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PALERMO, Italy, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- An Italian family said they were forced to bury their 68-year-old mother even though they believe she was still alive. The family of Grazi Bruno, 68, said she wasn't really dead because her body showed no decomposition or rigor mortis, which normally occurs after death, the ANSA news agency reported Friday. The family fought with municipal authorities over their mother's body for eight days after two medical authorities confirmed she died from pancreatic cancer. The family held a funeral in the town of Villagrazia di Carini near the capital of Palermo. "For us, we...

<p>MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — Some Central Michigan University students are getting schooled in the undead this semester, thanks to a religion course that's exploring apocalyptic themes in biblical texts, literature and pop culture.</p> <p>Philosophy and religion faculty member Kelly Murphy says she always wanted to teach a course on apocalyptic literature, and she is a fan of AMC's TV show "The Walking Dead." The result is Murphy's class, which is called "From Revelation to 'The Walking Dead.'"</p>

1910 circa - Rosendaal bij Arnhem - Kettingbrug - historical zombie A vintage photo (postcard) from 1910 of a purported "zombie" shambling across a bridge in Arnhem, Netherlands.

HALLOWEEN: Is this Barack Obama vampire card offensive? While shopping for Halloween cards at Target in San Bernardino, JoAnn Nelson was appalled when her 5-year-old granddaughter showed her this card. Nelson said she finds the card tasteless and offensive. ”I was disturbed and did not want my grandbaby to see this,” she wrote in an email.

California university now teaching zombie survival online UC Irvine has just announced that it will be extending its studies of the human condition into the undead. By partnering with online learning platform Canvas and AMC, UC Irvine has created a class called "Society, Science, Survival: Lessons from AMC's The Walking Dead." The course, while clearly a bit of a gimmick, will cover a wide range of topics pertinent to surviving a zombie apocalypse. By enrolling, you'll be signing up to learn about subjects from "Nutrition in a post-apocalyptic world — are squirrels really good for you?" to "The spread of...

Zombie Pigeons Invade Moscow MOSCOW–This summer, zombie birds have come to Russia’s capital. In what some might compare to a horror film–or even a sign of the apocalypse–the streets of Moscow have been littered with dead and sick pigeons in the past week. Videos posted on the Internet show pigeons twisting their necks, walking backward in circles or standing completely still with their heads on the ground. Muscovites are calling them “zombie pigeons.” Corpses of those that don’t survive have been spotted across the city. Russia’s chief sanitary official, Gennady Onishchenko, said Friday that veterinarians had concluded the pigeons were...

China's Heat Wave Brings 'Dead' Man Back to Life BEIJING — Having the dead guy jump up for a drink probably wasn't part of the script. A staged protest claiming that city officials had beaten a sidewalk vendor to death in central China went awry when the man playing dead under a white sheet was overcome by the region's heat wave and sprang up to quaff a bottle of water, state media reported Monday. "It's too hot. I can't bear it anymore," the man was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua News Agency. More than 10 men had gathered Saturday...

Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse: Just Do the Math This equation could spell your doom: (bN)(S/N)Z = bSZ. That is, if you ever found yourself in the midst of a zombie pandemic. That's because the calculation describes the rate of zombie transmission, from one walking dead individual to many, according to its creators, Robert J. Smith?, a mathematics professor at the University of Ottawa who spells his name with a "?" at the end, and his students. Smith's work has inspired other researchers to create zombie mathematical models, which will be published with Smith's work in the upcoming book, "Mathematical Modeling...

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's newborn son will 'suck the blood' of Russia in the mid-21st century and should therefore not be celebrated, a controversial Russian politician declared today. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the nationalist Liberal Democrat Party, declared 'I don't care about the heir' before accusing the British monarchy of 'destroying our state'. The outspoken politician made his attention-grabbing comments in an interview with the state-run newspaper Rio Novosti.

'Vampire' Graves Uncovered in Poland Archaeologists in Poland believe they've made a startling discovery: a group of vampire graves. The graves were discovered during the construction of a roadway near the Polish town of Gliwice, where archaeologists are more accustomed to finding the remains of World War II soldiers, according to The Telegraph. But instead of soldiers, the graves contained skeletons whose heads had been severed and placed on their legs. This indicated to the archaeologists that the bodies had been subject to a ritualized execution designed to ensure the dead stayed dead, The Telegraph reports. By keeping the head...

