The Lede Blog: Two Iranian Space Monkeys Got Confused, an Official Says

A senior official at Iran’s space agency confirmed on Saturday that state media reports on the launching of a monkey into the thermosphere had used images of two different monkeys. The official insisted, however, that the monkey had survived the journey and that Iran was not trying to cover up a failed flight.As The Lede explained on Friday, doubts about Iran’s claim that the monkey had survived the...

Read More..

Sony likely to unveil next PlayStation on Feb. 20

NEW YORK (AP) — Sony is poised to unveil the next PlayStation game console on Feb. 20, a date that would give the Japanese electronics company a head start over Microsoft‘s expected announcement of an Xbox 360 successor in June.Sony Corp. invited journalists to an evening press event in New York City. The company has not said what it plans to show off, but signs indicate that it’ll be the PlayStation...

Read More..

Busy Philipps Feels No Pressure to Bounce Back After Baby

David Livingston/GettyBusy Philipps may be willing to dish out style advice to fellow expectant mamas — but she’s not about to start breaking out the postpartum weight loss lectures.Currently pregnant with her second child, the Cougar Town star admits that while her celebrity status opens her up for public scrutiny, she’s not planning a big bounceback after baby.“Like most things in this business,...

Read More..

New rules aim to get rid of junk foods in schools

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most candy, high-calorie drinks and greasy meals could soon be on a food blacklist in the nation's schools.For the first time, the government is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful.Under the new rules the Agriculture Department proposed Friday, foods like fatty chips, snack cakes, nachos and mozzarella sticks would be taken out...

Read More..

A fatal toll on concertgoers as raves boost cities' income

On the edge of the Mojave, music promoter Pasquale Rotella staged a rave about 11 years ago that ended with a coroner's wagon...

Read More..

Novella’s Sympathetic Portrayal of Armenians Causes Uproar in Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan —A novella by an Azeri author that portrays ethnic Armenians sympathetically has provoked an uproar in Azerbaijan, with Azeri lawmakers denouncing the work and protesters burning the author’s portrait outside his house. The novella, “Stone Dreams,” was published in mid-December by Ekrem Eylisli, a former lawmaker, but condemnation grew strident only over the last week, after...

Read More..

Coming soon to Facebook- more action, battle games

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – When nWay began a trial of its dark, sci-fi combat game “ChronoBlade” on Facebook last year, the San Francisco-based startup felt sure it had a hit on its hands.“First of all, what comes is, ‘Wow, I had no idea you could actually do a game of this quality on Facebook,’” said Dave Jones, Chief Creative Officer of nWay, who has worked on “Grand Theft Auto.”Then came some resistance:...

Read More..

It's True! Baby on the Way for Penélope Cruz & Javier Bardem

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 02/01/2012 at 06:00 PM ET George Pimentel/WireImage Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem are set to double down on parenthood.The actors, who have a 2-year-old son, Leonardo, are expecting their second child together, PEOPLE confirms.“Nature is very wise and gives you...

Read More..

Healthier schools: Goodbye candy and greasy snacks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Goodbye candy bars and sugary cookies. Hello baked chips and diet sodas.The government for the first time is proposing broad new standards to make sure all foods sold in schools are more healthful, a change that would ban the sale of almost all candy, high-calorie sports drinks and greasy foods on campus.Under new rules the Department of Agriculture proposed Friday, school vending...

Read More..

School board member pimped out girls for sex, authorities allege

The young woman on the witness stand said Mike Rios approached her on the street with a school district business card in his hand and a job opportunity on his mind: He wanted her “to gather girls and sell them," she said. The young woman, identified in court only as Valery, testified Wednesday that she and others worked as prostitutes for Rios, a member of the Moreno Valley Unified School...

Read More..

Metropolitan Museum Collaborates With Chinese Museum

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CHINA, which opened two years ago to much fanfare as the Communist Party unveiled this mammoth showpiece to project its cultural ambitions, has now taken another step in trying to establish its legitimacy in the art world. The museum, reinvented from past incarnations and criticized by some for its party-approved depictions of modern Chinese history, on Friday will open...

Read More..

