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Having previously had input into releases from Alberta Cross and The Northern Territories,

Fox's hit tv series american Idol has brought on talented funnywoman Ellen DeGeneres to replace Paula Abdul's spot.Contributor: John NeebPublished: Sep 10, 2009

Front Page: Role would reunite 'Lebowski' star with Coens -- In what is shaping up as a 'Big Lebowski' reunion, Jeff Bridges is in discussions with Paramount to star in Joel and Ethan Coen's redo of 'True Grit.' Bridges would play the role that won John Wayne an Oscar for the 1969 original.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley Chief executive John Mack is stepping down and will be replaced by retail brokerage head James Gorman, signaling the storied bank is embracing stable businesses after losing big on risky ones.

The Discovery Channel announces today a new 60-episode, five-year series titled ?Curiosity: The Questions of Our Life.? Each one-hour episode will air monthly at 8 p.m. Sundays starting in January, 2011. Brian Stelter wrote about the news for The New York Times today: Each episode will examine an issue like ?What is consciousness?? or ?Are we alone in the universe?? Other possible questions include ?How does civilization affect the planet?? and ?What is a virus, and how can it become a pandemic?? The program will be produced by John Hendricks, founder of Discovery and chairman of Discovery Communications. Stetler writes that Hendricks 'stepped down as chief executive in 2004 and later developed the Experius Academy, an adult education retreat in Colorado that is scheduled to open next spring.' Stay tuned for more info about Experius! I'll be looking forward to this series with great anticipation. Curiosity is the cornerstone of learning. They couldn't have chosen a better name.

We provide evidence on the nature of co-movement in monthly US and UK stock returns by investigating time-varying correlations in returns since 1980. There is a marked increase in correlations between these markets around 2000, which we attribute to globalization and model with a time-varying smooth transition conditional correlation (STCC) GARCH specification. A double transition correlation model with time and US stock price volatility indicates that correlations not only increase over time but also during periods of high volatility. The STCC models perform well in comparison with constant and dynamic conditional correlation models in terms of both statistical and economic criteria, but we demonstrate that an investor will gain little from portfolio diversification across these two important markets. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study investigates the impact of information technology on common stock returns and trading volume. By focusing mainly on the peak period of the hi-tech phenomenon, the findings imply that the market response to website launching is positive. During the event day and the two preceding days, the abnormal stock return and the abnormal trading volume both are positive and statistically significant. In particular, the impact is stronger for non-US firms than for domestic companies, for initial rather than subsequent site launches, for those sites that are launched on Monday rather than on other days of the week, and for innovative industries such as electronics and computers. As expected, while the launch of a website had a stronger effect at the beginning of the hi-tech phenomenon, the impact has diminished in later years. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

John Mack, who navigated the bank through the height of the financial crisis, will remain chairman. James Gorman, the head of Morgan Stanley's wealth management business, was one of the first executives Mack hired when he returned to the firm in 2005.

The soldier killed during the rescue of journalist Stephen Farrell, who was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, was tonight named as Corporal John Harrison, 29, from the Parachute Regiment.His family paid tribute to 'a wonderful son, brother and dedicated soldier'.Cpl Harrison died in the pre-dawn raid on Wednesday to rescue Farrell, 46, a reporter with dual British and Irish citizenship and who was working for the New York Times. Farrell's Afghan interpreter, Sultan Munadi, was killed in the raid, which also reportedly claimed the lives of two Afghan civilians.The Harrison family said: 'We are absolutely heartbroken. John was a wonderful son, brother and a dedicated soldier who was greatly loved and cherished by all his family and friends'.Defence secretary Bob Ainsworth said: 'Corporal John Harrison put his life on the line to rescue others. He made the ultimate sacrifice and acted heroically in the face of great danger, in the best tradition of the British armed forces and in f

St. John's Roman Catholic archdiocese has lost money in a fundraising bid despite offering half-million-dollar homes as prizes. Two homes have been given away in the fundraising lottery but the churc...