Organizers of the Lausanne Diamond League meeting announced that United States sprinter Justin Gatlin has ended his season early because of illness.

Gatlin, the 100-meter bronze medalist at the London Olympics this month, was due to run at the Athletissima meet in Switzerland on Thursday.

Paul Ryan works out and watches his diet, but a new study shows that clean living can only go so far to help people like the vice presidential candidate overcome a strong family history of heart disease.

The study of 4 million people — the largest ever on heart risks that run in families — found that having a close relative die young of cardiovascular disease doubles a person's odds of developing it by age 50. This risk was independent of other factors like high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes, and was even higher if more than one close family member had died young.

Nicole Kidman is being honored by the New York Film Festival in a gala tribute.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced Tuesday that Kidman will be celebrated at the 50th-annual New York Film Festival. The festival will also honor its longtime director Richard Pena in a second gala.

Natalie Wood's death certificate has been changed to reflect some of the uncertainties and lingering questions surrounding the actress' drowning more than 30 years ago in the Pacific Ocean off Southern California.

The document was amended earlier this month and shifts Wood's death from an accidental drowning to "drowning and other undetermined factors," according to a copy of the certificate obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

Avril Lavigne and Nickelback frontmanChad Kroeger aren't just making music together. They're getting hitched.

A spokeswoman for Lavigne confirmed a Tuesday report from People magazine that the 27-year-old pop singer and 37-year-old rocker became engaged earlier this month after dating for six months.

A firm that tracks the pathways of the Internet says a Chinese company is keeping war-torn Syria connected to the Internet as other telecommunications companies withdraw.

The Syrian government ultimately controls Internet connection to the outside world but it's a major route for rebel communications and news from the country as the civil war intensifies.

Two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and top-20 players Kaia Kanepi and Flavia Pennetta have pulled out of the U.S. Open.

The U.S. Tennis Association did not give reasons for the three withdrawals Monday.

Maria Sharapova is going into the candy business.

The four-time Grand Slam title winner launched her Sugarpova brand of 12 types of sweets on Monday.

Doctors in Israel are beginning to believe in the power of clowning around.

Over the last few years, Israeli clowns have been popping into hospital operating rooms and intensive care units with balloons and kazoos in hand, teaming up with doctors to develop laughter therapies they say help with disorders ranging from pain to infertility.

Honda wants to silence its critics when it rolls out the new Accord this week.

The automaker, chastened for cheapening the Civic compact earlier this year, says that won't happen with the midsize Accord.