Record Heat Fuels Widespread Fires in Australia

Lukas Coch/European Pressphoto AgencyFirefighters battled a grass fire in Oura, near Wagga Wagga, Australia, on Tuesday. On Monday, Australia’s hottest day on record, the national average was 104.59 degrees. SYDNEY, Australia — Australia on Wednesday was grappling with an unprecedented heat wave that has sparked raging bushfires across some of the country’s most populated regions — pushing firefighters...

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European businesses slow to go online: study

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European businesses are not doing enough to use the internet to grow their customer base and promote products, Belgian database and marketing firm Email-Brokers said after studying 13 million websites.Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have the highest proportion of companies online but even in these countries 40 percent of business have no internet presence, it found.The European...

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Taylor Swift Steps Out in Los Angeles Post-Split

01/09/2013 at 09:45 AM EST She's marching on!Following the end of a whirlwind romance with One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles that took her from New York City to northern England, the ski slopes of Utah and the British Virgin Isles, Taylor Swift stepped out alone in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The Grammy-winning...

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer."There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer...

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Wall Street edges up at open after Alcoa results

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened slightly higher on Wednesday after Alcoa got the earnings season under way with better-than-expected revenue and an encouraging outlook for the year. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 36.93 points, or 0.28 percent, to 13,365.78. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 2.64 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1,459.79. The Nasdaq...

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Huge Amounts Spent on Immigration, Study Finds

John Moore/Getty ImagesA man suspected of being an illegal immigrant from Mexico was searched by a federal immigration officer in Phoenix last April. The Obama administration spent nearly $18 billion on immigration enforcement last year, significantly more than its spending on all the other major federal law enforcement agencies combined, according to a report published Monday by the Migration Policy...

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Conn. lawmaker apologizes over Facebook post

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut lawmaker has apologized after saying in a Facebook post that shooting victim and former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords should “stay out of my towns.”Giffords last week visited Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 young children and six adults at an elementary school last month. The Democrat, who met with families of the victims, was critically wounded...

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Miranda Lambert Is 'Protective' Over Time With Husband Blake Shelton

By Maggie Coughlan 01/08/2013 at 09:45 AM EST Despite countless awards, hit records and a doting husband, Miranda Lambert isn't always so confident. "I"m insecure about tons of things!" she says in Redbook's February issue – available on newsstands Tuesday. "I cry onstage once a week, singing 'The House That...

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer."There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer...

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Wall Street dips as earnings season begins

A $20,000 diamond ring found in a tanning salon in St. Charles, Mo., appears to be at the center of a legal dispute over "finders keepers." The St. Louis Post-Dispatch attempts to explain murky statutes revolving around found property versus stealing. After Bonnie Land found the expensive ring and agreed to return it weeks later, she was arrested. She subsequently sued the ring's owner for $66,500...

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