The U.N. nuclear agency says a truck carrying an extremely dangerous radioactive substance has been stolen in Mexico.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says the truck was carrying cobalt-60, used for radiotherapy treatment to combat cancer. An IAEA statement Wednesday said the truck was stolen Monday while taking the material to a radioactive waste storage center from the northern city of Tijuana.

It says the heist occurred in Tepojaco, a town near Mexico City, and describes the load as “extremely dangerous” if damaged or removed from its protective shielding.

The statement says that Mexican authorities are searching for the material.

China launched its first lunar probe early Monday, which, if all goes well, will make it only the third nation — after the United States and the Soviet Union — to soft-land on the moon.

The Chang’e-3 blasted off from a Long March 3B rocket in Sichuan province located in southwest China and is expected to land on the moon’s surface in mid-December.

The new space effort comes just over a decade after the country first sent an astronaut into space.

Unlike the soft-landing of the U.S. and the Soviet Union’s unmanned spacecraft, Chang’e-3 will be able to survey the landscape first and determine the safest spot.

Researchers say an impact crater named Sinus Iridum, or Bay of Rainbows, is its likely destination. In 2010, China’s previous lunar mission captured images of the crater while scouting potential landing sites for the 2013 probe.

On landing, the spacecraft will release Jade Rabbit (called Yutu in Chinese) — a six-wheeled lunar rover equipped with four cameras and two mechanical legs that can dig up soil samples, a designer for the rover told Xinhua last month. The slow-moving rover will patrol the moon’s surface for at least three months, according to Xinhua.

Doctors were left stunned after discovering a dandelion growing inside the ear canal of a 16-month girl.

The flower was found by medics in Beijing, China, after the child was taken to hospital crying and in pain by her worried mother.

It had partly flowered and had grown to nearly 2cm long before being surgically removed, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

The parents of the girl, called Ranran, said their daughter had been complaining about an earache for four months but both had dismissed her.

But after the girl started scratching the offending ear, her mother had a look and saw ‘something’ inside.
After trying and failing to get it out, she took the child to hospital where the shocking discovery was made.

Doctors said the dandelion had grown into the girl’s ear and had completely filled the canal wall, which could have caused the infant serious damage.

The warm and humid conditions in the ear canal are likely to have encouraged growth, added the doctor.

It is far from the first time a disturbing discovery has been made in someone’s ear.

In July, an English woman who had unexplained headaches learned that her ears were filled with flesh-eating worms she picked up in Peru.

And last year, a woman in China who complained of an itch was found to have a spider living inside.

An 8-year old girl has become the youngest ever to divorce in India after she was married off four years ago.

Fatima Mangre was given away at the age of 4 by her father Anil, from the Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh state, to a 10-year-old boy named Arjun Bakridi, but when the boy arrived last week to take away his bride, the father regretted the decision and decided to file for divorce, the Daily Mail reported.

“I finally realized that this practice of marrying off daughters so young was wrong and that she should have a childhood, and that it was my duty to provide that,” he said. “I now want to make things right. I want to give my daughter a good childhood. I will do everything to protect her.”

Government officials are investigating the divorce after the New Delhi-based National Commission for Women (NCW) sent a letter threatening action against the parents of the girl and the boy, the report said.

“This is a scandal, we need more details before taking action,” said the NCW’s Nirmala Samant. “The girl’s father must answer why he married her off at four years old and the boy’s father must answer why he agreed to such a marriage and then went to demand the girl when she is barely eight years old.”

The Shravasti district accounts for the majority underage weddings in India where the female literacy is just 19 percent, the Daily Mail reported.

These remarkable pictures show a selection of elaborately adorned animals taking part in the prettiest camel competition.

The camels can be seen dressed in coat-like decorations made entirely from brightly coloured pom-poms and other woven materials. The animals even have necklaces and headdresses – decorated with delicate jewels and beads.

The competition was held at the Pushkar Fair, in the Thar desert, India this week.

The gathering – during which in the region of 20,000 camels are bought and sold – attracts thousands of tourists from around the world.

The camel beauty pageant, which has been held for decades, is taken very seriously. In fact, one competitor was furious after his pride and joy failed to win top prize.

The Pushkar Fair, otherwise known as Pushkar ka Mela, is held every year. It is a five-day camel and livestock fair and is believed to be one of the world’s largest.

The prettiest camel award is not the only competition the fair hosts – attendees may also compete for the title of ‘longest moustache’ or ‘prettiest bride’.

The Thar Desert, sometimes referred to as the Great Indian Desert, is in the northwestern area of India and forms a natural boundary running along the border between India and Pakistan.