IHT Rendezvous: Should Common Plastics Be Labeled Toxic?

THE HAGUE — Hoping to reduce one of the most ubiquitous forms of waste, a global group of scientists is proposing that certain types of plastic be labeled hazardous.The group, lead by two California scientists, wrote in this week’s issue of the scientific journal Nature:We believe that if countries classified the most harmful plastics as hazardous, their environmental agencies would have the power...

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Hugh Grant Is a Dad - Again!

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/16/2013 at 04:30 PM ET Gareth Gay/LandovA little over a year after welcoming daughter Tabitha in 2011, Hugh Grant, 52, is taking another stab at fatherhood.The actor recently took to Twitter to announce that he and Tinglan Hong, 33, have added another baby — a...

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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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The Lede: Spectacular Videos of Meteor Over Siberia

Video posted on YouTube on Friday appeared to catch an explosion caused by a meteor streaking over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk.Last Updated, 5:40 p.m. As our colleagues Ellen Barry and Andrew Kramer report, Russians recorded video of bright objects, apparently debris from a meteor, “streaking through the sky in western Siberia early on Friday, accompanied by a boom that damaged buildings across...

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Beyoncé: I Would Not Be the Woman I Am Without Jay-Z

Beyoncé is one smitten starlet. The notoriously private performer, 31, recently got candid with Oprah, and gushed about the love of her life, husband Jay-Z, 43. "I would not be the woman I am if I did not go home to that man," the new mom said firmly, almost as if she she was about to get teary-eyed. "It just gives me such a foundation. [He's helped me] on so many levels." But it wasn't love...

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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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Wall Street ends slightly down, S&P positive for seventh week

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 dipped in a late decline on Friday as Wal-Mart dropped following a report of a weak start to February sales, though the index just barely extended its streak of weekly gains to seven. Equities were little changed for much of the session, with investors finding few reasons to make big bets following an extended rally on Wall Street, but stocks turned...

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Vowing Reform, China’s Leader, Xi Jinping, Airs Other Message in Private

HONG KONG — When China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, visited the country’s south to promote himself before the public as an audacious reformer following in the footsteps of Deng Xiaoping, he had another message to deliver to Communist Party officials behind closed doors. Feng Li/Getty ImagesXi Jinping has came to power at a time when the pressure of public expectations for greater official...

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Why Melissa Joan Hart Is Resisting Valentine's Day This Year

Age is more than just a number for mom-of-three Melissa Joan Hart.The actress, who welcomed her second child, Brady, now 4½, two years after the birth of her first son, Mason, now 7, says waiting until both boys were older to expand her family further was ideal.“It’s definitely easier to have an infant when the other two boys are potty trained and can dress themselves,” Hart, 36, told PEOPLE at Wednesday’s...

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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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Wall Street ends slightly higher, helped by acquisitions

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 eked out a small gain for a third straight session on Thursday, helped by a flurry of merger activity, though investors see no catalysts to lift the market further with major averages near multi-year highs. The market's slowed advance took the S&P 500 to its highest intraday level since November 2007 on Wednesday. While the index notched its third...

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What to Know About Westminster's Reserve Best in Show, Swagger

People Pets By Kiran Hefa 02/13/2013 at 05:15 PM EST Swagger Mike Segar/Reuters/Landov Banana Joe may have been named best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show – and landed a Broadway gig – but there's another furry face who's emerged as the competition's...

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News Analysis: As North Korea’s Nuclear Ability Grows, China Faces Dilemma

BEIJING — In the aftermath of Tuesday’s nuclear test by North Korea, China will almost certainly join the United States in supporting tougher sanctions at the United Nations, accompanied by sterner reprimands from Beijing against its recalcitrant ally in Pyongyang. But as impatient as China might be with North Korea, there is little chance that the new Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, will move...

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Biggest Loser's Alison Sweeney Blogs About Valentine's Day Temptation

TV Watch The Biggest Loser By Alison Sweeney 02/12/2013 at 05:30 PM EST Alison Sweeney hosts NBC's The Biggest Loser and is the award-winning star of Days of Our Lives, in addition to being an author, director, producer, wife and mom. Like she has for the past two seasons, Alison will blog each week about the...

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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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Wall Street ends slightly higher, Dow near a record

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks closed modestly higher on Tuesday, putting the Dow within striking distance of an all-time high, as investors looked ahead to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Investors will be listening to Obama's speech for any clues on a deal with Republicans to avert automatic spending cuts due to take effect March 1. The tone of the speech will also...

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Ruling Adds Another Chapter to Unsolved Italian Jet Crash

ROME — Itavia Flight 870 was entering the final leg of a routine domestic trip from Bologna to Palermo, Sicily, one clear summer evening when it suddenly plunged into the Tyrrhenian Sea near the small island of Ustica, killing all 81 people aboard. Mechanical failure was ruled out early on, and almost 33 years later, the causes that led to the crash on June 27, 1980, are still a topic of...

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Are You Loving LeAnn Rimes's New Bangs?

Stylewatch Style News Now 02/11/2013 at 04:48 PM ET Courtesy of Leann RimesFirst, Duchess Catherine cut hers. Then, Michelle Obama made the cut. And now we think we can officially declare bangs to be the hairstyle to have, because...

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Need surgery? Good luck getting hospital cost info

CHICAGO (AP) — Want to know how much a hip replacement will cost? Many hospitals won't be able to tell you, at least not right away — if at all. And if you shop around and find centers that can quote a price, the amounts could vary astronomically, a study found.Routine hip replacement surgery on a healthy patient without insurance may cost as little as $11,000 — or up to nearly $126,000.That's what...

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Wall Street ends flat as investors seek new catalysts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks ended a quiet session with slight moves on Monday as investors found few reasons to keep pushing shares higher following a six-week advance, though the longer-term trend was still viewed as positive. The benchmark index is up more 6.4 percent in 2013, putting both the S&P 500 and Dow industrials near multi-year highs. The S&P is less than 4 percent...

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3 North Korean Doctors Are Killed in Nigeria

POTISKUM, Nigeria (AP) — Assailants in northeastern Nigeria have killed three North Korean doctors, beheading one of them, officials said Sunday. The attack on Saturday night in Potiskum, a town in Yobe State, comes after gunmen killed at least nine women who were administering polio vaccines in Kano, the major city in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north. The assailants apparently...

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Pink Reveals Her Secret to a Happy Marriage: Listening ... in Moderation

By Marisa Laudadio 02/10/2013 at 05:00 PM EST Three-time Grammy winner Pink, 33, who is up for best pop vocal album at this month's Grammy Awards – and kicks off her U.S. tour on Feb. 13 – shares the secrets behind her music.You're nominated for The Truth About Love. So how does the magic happen? When I start a record, I'm like, 'God, I...

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After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four...

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US Air, AMR near $11 billion merger, deal seen within week : sources

NEW YORK (Reuters) - US Airways Group Inc and AMR Corp are nearing an $11 billion merger that would create the world's largest airline and could announce a deal within a week, after resolving key differences on valuation and management structure, people familiar with the matter said. Under terms of a deal that are still being finalized, US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker would become...

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