Israeli wall in 'World War Z' sparks questions NEW YORK — Brad Pitt's "World War Z" imagines a world overrun by a zombie pandemic, leading to an unlikely new global power structure. Two of the few countries that have kept the zombies at bay are Israel, which shelters Israelis and Palestinians behind a wall, and North Korea, which has removed the teeth of its citizens to prevent zombie biting. It's a curious portrait of geopolitics that's left some moviegoers scratching their heads. Is a wall of unity for both Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem an ironic commentary on the West...

... The machine produces 10 to 15 see-saw motions a minute to induce an exact imitation of natural breathing. It works automatically once the patient is balanced on the light metal frame.

TEMECULA: Driver claims zombies chasing him after big I-15 crash A Tennessee man, 19, is accused of taking a big-rig Saturday and causing a crash that injures 7 people A big-rig crash that blocked Interstate 15 in Temecula for hours Saturday evening, April 6, was caused by a 19-year-old driver who claimed he was on the run from the walking dead, authorities said. “He said zombies were chasing him and he had to get out of here,” said Officer Nathan Baer, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. The crash was no laughing matter. Not only did it cause a...

The Walking Dead is all about blood, gore – and gun control • Despite its violence, The Walking Dead mirrors moderate US attitudes on gun ownership and background checks The Walking Dead finished its third season in a flourish of gunfire and guts, sticking to the pillars of its ratings dominance. While nobody's much surprised by the extreme bloodiness of a show that merges two violent genres – post-apocalyptic horror and the classic western, – what is surprising is that The Walking Dead actually reflects moderate, popular US views on gun control. That might seem like a ridiculous statement for...

<p>A prostitute in Zimbabwe 'died' during a hotel romp with a client - only to come back to life as her body was being put in a coffin.</p>

<p>AMC's smash hit series the "Walking Dead" is one of the biggest things on cable and economic uncertainty may be one reason why, creator Robert Kirkman told CNBC on Friday.</p> <p>"I've always felt zombies didn't really get their due. As far as movie monsters go you see a lot of vampires, werewolf stuff. And it's just now zombies are getting recognized being as cool as they actually are," Kirkman said.</p>

PROFESSOR: Zombies Are Popular Because People Have Given Up Hope Zombie popularity is a surefire indicator of national mental health, says Clemson University professor Sarah Lauro. Lauro, an English teacher who studied zombies while working on her doctorate, told the Associated Press that the rise of the "Zombie Walk," specifically, illustrates citizens' dissatisfaction with governments and life in general. "We are more interested in the zombie at times when as a culture we feel disempowered," Lauro told the AP. "And the facts are there that, when we are experiencing economic crises, the vast population is feeling disempowered. ... Either playing...

Zombie-scented perfumes make you smell less attractive to the undead Usually a person dabs on a bit of perfume in hopes of attracting someone else's attention, but could a zombie-scented perfume repel the affections of the flesh-craving dead? Demeter Fragrance Library, purveyors of all sorts of offbeat scents, have come up with a pair of undead-themed perfumes that could come in handy during the zombie apocalypse. No, the perfume doesn't smell like decaying flesh. Instead, Zombie for Him combines dried leaves, mushrooms, mildew, moss and earth, while Zombie for Her is a more feminine version, adding "a touch of Dregs...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper Will Never Let Canada Become A Safe Haven For Zombies Says John Baird The NDP’s Pat Martin raised the question Tuesday about how the government was prepared for an attack from zombies and he actually got an answer. “I rise today to salute the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and the province of Quebec for putting in place emergency measures to deal with the possibility of an invasion of zombies,” Martin said. “I do not need to tell you, Mr. Speaker, that zombies do not recognize borders and that a zombie invasion in the United...

Buy AP Photo Reprints GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) -- A Montana television station's regular programming was interrupted by news of a zombie apocalypse. The Montana Television Network says hackers broke into the Emergency Alert System of Great Falls affiliate KRTV and its CW station Monday. KRTV says on its website the hackers broadcast that "dead bodies are rising from their graves" in several Montana counties. The alert claimed the bodies were "attacking the living" and warned people not to "approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous."