US computer graphics scientist wins Kyoto Prize

TOKYO (AP) — An American regarded as a father of computer graphics, an Indian literary critic and a Japanese molecular cell biologist have received the Kyoto Prize, Japan's highest private award for global achievement.The Inamori Foundation awarded its advanced technology prize on Saturday to U.S. computer scientist Ivan Sutherland, who developed the graphic interface program Sketchpad in 1963.Gayatri...

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Philip Roth Is Retiring; Amazon Glitch Disables Buy Buttons

Today in books and publishing: Philip Roth confirms his retirement; Amazon‘s mysteriously vanishing buy buttons; Kobo expands to Italy, Kindle considers China; cities in literature.RELATED: Trikes, a Mustache, and Andy Warhol Philip Roth wraps it up. One of America’s most celebrated living novelists has been hinting...

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AP source: Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez break up

NEW YORK (AP) — A source confirms to The Associated Press that Justin Bieber is no longer Selena Gomez's "Boyfriend."The source is not authorized to discuss the split with the press and spoke on condition of anonymity.The breakup apparently happened last week. Distance and their busy schedules were cited as factors.Eighteen-year-old Bieber is touring to promote his latest album, "Believe," which contains...

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Malaria vaccine a letdown for infants

LONDON (AP) — An experimental malaria vaccine once thought promising is turning out to be a disappointment, with a new study showing it is only about 30 percent effective at protecting infants from the killer disease.That is a significant drop from a study last year done in slightly older children, which suggested the vaccine cut the malaria risk by about half — though that is still far below the...

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Four days later, Obama wins Florida

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - President Barack Obama was declared the winner of Florida's 29 electoral votes Saturday, ending a four-day count with a razor-thin margin that narrowly avoided an automatic recount that would have brought back memories of 2000.No matter the outcome, Obama had already clinched re-election and now has 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206.The Florida Secretary of State's Office...

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Transgender Pakistanis face society's scorn

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — Dressed up in elaborate, feminine outfits and artfully applied makeup, they are showered with money while dancing at all-male wedding parties. But the lives of transgender people in Pakistan are also marked by harassment, rejection and poverty.Transgender people live in a tenuous position in conservative Pakistan, where the roles of the sexes are traditionally starkly drawn....

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Obama, Palin and Jobs join Bartlett's club

NEW YPRK (AP) — So much has changed since we last heard from "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations," a decade ago.Barack Obama was a state legislator. Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla. Steve Jobs had just introduced a portable music player called the iPod.And digital books were a relic from the dot-com bubble.The 18th edition of the venerable reference work has just been released, the first for the electronic...

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Malaria vaccine a letdown for infants

LONDON (AP) — An experimental malaria vaccine once thought promising is turning out to be a disappointment, with a new study showing it is only about 30 percent effective at protecting infants from the killer disease.That is a significant drop from a study last year done in slightly older children, which suggested the vaccine cut the malaria risk by about half — though that is still far below the...

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Boehner: GOP has 'some work to do'

House Speaker John Boehner (Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)Reflecting on this week's election, in which Democratic President Barack Obama won re-election and Democrats made gains in Congress, House Speaker John Boehner said the GOP has "some work to do" in how it presents the party's ideas."It's clear that as a political party we've got some work to do," Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters during...

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Myanmar says Obama to visit later this month

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — President Barack Obama will make a groundbreaking visit later this month to Myanmar, an official said Thursday, following through with his policy of rapprochement to encourage democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.The Myanmar official speaking from the capital, Naypyitaw, said Thursday that security for a visit on Nov. 18 or 19 had been prepared, but the schedule was not final....

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Exclusive: Google Ventures beefs up fund size to $300 million a year

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google will increase the cash it allocates to its venture-capital arm to up to $300 million a year from $200 million, catapulting Google Ventures into the top echelon of corporate venture-capital funds. Access to that sizeable checkbook means Google Ventures will be able to invest in more later-stage financing rounds, which tend to be in the tens of millions...

