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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama had some fun with at least one question at his online town hall, saying he doesn't think legalizing marijuana is a good strategy for turning around the economy. Obama told the audience

NEW YORK – Wall Street is getting the good news it wants on the economy's biggest problems: banks and housing. Investors reignited a two-week rally Monday, cheering the government's plan to help banks remove bad assets from their books as well as a report showing a surprising increase in home sales. Major stock indicators jumped as much as 6 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which soared more than 400 points. The Treasury Department's bad asset cleanup program would tap money from the government's $700 billion financial rescue fund and involve help from the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit...

You go to Twitter.com and this is what you find on its homepage: "What is Twitter? (It) is a service for friends, family and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" And when you see it spelled out like that, underneath the logo of a chirping bird on a branch, you worry this might be the next landing spot for the President, that he's about to turn into President Twitter, telling all of us what he's doing in real time, from pickup basketball to fixing the...

Betsy Blair, an Academy Award-nominated actress also known for her forthright memoir describing her youthful marriage to Gene Kelly and her firsthand experience of the Hollywood blacklist, died on Friday in London. She was 85 and had lived in London for many years

Friday, March 20th 2009, 3:44 AM Photo Illustration by Lopez/News Take our PollThe book on W. Would you buy a book written by former President George W. Bush? Former President George W. Bush can finally boast "Mission Accomplished" - if the mission is winning a chance to repair his legacy and be paid handsomely for it.

President Obama topped a town hall appearance Wednesday by claiming responsibility for the bonuses paid out to executives at the bailed-out insurance giant American International Group, saying, "I'm outraged, too." President Obama said he takes responsibilty for the AIG controversy. He added, "We've got a lot on our plate."

iday, March 20th 2009, 6:45 AM Take our Poll Obama meets Leno What do you think of President Obama's appearance on the "Tonight Show"? It's great. He's a man of the people who spoke directly to the people. It's a disgrace. A sitting president shouldn't be on a late night talk show. I was sleeping. Related News Articles President Obama's historic appearance on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" was accompanied by a foot-in-the-mouth quip about the Special Olympics he later regretted. Talking about his dismal bowling skills, Obama said he'd been practicing and had gotten his score up to...

BURBANK, Calif. – President Barack Obama has told Jay Leno he was stunned when he learned of the bonuses that bailed-out insurance giant AIG was paying its employees. Obama told "The Tonight Show" host the payments raise moral end ethical problems — and the administration's going to do everything it can to get them back. But Obama added the bigger problem is the culture that allowed traders to claim them. He says that's got to change if the economy is to recover. According to NBC, Obama was the first sitting president ever to appear on "The Tonight Show." He'd already...

Tony-winning actress Natasha Richardson was killed by a blunt trauma to the head and her death was ruled an accident, the city Medical Examiner reported Thursday. Richardson sustained an epidermal hematoma - a blood clot that forms upon impact and starts growing between the brain and the skull - after wiping out Monday on the bunny slope while skiing at a Canadian resort. "This is a very treatable condition if you're aware of what the problem is and the patient is quickly transferred to a hospital," Dr. Keith Siller of New York University Langone Medical Center said. "But there is...

Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to appear on a late night chat show tomorrow when he is a guest of comedian and writer Jay Leno. While most of the people on The Tonight show will promote a film or record, Mr Obama will be pushing his economic rescue plan for America. Critics accused him of dumbing down the presidency and of blurring the line between politics and entertainment

March 17) -- Over the past few weeks, the White House has been casting right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh as the head of the Republican Party, and based on a new CBS News poll, it appears they may be onto something. According to the poll, Limbaugh’s favorable rating stands at just 19 percent, a full 43 points lower than President Obama’s.

Wrinkles are good, eyebrows exude confidence and the bigger your ears, the more comfortable you are taking risks. Your personality is written all over your face, says Jean Haner, an expert in understanding facial features. "Your face is a blueprint for who you really are inside," adds the author of "The Wisdom of Your Face." Haner says she can predict which supermarket checkout clerk will scan her groceries fastest and why her clients' attempts to find Mr. or Mrs. Right often fall short.

WASHINGTON – The White House says President Barack Obama will appear this week on Jay Leno's talk show, perhaps adding a lighter touch to his bid to resuscitate the moribund economy. Obama will visit "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" during his trip to Los Angeles on Thursday. NBC will tape the program and air it that night, after the president has returned to Washington.

<p>BOSTON (AP) - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told law students there could be an opening on the Supreme Court soon but didn't hint at who might be leaving. Ginsburg spoke Friday at New England Law's annual "Law Day."</p> <p>In a question-and-answer session, she said the nine justices only take pictures together when a new member is added. She said: "We haven't had any of those for some time, but surely we will soon."</p>

CNSNews.com) - Film director George Lucas of the famed “Star Wars” series said capping the salaries of CEOs at $500,000 a year as part of the $700 billion financial bailout is a decision that rests with stockholders, not with the government. Lucas also said he does not make that much money each year as a CEO, nor would he pay anyone that amount. The highly successful movie-maker further said that President Obama’s proposal to raise taxes on people making $250,000 or more a year will not help the economy.

The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country's love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public's insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom. "This is a product that we use for less than three seconds and the ecological consequences of manufacturing it from trees is enormous," said Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defence Council. "Future generations are going to look at the way we make toilet paper as one of the greatest...

Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood laments the loss of old-fashioned humour in today's society - insisting he should be able to tell harmless jokes about nationality without fear of people branding him a "racist". The Dirty Harry star, 79, is adamant that modern culture has become humourless, and accuses younger generations of spending too much time trying to avoid being offensive. He says, "People have lost their sense of humour. In former times we constantly made jokes about different races. You can only tell them today with one hand over your mouth or you will be insulted as a racist. "I...

NEW YORK – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has steadied Wall Street by telling Congress the recession might end this year. In his semiannual report to the Senate Banking Committee, Bernanke predicted the economy is likely to keep contracting in the first six months of 2009. But he also said "there is a reasonable prospect" the recession will end this year. He warns that a recovery will require getting credit and financial markets to operate normally. Bernanke's comments helped the market absorb a worrisome report on consumer spending. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index for February came in at 25,...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis. Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union. He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system. "We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. "It was placed on life support, and it's still...

Officials at the United Nations (U.N.) are investigating accusations the organisation withdrew George Clooney's security escort as he travelled to a dangerous area of Africa. The Hollywood star has been campaigning to highlight the plight of refugees in the Sudan with a series of visits to the country's war torn Darfur region. Clooney - a U.N. goodwill ambassador - is currently visiting the African state of Chad with two journalists in an unofficial capacity, as part of his pledge to help publicise troubles in the area. But New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof, who is documenting Clooney's travels, published a...