Heath Ledger won best supporting actor for his performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" at the 81st annual Academy Awards on Sunday. His parents and sister accepted the award for the actor, who died in January 2008. "This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath's quiet determination to be truly accepted by you all here -- his peers -- within an industry he truly loved," said Ledger's father, Kim. Ledger is only the second actor to ...

Penelope Cruz won the first Oscar of the night at the 81st annual Academy Awards, a best supporting actress honor for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Cruz paid tribute to writer-director Woody Allen, who oversaw "Vicky Cristina," and Pedro Almodovar, who gave her some of her best roles, and thanked "everyone who has helped me from the beginning." True to the producers' promise to give the Academy Awards more of a "party" tone, Hugh Jackman led off the show with cracks about ...

A bombing in one of the Egyptian capital's busy tourist districts killed a French tourist Sunday and wounded 21 other people, including 14 Europeans, the country's Interior Ministry reported. Goody, 27 tied the knot with boyfriend Jack Tweed, 21, in Hatfield Heath, Essex, east of London, U.K. media reported. After the ceremony Max Clifford, the couple's publicist, told waiting reporters that there had been "lots of tears and smiles and laughter" and that the congregation gave the newlyweds a ...

An explosion in one of the Egyptian capital's busy tourist districts Sunday left a French woman dead and wounded nine other Europeans, the country's Health Ministry reported. Goody, 27 tied the knot with boyfriend Jack Tweed, 21, in Hatfield Heath, Essex, east of London, UK media report. After the ceremony Max Clifford, the couple's publicist, told waiting reporters that there had been "lots of tears and smiles and laughter" and that the congregation gave the newlyweds a standing ovation after ...

The Oscar show needs fixing — everyone agrees on that. Ratings for the Motion Picture Academy's annual rite of self-congratulation have fallen more than 40% in the past decade, from 1998, when Titanic was named Best Picture, to 2008, when No Country for Old Men won. What for ages was the year's most watched entertainment program is now just another awards show. Like freelance economists poking the American fiscal corpse with the long sticks of their opinions, critics ...

British reality TV star Jade Goody married Sunday after being told by doctors last week that her cancer is terminal, UK media have reported. Goody, 27 tied the knot with boyfriend Jack Tweed, 21, in Hatfield Heath, Essex, east of London, UK media report. After the ceremony Max Clifford, the couple's publicist, told waiting reporters that there had been "lots of tears and smiles and laughter" and that the congregation gave the newlyweds a standing ovation after the signing of ...

This year, the Oscars are on Hugh Jackman's shoulders. The Australian actor, who earned rave reviews for his hosting of the Tonys, now has the Academy Awards to contend with. It's a job that's put Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg and David Letterman on the firing line, with only Billy Crystal and Johnny Carson emerging more or less unscathed in the last couple of decades. But with typical verve -- after all, this is the guy who won a ...

A new British study has discovered that the highest rates of cervical cancer are found in some of London's most deprived areas. Significantly high rates of smoking and teenage pregnancies were also discovered in eight areas of the capital city. Researchers believed this was mainly fueled by a lower uptake of cervical screening in deprived areas. Elizabeth Davies, medical director of the Thames Cancer Registry, King's College London, which carried out the latest research, told CNN: "What we see ...

Joann Killeen is president of the Killeen Furtney Group, the Los Angeles, California-based public relations firm that represented octuplet mom Nadya Suleman. Suleman, who underwent fertility treatment, gave birth to six boys and two girls January 26 in Bellflower, California. She already had six children at home. The Killeen Furtney Group recently stopped representing Suleman because of death threats that came in to the firm's office, Killeen said Monday on CNN's "Larry King Live." Following is an edited transcript of ...

Playing the Nintendo Wii Fit could improve balance and help avoid falls in seniors, researchers taking part in a new study suggest. The University of Aberdeen, Scotland and the UK's National Health Service (NHS) have embarked on a four month study on people over 70 to observe any changes in balance after regular use of the Wii Fit. The video game, which offers such sports as virtual golf, tennis and tenpin bowling, relies on players mimicking the games' physical actions, ...