Hugh Gentry / Reuters

Waves crash over lava as it flows into the ocean near Volcanoes National Park in Kalapana, Hawaii on November 27, 2012.

Hugh Gentry / Reuters

Reuters reports — A volcano on Hawaii's largest island is spilling lava into the ocean, creating a rare and spectacular fusion of steam and waves that officials said could attract thrill-seeking visitors if it continues.

Lava from a vent in Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii began flowing into the ocean 7 miles away on Saturday. The volcano has been erupting continuously from its Pu'u O'o vent since 1983.

Hugh Gentry / Reuters

A plume of smoke rises from the volcanic activity in Kilauea crater on November 27, 2012.

Janet Babb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, warned of potentially deadly risks and urged visitors to stay a safe distance away and respect barriers placed around the lava flow.

"Ocean entries can be quite beautiful but also quite dangerous," Babb said. Read the full story.

Hugh Gentry / Reuters

Hugh Gentry / Reuters

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Charles Sykes / AP

A parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, in Hoboken, NJ.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

A playground apparatus stands surrounded by water pushed up by Hurricane Sandy in Bellport, New York, Oct. 30.

Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

A general view from Exchange Place shows the skyline of lower Manhattan in darkness after a preventive power outage caused by giant storm Sandy in New York on Oct. 30.

Ramin Talaie / EPA

Burned down houses after a fire caused by Hurricane Sandy, in Breezy Point, Queens, New York City on Oct. 30.

Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images

The Empire State Building towers in the background of an apartment building in Chelsea, New York City, with the facade broken off on Oct. 30, the morning after Hurricane Sandy.

Andrew Burton / Getty Images

Cars floating in a flooded basement following Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 30 in the Financial District of New York City.

Allison Joyce / Getty Images

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel is flooded after a tidal surge caused by Hurricane Sandy, on Oct. 30, in Manhattan, New York.

Seth Wenig / AP

Kim Johnson looks over the destruction near her seaside apartment in Atlantic City, N.J., on Oct. 30, Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses.

Steve Earley / The Virginian-Pilot via AP

Deputy Cliff Tice of the Dare County Sheriff's Department walks down damaged and impassable NC 12 leading into Mirlo Beach in Rodanthe, N.C. on Oct. 30.

Mel Evans / AP

A street sign is partially buried in sand Tuesday morning, Oct. 30, in Cape May, N.J., after a storm surge from Sandy pushed the Atlantic Ocean over the beach and across Beach Avenue.

Jason Decrow / AP

A boat floats in the driveway of a home in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, Tuesday, Oct. 30, in Lindenhurst, N.Y.

Shaul Schwarz / Getty Images Reportage for NBC News

Looking out the high water in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn after Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage in the area on Oct. 29 in New York City.

Mel Evans / AP

A keep off the dunes sign is buried Tuesday morning, Oct. 30 in Cape May, N.J., after a storm surge from superstorm Sandy pushed the Atlantic Ocean over the beach and into the streets.

See more images in our slideshow: Hurricane Sandy

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GRAPHIC WARNING: This post contains graphic images which some viewers may find disturbing. 

Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

US Army soldiers attached to 2nd platoon, C troop, 1st Squadron (Airborne), 91st U.S Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team protect a wounded comrade, Private Ryan Thomas, from dust and smoke flares after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast during a patrol near Baraki Barak base in Logar Province, Afghanistan on October 13, 2012.

Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

Private Ryan Thomas receives medical assistance after he was injured.

Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

US Army soldiers carry Private Ryan Thomas to a waiting helicopter.

Photographer Munir uz Zaman captured these photos on Saturday, October 13 after a U.S. soldier was injured by the blast from an Improvised Explosive Device during a patrol in eastern Afghanistan. The photos were made available to NBC News today.

21-year-old Private Ryan Thomas, an Oklahoman with the 173rd Airborne, suffered soft tissue damage and was scheduled to be evacuated to Germany after surgery in Afghanistan. Watch a video of the operation to extract him after he was injured. 

Slideshow — Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

After 11 years of war, 2,135 U.S. soldiers dead, their Afghan colleagues turning on them, and widespread predictions the conflict will end in failure, coalition forces could be forgiven for suffering a dip in morale, Agence France Presse reports. But commanders and soldiers on the ground insist the challenges are bringing them closer together, even if the outcome of the war is uncertain and the perception of what constitutes success has changed. 

