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An unmanned Delta 4 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday with a pair of U.S. military satellites designed to keep watch on other countries’ spacecraft. The 206-foot (63-meter) tall rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, lifted off at 7:28 p.m. EDT and blazed through partly cloudy skies as it headed into orbit, a United Launch Alliance live webcast showed. Launch of two satellites for the U.S. Air Force’s recently declassified Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, had been slated for July 23, but was delayed one day to resolve a technical issue with ground support equipment and then three more times by poor weather. Once in orbit, the GSSAP satellites, built by Orbital Sciences Corp, will drift above and below a 22,300-mile (35,970-km) high zone that houses most of the world's communications satellites and other spacecraft. General William Shelton, head of Air Force

NASA's decade-old Mars rover Opportunity has set a new off-Earth, off-road distance record, logging just over 25 miles (40 km) on the surface of the Red Planet to surpass the benchmark set in 1973 by a Russian probe on the moon. Opportunity, which arrived on Mars in January 2004, a few weeks after its now-defunct rover twin Spirit, was built to drive only about a single kilometer but has continued to operate far beyond its design capabilities. Earlier this year, the aging but intrepid rover, a six-wheeled vehicle about the size of a golf cart, found evidence that fresh water once pooled on the surface of Mars, reinforcing similar discoveries made by a newer, larger probe Curiosity, on the other side of the planet. On Sunday, the robot rover advanced another 157 feet (48 meters) as it continued along the rim of a Martian crater, putting Opportunity's total odometer at 25.01 miles (40.25 km), according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena, California. By co

If someone were to create an award for "mother of the year" in the animal kingdom, a remarkably dedicated eight-limbed mom from the dark and frigid depths of the Pacific Ocean might be a strong contender. Scientists on Wednesday described how the female of an octopus species that dwells almost a mile below the sea surface spends about 4-1/2 years brooding her eggs, protecting them vigilantly until they hatch while forgoing any food for herself. It is the longest known egg-brooding period for any animal, they wrote in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. The scientists used a remote-controlled submarine to monitor the deep-sea species, called Graneledone boreopacifica, off the coast of central California. They tracked one female, recognizable by its distinctive scars, that clung to a vertical rock face near the floor of a canyon about 4,600 feet (1,400 meters) under the surface, keeping the roughly 160 translucent eggs free of debris and silt and chasing off predators. This

The lead in human teeth holds clues about where a person grew up and can help criminal investigators and archaeologists working with old or decomposed corpses, according to a University of Florida researcher. Because lead ore deposits around the world differ, and as young people's teeth absorb traces of the metal in the environment, the region where a person grew up can be distinguished through lead analysis of a tooth, said geologist George Kamenov. His study on the topic will appear in the August issue of Science of The Total Environment, a peer-reviewed journal. "If you were born in Europe and then came to the U.S., yes, I will be able to see that," Kamenov said. "I was born in Bulgaria so I have the European ... signal." Kamenov said he has worked with law enforcement officers on cold cases, with lead analysis helping investigators narrow their focus. In addition to aiding authorities in identifying bodies, the analysis can help archaeologists locate

A Texas company is offering a unique send off for beloved pets by placing a portion of their cremated remains in a capsule and blasting them off into space. Celestis Inc, which has provided memorial space flights for human remains since 1997, will launch its first commercial pet memorial spaceflight in October 2014 with the remains of a blue merle Australian shepherd, named Apollo, the company said. The pet services, such as one dubbed Earth Rise, start at $995 and include having the pet’s remains into flown into space on a commercial flight and returned to the owner. The space send-off options go up to $12,500, which allows the pet’s remains to be launched into deep space or to visit the moon. Memorial service are available before blast off and families can witness most of the launches, depending on location, the company said. "Our pet service flights are an idea that’s been a long time coming," Celestis Chief Executive Charles Chafer said. (Reporting by Jon Hersko

