Car Bomb Hits Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A series of early morning attacks hit eastern Afghanistan Sunday, with three separate suicide bombings in outlying provinces and a shootout between security forces and a would-be attacker in the capital city of Kabul. The deadliest attack was a suicide car bombing at a state intelligence site just after sunrise in the eastern city of Jalalabad. In that attack, a...

Read More..

Breaking Dawn - Part 2 Sweeps the Razzies

By Stephen M. Silverman 02/23/2013 at 10:00 PM EST Taylor Lautner and Mackenzie Foy, in Breaking Dawn – Part 2 Andrew Cooper, SMPSP/Summit Who's misérable now?The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Adam Sandler and Rihanna are among the "winners" of the 33rd annual Golden Raspberry Awards...

Read More..

FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent...

Read More..

Investors face another Washington deadline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors face another Washington-imposed deadline on government spending cuts next week, but it's not generating the same level of fear as two months ago when the "fiscal cliff" loomed large. Investors in sectors most likely to be affected by the cuts, like defense, seem untroubled that the budget talks could send stocks tumbling. Talks on the U.S. budget...

Read More..

Chinese City Reports Second Bird Flu Fatality

HONG KONG — China has reported a second fatality from the deadly H5N1 bird flu, a 31-year-old man who died of organ failure in the south-central Chinese city of Guiyang. The flu, which is circulated in poultry and birds, has infected only 600 humans in the last decade, but has proven fatal in half the cases, so public health officials closely monitor its transmission. Scientists fear that...

Read More..

Courtney Lopez: Gia Thinks Our Dog Is Having a Baby

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/22/2013 at 01:00 PM ET Denise Truscello/Wireimage Mario Lopez is a man of his word.Following a December wedding, the EXTRA host declared he and wife Courtney would get to work expanding their family immediately — and he wasn’t kidding.In January, the couple discovered...

Read More..

FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent...

Read More..

Investors face another Washington deadline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors face another Washington-imposed deadline on government spending cuts next week, but it's not generating the same level of fear as two months ago when the "fiscal cliff" loomed large. Investors in sectors most likely to be affected by the cuts, like defense, seem untroubled that the budget talks could send stocks tumbling. Talks on the U.S. budget...

Read More..

India Ink: Classes Warfare

NEW DELHI — It was a widely awaited verdict: Tens of thousands of parents seeking admission for their children to nursery schools in New Delhi were hoping for some remedy against a system that rewards inherited privilege and access to political power. But the High Court of Delhi upheld the status quo on Tuesday.Most parents have little or no choice over which school their children will attend.Two...

Read More..

American Idol: Sudden-Death Round Begins for Men

TV Watch By Steve Helling 02/21/2013 at 11:00 PM EST From left: Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Ryan Seacrest, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban George Holz/FOX On Wednesday, 10 women sang for five spots on American Idol's live shows. On Thursday, it was the remaining guys'...

Read More..

APNewsBreak: Govs to hear Oregon health care plan

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber will brief other state leaders this weekend on his plan to lower Medicaid costs, touting an overhaul that President Barack Obama highlighted in his State of the Union address for its potential to lower the deficit even as health care expenses climb.The Oregon Democrat leaves for Washington, D.C., on Friday to pitch his plan that changes the way doctors...

Read More..

Jobs, factory, inflation data favor easy Fed policy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A raft of U.S. economic data on Thursday from claims for jobless aid to factory activity and consumer prices pointed to a still tepid recovery and supported the argument for the Federal Reserve to maintain its monetary stimulus. The Fed is currently buying $85 billion in bonds per month and has said it would keep up purchases until the labor market outlook improves...

Read More..

Police Detective in Pistorius Case Faces Attempted Murder Charges

PRETORIA, South Africa — In a remarkable twist in the case of Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee track star accused of murdering his girlfriend, the South African police said on Thursday that the officer leading the investigation against the athlete is himself facing attempted murder charges. Stephane De Sakutin/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesPolice detective Hilton Botha arrived...

Read More..

American Idol: Women Face Sudden-Death Round

American Idol By Jamie Bufalino 02/20/2013 at 11:00 PM EST Mariah Carey Mario Anzuoni/Reuters/Landov American Idol threw yet another new twist at its 40 remaining contestants: a sudden-death round. "One song, one chance, no mercy," Ryan Seacrest said as the first...

Read More..