U.S. tablet shipments soar during holidays, threaten to surpass PCs

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook’s prediction that tablets would one day outsell personal computers appears to be coming true.Holiday season shipments of tablet computers touched a record 52.5 million, up 75 percent from a year ago, as consumers snapped up a wide range of the touch-enabled mobile devices and lower priced offerings, according to International Data Corp (IDC),...

Read More..

Beverley Mitchell Blogs: My Husband Talks to My Baby Through My Belly Button

At 28 weeks along – Courtesy Beverley Mitchell Please give a warm welcome to our newest celebrity blogger, Beverley Mitchell!Best known for her role as Lucy Camden on the long-running drama 7th Heaven, the actress most recently played Kaitlin O’Malley on The Secret Life of the American Teenager.Mitchell, 32, and husband Michael Cameron have announced that they’re expecting their...

Read More..

Hedgehog Alert! Prickly pets can carry salmonella

NEW YORK (AP) — Add those cute little hedgehogs to the list of pets that can make you sick.In the last year, 20 people were infected by a rare but dangerous form of salmonella bacteria, and one person died in January. The illnesses were linked to contact with hedgehogs kept as pets, according to a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Health officials on Thursday...

Read More..

Man fell in love with Manti Te'o, pretended to be girlfriend

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economyFor the last two weeks, the story of Manti Te’o’s fake girlfriend has unraveled one layer at a time.The Notre Dame linebacker spoke, then a Long Beach woman whose pictures were used in the ruse came forward. But the biggest questions could be answered only by a 22-year-old man from Palmdale -- the man Te’o and the...

Read More..

The Lede Blog: Piecing Together Accounts of a Massacre in Syria

As my colleagues Hania Mourtada and Alan Cowell report, the bodies of dozens of young men, shot in the head from close range with their hands bound, were found in a narrow river in a neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on Tuesday.The bodies were found in the Queiq River, which skirts the front line and de facto border between government-held areas of Aleppo and territory controlled by rebel fighters in...

Read More..

Are Weak Wii U Sales a Bellwether of Shifting Game Demographics?

Nintendo expects to sell fewer Wii U and 3DS units than originally claimed, according to reports this morning. The company says it sold three million Wii U units through December, but slashed its forecast of 5.5 million Wii U units sold by the end of March to just four million in all. On the Wii U software side, Nintendo is now forecasting 16 million units in the same timeframe, a number that’s...

Read More..

Selena Gomez Is 'Really Good' Post-Justin Bieber Split

By Dahvi Shira 01/30/2013 at 06:30 PM EST Girls just wanna have fun – especially single ones!Selena Gomez, 20, isn't following in the footsteps of her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber, who says he's "not in the happiest place" since the two parted ways. "I've been recording, having a lot of fun with my girlfriends,...

Read More..

Sex to burn calories? Authors expose obesity myths

Fact or fiction? Sex burns a lot of calories. Snacking or skipping breakfast is bad. School gym classes make a big difference in kids' weight.All are myths or at least presumptions that may not be true, say researchers who reviewed the science behind some widely held obesity beliefs and found it lacking.Their report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine says dogma and fallacies are detracting...

Read More..

Manti Te'o hoax suspect 'in love' with football star

The man accused of hoaxing Manti Te’o fell “deeply romantically in love” with the Notre Dame linebacker and said he was “confused” about his sexuality, TV’s Dr. Phil McGraw told the "Today" show in a clip that aired Wednesday. The Antelope Valley man, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, 22, is allegedly the person behind the Te’o fake-girlfriend affair. He is planning to come clean and reveal the exact nature...

Read More..

The Lede Blog: Under Attack, Cairo Hotel Tweets an S O S

Video of unidentified men streaming into the lobby of Cairo’s Semiramis InterContinental hotel was shown live on Egypt’s ONTV early on Tuesday.Last Updated, 5:57 p.m. As our colleagues Kareem Fahim, David Kirkpatrick and Mayy El Sheikh report, the mayhem on Cairo’s streets briefly spilled into the lobby of one of the city’s luxury hotels, the Semiramis InterContinental, during intense clashes between...

Read More..