Large flesh-eating dinosaurs evolved into small flying birds, but it did not happen overnight. An international team of scientists on Thursday described an extraordinary evolutionary process that unfolded over a period of 50 million years in which a lineage of carnivorous dinosaurs shrank steadily and acquired numerous traits that led to the first appearance of birds. The researchers, using techniques developed by molecular biologists to reconstruct virus evolution, examined 1,500 anatomical traits in 120 different dinosaurs from the theropod group. These bipedal meat-eaters included giants like Tyrannosaurus rex and Giganotosaurus as well as the lineage that produced birds. "Our study measured the rate of evolution of different groups of theropod dinosaurs," said lead researcher Michael Lee, a paleontologist at the University of Adelaide and the South Australian Museum. "The fastest-evolving group also happened to be ancestral to birds. So, ultimately, the most ad

This fall, when Representative Michael Grimm asks New York voters to send him to Washington for a third term in Congress he may be splitting his time between the campaign trail and a courtroom where he is due to face tax evasion charges. Grimm, a Republican and former FBI agent who represents parts of the city's Staten Island and Brooklyn boroughs, was indicted in April on charges of fraud, perjury and conspiracy tied to his restaurant, Healthalicious. Last week, prosecutors asked a federal judge to start his trial in October, weeks ahead of the Nov. 4 election. But a flurry of headlines about his business dealings is just one of the problems facing Grimm, who hails from one of New York City's rare Republican-leaning districts. He was caught on camera in January threatening to throw a reporter off a balcony in the U.S. Capitol, saying: "I'll break you in half. Like a boy." Grimm is far from the first U.S. politician to seek re-election under a legal cloud.

Representative Eric Cantor said on Friday he will resign his seat effective Aug. 18, months earlier than expected following a stunning defeat in a Republican primary election. _0"> Cantor, who on Thursday stepped down from his leadership position in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, said he had asked Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to call a special election to coincide with November's congressional elections. Such a race would allow the winner to take office immediately, rather than in January when the next Congress convenes, he wrote in a column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "I want to make sure that the constituents in the 7th District will have a voice in what will be a very consequential lame-duck session," Cantor told the newspaper in an interview, referring to the period between the election and start of the new Congress. It also would give the winner some seniority over the rest of the new class elected in November, he wrote. C

Chicago said its budget deficit was on track to shrink to just below $300 million in 2015, but a state-mandated increase in pension payments would expand gaps in the future. _0"> The projected $297 million operating fund deficit, the lowest for the city in seven years, is based on $3.22 billion in revenue and $3.52 billion in expenses, according to an annual financial analysis that Chicago released late on Thursday. The projection assumes continued economic growth and a return to normal revenue trends, which were affected by this year's severe weather, a statement from Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. Meanwhile, higher expenses were mainly due to increased salaries and wages under collective bargaining agreements. “While a $297 million budget shortfall is substantial, we are making progress in righting the city’s financial ship,” the mayor said in the statement. A looming $500 million increase in pension payments to Chicago's police and fire retirement systems would infla

The federal jury hearing the corruption trial of former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell on Friday saw a racy email his wife sent to a businessman, a communication defense attorneys said was proof that the two were having an affair. Lawyers for McDonnell's wife, Maureen, said at the start of the trial that the couple's marriage had been unraveling at the time they accepted gifts from a businessman they said Maureen McDonnell had a "crush" on. But the businessman, witness Jonnie Williams, has insisted in three days of testimony that the relationship was strictly mercenary, with him offering $165,000 in gifts and loans in hopes of getting help for his company Star Scientific Inc, a nutritional supplement maker. McDonnell, 60, and his wife are charged with 14 counts of corruption and bribery for allegedly accepting gifts and loans from Williams in exchange for supporting his former company, now known as Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals. Maureen McDonnell's attorney

Massachusetts lawmakers on Friday tightened the state's already strict gun laws by passing a measure that gives police chiefs authority to turn down a resident's requests to buy a rifle or shotgun if they believe the person may be a danger. House lawmakers overrode objections from gun-rights advocates in the state Senate who had opposed the measure, worrying that police chiefs could abuse the authority to deny firearms to law-abiding citizens. "We seek not to be the safest state in the nation but strive to make our communities the safest in the world," said House Speaker Robert DeLeo, a Democrat. The bill now goes to Governor Deval Patrick, a fellow Democrat, who supports tightening the state's gun laws. The measure broadens the authority of police, who were already allowed to deny sales of handguns to people who failed background checks. The new measure gives a police chief 90 days to petition a court to deny a firearms identification card to someone the ch

