A medical group of epilepsy experts on Monday called on the U.S. government to reconsider classifying marijuana as a dangerous drug so its impact on seizures can be studied.

The American Epilepsy Society's statement comes as a British pharmaceutical company is scheduled to begin tests of an ant-epilepsy drug derived from cannabis, with the hallucinogenic ingredients removed, and parents are flocking to Colorado to try a strain of pot they say has helped some children with seizures.

Extraterrestrial toucan birds, neon green spacemen waving Brazilian flags and legions of scantily clad women and men dancing a furious samba opened the final round of Rio de Janeiro's extravagant Carnival parades Monday night.

The annual spectacle pits the city's 12 best samba schools against one another in ornate parades that include over 2,500 participants each and cost more than $3 million to produce. The efforts are judged in 10 categories, with a winner announced later in the week, laying claim to nothing more than a year's worth of bragging rights.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has taken a quick time out for some baby talk as he heads overseas to deliver a strong diplomatic message of U.S. support for Ukraine's government against a Russian military incursion.

Officially, the late-night stop in New York was to refuel Kerry's plane before flying to Kiev, where he is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian leaders on Tuesday afternoon.

Mt. Everest climbing season began this week with new rules that require climbers to bring down their personal garbage, and more security officials at the mountain's base camp to help climbers.

Tourism Ministry official Maddhu Sudan Burlakoti said individual climbers going beyond the base camp will be required to bring down at least eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of their personal garbage and hand it over to officials stationed there.

Iran says all four crew members aboard a small plane that crashed in the Persian Gulf were killed in the incident.

The official IRNA news agency says the Falcon 20, which belonged to the State Aviation Organization, was on a test flight when it crashed late on Monday off Kish Island, a well-known tourist resort.

That's a wrap, Lupita Nyong'o, but may all the best dresses keep coming your way.

With a supporting actress Oscar now in her possession, a tearful Nyong'o concluded a red-carpet season Sunday night as a fashion darling for sexy silhouettes and colors that wow.

Oscar Pistorius pleaded not guilty Monday to murdering his girlfriend on Valentine's Day last year, marking the start of the Olympian's murder trial that had South Africans watching live broadcasting of the proceedings against their country's most famous living citizen.

The trial started 90 minutes late with Pistorius pleading not guilty to all four charges against him: murder, two charges relating to discharge of firearm in a public place and one charge of illegal possession of ammunition. Before the trial started he walked past the victim's mother who says she came to court so she can "really look him in the eyes."

A year after Hugo Chavez's death, dozens of mourners still trek daily to his mausoleum atop a hillside slum overlooking downtown Caracas.

There, in the century-old military barracks where Hugo Chavez commanded a failed 1992 coup, El Comandante rests in a marble tomb flanked by soldiers wearing the hussar-style uniform that independence hero Simon Bolivar favored, including a tight jacket adorned with gold braid and a tall black hat with a chin strap.

Malcolm X and rap music have always fit together like a needle in the groove, connected by struggle, strength and defiance. But three recent episodes involving the use or misuse of Malcolm and other black icons have raised the question: Has rap lost touch with black history?

Chart-topping rapstress Nicki Minaj provoked widespread outrage with an Instagram post featuring one of black history's most poignant images: Malcolm X peering out the window of his home, rifle in hand, trying to defend his wife and children from firebombs while under surveillance by federal agents. Superimposed on the photo: the title of Minaj's new song, which denigrates certain black men and repeats a racial epithet 42 times.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late equalizer as Real Madrid avoided a bruising derby defeat at Spanish title rival Atletico Madrid with a 2-2 draw on Sunday.

Ronaldo pounced on a loose ball inside the area to net the 82nd-minute equalizer — his 23rd goal of the season for the league leaders.