People

TORONTO — The skin condition afflicting Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is one that can generally be brought under control with a regimen of drugs. But getting there may take awhile, doctors say.
Flaherty reluctantly revealed in an interview with the Globe and Mail this week that he is suffering from bullous pemphigoid, an uncommon and sometimes painful auto-immune condition.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A 15-year-old Icelandic girl has been granted the right to legally use the name given to her by her mother, despite the opposition of authorities and Iceland’s strict law on names.
Reykjavik District Court ruled Thursday that the name “Blaer” can be used. It means “light breeze.”

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A 15-year-old Icelandic girl has been granted the right to legally use the name given to her by her mother, despite the opposition of authorities and Iceland’s strict law on names.
Reykjavik District Court ruled Thursday that the name “Blaer” can be used. It means “light breeze.”

LONDON — The story in the Daily Mirror features a photo of an elegant aging monarch with the headline: “Queen Gives Up Her Throne to Son.”
Then, in smaller type, “Easy, Charles... It’s Queen Beatrix of Netherlands.”

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch Queen Beatrix announced Monday that she will abdicate on April 30 after 33 years as head of state, clearing the way for her eldest son, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, to become the nation’s first king in more than a century.

LOS ANGELES — Do Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Helen Mirren really need a category just for women — a singular kind of affirmative action — to snare one of Hollywood’s favourite accessories, an Oscar, Emmy or Screen Actors Guild trophy?

NEW YORK — Before we start rambling on obsessively about Michelle Obama’s bangs, let’s be clear: The president started it.
It was he, after all, who called the new hairdo, unveiled just a few days before the historic occasion of his second inauguration, “the most significant event of this weekend.”

LONDON — Capt. Wales is coming home to be Prince Harry once again.
The Ministry of Defence revealed Monday that the 28-year-old prince is returning from a five-month deployment in Afghanistan, where he served as an Apache helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps. It did not immediately divulge his exact whereabouts.

CHICAGO — He did it. He finally admitted it. Lance Armstrong doped.

CHANTILLY, Va. — The lanky man has the security detail, the prominent ears and the U.S. flag pin, but substitute teacher Larry Graves is no Barack Obama. He’s a professional lookalike for the president.
They have something else in common, too: a frantic schedule leading up to the inauguration.