Former President Bill Clinton said he "could have killed" Osama bin Laden in remarks to an audience in Australia the day before al Qaeda's 2001 attacks on the United States, according to an audio tape that emerged this week. Clinton and officials from his administration have expressed similar sentiments both before and after the Sept. 11 attacks that killed more than 3,000 people but the recording appears to have attracted attention because he was speaking less than 36 hours before al Qaeda hijackers would board four airliners for attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. On the tape Clinton said he declined to pursue one opportunity to kill bin Laden in Afghanistan because it would have risked killing hundreds of civilians. "And I'm just saying, you know, if I were Osama bin Laden -he's a very smart guy. I spent a lot of time thinking about him. And I nearly got him once," Clinton can be heard saying as people in the audience laugh. "I

The U.S. Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Friday to reconsider its July 22 ruling that poses a major setback to the Obamacare health insurance overhaul as it could limit the availability of federal health insurance subsidies for millions of people. In the ruling last month, the appeals court said the subsidies, which help people afford health insurance, may only be paid in states that have their own online health insurance exchanges. There are 36 states that lack their own exchanges, which are a central feature in the Obamacare system. Five million people could be affected, analysts have estimated, if subsidies were to disappear from the federally created marketplaces that have been set up in the states that did not set up their own exchanges. In the court filing, the government, as expected, asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the three-judge panel's decision. If the court agrees to rehear the case, oral a

A U.S. lawmaker has launched an inquiry into the amount of money the Commodity Futures Trading Commission spends on leases, expressing concern that the derivatives regulator is wasting taxpayer money on underutilized space. In a July 31 letter to the CFTC, U.S. Senate Iowa Republican Charles Grassley requested records detailing how much the agency has been spent and whether it has taken steps to reduce the amount of unused space it leases. "The purpose of this letter is to state our concerns with how the agency has managed its resources in the past, and to learn how the agency plans to better manage these resources in the future," Grassley wrote. The CFTC's inspector general released a report in June that concluded the CFTC had paid millions of dollars for office space in Kansas City, Missouri, that was vacant. The report said that of $5.3 million the CFTC was paying for the 10-year lease, $3.6 million was for unused space. For an agency with a $215 million budget,

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Friday created a panel to recommend reforms to the state's pension and health benefits for retired public employees. _0"> The panel of experts will be charged with "thinking big and being bold when it comes to developing recommendations for how New Jersey can create a sustainable retirement and health benefits system," Christie's office said in a statement. The governor began calling for a new round of pension reform in February but has yet to lay out specific proposals. New Jersey's Democratic legislative leaders had worked with Christie, a possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate, to craft 2011 pension reforms. Those changes mandated annual increases in the state's pension contribution to make up for years of skimping, with a target for reaching the full actuarially required contribution of $4.8 billion in fiscal 2018. But in May, citing financial constraints, Christie slashed $904 million from the s

A Florida judge on Friday set a deadline of Aug. 15 for state lawmakers to redraw U.S. congressional district maps that he ruled were unconstitutional. Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis also held open the possibility of delaying the election for the affected districts. The general election is on Nov. 4. Lewis had ruled that two of the state's 27 districts for the U.S. House of Representatives must be redrawn because Republican leaders had conspired to rig the boundaries to protect the party's majority in Washington. It was not immediately clear if Republican leaders could slow down any changes during an election year by appealing the decision. “Time is of the essence,” Lewis wrote in his six-page order. “It is necessary to get a revised map in place and for me to consider additional evidence as to the legal and logistical obstacles to holding delayed elections for affected districts in 2014.” The League of Women Voters of Florida, which successfully sued the state for ille

In an interview ( here ) with Reuters late on Thursday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 81, was not just defiant about calls for her retirement. A former women's rights advocate appointed to the court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, Ginsburg also had plenty to say about how the Court's controversial Hobby Lobby decision highlighted a gender gap among her fellow justices, why gay marriage will continue to face court challenges, and why a woman might not be her ideal successor. Excerpts: THE GENDER GAP Q: The Court issued a string of decisions this term that might hurt women, and you’ve complained specifically about the Hobby Lobby case that said for-profit employers can cite religious reasons to opt out of birth control coverage under federal law. Do you think the majority is going backwards, even though there are now three female justices? A: Not on this issue. Their blind spot (on women) has been there (in past cases). Some of my colleagues are sensiti

