Prince William Attends The Hobbit Premiere Without Kate

By Simon Perry 12/12/2012 at 03:40 PM EST With wife Kate resting as she copes with her pregnancy illness, Prince William stepped out solo on Wednesday evening for the premiere of The Hobbit in London.The dashing young royal told guests at the special screening of the tale from Middle Earth that Kate would have "loved" to have attended the...

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Congress examines science behind HGH test for NFL

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional committee has opened a hearing to examine the science behind a human growth hormone test the NFL wants to start using on its players.Nearly two full seasons have passed since the league and the players' union signed a labor deal that set the stage for HGH testing.The NFL Players Association won't concede the validity of a test that's used by Olympic sports and Major...

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Dow briefly negative; S&P 500 pares gain

Perhaps the most exciting thing about Peter Jackson's landmark, blockbuster Lord of the Rings films was that they made fans, through a combination of stunning landscapes and intricate special effects and soaring music and dramatic spectacle, feel as though we were seeing an almost impossible elevation of the potential size and scope of movies. Here was a rich, dense, sprawling series of films that...

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Afghan Army Still Needs Support, Pentagon Says

WASHINGTON — As President Obama considers how quickly to withdraw the remaining 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan and turn over the war to Afghan security forces, a bleak new Pentagon report has found that only one of the Afghan National Army’s 23 brigades is able to operate independently without air or other military support from the United States and NATO partners. The report, released...

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Man Builds Full-Scale Replica of Noah's Ark

People Pets By Stephen M. Silverman 12/11/2012 at 02:15 PM EST Johan Huibers and his ark Peter Dejong/AP He may have trouble finding two animals of every kind, but Johan Huibers of the Netherlands isn't one to be dissuaded.After 20 years, the professional builder...

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APNewsBreak: DA investigating Texas cancer agency

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas prosecutor responsible for investigating public corruption among state officials said Tuesday that he has opened an investigation into the state's troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting agency.Gregg Cox, director of the Travis County district attorney's public integrity unit, told The Associated Press that an investigation has begun into the Cancer Prevention and Research...

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Tech titans, "cliff" hopes push indexes up

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rising shares in technology companies helped push major stock indexes up around 1 percent on Tuesday, as the S&P 500 reached its best levels since mid-October, recouping its post-election selloff. A 3.1 percent gain in Apple Inc's stock lifted the Nasdaq, as the largest U.S. company by market value rebounded from a week in which investors took profits before...

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Changing of the Guard: Signals of a More Open Economy in China

Carlos Barria/ReutersIn November, Xi Jinping made his official debut as party chief at the 18th party congress, which military officers attended. BEIJING — In a strong signal of support for greater market-oriented economic policies, Xi Jinping, the new head of the Communist Party, made a visit over the weekend to the special economic zone of Shenzhen in south China, which has stood as a symbol of...

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Karina Smirnoff Appears on Don't Trust the B-- in Apt. 23

She's acting with the stars of Don't Trust the B–– in Apt. 23!Dancing with the Stars pro Karina Smirnoff, who recently made it to week nine with Apolo Ohno in the all-stars season, will appear an upcoming episode of the ABC sitcom. On the show, James Van Der Beek is participating in Smirnoff's popular televised ballroom dance competition. And he's up against Smirnoff and her partner, Dean Cain, who's...

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Surprise: New insurance fee in health overhaul law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed...

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