Danny Puff

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor, writer and comedian Steve Martin has become a dad for the first time at age 67 - and managed to keep it secret from the media for more than a month.

Martin and his second wife, Anne Stringfield, 41, "are new parents and recently welcomed a child," a spokeswoman for the actor said on Wednesday.

The spokeswoman gave no details, including the sex of the child or the date of birth. But the New York Post cited unidentified sources as saying the baby arrived in December.

The multi-talented Martin, whose career as a writer and performer dates back more than 45 years, has played a father in movies such as "Parenthood," Cheaper by the Dozen," and "Father of the Bride."

Martin, who has hosted the Oscars ceremony three times, married Stringfield, a former writer at the New Yorker magazine, in 2007. His eight-year marriage to British actress Victoria Tennant ended in divorce in 1994.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey: Editing by Jill Serjeant and Peter Cooney)

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TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index opened lower on Thursday, with declines in BlackBerry and energy shares offsetting a rise in Barrick Gold Corp after the miner reported quarterly results.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 24.74 points, or 0.19 percent, at 12,750.54 shortly after the open.

(Reporting by John Tilak; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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A girl attempts to keep candles lit at a memorial outside Sandy Hook Elementary School. (Dylan Stableford)

Sandy Hook Promise the organization formed last month to honor the 20 children and six adults killed in the Newtown, Conn., school shootings has launched a social media campaign for Valentine's Day to mark the two-month anniversary of the massacre.

The group, which includes dozens of parents of the Sandy Hook Elementary School victims, is asking supporters to send virtual Valentines on Feb. 14 using the hashtag #1MillionHearts.

Participants can share the messages on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest from a page on the group's website.

Alyssa Milano, rapper will.i.am and Jennifer Hudson who performed at the Super Bowl with a Newtown children's choir are among the celebrities who have already pledged their support for the #1MillionHearts initiative from their Twitter feeds.

"I'm sending a valentine to #Newtown with #1MillionHearts for @SandyHook," Hudson tweeted. "Join me."

Lee Shull, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise, said Valentine's Day "seemed natural to create a special way for Americans to continue channeling their love and support."

[Related: Parents of Sandy Hook victims speak, urging real change ]

Last month, the group held an emotional press conference in Newtown to promote a national dialogue on gun violence, mental health and school safety.

"This is a promise to do everything in our power to be remembered not as the town filled with grief and victims but as a place where real change began," Nelba M rquez-Greene, whose 6-year-old daughter Ana was killed in the Dec. 14 shooting, said.

The group stopped short of taking sides in the gun-control debate.



"Some of us are gun owners," Tom Bittman, co-founder of the initiative, said last month. "We hunt, target shoot, protect our homes. We teach our sons and daughters how to use guns safely. [But] we're not afraid of a discussion about responsibility and accountability. The bottom line is we must act. We can't let this happen again. Doing nothing is no longer an option."

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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) The Miss America pageant is headed back to Atlantic City.

The pageant, a staple in Atlantic City for decades before it was moved to Las Vegas in 2006, is making a return, Gov. Chris Christie's spokesman Michael Drewniak confirmed Wednesday. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno was scheduled to make a formal announcement Thursday at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.

News of the pageant's return to Atlantic City came as a surprise to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which sponsored the pageant on the Las Vegas Strip in January, spokeswoman Courtney Fitzgerald said in a telephone interview. In a subsequent statement, she said the tourism organization wished the pageant well in its new home.

"Las Vegas is honored to have hosted the Miss America pageant for the past seven years," she said. "We understand that moving the televised event to various cities showcases America's diverse destinations which represent our great country."

Pageant officials didn't immediately respond to after-hours phone and email messages seeking comment Wednesday.

Many details remained unclear, including whether the pageant would return to the elaborate show it had been for decades at Boardwalk Hall or continue as more of the reality show it became with its move to Las Vegas. Also unknown was where it would be broadcast and whether it is returning permanently or for a limited run.

The Miss America pageant started as little more than a bathing suit revue. It broke viewership records in its heyday and bills itself as one of the world's largest scholarship programs for women. But, like other pageants, it has struggled to stay relevant as national attitudes regarding women's rights have changed.

