Wall Street drifts after two-day run, Dow record in sight

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks edged higher on Thursday with investors hard-pressed to lift indexes to multi-year highs despite strong economic data. The U.S. economy ticked up in the fourth quarter, reversing an earlier estimate showing contraction, and a drop in new claims for unemployment benefits last week added to a string of data that suggests the economy improved early this year....

Read More..

Josh Brolin and Diane Lane's Split Was 'Mutual,' Says James Brolin

By Andrea Billups 02/27/2013 at 12:30 PM EST James Brolin said his son Josh is doing fine in the wake of his impending divorce from Diane Lane, calling their split "mutual."Brolin – who accompanied wife Barbra Streisand as she performed at the Oscars Sunday night – said his son, 45, was watching the Academy...

Read More..

Vt. lye victim gets new face at Boston hospital

BOSTON (AP) — A Vermont nurse disfigured in a 2007 lye attack has received a new face at a Boston hospital.Carmen Blandin Tarleton's full facial transplant at Brigham & Women's Hospital included transplanting a female donor's facial skin to Tarleton's neck, nose and lips, along with facial muscles, arteries and nerves.Hospital officials say the 44-year-old Thetford, Vt., woman suffered burns on...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Ben Affleck Finally Comes Clean - and Shaves His Beard!

02/26/2013 at 12:40 PM EST Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck David Livingston/Getty And what did Ben Affleck do after his Argo won Best Picture on Sunday night? He took it all off – his facial hair, that is.A friend of the actor-filmmaker's confirms to PEOPLE that following the Oscars ceremony...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Jennifer Aniston: The Real Reason I Loved My Oscar Gown

Stylewatch Style News Now 02/25/2013 at 01:10 AM ET Jason Merritt/GettyNeed another reason to love Jennifer Aniston — and her elegant Oscars gown? Just wait until you hear why she picked it: “It fits, it’s comfortable and it’s easy...

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..

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...

Read More..