President Barack Obama said on Friday the CIA "tortured some folks" after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that the White House had handed over to Congress a report about an investigation into "enhanced interrogation techniques." "We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values," Obama told a White House news conference. Obama's comment was a reaffirmation of his decision to ban the use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding shortly after he took office in January 2009. The administration of President George W. Bush, Obama's predecessor, authorized the use of harsh questioning techniques of militant detainees in the wake of the 9/11 attacks after deciding they did not amount to torture. Obama told reporters the techniques were used because the United States was afraid more attacks were imminent. "It's important for us not to feel too sanctimon

The U.S. Senate passed legislation on Friday authorizing 1,000 more visas for Afghan civilians who worked with American troops and diplomats - often risking their lives - sending the measure to the White House for President Barack Obama to sign into law. _0"> The bill, passed unanimously, expands the 2009 Special Immigrant Visa program to 4,000 from 3,000 visas. The House of Representatives passed the measure, also unanimously, on Wednesday. The measure is intended to assist Afghans who worked for Americans, mostly as interpreters and guides, during the 13-year-long war and to ease the difficult process of getting visas to come to the United States. Many of the Afghans have had to go into hiding while waiting for visas because the Taliban views them as traitors to their homeland because they worked for the United States. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle ; Editing by Ken Wills )

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives sought to patch over another deep rift and pass revised border security legislation on Friday, hoping to persuade voters they are acting to tackle the growing crisis over child migrants from Central America. Tougher language in the twin bills would make it easier to deport migrant children, add money to deploy National Guard troops at the border with Mexico and largely reverse President Barack Obama's policy of deferring action against minors brought to the United States illegally by their parents. The changes were intended to satisfy conservative House Republican lawmakers who withdrew their support on Thursday amid a revolt instigated by Senator Ted Cruz, the Tea Party firebrand from Texas. In an embarrassing defeat, House Speaker John Boehner canceled a vote on Thursday after support collapsed. The revised bills are due to be considered by the House on Friday night. But even if they pass, they have virtually no chance of beco

A $694 million bill to further secure the U.S. border with Mexico, amid a flood of Central American migrants, cleared a procedural vote in the House of Representatives on Friday. _0"> By a vote of 218-191, the Republican-controlled House paved the way for debate and a final vote on passage of the bill later on Friday. No Democrats voted in favor of advancing the controversial legislation. (Reporting By Richard Cowan and David Lawder; Editing by Sandra Maler )

President Barack Obama said on Friday the CIA "tortured some folks" after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that the White House had handed over to Congress a report about an investigation into "enhanced interrogation techniques." "We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values," Obama told a White House news conference. Obama's comment was a reaffirmation of his decision to ban the use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding shortly after he took office in January 2009. The administration of President George W. Bush, Obama's predecessor, authorized the use of harsh questioning techniques of militant detainees in the wake of the 9/11 attacks after deciding they did not amount to torture. Obama told reporters the techniques were used because the United States was afraid more attacks were imminent. "It's important for us not to feel too sanctimon

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted on Friday to crack down on Central American migrants, including unaccompanied children, who are flooding to the U.S. border with Mexico, as lawmakers passed a $694 million border security bill. The 223-189 vote came one day after conservative Republicans balked at an earlier version of the measure, exposing a deep rift between Tea Party activists and more mainstream Republicans. In passing the retooled bill, the Republican-led House ignored a veto threat from the White House. But with the Senate already on a five-week summer recess, this measure will advance no further at least until September. "We couldn't go home (for recess) and not have a decision," said Representative Kay Granger of Texas, who helped draft the original bill. Granger said the measure would serve as a marker for negotiations in September to resolve the humanitarian crisis that has seen nearly 60,000 children from El Salvador, Honduras and Gua