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Kang Jae-Nam / Newsis via AP

A Chinese fisherman wearing an orange life vest, fourth from left, is rescued by South Korean coast guard officers from a Chinese ship in Jeju, South Korea, on August 28, 2012. A powerful typhoon pounded South Korea with strong winds and heavy rain Tuesday, while the nation's coast guard battled rough seas in a race to rescue fishermen on two Chinese ships that slammed into rocks off the southern coast.

South Korea Coast Guard via AP

South Korean coast guardsmen attempt to rescue Chinese fishermen after it slammed into rocks off the coast of Jeju, south of Seoul.

Kang Jae-Nam / Newsis via AP

A Chinese fisherman is rescued by South Korean coast guard officers, unseen.

Yonhap via AFP - Getty Images

The South Korean coast guard rescue a crew member, center, of a stranded Chinese fishing boat.

Kang Jae-Nam / Newsis via AP

A Chinese fisherman, second right, wearing an orange life vest, is rescued.

Reuters reports — A typhoon with winds of up to 106 mph buffeted South Korea's west coast on Tuesday, killing five people at sea and leaving 10 missing when two Chinese fishing vessels capsized.

Typhoon Bolaven barreled up the coast before making landfall in already flood-ravaged North Korea as the impoverished country struggles to feed its 24 million people.

Much at stake for US as tensions rise in troubled China Seas

Coast guard rescuers pulled 18 surviving fishermen from the Chinese vessels that capsized off the southern island of Jeju and found five bodies, the emergency services said. Read the full story.

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"In the US, money and beauty are the power, but I am looking for something else," said Kathy Aley, originally from Newport Beach, Calif., who moved to Nicaragua in 2001. "I left because of the greed and the selfishness in that country. I worked as an aerobics instructor for the school district, but I tore my muscles. I have two daughters in the US … they are 40 and 32 years old. I live here with my eight dogs, 10 cats and my parrot. Every morning, I jog the beach up and down with my dogs and parrot. They need the exercise."

Photojournalist Kadir van Lohuizen traveled from the southern tip of South America to the far reaches of Alaska on the North American continent to explore migration in the Americas. What he found both supported and defied stereotypes, which he reported on a website and an app for iPad called Via Panam.

 “I came (to Nicaragua) on holiday in October 2000 and while I was watching the sunset on the beach, I knew I had to move here,” said Kathy Aley, now 64, a transplant from Newport Beach, Calif. “I need the warmth and the slow life.”

Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

Captain Zatara, 53, and Katy, 41: "It was our dream to sail around the world and live and sail in the tropics. We bought our boat in Washington state in 2003. She is a beauty. We came to San Juan de Sur three years ago and we wanted to make some adjustments to the boat … (now) we are rebuilding it from scratch. In the meantime Katy runs a massage salon, so we earn some money. I think it will take another two years to finish the boat. We have five children, one is with us."

Central America is a growing destination for moderately wealthy Americans looking to leave the rat race behind. In their search for quieter and less expensive places, some have chosen to settle in Nicaragua — the poorest nation in mainland Latin America, but also the safest, according to The Economist.

One such quiet and affordable enclave is the tranquil bay of San Juan del Sur. In addition to safe harbor for retirement, the location also offers a break from recession and politics.

Nicaragua was recently named one of the most favorable retirement destinations in the world.

Below are some stories of Americans who picked up and moved south for their retirement years:

Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

Fred Goldfarb, 60: "I am from the San Francisco Bay Area. I always had a desire for traveling, and in 2006, I came with my girlfriend to Nicaragua. She didn't like it, so that is where our relationship ended. I had a company in the US and in 2007 I bought 350 acres of land. With my business partner, we build environment friendly houses to sell. In 2008 the market collapsed, we are selling less now than before. I built this house actually to sell, but for the time being I live here. I don't like the politics in the US and the cost of living is very high."

Tom and Patty Lowy (55 and 62 respectively), from the San Francisco area: In 2004 Tom bought land close to San Juan del Sur. "I paid far too much … now we live here, in our gringonized house," he said. "We brought the TV chairs from the US. I earned good money in the US -- $400,000 a year -- I was a retail broker and I saw the crisis coming. We wanted to leave, we don't like the politics of the US, the Patriot Act, the propaganda from the mass media and the misinformation. Here is a safe place, safe for a nuclear war. We watch US television, but most of our friends are Nicaraguan. We believe we should integrate."

Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

Beverly Gene Marte, 74: "Everybody calls me BJ here. I came 10 years ago and I am from Walminton, Calif. I came on a yacht. It was a long trip from Florida, via Cuba, Cayman Islands, Panama Canal. In Costa Rica the yacht nearly sank, it took two years to fix it. In the end I made it to Nicaragua. I don't want to live in the US anymore. Obama ruins the country. Now I have my monkey, Cindy. Years ago I was photo model and I also worked for the US coast guard. The sea is in my blood."

Kadir van Lohuizen / NOOR

The tranquil bay of San Juan del Sur is pictured. Although Nicaragua hasn't had good relationships with the US over the last three decades, it is a popular destination for US citizens.

Slideshow: Migration in the Americas

K. van Lohuizen / NOOR

From Colombians fleeing war to North Americans retirees moving to Nicaragua, a photographer's journey from Chile to Alaska explores both the expected and unexpected patterns of migration in the Americas

Launch slideshow

Experience the entire journey, from Chile to Alaska, by exploring the slideshow at right, the Via Panam website or by downloading the app for iPad.

More Photoblogs from the Migration in the Americas series:
On the run from water in Panama
Bolivia hopes for windfall from producing lithium for batteries
Mom works in US while family stays in El Salvador

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Pedro Armestre / AFP - Getty Images

Firefighters of Alcoy and Elda try to extinguish a fire in Torre de Macanes, near Alicante, Spain, on August 13, 2012.

Pedro Armestre / AFP - Getty Images

Firefighters battle a fire in Torre de Macanes near Alicante on August 13, 2012.

Reuters reports — More than 4,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Spain's Canary Islands because of forest fires that are difficult to control due to a heatwave and strong winds, authorities said on Sunday.

On the Spanish mainland two people were killed and three injured while trying to put out a fire in Torremanzanas, near the eastern city of Alicante, according to local media reports. 

Andres Gutierrez / AP

A plane works to extinguish a wildfire in La Gomera in Spain's Canary Islands on August 12, 2012.  

Santiago Ferrero / Reuters

People disembark from a ferry after being evacuated from Valle Gran Rey at San Sebastian de la Gomera port on the island of La Gomera on August 13, 2012.

Pedro Armestre / AFP - Getty Images

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire in Torre de Macanes near Alicante on August 13, 2012.

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Scott Strazzante / Chicago Tribune

Shooting from the Hip street photography in Chicago, IL. Photograph taken with Hipstamatic on an iPhone.

A combination of chance, timing and an unobtrusive way of documenting communities.

 Chicago Tribune staff photographer Scott Strazzante’s “Shooting from the Hip” blog features street-photography from the neighborhoods of Chicago with unpredictable compositions that offer a genuinely candid look at the people and their lifestyles.

Scott Strazzante/Chicago Tribune

Shooting from the Hip street photography in Chicago, IL. Photograph taken with Hipstamatic on an iPhone.

Key to Strazzante’s aesthetic is a method of shooting without always looking through the viewfinder.  Despite the uncertainty that it can bring Strazzante says, “chance became one of the tools in my arsenal.”

 Getting the shot while literally shooting from the hip is actually a well-honed skill. Scott began years ago with film cameras that had removable prisms which allowed him to compose while positioning the camera at high or low angles to get unique views. Not bringing the viewfinder up to his eye enables him to capture natural moments without his subjects reacting to his camera and also expands his field of vision.

 “If I shot from the eye, I might be walking down the street and see a moment but as I’m lifting the camera to my eyes it might be gone.  So now it’s almost just part of my thought process where I see it and I shoot it.”

Scott Strazzante / Chicago Tribune

Bus stop. Photograph taken with Hipstamatic on an iPhone.

Scott Strazzante/Chicago Tribune

Shooting from the Hip street photography in Chicago, IL. Photograph taken with Hipstamatic on an iPhone..

“One of the other byproducts for shooting from the hip is that I have a wider range of vision to see moments coming together.  I can see the guy with the big Afro coming down the street while there’s a woman with a crutch coming in from this way and then there’s a person with a balloon so I can kind of wait till they all intersect.”

