A young trader in London was forced to eat eight quarter pounders until he was violently sick as part of an initiation ceremony at his firm. The employee was given 60 minutes to complete the task and was urged by his colleagues to continue despite becoming unwell. The winner was offered a prize of £300 ($440).

Forensics teams are conducting DNA testing to identify the victims of the Germanwings crash. Relatives have provided DNA samples in emergency tents set up near the crash site. Jewelry and pieces of clothing are being removed from the victims and helicoptered out to aid in identification. Four helicopters are flying investigators to the mountainside where the Airbus A320 crashed.

Satellite data from 1994 to 2012 reveals an accelerating decline in Antarctica's massive floating ice shelves, with some shrinking 18 percent, in a development that could hasten the rise in global sea levels, scientists say. The findings, published on Thursday in the journal Science, come amid concern among many scientists about the effects of global climate change on Earth's vast, remote polar regions.

Researchers have developed a new material with 'gecko structures' that can switch between sticky and slippery states instantly. The material uses microscopic pillars to create friction, similar to gecko feet. The material is attractive to manufacturers of computer components and lenses due to its ability to stick and unstick tens of thousands of times without leaving any residue.

NASA has decided to launch a robotic probe to a near-Earth asteroid in 2020, have it pull off a boulder from the space rock and bring it to a spot near the moon where astronauts can study it. The mission is expected to cost $1.25 billion and is a big milestone for a mission concept that was born in the early days of the Obama administration. Option B was chosen over Option A, which would have cost about $100 million less.

Iraqi troops, with the help of U.S. airstrikes, are making a final push to retake the city of Tikrit from ISIS. The U.S. only agreed to the airstrikes on the condition that anti-ISIS Shiite militias backed by Iran left the city and that Iraqis were in charge of the operation. Recapturing Tikrit is seen as critical before Iraqi forces attempt to drive ISIS out of Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq.

The intentional downing of Germanwings Flight 4U9525 by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz is not the first instance of a passenger plane being brought down on purpose. This article provides a brief overview of previous examples, including Mozambican Airlines Flight TM-470 and EgyptAir Flight 990.

Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore, passed away at the age of 91. He led Singapore from British colonial rule to become one of the wealthiest countries in the world. His son, the current prime minister, announced his death, but no cause was given. Tens of thousands of Singaporeans paid tribute to Lee, who ruled for 31 years and was known as 'Singapore's George Washington.'

Jony Ive, the Apple design chief, was convinced that Steve Jobs was ready to fire him in 1997. This revelation came out in a Fast Company excerpt of the upcoming biography 'Becoming Steve Jobs.' Ive recounts Jobs' return to Apple in 1997 and the chief's first visit to Ive's Design Lab. Ive even said he felt he deserved to be sacked, as the products 'we were shipping' were not good enough.

An unexploded bomb from World War II was discovered in London's Bermondsey district. The five-foot long, half-ton bomb was discovered at a construction site, leading to the evacuation of two schools and a quarter-mile surrounding the area. The London Fire Brigade closed off roads and encouraged displaced residents to contact authorities for shelter information.