Ask Major-General Wayne W. Grigsby Jr., the top U.S. military officer in Africa, how he thinks U.S. and European-backed African troops are faring in their war on Islamist militants in Somalia, and his answer comes back smartly: "Pretty darn good!". But when "son of Africa" U.S. President Barack Obama hosts 50 African leaders in Washington this week, the admiration may be less than mutual. Many Africans feel America is lagging behind China and others in its engagement with their continent. The Aug. 4-6 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, billed by U.S. officials as a first-of-its-kind event, looks like a belated imitation of Africa gatherings hosted in recent years by China, India, Japan and the continent's former colonial master Europe. The world's richest nation has been slow coming to the party of an economically rising Africa, long dismissed as a hopeless morass of poverty and war, but now offering investors a huge market for everything from banking and reta

Republicans on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee will soon release a report asserting the CIA's use of harsh interrogation techniques helped bring down Osama bin Laden and disrupt terrorist plots, the panel's top Republican said on Sunday. "Information gleaned from these interrogations was in fact used to interrupt and disrupt terrorist plots, including some information that took down bin Laden," Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said on CBS's "Face the Nation." Democrats who control the Senate Intelligence Committee are expected to issue their own report that alleges the CIA techniques, such as "waterboarding," did not help yield valuable intelligence and were not necessary. The two reports will come five years after the committee authorized a probe into the CIA's possible use of torture after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It is unclear when the Democrats' report will be released because Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs

President Barack Obama said corporate America has done well under his economic policies, telling the Economist magazine that chief executive officers should stop complaining about regulations and show greater social responsibility. "If you look at what's happened over the last four or five years, the folks who don't have a right to complain are the folks at the top," Obama said in an interview conducted last week and posted on the magazine's website late on Saturday. Republicans have sought to portray Obama as anti-business, and businesses have complained that Obama's signature healthcare law and the Dodd-Frank financial reforms have raised costs. Business groups are lobbying against his new plan to curb climate-changing carbon emissions from power plants. "I would take the complaints of the corporate community with a grain of salt," Obama said, arguing that his policies have been friendly to business. "They always complain about regulatio

President Barack Obama dismissed Russia as a nation that "doesn't make anything" and said in an interview with the Economist magazine that the West needs to be "pretty firm" with China as Beijing pushes to expand its role in the world economy. _0"> Obama has tried to focus U.S. foreign policy on Asia, a response to China's economic and military might. But for months, that "pivot" has been overshadowed by a flurry of international crises, including Russia's support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia is the world's third-largest oil producer and second-largest natural gas producer. Europe relies heavily on Russian energy exports, complicating the West's response to the Ukraine crisis. Obama downplayed Moscow's role in the world, dismissing President Vladimir Putin as a leader causing short-term trouble for political gain that will hurt Russia in the long term. "I do think it's important to keep perspecti

German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Sunday that Israel and at least one other intelligence agency were listening in on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's unsecured phone calls last year when he was holding nearly daily negotiations for peace with various leaders in the Middle East. _0"> The magazine cited "several sources from intelligence circles" as saying that although Kerry has a secure phone at his mansion in Georgetown, while he was traveling and needed to make a quick phone call, he sometimes used an ordinary telephone that the intelligence agencies listened in on. "A large number of these conversations, which went via satellite, were listened to by at least two intelligence agencies, including the Israelis," the magazine wrote. "It is probable that the Russians and Chinese were also listening in." The magazine said that Israel thus often knew precisely what Kerry was talking to the other sides about. Kerry, the magazine said,

The body of radio personality Casey Kasem, who even before his June death was at the center of a tug-of-war between his wife and his children from a prior marriage, has been flown to Canada from a Washington state funeral home, his longtime former agent said on Wednesday. _0"> Kasem, the former host of the syndicated program "American Top 40," was moved to Canada by his wife, his agent Don Pitts said, after being kept at the Gaffney Funeral Home in Tacoma, Washington. He died on June 15 at age 82. Candace Corkum, administrative manager for the funeral home, confirmed on Friday that Kasem's body was no longer at the facility. When reached by phone on Wednesday, someone speaking for the home declined further comment. Kasem had been the focus of a dispute between his three children from his first marriage - Kerri, Julie and Mike - and his second wife, Jean Kasem. The children said she prevented them from visiting him as he suffered from Lewy body dementia, an i

