Musical comedy “The Sapphires” sparkles at Aussie Oscars

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Home-grown romantic musical comedy “The Sapphires” shone at Australia‘s film industry awards on Wednesday, picking up best film and lead acting trophies for Deborah Mailman and “Bridesmaids” star Chris O’Dowd.Awards host Russell Crowe, an Oscar winner for “Gladiator,” led a star-studded evening whose theme was pride in Australia’s outsized success on the international film stage.“The...

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The Consumer: The Drug-Dose Gender Gap

Most sleeping pills are designed to knock you out for eight hours. When the Food and Drug Administration was evaluating a new short-acting pill for people to take when they wake up in the middle of the night, agency scientists wanted to know how much of the drug would still be in users’ systems come morning.Blood tests uncovered a gender gap: Men metabolized the drug, Intermezzo, faster than women....

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Nintendo Warns of Weak Wii U Sales

TOKYO — Nintendo said Wednesday that it expected to sell far fewer units of its Wii U game console than it had anticipated, reducing the sales outlook for its flagship device just two months after its release. Nintendo has a lot riding on the Wii U, the successor to the Wii, which revolutionized the gaming industry six years ago with a casual approach that brought video games to new audiences....

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Egyptian general warns against continued unrest

CAIRO — Egypt’s top military commander warned President Mohamed Morsi and opposition parties Tuesday to end days of bloodshed...

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Game|Life Weekly: This Week's New Games Resurrect the Classics

Happy Tuesday! On this week’s rundown of the latest game releases, we take a look at a new game with a classic design, and a just-plain-old game that you can buy again for pennies on the dollar.We’ve talked a lot about Skulls of the Shogun here on Game|Life — I’ve known its creative director Jake Kazdal for quite a while, and it’s had a lot of time in the media spotlight...

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Clinton coy about political future in joint interview with Obama

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sidestepped questions about whether she would run for president in 2016 in a CBS television interview done jointly with President Barack Obama, her rival in the 2008 race.Clinton, 65, denied there were any political tea leaves to read in the unusual joint interview for the CBS show “60 Minutes,” and acknowledged that she still...

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Well: Ask Well: Squats for Aging Knees

You are already doing many things right, in terms of taking care of your aging knees. In particular, it sounds as if you are keeping your weight under control. Carrying extra pounds undoubtedly strains knees and contributes to pain and eventually arthritis.You mention weight training, too, which is also valuable. Sturdy leg muscles, particularly those at the front and back of the thighs, stabilize...

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DealBook: R.B.S. Stock Drops Amid Concerns of Potential Guilty Plea in Libor Case

Shares of the Royal Bank of Scotland stumbled on Tuesday after it emerged that federal authorities are pursuing a guilty plea against an Asian subsidiary at the center of an interest rate manipulation scandal.Following a template developed in last year’s rare-rigging case against UBS, the Justice Department is pushing for the criminal action against the Royal Bank of Scotland, along with fines and...

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'Argo' producer scours for the next stranger-than-fiction story

Hunched over a desk in his spartan Westwood apartment, David Klawans squints at his computer monitor and knits his brow in concentration....

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Suicidal Sensors: Darpa Wants Next-Gen Spy Hardware to Literally Dissolve

Forget about a kill switch. Planned obsolescence? Already obsolete. The Pentagon’s blue-sky researchers want tomorrow’s military hardware to literally cease to exist at a predetermined point. Welcome to the age of suicidal sensors.Darpa isn’t imagining planes or ships that melt into a metallic puddle when their replacements come off the production line. The research agency is thinking, in...

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