Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg donating $500 million in stock to Silicon Valley charity

SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday he is donating nearly $ 500 million in stock to a Silicon Valley charity with the aim of funding health and education issues.Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, valued at $ 498.8 million based on their Tuesday closing price. The beneficiary is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a non-profit that works with donors to allocate...

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Newtown's Dawn Hochsprung and Victoria Soto to Be Buried Wednesday

By Stephen M. Silverman 12/19/2012 at 08:50 AM EST Principal Dawn Hochsprung (left) and Victoria Soto AP; Polaris Newtown, Conn., will see six more funerals and remembrances on Wednesday, including services for the beloved Dawn Hochsprung, Sandy Hook Elementary School's principal, who lunged...

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Experts: Kids are resilient in coping with trauma

WASHINGTON (AP) — They might not want to talk about the gunshots or the screams. But their toys might start getting into imaginary shootouts.Last week's school shooting in Connecticut raises the question: What will be the psychological fallout for the children who survived?For people of any age, regaining a sense of security after surviving violence can take a long time. They're at risk for lingering...

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Stock futures gain on hopes for "fiscal cliff" deal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures rose on Tuesday, indicating equities could extend a rally that took them to nearly two-month highs on growing optimism over a "fiscal cliff" deal. Stocks have struggled for direction in recent weeks, with investors reluctant to make big bets in the face of uncertainty over the cliff, a combination of steep tax hikes and spending cuts that could hurt...

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IHT Rendezvous: In Philippines, a Turning Point on Contraception

HONG KONG — There was both recrimination and celebration after the passage of a landmark bill in the Philippines on Monday, a measure that codifies sex education in schools and broadens access to condoms and birth control pills in poor and rural areas.Versions of the bill had languished for more than a decade, as my colleague Floyd Whaley reported in The New York Times, because of staunch opposition...

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Iran leader gets the clicks with Facebook rumor

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Facebook page purportedly created by Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attracted nearly 10,000 followers on Tuesday although the site’s content and style raise serious questions about its authenticity.Iranian authorities had no immediate comment on the site, which apparently went online last week but only recently gained prominence among social media...

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Richard Engel, NBC Newsman, Returns to Safety After Kidnapping

By Stephen M. Silverman 12/18/2012 at 08:30 AM EST Richard Engel (center) with colleagues on Today show, Dec. 18, 2012 Richard Engel, chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, and two of his crewmembers escaped Monday after they were kidnapped, psychologically...

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Experts: No link between Asperger's, violence

NEW YORK (AP) — While an official has said that the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had Asperger's syndrome, experts say there is no connection between the disorder and violence.Asperger's is a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness."There really is no clear association between Asperger's and violent behavior," said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant...

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Stock futures mixed on "cliff" optimism, fall in Apple

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open higher on Monday as investors were encouraged by signs of movement on "fiscal cliff" negotiations over the weekend. Republican House Speaker John Boehner edged slightly closer to President Barack Obama's key demands as they try to avert the tax hikes and spending cuts that are set to take effect in the new year. Sources familiar...

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10 Afghan Girls Killed in Old Mine Blast; Car Bomb Kills One in Kabul

Parwiz/ReutersAfghan villagers gathered around the bodies of girls who were killed by an explosion on Monday. KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives targeted the compound of a private military contractor on the eastern outskirts of Kabul on Monday, killing at least one person and injuring at least 15 others, including foreigners, the police said. In a separate...

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