CBS' "Late Show" will stay in New York when comedian Stephen Colbert takes over from the late-night talk show's host David Letterman in a deal that will award the network tax credits for jobs commitments, CBS Corp. and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday. _0"> CBS did not immediately commit to keeping the show at its only home, Manhattan's Ed Sullivan Theater, when the network announced in April that Colbert would succeed Letterman. Politicians in California had lobbied for the "Late Show" to move to Los Angeles after NBC's "The Tonight Show" moved to New York from its longtime home in Burbank, California, when Jay Leno stepped aside for Jimmy Fallon in February. CBS said it will be eligible for at least $11 million in state tax credits over five years by keeping the "Late Show" in New York, another example of how states have lured television and film production away from its traditional Los Angeles home

Former Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis is being sought by police on a domestic assault charge, Washington police said on Wednesday. _0"> Davis, 28, is alleged to have approached an ex-girlfriend while she was eating at a Washington restaurant early on June 2 with a man. Davis grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around, police said. When the woman walked outside, Davis followed and threw a handful of dirt and flowers from a plant box at her, police said. The two argued at length, then Davis got in a car and drove off. The woman, 28, was not hurt. She reported the incident to police the following day, police said. Davis, a second-round draft choice from the University of Southern California, played for the Redskins for six years. He was suspended indefinitely in February by the National Football League for violating the league's substance abuse policy. (Reporting by Ian Simpson ; Editing by Eric Beech )

"Weird Al" Yankovic, the parody singer and cult figure, on Wednesday earned his first No. 1 album on the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on the strength of several viral videos released online. _0"> Parodying pop hits such as Pharrell's "Happy" ("Tacky") and Lorde's "Royals" ("Foil"), Yankovic's "Mandatory Fun" album sold 104,000 copies in its debut week, according to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Billboard said it is the first comedy album to top the chart since 1963, adding that "Mandatory Fun" had the most weekly sales for a comedy album since 1994. Yankovic, who has scored hits over the past 30 years with parodies such as "Like a Surgeon"(Madonna's "Like a Virgin") and "Amish Paradise" (Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise") launched a promotional campaign releasing eight new music videos in as many days. The next three spots on

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president, was issued a speeding citation in her hometown of Wasilla, court records showed on Wednesday. The July 16 citation carries a potential fine of $154, and Palin has 30 days from the date of receiving the citation to respond to it, the records showed. Police pulled Palin over while she was driving her black Toyota Tundra pickup bearing the license plate LOVUSA, the Alaska Dispatch News reported on Wednesday. It said the former governor was driving 63 miles per hour in a 45-mph speed zone while returning from a bikram hot yoga workout. “I was thinking, I wasn’t speeding, I was qualifying,” Palin told the Dispatch News. Wasilla Police spokesman Officer Rick Manrique declined to comment on the case, and an attorney for Palin could not be reached for comment. Palin, since stepping down as governor of Alaska in 2009, has endorsed and campaigned for a number of conservative candidates for Congress. Last

Actor James Shigeta, best known for his roles in "Die Hard," and "Flower Drum Song," has died, a representative for the actor said on Tuesday. He was 81. _0"> Shigeta, who was born in Hawaii and has Japanese ancestry according film database IMDB, died peacefully in his sleep in Los Angeles on Monday, his agent Jeffrey Leavitt said. The actor rose to prominence in the 1960s with a series of film and television roles, and won a Golden Globe for most promising male newcomer. He played the leads in 1961's musical film "Flower Drum Song" and "Bridge to the Sun," and a vice admiral in 1976's World War II film "Midway." In 1988, the actor was a key supporting cast member in "Die Hard" alongside Bruce Willis. The actor is survived by three brothers and one sister, Leavitt said. (Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy ; Editing by Mary Milliken )

Award-winning American filmmaker Robert L. Drew, a pioneer of the cinema vérité documentary style, died on Wednesday in Sharon, Connecticut at the age of 90, his family said. _0"> Drew, who made more than 100 films on social issues, politics and the arts during a career that spanned more than five decades, died peacefully surrounded by children and friends. "He had been declining for some time and it was not completely unexpected," his son, Thatcher Drew, said. Drew, a former correspondent and editor at Life Magazine and a fighter pilot during World War Two, helped to develop cinema vérité, a direct type of observational or fly on the wall filming to capture reality. He also founded the documentary film company Drew Associates in the early 1960s. Many of his films were shown on television and screened at international film festivals. "He believed in the pure form of cinema vérité. It was a strict code that allowed no directing of subjects, no set up shots

