The family of Xinran Ji (inset), a USC graduate student who died after being beaten in a robbery, arrived to see him at a funeral home in Los Angeles on Thursday. They stepped outside 45 minutes later. His mother and father were overcome with emotion. Ji's parents don't speak English so a cousin spoke on behalf of the family, with help from a translator, who said Ji was killed just one year before he was set to graduate.

The woman who was jailed in Sudan for marrying a Christian finally arrived in the US tonight after her 10 month nightmare amid joyous scenes of jubilation. Meriam Ibrahim smiled and hugged her supporters as she landed in Manchester, New Hampshire and told a friend: 'Don't cry, I'm here now', pictured. Friend Maria Ajang said: 'She was so happy. She said: 'I'm so happy to see you guys here'. 'I was crying and she told me don't cry, I'm here'. Meriam's husband Daniel Wani sobbed uncontrollably, pictured with his wife left, and said: 'It's good to be home' as the couple were greeted alongside their two children, one of whom was born in captivity.

Kelsey Zachow of Mt Clemens, Michigan won the $66million lottery drawn on June 13, but she didn't realize it until 11 days later. She has decided to take a lump sum payment of about $27million, which she plans to spend on a new house, vacations and cars. She also wants to spend the money on college tuition for her younger family members, including 7-month-old son Benjamin (pictured together left).

Florida State University law professor Dan Markel, gunned down in the garage of his Betton Hills home on July 18, had fears for his safety after receiving a series of strange messages. He began receiving a series of curious Facebook friend requests in the months before his murder. Markel, 41, seemed concerned in January when he posted, 'Is anyone else getting pestered just in the last week or so by obviously ridiculous or malevolent friend requests on fb from people with sham profiles all over the world w no possible connection to you

The Australians had paid 21-year-old Pattharamon Janbua $11,700 to give them a baby but when she gave birth to twins - a boy and a girl - they only took the girl home to Australia. Baby boy Gammy has a congenital heart condition and is critically unwell. The couple, who have remained anonymous, reportedly told Ms Janbua to have an abortion when they found out four-months into the pregnancy that one of the babies had Down syndrome. An online campaign for baby Gammy has now raised over $50,00 on Friday after his story was shared.

The young men and women were thought to be part of 50-strong group living along the Envira river on the Brazil-Peru border, where campaigners say they were driven away after their huts were set alight and they were shot at. Speaking to a translator in the local Panoan language, the natives spoke of vultures eating the bodies of relatives they had been unable to bury. Some then contracted the flu - which can be fatal. The campaigners believe cocaine-growing gangs on Brazil-Peru border are likely to be responsible but the region's 600 uncontacted natives are also being threatened by oil and gas mining and illegal logging. Footage shows them wading into the river (bottom left) before accepting bananas (top left) and even handling a rifle (right).

A Canadian photographer father who just couldn't take himself completely from his work while looking after his daughter devised a compromise: he'd shoot their LEGOs. What they created is an astounding mix of talent and fun: LEGO dioramas, one for each state, that exemplify the state's best, worst or just best known characteristic. Jeff Friesen and his daughter June call their amazing collaboration 50 States of LEGO and they depict everything from the paparazzi showdowns of Southern California to the crab infested shores of Maryland and the tornado-whipped and corn-filled plains in between.

Bassel Saad, 36, (left) sobs during a hearing on Wednesday in Livonia, Michigan where he faces a second-degree murder charge for fatally punching 44-year-old soccer referee and married father-of-two John Bieniewicz (below) on June 29 at an adult-league soccer match in the Detroit-area. Scott Herkes demonstrates with defense attorney Ali Hammoud (top right) the punch during a court hearing.

Nathaniel Kibby, 34, top left, was arraigned Tuesday in North Conway, N.H. on charges he kidnapped 15-year-old Abigail Hernandez, top right. Local resident Tammy Shackford, pictured bottom left, tells MailOnline she was viciously shoved to the ground by Kibby in March, following an argument over a car accident. People who have crossed paths with Kibby over the years call him 'crazy Nate' Says one neighbor, 'We expected him to go on a rampage or go crazy with a bomb, not kidnap a child.' A K-9 unit was brought in to search the area surrounding his property on Thursday, pictured right.

During this time there will be negotiations on a more durable truce in the 24-day-old Gaza war, the UN and US said. The announcement comes hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas' tunnel network ‘with or without a cease-fire’. The Palestinian death toll has soared past 1,400 - surpassing the number killed in Israel's last major invasion of Gaza five years ago. Pictured: Smoke rises after an Israeli strike hit Gaza City (left), rockets are fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel (top right), and a Palestinian man shouts near a destroyed bus after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City (bottom right).

As rumors continue to swirl surrounding an impending split between Jay Z and Beyoncé, sources tell MailOnline the rapper is desperate to save his marriage and plans to whisk his superstar wife away on a five-week vacation in between their final tour dates. A source revealed that Jay Z is trying to persuade Beyoncé to join him, saying: 'Jay wants to save the marriage, they have their final US tour date in San Francisco on August 6 and then they have two dates in Paris from September 12 - that's it.'

To the haunting refrains of Amazing Grace, 150 strangers on Thursday attended the funeral of a seven-month-old girl who died of starvation in a basement that resembled a 'dungeon' in January. Police, firefighters and members of the public who never knew little May Edwards arrived at St. Anne Catholic Church in Barrington, Chicago, to mourn the baby and released a solitary balloon at the cemetery as she was buried. The turnout (which included her grief-stricken uncle, Joaquin Edwards, top left) of so many was in part sparked by the shock and horror in the community after the death of Mya - after her parents allegedly allowed her to starve to death because they couldn't afford food for her.

