Dismissed as Doomsayers, Advocates for Meteor Detection Feel Vindicated

For decades, scientists have been on the lookout for killer objects from outer space that could devastate the planet. But warnings that they lacked the tools to detect the most serious threats were largely ignored, even as skeptics mocked the worriers as Chicken Littles. Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDr. Edward Lu, a former NASA astronaut and Google executive, has warned...

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Oscar Party Idea: Make Sheila G. Main's Truffles

02/16/2013 at 06:30 PM EST Andrew Purcell; Inset: Courtesy Sheila G. Main Oscar night is just around the corner so start prepping your viewing party menu now! Take inspiration from any of the films nominated or replicate what Sheila G. Main, the creator of the Original Brownie Brittle snack,...

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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.Edwards...

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Candidates for South L.A. council seat weigh in on sales-tax hike

Five of the seven candidates seeking to represent a major portion of South Los Angeles on the City Council said Saturday they...

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Ecuadoreans Are Apprehensive Over Likely Re-Election of President Correa

Guillermo Granja/ReutersA supporter of President Rafael Correa held a poster, “We already have a president, we have Rafael,” in Ambato, Ecuador. CARACAS, Venezuela — In the final analysis, Edwin Tatés supports President Rafael Correa of Ecuador and wants him to be re-elected. He just does not want it to be too easy. So for the election on Sunday, Mr. Tatés, a 39-year-old father of two, plans...

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Molly Sims: I Nursed a Little Vampire!

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/15/2013 at 01:00 PM ET Following the birth of her baby boy, Molly Sims was ready to sink her teeth into breastfeeding.The only problem? Her son Brooks Alan had beaten her to it.“Early on in the hospital, they really want you to breastfeed, so I’m trying everything,”...

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States' choices set up national health experiment

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care overhaul is unfolding as a national experiment with American consumers as the guinea pigs: Who will do a better job getting uninsured people covered, the states or the feds?The nation is about evenly split between states that decided by Friday's deadline they want a say in running new insurance markets and states that are defaulting to federal...

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Parks official who OKd illegal vacation buyouts will pay fine

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Loi Journal: In Vietnam, Some Chose to Be Single Mothers

Justin Mott for the International Herald TribuneNguyen Thi Nhan at home with her grandson, Thao, 2. Abandoned by her husband after the war, she asked another man to impregnate her. LOI, Vietnam — They had no plan to break barriers or cause trouble. But 30 years ago in this bucolic village in northern Vietnam, the fierce determination of one group of women to become mothers upended centuries-old gender...

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How Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner Are Making a Hollywood Marriage Work

By Michelle Tauber 02/14/2013 at 07:30 PM EST Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner Ramey He kept his arm tenderly around her back. She beamed as he told her "I love you" from the stage, and when the show was over, gently reminded him to take his jacket. For Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, the...

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Study: Fish in drug-tainted water suffer reaction

BOSTON (AP) — What happens to fish that swim in waters tainted by traces of drugs that people take? When it's an anti-anxiety drug, they become hyper, anti-social and aggressive, a study found. They even get the munchies.It may sound funny, but it could threaten the fish population and upset the delicate dynamics of the marine environment, scientists say.The findings, published online Thursday in...

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Former Bell official says he voted for pay raise out of fear

One of the former Bell city leaders accused of plundering the town's treasury by taking oversized salaries testified Thursday...

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Russian Ethics Official Steps Aside Over Property Disclosures

MOSCOW — The chairman of the ethics committee in Russia’s lower house of Parliament temporarily relinquished his authority on Wednesday after bloggers posted a raft of documents on the Internet showing him as the owner of expensive real estate, including a luxury oceanfront apartment in South Beach, part of Miami Beach, as well as valuable property in Russia that he did not list on required disclosure...

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Kate Upton and the Models of Sports Illustrated Party in Las Vegas

02/13/2013 at 10:10 PM EST Who wouldn't want to party with the models of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue? The last few days have led up to what is considered the biggest event in the history of the celebrated franchise. Following the reveal of the 2013 cover girl, Kate Upton (again!), the sexy bikini-clad...

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Clues to why most survived China melamine scandal

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists wondering why some children and not others survived one of China's worst food safety scandals have uncovered a suspect: germs that live in the gut.In 2008, at least six babies died and 300,000 became sick after being fed infant formula that had been deliberately and illegally tainted with the industrial chemical melamine. There were some lingering puzzles: How did it cause...

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Federal appeals court weighs overturning Barry Bonds' conviction

SAN FRANCISCO —A federal appeals court wrestled Wednesday with whether to overturn slugger Barry Bonds' felony conviction for...

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Despite Claims of Third Blast, North Korean Nuclear Program Remains a Mystery

As scientists and world leaders scrambled Tuesday to judge the importance of North Korea’s claim that it had detonated a third nuclear bomb, the main thing that quickly became evident is how little is known about the country’s increasingly advanced atomic and missile programs. Even the best news about the test — that it was small by world standards — could have a dangerous downside if the...

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Larry Bird's Son Connor Arrested

02/12/2013 at 10:00 PM EST Conner Bird Monroe County Sheriff’s Office/AP Basketball star Larry Bird's son is in trouble with the law.According to CBS Chicago, 21-year-old Connor Bird was involved in an argument with an ex-girlfriend at his apartment on Sunday...

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Study questions kidney cancer treatment in elderly

In a stunning example of when treatment might be worse than the disease, a large review of Medicare records finds that older people with small kidney tumors were much less likely to die over the next five years if doctors monitored them instead of operating right away.Even though nearly all of these tumors turned out to be cancer, they rarely proved fatal. And surgery roughly doubled patients' risk...

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Deaths of endangered fish curtail water exports

In a step that has become more routine over the last decade, water exports to the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California...

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North Korea Promises to Test More Rockets

SEOUL, South Korea — The Politburo of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party has called for the continued testing of long-range rockets despite the condemnation of previous tests by the United Nations Security Council, the country’s official media reported Tuesday. In a meeting on Monday, the Politburo, the main decision-making body of the party, said that more rocket tests could be an appropriate...

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It's a Girl for John Cho

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/11/2013 at 06:30 PM ET Paul Drinkwater/NBCSurprise: Actor John Cho is a dad again!The Go On star and his wife welcomed a daughter recently, Cho’s rep confirms to PEOPLE exclusively.Baby girl is the second child for the couple, who are also parents to a son. No...

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Pope shows lifetime jobs aren't always for life

The world seems surprised that an 85-year-old globe-trotting pope who just started tweeting wants to resign, but should it be? Maybe what should be surprising is that more leaders his age do not, considering the toll aging takes on bodies and minds amid a culture of constant communication and change.There may be more behind the story of why Pope Benedict XVI decided to leave a job normally held for...

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