With record highs in sight, stocks face roadblocks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If Wall Street needs to climb a wall of worry, it will have plenty of opportunity next week. Major U.S. stock indexes will make another attempt at reaching all-time records, but the fitful pace that has dominated trading is likely to continue. Next Friday's unemployment report and the hefty spending cuts that look like they about to take effect will be at the forefront....

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IHT Rendezvous: Muslims Seek Dialogue With Next Pope

LONDON — As the Catholic Church’s cardinal electors gather at the Vatican to choose a new pope, Muslim leaders are urging a revival of the often troubled dialogue between the two faiths.During the papacy of Benedict XVI, relations between the world’s two largest religions were overshadowed by remarks he made in 2006 that were widely condemned as an attack on Islam.In a speech at Regensburg University...

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David Bowie Makes Triumphant Comeback with New Album: PEOPLE's Critic

By Chuck Arnold 03/01/2013 at 08:40 PM EST Ten years after his last album, David Bowie is back – and so is his swagger.Forget the moody musings of "Where Are We Now?" – the reflective comeback single that he dropped, seemingly out of nowhere, on his birthday last month (Jan. 8). The Next Day – which, though...

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WHO: Slight cancer risk after Japan nuke accident

LONDON (AP) — Two years after Japan's nuclear plant disaster, an international team of experts said Thursday that residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable.In fact, experts calculated that increase at about 1 extra percentage point added to a Japanese infant's lifetime cancer risk."The additional risk is quite small...

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India Ink: The Truthers of Pakistan

“As the security situation in Pakistan continues to deteriorate, trading conspiracy theories has become the new national pastime,” Huma Yusuf wrote in the Latitude Blog, “nothing is more popular on the airwaves, at dinner parties or around tea stalls than to speculate, especially about American activities on Pakistani soil.”These rumors include speculations about the role of Indian spy agency R.A.W.,...

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American Idol Reveals Its Top 20

By Steve Helling 02/28/2013 at 11:20 PM EST From left: Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Ryan Seacrest, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban Michael Becker/FOX American Idol has been on the air for 12 seasons. From the early days of Kelly Clarkson, the judges continually hounded...

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WHO: Slight cancer risk after Japan nuke accident

LONDON (AP) — Two years after Japan's nuclear plant disaster, an international team of experts said Thursday that residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable.In fact, experts calculated that increase at about 1 extra percentage point added to a Japanese infant's lifetime cancer risk."The additional risk is quite small...

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Risk assets rise on Fed stimulus vow, Italy debt sale

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares, commodity currencies and oil rose on Thursday as sentiment improved after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reaffirmed his commitment to strong stimulus measures, while a smooth debt sale calmed nerves jangled by Italy's political deadlock. European markets are seen extending gains for a second day, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's...

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Japan to Begin Restarting Idled Nuclear Plants

Junji Kurokawa/Associated PressJapan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers his policy speech at the lower house of parliament in Tokyo. TOKYO -- Japan will begin restarting its idled nuclear plants once new safety guidelines are in place later this year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday, moving to ensure a stable energy supply despite public safety concerns after the Fukushima disaster. ...

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HP sells webOS operating system to LG Electronics

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co said on Monday it will sell the webOS operating system to South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, unloading the smartphone software it acquired through a $ 1.2 billion acquisition of Palm in 2010.LG will use the operating software, used in now-defunct Palm smartphones years ago, for its “smart” or Internet-connected TVs. The Asian electronics company had worked...

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American Idol Reveals Its Top 10 Women

TV Watch American Idol 02/27/2013 at 10:45 PM EST From left: Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Ryan Seacrest, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban Michael Becker/FOX American Idol's's list of the top 10 women is complete!After the first week of sudden-death rounds, the judges gave...

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Medicare paid $5.1B for poor nursing home care

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Medicare paid billions in taxpayer dollars to nursing homes nationwide that were not meeting basic requirements to look after their residents, government investigators have found.The report, released Thursday by the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general, said Medicare paid about $5.1 billion for patients to stay in skilled nursing facilities that failed to...

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Wall Street rebounds on Bernanke comments, data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rebounded from their worst decline since November on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended the Fed's bond-buying stimulus and sales of new homes hit a 4 1/2-year high. The S&P 500 had climbed 6 percent for the year and came within reach of all-time highs before the minutes from the Fed's January meeting were released last Wednesday....

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India Ink: Deadly Fire Breaks Out at Market in Kolkata

KOLKATA, India (AP) — A fire broke out at an illegal six-story plastics market in the Indian city of Kolkata early Wednesday morning, killing at least 19 people, police said. The blaze, which started before 4 a.m., was likely caused by a short circuit, said West Bengal fire minister Javed Khan. The fire was under control by mid-morning, he said, but toxic gases being released by the blaze...

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Bobby Brown Sentenced to 55 Days in Jail in Drunk Driving Case

02/26/2013 at 09:30 PM EST Bobby Brown has been sentenced to 55 days in jail and four years probation in his most recent drunk driving arrest.Brown, 44, was pulled over in Studio City, Calif., on Oct. 24 for driving erratically and was arrested when the officer detected "a strong scent of alcohol." He was charged...

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India Ink: What, No Trishna’s?

Is a pricy Japanese restaurant one of India’s best places to eat? Does southern Indian cuisine pale in comparison to Northern Indian food?That’s what a recent list of the “50 Best Restaurants in Asia” would have you believe.The list, organized by William Reed media, a British trade publishing house, ranks Dum Pukht, the Nawab-style cuisine in the ITC hotel in Delhi, as the top restaurant in India,...

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Lawmakers urge Facebook to remove fraudulent Sandy Hook tributes

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Three Connecticut lawmakers on Monday urged Facebook Inc to remove fraudulent and abusive tribute pages related to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.In the months since 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed 26 students and teachers in Newtown, Connecticut, the world’s No. 1 social network has been host to an outpouring of genuine online tributes – as well as a hotbed...

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The Bachelor's Sean Lowe Reveals Final Two

TV Watch The Bachelor 02/25/2013 at 10:30 PM EST From left: AshLee, Lindsay and Catherine Kevin Foley/ABC(3) And then there were two.After three incredible dates in Thailand with the remaining women, The Bachelor's Sean Lowe faced a difficult decision at the end...

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India Ink: On Kissing, Bollywood, and Rebellion

Gardiner Harris’s recent piece in the New York Times made me do a double take, not just because of the attachment of the word “bombshell” before Katrina Kaif, which to me is somewhat like using “razor-sharp” as the defining adjective for President George W. Bush, but because of the cultural “Rubicon-crossing” significance attributed to a scene in “Jab Tak Hai Jaan:”A pivotal screen kiss reflected...

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Relive the Best One-Liners and Tweets from the Oscars!

02/25/2013 at 12:00 AM EST Jennifer Lawrence tumbled – to a standing ovation. Ben Affleck tearfully won Best Picure for Argo. And you all loved – or loved to hate – Oscar host Seth MacFarlane. Yep, the Oscars are over, but it doesn't mean we're done talking about it! You can relive the best of the night! Check out what celebs, readers (and...

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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...

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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...

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Insurgents Launch 4 Attacks 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...

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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...

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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...

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