ArrowStream's chief technology officer Anthony DeFrances (bottom left) allegedly shot company chief Steven LaVoie, 54 (top left), in the head and stomach before turning the gun on himself about 9.50am today in the company's Chicago office. LaVoie, a married father-of-three daughters, survived and was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in a critical condition. Police said DeFrances was 'despondent' that he had been demoted on Friday and allegedly shot LaVoie during a meeting.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Witnesses say the 11-year-old cried 'I'm going to die, I can't feel my arm' after the attack at a zoo in Cascavel, Brazil.. Video shows him being pulled back over the security barrier which his father had been clamber to pet the tiger at a zoo. The victim's three-year-old brother is also believed to have witnessed the attack.

A baby boy gurgles with joy as he is covered with kisses from her devoted pit-bull puppy. The video which was shot by his mom in California shows him loving every second of the attention.

It was a scary moment on a highway north of Boston when an ax smashed through the windshield of a car. Massachusetts State Police say the ax bounced out of a landscaper's dump truck at about 11 a.m. Wednesday on southbound Interstate 95 in Topsfield. They released a photo showing the ax with a corner of its blade stuck in the passenger side of the car's dashboard just inches away from her face.

Four homes on Elfreth's Alley in the historic Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are currently for sale. Elfreth's Alley is the oldest continually residential street in the U.S. The 32 Georgian and Federal Style homes on the street were built between 1728 and 1836 for tradesmen and their families.The current homes for sale range in price from $649,000 to $850,000.

Chicken farfalle from Cheesecake Factory has 2,410 calories (top left); Maggiano's Little Italy's Prime Steak Contadina style has 2,420 calories (top right); the Super Cinco Combo at Chevys Fresh MEx has 1,920 calories (bottom left); and a small deep dish chicken bacon ranch pizza from BJ's packs 2,160 calories (bottom right)

A North Texas police department has fired a jailer and released unsettling video of an man arrested for public intoxication being slammed face-first to the floor during booking. Denton Police Officer Ryan Grelle said that Wednesday's release of the 20-minute video is a way to apologize to the public and to transparently show what happened. Jailer Darius Porter was fired last Friday when police concluded he used excessive force during the July 19 booking of Jason Bishop. Bishop says he suffered a broken nose, two black eyes and a cut on the head.

A Florida man faces the death penalty after being convicted of killing his girlfriend's baby in 2009 by throwing the three-month-old out of a moving car while speeding down a highway. Richard McTear, of Tampa, was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder and other charges related to the death of Emanuel Murray Jr. Prosecutors argued during the trial he killed the baby to spite his mother.

Aimee Maiden, 25, and Nick Wheeler, 26, (pictured right) had no idea they had met before until they saw the grainy snap taken 11 years before they first met in Mousehole, Cornwall, England (left). They made the discovery after getting engaged and looking through old family photos. Aimee spotted herself in the background of a picture of Mr Wheeler on the beach, although they never spoke. Nick, a soldier, had been living in Kent at the time and was on holiday in the seaside village before moving to Newlyn a year later. The couple met when they attended the same sixth form college in Truro and were married on Saturday at Gulval Chuirch in Mousehole - 20 years after the photo was taken and just a minute's walk from the same spot.

Vincent Kertheiser, who plays Pete Campbell on the hit show, is selling his perfectly-designed, 603 square-foot bungalow for $808,000. The compact home on a quiet Hollywood street is filled with clever space-saving designs that make for a sleek and practical living space - from a fire pit hidden beneath a coffee table on the deck to a bed that descends from the ceiling thanks to a pulley system. Bathrooms and closet space hide behind screen doors, while the deck gives way to a sleek spa room and seating area. Aafter 10 years of owning his little slice of Hollywood, Kartheiser, 34, is perhaps looking to move somewhere larger with fiancee, Alexis Bledel (pictured).

A zoo in Oklahoma is being criticized for allowing children to swim with alligators at specially arranged pool parties. Staff at the Safari Sanctuary say it's perfectly same and helps raise money for the zoo. However, a number of animal lovers have been shocked by the treatment of the reptiles which are been with their mouths tapes shut and being dragged around swimming pools.

After four years of refurbishment work the Peninsula Paris hotel opens its doors on Friday, promising prince-like treatment to well-heeled visitors to the French capital. It is part of a battle to attract Asia's new class of super-rich that not only pits the world's top hotel groups against each other but also cities such as Paris, New York and London. For the Peninsula team, it is a long-term investment, piggybacking on Paris's efforts to woo the Chinese in particular over the past decade - yet it comes as the luxury industry in France is feeling the pinch from a drop in traffic from Russian, Indonesian and Japanese tourists.

Matthew Ames is a quadruple amputee, having had all of his limbs amputated in June 2012 due to a severe case of toxic shock syndrome which almost claimed his life. Now, Matthew, 41, is well on his way to becoming a bionic man. There was not enough left of his limbs for conventional prosthetics to work properly and so he has been fitted with steel implants into his bone, which protrude through his skin, and to which bionic hands will eventually be fitted.

Photographer Slater Moore was working on a whale-watching boat this weekend when he spotted a lone Minke whale breaching off the coast of California. Minke whales don't usually breach in the wild unless with a group or feeding. But this whale was alone, and closed its mouth before re-entering the water.