Doc groups issue list of overused tests, therapies

WASHINGTON (AP) — Don't be afraid to question your doctor and ask, "Do I really need that?"That's the advice from leading medical groups who came up dozens of tests and treatments that physicians too often prescribe when they shouldn't.No worrisome stroke signs? Then don't screen a healthy person for a clogged neck artery, the family physicians say. It could lead to risky surgery for a blockage too...

Read More..

Wall Street ends down sharply after Fed minutes

TORONTO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Canada's Rebecca Marino, a rising star in women's tennis, stepped away from the sport in search of a normal life on Wednesday, weary of battling depression and cyber-bullies. Ranked number 38 in the world two years ago, the 22-year-old admitted she had long suffered from depression and was no longer willing to make the sacrifices necessary to reach the top. "After thinking...

Read More..

India Ink: Irene Genovese, the Traveler from Italy

Why do millions of people, from entire Indian villages to urbane middle managers to foreign tourists, brave the crowds at the Kumbh Mela? During this year’s 55-day pilgrimage, to Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, an estimated 100 million Hindus and others are expected to take a holy dip in the Ganges River to wash away their sins. India Ink interviewed some of them. Irene Genovese, 55, a traveler from Tuscany,...

Read More..

What's Next for Mindy McCready's Two Young Boys?

By Steve Helling 02/19/2013 at 07:00 PM EST Mindy McCready's apparent suicide on Sunday has left her two young sons in custodial limbo.The boys – Zander, 6, and Zayne, 10 months – had been in state custody since Feb. 7, when McCready called police to ask for help in making her father and stepmother leave her...

Read More..

Drug overdose deaths up for 11th consecutive year

CHICAGO (AP) — Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines."The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed...

Read More..

Asian shares hit 18-month high on growth hopes

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares scaled their highest levels since August 2011 on Wednesday after an improving global economic outlook whetted investor appetite for risk, while the yen firmed amid doubts over Japan's commitment to drastic reflation. Asian shares have been on an uptrend as risks from the euro zone debt crisis and the U.S. fiscal impasse abated and signs of recovery emerged...

Read More..

Japan Finds Swelling in Second Boeing 787 Battery

TOKYO (Reuters) - Cells in a second lithium-ion battery on a Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner forced to make an emergency landing in Japan last month showed slight swelling, a Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) official said on Tuesday. The jet, flown by All Nippon Airways Co, was forced to make the landing after its main battery failed. "I do not know the exact discussion taken by the research...

Read More..

Mindy McCready: Under Police Scrutiny at Time of Suicide?

By Steve Helling and Mike Fleeman 02/18/2013 at 06:00 PM EST Mindy McCready and David Wilson Courtesy Mindy McCready When Mindy McCready talked to police in recent weeks, her account of how her boyfriend came to be found with a fatal gunshot wound to the head...

Read More..

Hip implants a bit more likely to fail in women

CHICAGO (AP) — Hip replacements are slightly more likely to fail in women than in men, according to one of the largest studies of its kind in U.S. patients. The risk of the implants failing is low, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years.The message for women considering hip replacement surgery remains unclear. It's not known which models...

Read More..

Asian shares listless, yen firmer but near lows

TOKYO (Reuters) - Most Asian shares barely moved on Tuesday as a holiday in the U.S. overnight and a lack of catalysts kept many investors on the sidelines. Concerns about the euro zone economy, U.S. fiscal talks and Chinese appetite limited gains in commodities and also weighed on the euro. The dollar's strength against a basket of currencies <.dxy> also weighed on...

Read More..

The Lede: Spectacular Videos of Meteor Over Siberia

Video posted on YouTube on Friday appeared to catch an explosion caused by a meteor streaking over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk.Last Updated, 5:40 p.m. As our colleagues Ellen Barry and Andrew Kramer report, Russians recorded video of a bright flash, apparently debris from a meteor, “streaking through the sky in western Siberia early on Friday, accompanied by a boom that damaged buildings across...

Read More..

Downton Abbey's Season 3 Finale: Shocking, Says PEOPLE's TV Critic

Downton Abbey By Tom Gliatto 02/17/2013 at 10:00 PM EST Downton Abbey season 3 cast Carnival Film & Television/PBS Downton Abbey's third season finale on PBS's Masterpiece was, to say the least, a spoiler's paradise. The episode, which saw the Granthams and...

Read More..