According to the Miss America Organization's website, the contest originated in 1920 as the Fall Frolic, which became the Inter-City Beauty Contest the following year. In 1921, a high school junior named Margaret Gorman was one of approximately 1,000 entrants in a photo contest held by the Washington Herald. She was chosen as the first Miss Washington, D.C., and her prize was a trip to Atlantic City, where she won the top prize: the Golden Mermaid Trophy.

The next year, Gorman was expected to defend her title. But when the Washington Herald selected a new Miss Washington, D.C., Atlantic City pageant officials didn't know what new title to award Gorman. Since both titles she won in 1921 Inter-City Beauty, Amateur and The Most Beautiful Bathing Girl in America were considered somewhat awkward, it was decided to call her Miss America.

The pageant was conceived by the Businessmen's League of Atlantic City as a way to extend the summer tourism season in Atlantic City for another week, being held the weekend after Labor Day weekend, when temperatures were generally still warm.

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Associated Press writer Hannah Dreier in Las Vegas contributed to this story.

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Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Lady Gaga has canceled the rest of her tour dates due to a hip injury.

Live Nation Global Touring said in a news release Wednesday that Lady Gaga has a tear in her right hip that will require surgery, followed by a recovery period.

The pop star's website showed 21 dates through March 20 remaining on her "Born This Way Ball" tour schedule. Fans who have already bought tickets will receive a refund beginning Thursday.

Lady Gaga postponed four dates on Tuesday after experiencing difficulties Monday during her concert in Montreal. The singer's show is high energy with non-stop dancing. She explained to fans on Twitter that she'd hurt herself while performing some time ago.

She wrote: "I hid it from my staff, I didn't want to disappoint my amazing fans. However after last nights performance I could not walk and still can't".

Gaga has not tweeted since.

A news release announcing postponements Tuesday said the 26-year-old singer, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, was suffering from synovitis, an inflammation of the joints. She underwent tests Wednesday morning that showed she had a labral tear in her right hip, however. The labrum is a layer of muscle that helps holds the ball-shaped hip joint in place. The news release says the surgery will require strict downtime.

The tour, in support of her second album "Born This Way," began last April in Asia and was one of 2012's highest grossing.

Pollstar reported the tour made more than $161 million in 2012 with an average attendance of more than 31,000, making it the fifth-highest grossing tour.

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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott .

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The mother of an Alabama boy held for days in an underground bunker said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that she forgave her son's captor early in the standoff and asked authorities not to harm him.

Jennifer Kirkland's son, Ethan Gilman, was a captive for six days in rural Midland City, Ala., before FBI agents entered the bunker and killed 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes.

Dykes "took care of Ethan to the best of his abilities" by cooking chicken for the boy and asking hostage negotiators to bring the child his favorite toy car, his mother told Dr. Phil McGraw in an interview for the "Dr. Phil Show."

"From the very beginning I had already forgiven Mr. Dykes, even though he still had my child," Kirkland said. "...I asked that he not be hurt. But if it came down to it, you know, of course I want my child safe."

Authorities returned Ethan unharmed after a gunbattle in which Dykes, according to a coroner, was shot multiple times. Kirkland said her son, who turned 6 just two days after the rescue, told her that he witnessed the shooting.

Members of the rescue team used stun grenades to disorient Dykes, who had a gun and had become agitated with negotiators, before rushing into the bunker, she said.

"They went in and covered Ethan with a vest and they shot Mr. Dykes," Kirkland said.

Ethan saw the agents kill his captor, his mother said, just as days earlier he had witnessed Dykes storm onto his school bus and fatally shoot the driver, Charles Albert Poland Jr.

Poland and Ethan had become close, Kirkland said, as the driver had helped the boy work up the courage to get off the bus by himself.

"Ethan has always been scared of coming down the bus steps," Kirkland said. "And Mr. Poland would always cheer him on, you know, 'Come on, little buddy, you can do it.'"

Ethan typically sat right behind Poland on the school bus, where the driver could keep an eye on him, Kirkland said.

That's where the boy was sitting the day police say Dykes came aboard the bus armed with a gun and demanding two hostages. Authorities say Poland was shot trying to stand between Dykes and the children.

"The reason I think Ethan was taken off the bus is because when he saw Mr. Poland shot, Ethan passed out," Kirkland said. "Mr. Dykes went down to catch him and he picked him up. And I think, in his own way, he was trying to care for him."

After the shooting, authorities say, Dykes fled to the bunker with the child as the standoff opened.