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Man pleads no contest in 'Bling Ring' case

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man who had been accused of burglarizing Paris Hilton's home pleaded no contest on Thursday to receiving jewelry stolen from the house during a rash of break-ins by a group dubbed the "Bling Ring."Roy Lopez Jr. was then sentenced to serve three years of supervised probation.Lopez, 30, was initially charged with felony residential burglary and conspiring with other members of the...

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Experts raise concerns over superhuman workplace

LONDON (AP) — Performance-boosting drugs, powered prostheses and wearable computers are coming to an office near you — but experts warned in a new report Wednesday that too little thought has been given to the implications of a superhuman workplace.Academics from Britain's leading institutions say attention needs to be focused on the consequences of technology which may one day allow — or compel —...

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Giffords' husband faces shooter in court

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Gabrielle Giffords came face to face Thursday with the man who tried to kill her last year, but chose not to speak.Her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, did all the talking for her, as the couple told Jared Lee Loughner how the 24-year-old's deadly rampage at the former congresswoman's political meeting had upended her life."Her life has been forever changed. Plans she had for our...

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China's power transfer: infighting and spectacle

BEIJING (AP) — China's ruling Communist Party opens a congress Thursday to usher in a new group of younger leaders faced with the challenging tasks of righting a flagging economy and meeting public calls for better government.The weeklong congress is the start of a carefully choreographed but still fraught power transfer in which President Hu Jintao and most of the senior leadership will begin to...

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Apple's shares slide 4 percent to five-month low

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ABC's Diane Sawyer spurs jokes from Twitterverse

NEW YORK (AP) — Diane Sawyer's Election Night performance left some viewers asking if she had begun celebrating Tuesday's election a bit early.Co-anchoring ABC News' coverage, the veteran journalist struck a different manner from her practiced, straight-news-delivering style.Sawyer spoke more slowly than usual while seeming to prop herself on outstretched arms at the anchor desk she shared with George...

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Study: Stem cells from strangers can repair hearts

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Researchers are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks. In a study, stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as patients' own cells for helping restore heart tissue.The work involved just 30 patients in Miami and Baltimore, but it proves the concept that anyone's cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are...

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Election night was a good night for Calif., civility and statheads

By Jeff GreenfieldForgive me if I don’t offer thoughts on the impending Republican civil war, the brilliance of the Obama campaign team, the effect of Hurricane Sandy, the demographic nightmare confronting the GOP, or prospects for the 2016 Iowa caucuses, now just a short 1,100 days or so away.There’s plenty of that for your Wednesday pleasure. But Tuesday night produced other news that’s worth your...

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China hauls away activists in congress crackdown

BEIJING (AP) — During her 30-hour train journey to Beijing, Wang Xiulan ducked into bathrooms whenever the conductors checked IDs. Later, as she lay low in the outskirts of the capital, unidentified men caught her in a nighttime raid and hauled her to a police station. She assumed a fake identity to get away, and is now in hiding again.Wang's not a criminal. She's a petitioner.She's among many people...

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ABC raises nearly $17 million for hurricane relief

NEW YORK (AP) — ABC says its national "Day of Giving" raised nearly $17 million for Superstorm Sandy relief.Throughout its programming Monday, the network urged viewers to contribute to the American Red Cross to help victims of the storm, which affected several Northeastern states, but hit New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area particularly hard.Appeals were aired all day on ABC programming,...

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Study: Stem cells from strangers can repair hearts

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Researchers are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks. In a study, stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as patients' own cells for helping restore heart tissue.The work involved just 30 patients in Miami and Baltimore, but it proves the concept that anyone's cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are...

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Scenes from Election Day: America votes

A polling station in Los Angeles, California Tuesday. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)The most expensive presidential race in American history—some $2.6 billion was spent—is finally coming to an end. The barrage of political ads is quieting, and voters now have the chance to speak.Polls close in Virginia, Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina and Vermont at 7 PM ET, with other states following...

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Pakistan army chief issues warning in rare message

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's army chief warned against efforts to undermine the military in a rare public statement Monday that analysts interpreted as a response to unprecedented pressure from the government, media and judiciary.Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's cryptic message triggered some concern within Pakistan because of the army's history of seizing power in military coups. But experts saw the statement...

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