Meteor slams Russia

A giant fireball from space crashed in Russia. Late last week, a meteor entered Earth's atmosphere at a rate of 30 kilometers per second, crashing into the country's Ural Mountain region. Experts said the meteorite's impact was exponentially stronger than that of an atom bomb. While space organizations around the world expected other space rocks to be flying dangerously close to Earth this week, the event in Russia is said to be a once-in-a-century event. Bring on the conspiracy theories!

Vacation turns to hell

For passengers on the Carnival Triumph cruise ship, a dream vacation turned into hell when an electrical fire in the boat's engine room left the ship without power and a functioning sewage system. The ship's toilets flooded into the hallways, and people were forced to set up "tents" on the deck of the ship and eat cold food. Passengers talked about how poor the conditions were, and I don't doubt them. But they seemed to be a bit too dramatic - especially as the company is giving every passenger a full refund, covering all of their travel expenses, handing over $500 cash and providing a voucher for an entirely free cruise.

Academy Award predictions

We planned our Oscar nominations analysis pretty poorly. As the ceremony will be held on Feb 24, we'll have to give you our final predictions for the 2013 Best Picture award right now. Russell Crowe's singing performance in Les Miserables bordered on unbearable. Aside from some uncomfortable camera angles, the film featured great performances from the other actors and actresses. Still, we don't think it will win Best Picture. Neither will Beasts of the Southern Wild. Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln would be great films to watch in your high school history class. Amour got good reviews, but we didn't get the chance to see it. At the risk of coming off arrogant, we still believe the only movie truly competing with Argo for the Best Picture award is Django Unchained. Find out why.

This wacky world!

Two men in the United States accidentally blew up their home while celebrating a lottery win. Then police found drugs at the house. Arrested!

A massive TV screen in a popular square in China broadcast a Western porn movie for more than 20 minutes. The video director there must have really been enjoying that.

A business executive from the US lost his job and was arrested after he slapped a woman's baby on an airplane. Seriously, who slaps a baby?

The Paralympian sprinter known as Blade Runner was accused of murdering his supermodel girlfriend. Now, the lead investigator on the case has been charged with attempted murder stemming from a 2011 incident.

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THE WEEK Jan 18: Gun control

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）