retirement haven for a growing number of U.S. citizens, has not legalized gay marriage or civil unions. A bill on gay civil unions has been pending in the National Assembly for years.   true       New center-left President Luis Guillermo Solis, who hoisted the gay pride flag at the presidential palace in an act of solidarity on May 16, says he wants to grant the gay and lesbian community more rights. But he does not support gay marriage. (Reporting by Zach Dyer; Ed

It was just a routine birthday for Jeralean Talley on Friday – a visit to the doctor in the morning, birthday cake in the afternoon for the Michigan resident. Except that Talley, who turned 115 on Friday, is believed to be the oldest person in the United States and the second-oldest in the world, according to Gerontology Research Group, which validates ages of the world's longest-living people. Talley, who lives in the Detroit suburb of Inkster, credits her faith for her longevity. "It's the Lord. Everything is in his hands," she said in an interview at the one-story brick home she shares with her daughter Thelma Holloway, 76.   true       She now uses a walker, but Talley bowled until she was 104. She never smoked or drank alcohol and her only surgery was to have her tonsils removed, she said. "I feel fine," Talley said. Talley is not impressed by the attention from the public and news media she gets now on her birthday. "I'm sick of it,&qu

Nissan Motor Co is looking to give its Infiniti premium brand a design makeover that will dilute its Japanese roots and flaunt a more "passionate" Latin feel. The bold initiative aims to rev up an upscale brand that has struggled to establish itself in a competitive global market for premium class="mandelbrot_refrag"> autos . Launched a quarter of a century ago in the United States with an emphasis on its Japanese aesthetics, Infiniti sold about 180,000 cars globally in the year to end-March - about a tenth of rival Audi's sales. Now seeking to attract Chinese car buyers and more genuinely compete with established global premium brands such as Daimler's Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen's Audi, Infiniti is quietly scaling back its Japanese roots and "going global", says the brand's chief Johan de Nysschen.   true       To stand apart from "cold and clinical"-looking German rivals, Infiniti aims to be "a seductive provocat

On March 14 last year, an Israeli woman and her three daughters were hurt in a car wreck on the road between the Jewish settlement of Ariel and the Palestinian village of Hares in the occupied West Bank. Five village boys were arrested and accused of throwing stones at cars and causing the crash. The incident has become emblematic for both sides of the decades-old conflict between neighbors who despise each other - and shows how young lives on both those sides can be reduced to ruins.   true       A three-year old Israeli girl in the car was paralyzed and suffered brain damage. The jailed teens, all aged 16 at the time of the incident, face possible life sentences for attempted murder. Israelis fed up with frequent such attacks have rallied around the case. The boys' families say they threw no stones and that the settlers convinced the mother to blame the crash on them out of spite. "Shame on you! You have your children, now give me back mine," said 17-year-old sus

(This May 13, 2014 story was refiled to correct the final words in quote in last paragraph and adds how Reuters received a copy of Umanets' video statement) A Mark Rothko painting vandalized at London's Tate Modern gallery 18 months ago went back on public view on Tuesday after the first-ever effort to strip graffiti ink off a major artwork without damaging the layers of paintwork.   true       Rothko's "Black on Maroon" was attacked in October 2012 by an aspiring artist who scrawled "Vladimir Umanets '12, A Potential Piece of Yellowism" in a lower corner. One of the Seagram Murals commissioned for the Four Seasons restaurant in 1958, the painting was valued at five million to nine million pounds by class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Sotheby's . Rothko donated it to the Tate in 1970. A Polish national called Wlodzimierz Umaniec, also known as Vladimir Umanets, claimed the graffiti was a creative act to promote his artistic movement, Y

The maker of the Ambassador has halted production of the iconic car, long the choice of Indian officialdom, citing weak demand and a lack of funds and casting doubt on the future of a vehicle that has looked essentially the same for nearly six decades. Hindustan Motors Ltd said in a statement it had suspended work at its Uttarpara plant, outside the eastern city of Kolkata, until further notice. Modeled on Britain's Morris Oxford, the Ambassador was the first car to be made in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> India , according to the company, and was once a status symbol.   true       But it began losing its dominance in the mid-1980s when Maruti Suzuki introduced its low-priced 800 hatchback. It lost further cachet and market share when global automakers began setting up shop in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> India in the mid-1990s, offering models with contemporary designs and technology. The Ambassador has remained the choice of a dwindling share of bur