Rock guitarist Dick Wagner, whose prolific session work graced the albums of such acts as Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, Kiss and Aerosmith during the 1970s, has died at age 71 in Arizona, his manager said on Thursday. The Michigan-bred musician, featured on scores of albums and hailed by fans as "the Maestro of Rock," suffered from a number of health problems in his later years, including two heart attacks and a stroke. He died on Wednesday at a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona, succumbing to respiratory failure about two weeks after undergoing a cardiac procedure, his manager and business partner, Susan Michelson, told Reuters. Wagner began his rock career in the 1960s with the formation of an early Detroit-area band called the Bossmen. He gained wider notice after establishing the Frost, recording his first three Billboard-charted albums with that group. After moving to New York he formed another band, Ursa Major, whose original but short-lived lineup included Billy Joel on

The news and entertainment website BuzzFeed has fired the writer Benny Johnson after its editors said they found he plagiarized others' work 41 times. _0"> BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith in a note late on Friday called writer Benny Johnson "a creative force" at his best, but said a review of more than 500 posts revealed dozens of instances where he copied sentences and phrases verbatim from other websites. Smith said the plagiarism on the seven-year-old site was brought to light this week by Twitter users. "Plagiarism, much less copying unchecked facts from Wikipedia or other sources, is an act of disrespect to the reader," Smith wrote. "We are deeply embarrassed and sorry to have misled you." Johnson, whose eclectic range of posts with attribution issues cited by BuzzFeed included items on miracle babies, things that are definitely bigger in Texas, and how to avoid eating horse meat, apologized via Twitter on Saturday. "To the writers w

The gloves that boxing great Muhammad Ali wore in his legendary 1971 fight against Joe Frazier in what became known as the Fight of the Century sold at auction on Thursday for almost $400,000. An anonymous bidder bought the gloves for $388,375 at the auction run by Texas-based Heritage Auctions at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland. Heritage previously auctioned a set of gloves Ali wore to claim his first World Championship in 1964 for $836,500. The Fight of the Century, in New York's Madison Square Garden, was the first of three fights between Ali and Frazier during the 1970s. In 1971, Frazier officially held the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World. Ali had been stripped of the title he had held since the 1964 bout against Sonny Liston because of his refusal to participate in the Vietnam War-era draft. The March 8 fight against Frazier was Ali's second after returning to the ring following a 3-1/2 year absence. Ali's conviction had just bee

Invesco Ltd, which oversees the PowerShares line of exchange-traded funds, said on Thursday that second-quarter profit jumped 35.5 percent as strong markets boosted assets under management. Net profit rose to $274.5 million, or 63 cents per share, from $202.6 million, or 45 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding discontinued operations from the sale of its Atlantic Trust business and other one-time items, Atlanta-based Invesco earned 65 cents per share. Analysts, on average, expected profit of 59 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Invesco ended the quarter in June with $802.4 billion in assets under management, up $15.1 billion from the end of March. Net long-term outflows at Invesco were $6.9 billion for the quarter, pressured by a single client withdrawal of $13.1 billion, after the company lost a contract to manage funds for wealth manager St. James's Place. Much of the money that left with St. James's Place is following Neil Woodford, a longtime Invesco

The Pimco Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund run by Bill Gross, is ending the month on a rough note, lagging 93 percent of its peers so far in July. According to preliminary Morningstar data on Thursday, the Pimco Total Return is posting returns of negative 0.49 percent, while its peer-fund category is putting up returns of 0.26 percent on the month as of July 30. Gross's fund performance is widely followed as it serves as an industry benchmark, though this year has been one of Gross's roughest patches. Gross saw his successor, Mohamed El-Erian, resign earlier this year while his Pimco Total Return has seen over $64 billion of net outflows since May 2013. "The Pimco Total Return Fund (PTTRX) has a lot of duration exposure to the 1-5 year point of the yield curve, the exact spot where yields rose during July," said David Schawel, vice president and portfolio manager of Square 1 Financial. "Meanwhile, they show to have just 11 percent of mat