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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Alec Baldwin Is Busy Fulfilling Expectant Hilaria's Fruit Requests

Mark Davis/WireImageFatherhood is nothing new to Alec Baldwin. But daddy duty later in life? Now that’s a whole new playing field.Already dad to daughter Ireland, 17, the actor and his wife Hilaria are set to welcome their first child together this summer — and Baldwin is busy taking in the experience.“Being around a woman when she’s pregnant and I’m older now — quite a bit older, actually — it’s...

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Jesse Tyler Ferguson Gives a Wedding Planning Update

By Paul Chi 03/01/2013 at 11:30 AM EST Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita Desiree Navarro/Wireimage Wedding bells will soon be ringing for Modern Family actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his fiancé, lawyer Justin Mikita. The couple is getting married this summer. "We...

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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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Rachel McAdams Finds Unlikely Suitor at Toronto Raptors Game

By Tim Nudd 02/28/2013 at 11:15 AM EST Rachel McAdams and the Toronto Raptors's velociraptor mascot IPHOTO Rachel McAdams's last boyfriend was a little older than her. Now it looks like she's keeping company with someone from the Cretaceous Period. The actress,...

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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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S&P 500 rises more than 1 percent

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reaffirmed his support of the Fed's stimulus policy, while data on housing and durable goods added to bullish sentiment. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 123.12 points, or 0.89 percent, at 14,023.25. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was...

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Iran upbeat on nuclear talks, West wary

ALMATY (Reuters) - Iran gave an upbeat assessment of two days of nuclear talks with world powers that ended on Wednesday, but Western officials said Tehran must start taking concrete steps to ease mounting concerns about its atomic activity. The first negotiations between Iran and six world powers in eight months ended without a breakthrough in Almaty, but they agreed to meet again at...

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Meet the Biggest Star in Music Right Now: A Goat!

By Cara Lynn Shultz 02/27/2013 at 11:15 AM EST The biggest duet partner for music's biggest stars right now? A goat. We're not kidding. If your coworker bleating with joy, he or she has probably stumbled upon a new meme, which mashes up pop hits with an old clip of a goat screaming as if it were a human. (Some...

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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...

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Dow, S&P rise as Bernanke defends policy, warns on cuts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks mostly rose on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended the Fed's bond-buying stimulus before Congress, but warned forced spending cuts that could be triggered this week represented a headwind for the economy. Gains in homebuilders and other consumer stocks, following strong economic data, kept the S&P 500 nearly unchanged, while a 5...

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Italy parties seek way out of election stalemate

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's stunned political parties looked for a way forward on Tuesday after an election that gave none of them a parliamentary majority, posing the threat of prolonged instability and European financial crisis. The results, notably by the dramatic surge of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo, left the center-left bloc with a majority in the lower...

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Seth MacFarlane's TV Guide Critic Reacts to Oscar Mention

02/26/2013 at 11:30 AM EST Seth MacFarlane (far left) and William Shatner, with Stephen Battaglio (inset) Zuma; Inset: Getty So, how does it feel to have your name dropped before a billion people?Surprising, says TV Guide columnist Stephen Battaglio, who was part of the lively opening exchange...

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C. Everett Koop, 'rock star' surgeon general, dies

NEW YORK (AP) — Dr. C. Everett Koop has long been regarded as the nation's doctor— even though it has been nearly a quarter-century since he was surgeon general.Koop, who died Monday at his home in Hanover, N.H., at age 96, was by far the best known and most influential person to carry that title. Koop, a 6-foot-1 evangelical Presbyterian with a biblical prophet's beard, donned a public health uniform...

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Wall Street dips on uncertain Italian election

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged lower on Monday after fears of a divided parliament in Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy, rekindled worries about the currency union's stability. The center-right coalition led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was leading in the race for the Italian Senate, dashing hopes of a pro-reform, center-left victory seen as crucial to dig...

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What You Didn't See at the Oscars

Curious about went down backstage during the ceremony? We've got your all-access pass! Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Updated: Monday Feb 25, 2013 | 01:00 AM EST By: Kate Hogan Subscribe Now ...

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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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Gloomy Italians vote in election crucial for euro zone

ROME (Reuters) - Italy voted on Sunday in one of the most unpredictable elections in years, with many voters expressing rage against a discredited elite and doubt that a government will emerge strong enough to combat a severe economic crisis. "I am pessimistic. Nothing will change," said Luciana Li Mandri, 37, as she cast a ballot in the Sicilian capital Palermo on the first of two days...

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You're Invited to PEOPLE.com's Oscars Party!

02/24/2013 at 08:40 AM EST From left: Bradley Cooper, Oscar, Jessica Chastain AFP/Getty; Wireimage; Splash News Online Oscars host Seth MacFarlane isn't the only one gearing up for Hollywood's biggest night – we are too! Be a part of the glamour and excitement Sunday starting at 6 p.m. ET/3...

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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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Iran announces uranium finds, days before nuclear talks

DUBAI (Reuters) - Days before resuming talks over its disputed atomic program, Iran said on Saturday it had found significant new deposits of raw uranium and identified sites for 16 more nuclear power stations. State news agency IRNA quoted a report by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) which said the reserves were discovered in northern and southern coastal areas and had trebled...

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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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HP lifts Wall Street, S&P on pace for first weekly loss of year

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday, rebounding off two days of losses as Dow component Hewlett-Packard surged on strong results, but the S&P 500 was on track to end a seven-week-long streak of gains. The S&P shed 1.9 percent over the previous two sessions, its worst two-day drop since early November, putting the index on pace for its first weekly decline of the year. The...

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Renée Zellweger Puckers Up with Doyle Bramhall II in Hawaii: Photo

By Andrea Billups 02/22/2013 at 11:30 AM EST Doyle Bramhall II and Renée Zellweger AKM-GSI Renée Zellweger was feeling the love – and the surf – during her recent Hawaiian vacation.Zellweger, 43, joined her boyfriend, musician Doyle Bramhall II, 44, for some kayaking,...

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