“I wanted my blog to be a little more free-flowing and just kind of my thoughts, but it kind of turned into more literally shooting from the hip.  One of the things that I think over the years of being a newspaper photographer that started to grate on me was that every place I went outside of a sporting event, people knew I was there.”

 “They knew they were being photographed.  And obviously, that kind of influenced what they would do, they would either do something for the camera or they would have this knowing expression on their face that they were being photographed and for me that kind of ruined the photos.”

 Strazzante started with the “shooting from the hip” method as a way to avoid that camera awareness of his subjects.  “No one is putting on a show, even though they are in public, they still have a reality to it.  There’s not any kind of influence from me because I’m just another pedestrian,” he said.

Scott Strazzante/ Chicago Tribune

After rushing for a career high 205 yards, Chicago Bears' Matt Forte meets Carolina Panthers' Steve Smith at midfield after Bears' 34-29 win in NFL game at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL on Sunday, October 2, 2011. Scott Strazzante took this picture by reaching around other photographers to get the right angle.

Additionally, Strazzante discovered a path to a newfound creativity along the way.  “I came to realize that the compositions that I made that were more happenstance are more interesting than the ones that my brain could put together.  I really enjoyed that surprise of, oh, this leg is in there framing this or, I got low enough for this, all this was in the frame.

One example of this came at the end of a Bears football game in which running back Matt Forté ran for over two hundred yards.“I knew I had to rush out on to the field and get some sort of post-game Matt Forté. photo.”

Scott Strazzante/ Chicago Tribune

Second version of the meeting between Matt Forte and Steve Smith. Photographer Scott Strazzante was able to line up the image after the media cleared.

After finding Forté mid-field with Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers, surrounded by other media, Strazzante reached around another photographer to get the shot of the players together ( at left ) without looking through the viewfinder. “Matt Forte’s entire head was obliterated by sun, and then people kind of cleared out and then I moved over and I stepped into the correct exposure and I shot it with my eye. “

“I went back and I compared like the photo I took just kind of reaching down which I thought was a super creative and interesting, I really liked it and then I looked at the photo that my mind put together and it was just this boring expected newspaper image. It’s like what I’ve been trained over the years to make.”

“I have this kind of schizophrenic line in my work where I have my creative, out-of-control photographs from the iPhone or “shooting from the hip”. Then when I’m shooting through my-- with my eye, with my brain, sometimes I get trapped in this newspaper-world of all these years of expectations of editors telling me ‘the horizon can’t be crooked’ or ‘it has to be in focus’.”

 “These things that have been ingrained in my head for years and years that I sometimes have a hard time mentally breaking through with that, and I feel I have all this freedom when I’m shooting for my blog that sometimes I forget to put into my daily work because my editors at the Tribune, they’re almost constantly telling me,  Scott,  please, be as creative with your daily assignment, as you are with your blog work because we like that.”

Scott Strazzante / Chicago Tribune

Photograph taken with Hipstamatic on an iPhone.

Scott Strazzante/Chicago Tribune

Maywood Park Racetrack in Melrose Park, IL

 Strazzante borrowed his daughters iPhone on a family trip last year and was quickly hooked.

“In December I got my own iPhone and then it slowly replaced my professional cameras as my street photography weapon of choice.  Then I started doing Instagram, and now I’ve completely stopped doing street photography with my normal camera. Now I just use the iPhone exclusively because I really just love the Instagram community and it’s been really a fun thing for me.”

 “I feel that I have the right to photograph anyone on the street I want...but there will be some photographs that I won’t published because I just think they are almost cruel.  So there are definitely some photographs I won’t publish,  but there’s no photograph I won’t shoot because I just don’t know how it will turn out.”

• See more of Scott Strazzante's work on his 'Shooting from the Hip' blog on the Chicago Tribune website.
• View Scott Strazzante's "Common Ground" project which explores the evolution of one plot of Illinois farmland into suburban neighborhood.
• Follow Scott Strazzante on Twitter here or on Instagram here.

Scott Strazzante/Chicago Tribune

Shooting from the Hip street photography in Chicago, IL.

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Denis Balibouse / Reuters

Mark Kelly, NASA astronaut and commander of mission STS-134, walks with NASA astronaut Greg Johnson, ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori and other roped party members walk from the Refuge des Cosmiques back to L'Aiguille du Midi near Mont-Blanc in Chamonix July 23.