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SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea unveiled a cruise missile on Thursday that it said can hit the office of North Korea's leaders, trying to address concerns that it is technologically behind its unpredictable rival which this week conducted its third nuclear test.

South Korean officials declined to say the exact range of the missile but said it could hit targets anywhere in North Korea.

The Defence Ministry released video footage of the missiles being launched from destroyers and submarines striking mock targets. The weapon was previewed in April last year and officials said deployment was now complete.

"The cruise missile being unveiled today is a precision-guided weapon that can identify and strike the window of the office of North Korea's leadership," ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said told reporters.

North Korea has forged ahead with long-range missile development, successfully launching a rocket in December that put a satellite into orbit.

The North's ultimate aim, Washington believes, is to design an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that could hit the United States.

North Korea, which accuses the United States and its "puppet", South Korea, of war-mongering on an almost daily basis, is likely to respond angrily to South Korea flexing its muscles.

North Korea, technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, carried out its third nuclear test on Tuesday, drawing condemnation from around the world including its only major ally China.

The test and the threat of more unspecified actions from Pyongyang have raised tensions on the Korean peninsula as the South prepares to inaugurate a new president on February 25.

"The situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula at present is so serious that even a slight accidental case may lead to an all-out war which can disturb the whole region," North Korea's official KCNA news agency said.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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NEW YORK (AP) A sister of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a two-book deal.

HarperCollins announced Wednesday that Randi Zuckerberg, a social media executive and entrepreneur who left Facebook in 2011, plans a memoir/lifestyle book titled "Dot Complicated" and a children's story.

"Dot Complicated," scheduled for release Nov. 5, will combine personal and professional insights for the digital age, from Zuckerberg's years as Facebook's marketing director to becoming a mother in 2011. "Dot Complicated" also is the name of her online newsletter.

Zuckerberg said in a statement technology has changed almost every part of people's lives, resulting in a digital society "that feels a lot like the wild, wild west."

"I am thrilled to be working with HarperCollins to share some of my own crazy experiences on the front lines of social media and to inspire people of all ages to embrace technology, as well as the new set of social norms that come along with it," she said.

Zuckerberg, who has founded her own Zuckerberg Media company, is known in part for opposing anonymity online, saying it enables cyberbullying. Her brother co-founded Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, and his net worth is estimated at $9.4 billion.

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VATICAN CITY (AP) With a humble "Grazie" as bishops doffed their mitres and applause echoed through St. Peter's Basilica, a frail Pope Benedict XVI began his long farewell by presiding over Ash Wednesday services in a tearful, final public Mass.

"We wouldn't be sincere, Your Holiness, if we didn't tell you that there's a veil of sadness on our hearts this evening," said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Benedict's longtime deputy, his voice breaking.

"Thank you for having given us the luminous example of the simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord," Bertone said, quoting Benedict's own words when he first appeared before the faithful above St. Peter's Square after he was elected pope.

Smiling and clearly moved, Benedict responded, "Grazie. Now let us return to prayer" his words bringing to an end the resounding applause that had grown in intensity over several minutes.

Then, in a rare gesture and sign of respect, the rows of bishops, some with tears in their eyes, removed their mitres. One prelate dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief.

"Viva il papa!" someone in the crowd shouted as the pope slowly made his way down the steps of the altar, assisted by two clergymen. He then departed St. Peter's for the last time aboard a wheeled platform, sparing him the long walk down the aisle.

Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, the most solemn season on the church's liturgical calendar that ends with Holy Week, when the faithful commemorate the death of Christ and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. By this Easter, on March 31, the church will likely have a new pope.

In his final homily as pontiff, Benedict sent a clear message to his successor and those who will elect him of his hope for the future: a united church that isn't "defiled" by internal rivalries.

Each Christian, he said, is called to bear witness to the faith. "I think in particular of the attacks against the unity of the church, to the divisions in the ecclesial body," he said.

"Experiencing Lent in a more intense and evident ecclesial union, moving beyond individualisms and rivalries, is a humble and precious sign for those who have drifted from the faith or are indifferent to it."

Earlier in the day, the scene was festive as Benedict took the extraordinary step of speaking directly to the faithful about why he had broken with 600 years of tradition and decided to retire on Feb. 28.

"As you know, I have decided to renounce the ministry that the Lord gave to me on April 19, 2005," Benedict told thousands gathered for the traditional Wednesday general audience. "I did this in full liberty for the good of the church."

