Wall Street opens flat after two-day rally

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, was briefly hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder, the actress' spokeswoman said on Tuesday after video emerged of Fisher giving an unusual stage performance. The video came from a show Fisher gave aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean last week, according to celebrity website TMZ, which posted...

Read More..

India Ink: ‘Hole in the Wall’ Wins Indian Educator $1 Million TED Prize

Sugata Mitra, an Indian education innovator, was awarded the first $1 million TED Prize for what the global organization called his “innovative and bold efforts towards advancing learning for children.”“Sugata and his colleagues carried out experiments for over 13 years on the nature of self-organized learning, its extent, how it works and the role of adults in encouraging it,” said TED, which announced...

Read More..

Titanic to Sail Again - But Will You Get Onboard?

By Stephen M. Silverman 02/27/2013 at 09:15 AM EST Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, in Titanic Paramount Pictures/AP It's the biggest Oscar winner of all time, but it's also a code word for disaster: Titanic.Now, an Australian billionaire plans to recreate the legendary ship, and charge...

Read More..

Vt. lye victim gets new face at Boston hospital

BOSTON (AP) — A Vermont woman whose face was disfigured in a lye attack has received a face transplant.Doctors at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital say 44-year-old Carmen Blandin Tarleton underwent the surgery earlier this month.A team worked 15 hours to transplant the facial skin, including the neck, nose, lips, facial muscles, arteries and nerves.The 44-year-old Tarleton, of Thetford, Vt., was...

Read More..

Wall Street little changed ahead of Bernanke testimony

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street opened little changed as investors awaited a second round of testimony in Congress by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for clarity on the longevity of the Fed's economic stimulus program. Calming some jitters over the euro zone, Italian debt prices and European stocks rose on Wednesday after Italy sold the maximum amount of bonds it planned to offer...

Read More..

The Lede: Comedian’s Blog Morphs Into Major Political Force in Italy

Last Updated, Tuesday, 10:08 a.m. Although an aide to the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi demanded a recount late Monday, after his center-right coalition appeared to lose the battle for the Italian Parliament’s lower house to the main center-left coalition by less than 0.4 percent, a look at the raw vote totals reveals a sharp decline in support for him. According to the provisional count,...

Read More..

Jennifer Lawrence Dyes Her Hair Jet Black

By Tim Nudd 02/26/2013 at 09:15 AM EST Jennifer Lawrence, blonde (left) and brunette Jason Merritt/Getty; AKM-GSI Oscar's golden girl, Jennifer Lawrence, has gone brunette – almost jet black, in fact! The day after winning Best Actress for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, Lawrence, 22,...

Read More..

Koop, who transformed surgeon general post, dies

With his striking beard and starched uniform, former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop became one of the most recognizable figures of the Reagan era — and one of the most unexpectedly enduring.His nomination in 1981 met a wall of opposition from women's groups and liberal politicians, who complained President Ronald Reagan selected Koop, a pediatric surgeon and evangelical Christian from Philadelphia,...

Read More..

Wall Street opens higher after drop on Italian vote

DEAR ABBY: "Harold" and I have been married for more than 20 years and have three children ranging in age from teen to toddler. We are both college graduates and held middle-management jobs until recently.Two years ago, Harold was offered a temporary job in an exotic location in another country. We jumped at the chance. I can't work due to the regulations here, but the money is good.Now that I'm not...

Read More..

IHT Rendezvous: Horsemeat Scandal Grows More Serious and More Bizarre

LONDON — As European governments struggle in vain to draw a line under the scandal over horsemeat being sold as beef, the affair seems only to be widening, in sometimes bizarre ways.Two German politicians, for instance, suggested over the weekend that one practical use for tainted products, such as tens of thousands of packs of lasagna pulled from supermarket shelves because they contained horsemeat,...

Read More..