'Rio' makes nest atop the US box office

AFP, LOS ANGELES, April 25: Audiences swarmed theaters for tropical bird comedy "Rio," which nestled into its perch at the top of the box office for a second week, industry data showed Sunday.

The 3-D cartoon about pet macaw Blu voiced by "Social Network" star Jesse Eisenberg, which bolts from chilly climes to the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, made $26.8 million in the Friday-to-Sunday period, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

After last week scoring the best debut weekend of the year, the film has made just over $81 million since its opening.

In second spot was the latest comedic offering from Tyler Perry, with the critically-panned "Madea's Big Happy Family" that made $25.7 million in its opening weekend.

In third place, starring British heart-throb Robert Pattinson and Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon, was the Depression-era romance "Water for Elephants," taking in $17.5 million also on its debut.

Easter romp "Hop," the real-action-animation hybrid about the wayward son of the Easter Bunny and which had spent two weeks at the top, earned another $12.4 million on the Easter weekend for a domestic total of just over $100 million.

"Scream 4," the latest in director Wes Craven's irony-drenched horror-comedy franchise, slipped three spots to fifth in its second week with $7.1 million.

In sixth, also on its debut, was Disney nature flick "African Cats," narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, which documents the lives of a number of big cats on the African savanna, making $6.4 million in box office receipts.

The weekend estimates showed "Soul Surfer," in the seventh spot with $5.9 million, telling the true story of church-going teen surfer AnnaSophia Robb who returns to the ocean after losing an arm in a shark attack.

Horror flick "Insidious," in which a family finds itself living in a haunted house, picked up $5.3 million for the eighth spot, while "Hanna," a thriller about a teenage assassin raised in the wilds of North Finland, earned $5.2 million for the ninth spot.

Rounding out the top ten was Jake Gyllenhaal's acclaimed sci-fi thriller "Source Code," about a government experiment to find the bomber of a commuter train, which took $5.06 million.

Russians 'never, ever had sex in space': official

AFP, MOSCOW, April 24: Russian or Soviet cosmonauts never had sex in space in the 50 years of human exploration of the cosmos. And that's official, according to a Russian expert. As for Americans, well, you'd better ask them.

"There's no official or unofficial evidence that there were instances of sexual intercourse or the carrying out of sexual experiments in space," Valery Bogomolov, deputy director of the Moscow-based Institute of Biomedical Problems told the Interfax news agency.

"At least, in the history of Russian or Soviet space exploration this most certainly was not the case," said Bogomolov.

Rumours have persisted for years of secret Russian and American programmes to test the effects of weightlessness on sex but this has always been strongly denied by both sides.

"As for American space exploration, well, I just don't have the information to categorically deny that," said Bogomolov. "There are just anecdotal rumours which are not worth trusting," he added.

Fasting Mexican gets her wish to see royal wedding

AFP, MEXICO CITY, April 24: A 19-year-old Mexican woman who fasted for 16 days in a bid for an invitation to the royal wedding of Prince William has finally been granted her wish.

Estibalis Chavez will be flown to London for the April 29 nuptials thanks to an anonymous benefactor, according to the Mexico daily, Milenio.

Chavez camped out in front of the British Embassy in Mexico City in February, refusing to eat, although officials at the embassy had told her she was fasting in vain.

Chavez lost 17 pounds (eight kilos) during her fast, and painted a portrait of Prince William and his fiance Kate Middleton, which the embassy also refused to deliver.

"I've been a fan of Lady Di since I was little and my mother's a fan as well," said Chavez. "And I promised myself I would go to a royal wedding," she told AFP during her fast.