Jennifer Lawrence took home the Oscar for Best Actress at the 2013 Academy Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles. Lawrence won for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook." Also nominated in the category were Emmanuelle Riva ("Amour"), Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty"), Quvenzhane Wallis ("Beasts of the Southern Wild") and Naomi Watts ("The Impossible"). Many observers believed the Best Actress race was down to Lawrence and Riva going into Sunday, with Chastain a distant third. Lawrence won Best...

Take a big gulp, New York: Hizzoner is about to give you a pop. Nanny Bloomberg unleashes his ban on large sodas on March 12 — and there are some nasty surprises lurking for hardworking families. Say goodbye to that 2-liter bottle of Coke with your pizza delivery, pitchers of soft drinks at your kid’s birthday party and some bottle-service mixers at your favorite nightclub. They’d violate Mayor Bloomberg’s new rules, which prohibit eateries from serving or selling sugary drinks in containers...

Police have identified a suspect in an early morning shooting and pileup that killed three people and injured at least six on Las Vegas' famous Strip Thursday, NBC affiliate KSNV reported. Police are seeking Ammar Harris, 26, in the shooting and subsequent car crashes that occurred in a section of the Strip that includes Caesars Palace, Bally’s and the Bellagio. The shooting came after the occupants of a black Range Rover and a Maserati got into an altercation in the valet area of the Aria hotel...

Marissa Mayer, the relatively new CEO of Yahoo, has decided she wants her employees showing up to the offices beginning in June, not just telecommuting from home all the time, according to All Things D’s Kara Swisher. From an internal memo:     “To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights...

The federal government’s dream of a renewable energy empire hinges on a scrubby outpost here, where scientists and executives doggedly explore a National Renewable Energy Laboratory campus If you live outside Colorado, you probably haven’t heard of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory – NREL for short. It’s the place where solar panels, windmills and corn are deemed the energy source of the future and companies who support such endeavors are courted. It’s also the place where highly paid...

A South African court granted bail on Friday to Oscar Pistorius, charged with the murder of his girlfriend on Valentine's Day, after his lawyers successfully argued the "Blade Runner" was too famous to flee justice. The decision by Magistrate Desmond Nair drew cheers from the Paralympics star's family and supporters. Pistorius himself was unmoved, in marked contrast to the week-long hearing, when he repeatedly broke down in tears. Nair set bail at 1 million rand ($113,000) and postponed the case...

Here's what the crash involving Kyle Larson and 11 other Nationwide drivers looked like from the grandstands. Tyler Andersen, a resident of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., was at the Drive for COPD 300 on Saturday and was filming the final lap when Kyle Larson's car got turned into the catchfence just in front of him and debris from his car flew into the grandstands. You can see the panic in the stands in the crash's aftermath and the tire that flew over the catchfence landed just feet from Anderson. At...

The Oscars red carpet is often referred to by the celebrity press as the most powerful catwalk in the world. It is the gilded stage for which haute couture dresses are made; bright lights fall on film stars dressed by the world's most accomplished designers in some of the most expensive items of clothing ever made. But for many of the nominees, what goes on in the run-up to Oscar Sunday involves weeks of hunger, sacrifice and last-minute liposuction. "It is brutal," British facialist Nichola Joss...

For those who aren't rooting for the San Francisco 49ers or the Baltimore Ravens – or who aren't named Harbaugh – there is, thankfully, that other competition on Sunday: best Super Bowl commercial. In what has now become the industry standard, advertisers no longer wait for game day to release their high-priced hilarity – $3.8m for 30 seconds this year – because there are so many eyeballs to be found online for free. Besides, why hold out for all the Monday morning quarterbacking when you can start...

 Let’s talk about Leonardo DiCaprio’s commercial for Jim Beam, Asian styles. By North American standards, this is pure cheese, right? That’s why it’s only for Japan. So far, at least. Leo snaps his fingers and the ice earth explodes. And a sexy look to camera. Followed by a sexy squint: “Cool bourbon.” Toast. “Jim Beam.” Is this...Leo parodying Leo? Ten, fifteen years ago, before the internet was so pervasive, celebrities could get away with overseas endorsements much easier. Now though,...