Denis Balibouse / Reuters

Former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, center, stands with her husband Mark Kelly, right, NASA astronaut and commander of mission STS-134, and mountain guide Vincent Lameyre before Kelly and two other astronauts walked from L'Aiguille du Midi to the Refuge des Cosmiques near Mont-Blanc in Chamonix July 23.

Slideshow: Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

Saul Loeb / EPA

A look at the Arizona lawmaker's rise to prominence — from high school to Capitol Hill.

Launch slideshow

Reuters reports: CHAMONIX, France- Former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, still recovering from wounds after being shot last year, traveled high up into the French Alps on Monday with her astronaut husband Mark Kelly.

Giffords, who still uses a wheelchair much of the time, was on her first trip outside the United States since she was shot in the head by a gunman in January 2011 as she met local people outside a Tucson supermarket.

She rode the two-stage cable car to a station with spectacular views of Mont Blanc and other peaks in France, Italy and Switzerland. Full story

Slideshow: Shooting at Batman screening in Aurora, Colo.

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As many as 12 people were killed and 50 injured at a shooting at the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. early Friday during the showing of the latest Batman movie.

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Karl Gehring / The Denver Post

An Aurora Police Department detective took a witness statement following a shooting Friday morning at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012.

Ed Andrieski / AP

Police are pictured outside a Century 16 movie theater where as many as 14 people were killed and many injured at a shooting during the showing of a movie in Aurora, Colo., on July 20, 2012.

Karl Gehring / The Denver Post

Moviegoers were evacuated across the street as Aurora Police strung crime scene tape around the parking lots encircling the movie theater Friday morning.

Karl Gehring / The Denver Post

Moviegoers were evacuated across the street as Aurora Police strung crime scene tape around the parking lots encircling the movie theater Friday morning.

Karl Gehring / The Denver Post

Aurora Police responded to the Century 16 movie theater early Friday morning, July 20, 2012.

Updated at 8:15 a.m. ET: Twelve people were killed and at least 50 others wounded early Friday when a gunman opened fire at a midnight screening of the summer blockbuster "The Dark Knight Rises" near Denver, authorities and witnesses said.

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates told reporters that 10 people died at the scene and four others died after being taken to local hospitals. However, a police officer later told MSNBC TV that the death toll had been revised to 12. A three-month-old and a six-year-old girl were among those treated, according to reports. This is a breaking news story. Click here for updates.

Read more at The Denver Post

Get the latest updates from breakingnews.com

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Angila Golik

When Angila Golik of Carson City, Nevada, took a trip to to Washington, D.C. earlier this month she had no idea she'd witness the romantic scene of a couple's proposal.

Golik had just finished her visit of the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial and was walking towards the Washington Monument when she spotted two people standing in the middle of the War Memorial. She noticed the couple because they were the only people on the rotunda. She told TODAY.com, "If you've been to Washington, D.C. you know there are usually 200, 300 people at any given memorial at any given time so I thought, 'Wow, they're the only people there, and it's fenced off.'"

An amateur photographer, Golik had her camera at the ready. Standing about a football field away she switched lenses and zoomed in. She said, "My finger just started doing what it automatically does and I pushed the button a couple times as it zoomed in and that's when I got him proposing." As she watched, the man, dressed in an Air Force Uniform, pulled out a ring and offered it to the woman standing in front of him. She said yes and they embraced, kissing. 

Tell us: Do you know the mystery couple? 

Golik let the happy couple have their moment and when it looked like they were about to leave she tried to get their attention by shouting their way, hoping to get an email address so she could send them the photos. Unfortunately they couldn't hear her, and she lost them as they left the rotunda.

When Golik viewed the photos later she decided that they belong to the couple and now, she's trying to track them down. "I'd like to give them their photos. That's my only goal. If it was me — because I was newly engaged at one time in my life — I would've loved if I had pictures of my proposal."

She shared the photos on her Facebook page and and made a YouTube video. Both have gone viral with the message, "Please help me…share these photos so maybe I can find this couple and give them their pictures!"

Golik is also hoping to know the story behind the proposal. She said, "He was doing it at the Washington War Memorial. Why? Is he coming home from war, or did he go into war, is there something significant about that spot? It's just captivating to me. It's a sweet little story."

More: 
Olympic torch-bearer stops mid-relay, proposes 
Video: Spend or splurge on wedding gifts for every couple 
Hoda's playlist: 'Want U Back'