Valentine's Day news stories on Newser

Take These 5 Phrases Off Your Online Dating Profile

Evann Gastaldo — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 12:44:05 CST

Single this Valentine's Day? Then perhaps you'll be interested in this advice from an eHarmony senior director. Grant Langston tells Time the five most overused, meaningless phrases you should take off your online dating profile right now: Down to earth : What does that even mean? No one knows. Plus, "even...

Valentine's Day Role-Playing Goes Very Wrong

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:27:22 CST

An Oregon couple spent their Valentine's Day in jail after some ill-advised role-playing went very, very wrong. Portland police sent out at least nine patrol cars yesterday after a witness reported seeing a naked, bound woman in the back of a Subaru. Cops spread out searching the area, and ultimately...

Teen Couple Leap to Deaths After Her Forced Marriage

Rob Quinn — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:14:00 CST

A love affair between two teens in Bangladesh ended in tragedy after the 16-year-old girl's family married her off to a man twice her age. The girl and her 17-year-old boyfriend tied their hands together with a scarf and jumped to their deaths from a mobile phone tower, the Daily...

Give Your Valentine a ... 'Hamm-O-Gram'

Dustin Lushing — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:32:13 CST

Roses. Chocolate. Scented Candles. Jon Hamm's face. These are the perfect Valentine's Day gifts. The first three you'll have to take care of yourself, but for only $5, you can send your sweetheart a Hamm-O-Gram , a valentine card featuring the handsome mug of Mad Men 's Don Draper accompanied by...

Uzbekistan Bans Valentine's Day

eric1982a — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:13:03 CST

Lonely hearts rejoice: There's at least one place in the world where you'll feel at home. The central Asian state of Uzbekistan will not observe Valentine's Day this year. Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency reports the unofficial ban on the romantic holiday follows years of irritation with the observance, with one...

Malaysia Nabs 80 Lovers in Raids ... on Hotel Rooms

Rob Quinn — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 04:29:00 CST

Malaysia's morality police—making good on a vow to crack down on Valentine's Day canoodling —detained 40 unmarried Muslim couples in hotel rooms across the country yesterday. Authorities—who have deemed Valentine's Day un-Islamic—say the couples busted in the raids on cheap hotels during "Operation Valentine" will likely be...

The Dark Past of Valentine's Day

Nick McMaster — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:57:38 CST

Valentine's Day may seem awash in saccharine, wine, and roses, but its origins are darker than its modern-day Hallmark reality—they lie partially in the pagan Roman celebration of Lupercalia, a fertility festival wherein bachelors sacrificed a goat and dog, ripped the skin off, and whipped women with them. Women...

Man Stabs Wife With Wedding Cake Knife

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:28:45 CST

Here’s a nice Valentine’s Day story for you: A couple is spending Feb. 14 recovering after the husband allegedly stabbed his wife, then himself, with their wedding cake knife, the Hartford Courant reports. Louis DeJesus, 22, and wife Crystal were arguing Saturday night when DeJesus stabbed his wife once and...

NASA Spacecraft Set to Rendezvous With Comet

Kevin Spak — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:36:00 CST

A NASA spacecraft is about to make a massive comet its valentine. If all goes as planned, the Stardust spacecraft will get up close and personal today with a comet half the size of Manhattan that’s hurtling through space at 24,000 miles per hour, the Washington Post reports. The...