Records | featured news

History unfolded in 6 minutes and 59.70 seconds. With a little help from three of his friends, Michael Phelps became the greatest Olympian of them all, winning his 19th career medal, breaking the standard set by legendary Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina.

She wanted an individual world record and an individual gold medal. Dana Vollmer didn’t even need 56 seconds to accomplish both feats. The former University of California swimmer and reigning world champion had the Aquatics Centre buzzing when she became the first woman to break the 56-second barrier, winning gold in the 100-meter butterfly in 55.98 seconds, a world record.

Average rates on fixed mortgages fell again this week to record lows, creating more incentive for buyers to enter the recovering housing market.

It's been a hot year. In fact, the first six months of 2012 accounted for the warmest January-through-June period on record for the contiguous U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced Monday.

After recalculating data from last year, the nation's climatologists are declaring that Oklahoma suffered through the hottest summer ever recorded in the U.S. last year - not Texas as initially announced last fall.

Experts say a massive wildfire that has become the largest blaze in New Mexico history may just be a preview of what's to come after months of drought.

While big-budget blockbusters were dueling it out at the multiplex this weekend, an independent film quietly made history at the box office. "Moonrise Kingdom,"Wes Anderson's quirky 1960s-set dramedy about two kids who run off into the wilderness, grossed $669,486 over the four-day Memorial Day holiday. But by Sunday, the film had already racked up a per-location average of $130,752 while playing in four theaters — the highest average ever for a non-animated film, said the film's distributor Focus Features. Previously, that record was held by 2006's "Dreamgirls," which debuted with an average of $126,317 at three cinemas.

One diaper at a time, a world-record was changed as parents gathered at Sweet Cheeks Diaper Company to take part in the second annual Great Cloth Diaper Company on Saturday.

The feast is on: "The Hunger Games" has taken in $68.25 million domestically in its first day, a record for a non-sequel. The Friday total for Lionsgate's "The Hunger Games" was the fifth-best opening day ever and puts the movie on track for the best debut weekend ever in March. That record is held by "Alice in Wonderland" with $116.1 million.

Americans spent $50.96 billion on their pets in 2011. That's an all-time high and the first time in history more than $50 billion has gone to the dogs, cats, canaries, guppies and the like, the American Pet Products Association said in a report issued Thursday.