Thousands of mourners paid their respects today to the family of Pierre Gemayel, the Lebanese cabinet minister and strong opponent of Syrian influence in Lebanon whose assassination on Tuesday jolted a nation paralyzed by political conflict.

White marathon runners seem to face an increased risk of skin cancer because of long sun exposure, Austrian researchers report.

The research team, all dermatologists at the Medical University of Graz, Austria, grew interested because they had treated eight ultramarathon runners with malignant skin cancer over a 10-year period.

A dancing penguin outran James Bond at North American box office this weekend, as Warner Bros' animated "Happy Feet" beat the latest installment of the 007 series, according to studio estimates released here Sunday.

Maybe Hollywood tried harder. Or maybe it didn’t try quite so hard.

Whichever the strategy, the movie business climbed its way out of a dismal pattern of declining audience to more solid footing in 2006. With most of the year’s movie receipts counted, the box office is up 6.5 percent over last year, and attendance has risen nearly 5 percent.

Since 1993, when Robert M. Gates left Washington after completing 14 months as head of the Central Intelligence Agency saying it was “time to get a life,” he has recalled the capital’s clashing egos and the news media’s magnifying glass less than fondly.

nepal-armyPreparations have begun in Nepal to start the management of Maoist soldiers and their weapons, government officials said on Wednesday.