He expressed gratitude for the prayers and love of his flock, which he said he "physically felt in these days that haven't been easy for me." And he asked them to "continue to pray for me, the church, and the future pope."

Benedict was greeted with a standing ovation when he entered the packed hall, and his speech was interrupted repeatedly by applause.

A huge banner reading "Grazie Santita" "Thank you Your Holiness" was strung up and a chorus of Italian schoolchildren serenaded him with one of his favorite hymns in German a gesture that moved the pope to thank them for singing a piece "particularly dear to me."

He appeared wan and spoke softly, but his eyes twinkled at the welcome.

"He gave us eight wonderful years of his words," said Ileana Sviben, an Italian from the northern city of Trieste. "He was a wonderful theologian and pastor."

The Rev. Reinaldo Braga Jr., a Brazilian priest studying theology in Rome, said he was saddened when he first heard the news of Benedict's retirement.

"The atmosphere was funereal," he said. "But then I realized it was a wise act for the entire church. He taught the church and the world that the papacy is not about power, but about service."

It was a sentiment Benedict himself emphasized Wednesday, saying the "path of power is not the road of God."

Benedict's decision has placed the Vatican in uncharted waters: No one knows what he'll be called or even what he'll wear after Feb. 28.

The Vatican revealed some details of that final day, saying Benedict would attend a morning farewell ceremony with his cardinals and then fly by helicopter at 5 p.m. to the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo.

That means he will be far from the Vatican when he ceases being pope at 8 p.m. a deadline Benedict himself chose because that's when his normal workday ends.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said no formal or symbolic act was needed to make the resignation official, because Benedict has already done all that was required by affirming publicly he had taken the decision freely.

Benedict's final official acts as pope will include audiences with the Romanian and Guatemalan presidents this week and the Italian president on Feb. 23. His final general audience is Feb. 27.

To assure the transition goes smoothly, Benedict made an important appointment Wednesday, naming the No. 2 administrator of the Vatican city state, Monsignor Giuseppe Sciacca, as a legal adviser to the camerlengo.

The camerlengo, or chamberlain, helps administer the Vatican bureaucracy in the period between Benedict's resignation and the election of a new pope. The current camerlengo is Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state.

He and Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, will have a major role in organizing the conclave, during which the 117 cardinals under the age of 80 will vote on who should succeed Benedict.

The Vatican has made clear that Benedict will play no role in the election of his successor, and once retired, he will live a life of prayer in a converted monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens.

But his continued presence within the Vatican walls has raised questions about how removed he really will be from the life and governance of the church. Lombardi acknowledged that Benedict would still be able to see friends and colleagues.

"I think the successor and also the cardinals will be very happy to have very nearby a person that best of all can understand what the spiritual needs of the church are," Lombardi said.

Still, Benedict is expected to keep a low public profile.

As a result, his last appearances as pontiff are expected to draw large crowds for what may well be some of the last speeches by a man who has spent his life as a priest, a cardinal and a pope teaching and preaching.

And they will also give the faithful a way to say farewell under happier circumstances than when his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, died in 2005.

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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

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Associated Press staffers Trisha Thomas and Daniela Petroff in Vatican City contributed to this report.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) A judge Wednesday granted Alyson Hannigan a temporary restraining order from a man who she claims has repeatedly threatened her and her family in online postings.

The order requires John Hobbs, 43, to stay away from the "How I Met Your Mother" actress and her family, and it orders him to stop posting messages about her online.

Hannigan states in her petition that in the past two months, Hobbs, a New Hampshire resident, has "posted a barrage of threatening messages directed at me and my family on various websites."

The actress wrote that she has never met Hobbs, but his messages have suggested he will rape her and take her to the "after-life." Hobbs recently was released from a mental hospital, according to the court filings.

"I am in severe fear for my safety and the safety of my family," she wrote.

Police in Hobbs' hometown of Nashua, N.H., contacted him and he acknowledged wanting to meet Hannigan, 38, and visit her in California.

"Hobbs seemed to be living in an alternate reality," the officer wrote after interviewing him and reviewing his Facebook account.

A phone number registered to Hobbs has been disconnected.

A hearing to extend the restraining order for three years is scheduled for March 6 in Los Angeles. The order also covers Hannigan's husband, Alexis Denisof, and their children, ages 1 and 3.

Hannigan rose to fame after appearing in the movie "American Pie." She also starred in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

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