CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday named Rafael Reif, an electrical engineer born in Venezuela who has been the university's provost since 2005, as its 17th president. Reif, 61, replaces Susan Hockfield, the first female president of MIT, who announced in mid-February that she was stepping down after almost eight years leading one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Reif will take up his post at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, university on July 2, the first MIT president not to be a native English speaker. ...

(Reuters) - Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wed longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan on Saturday, announcing the nuptials through a status update on the social networking site. The 28-year-old billionaire's wedding took place a day after Facebook's initial public offering on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday. More than 280,000 people "liked" Zuckerberg's status change, which was accompanied by a photo of the smiling couple in wedding attire in a small, verdant outdoor setting with a string of lights behind them. ...

BRESCIA, Italy (Reuters) - John Elkann, the media-shy chairman of one of the world's biggest car companies, got behind the wheel and demonstrated his driving skills on Thursday in Italy's legendary four-day Mille Miglia rally race. The 36-year-old head of Fiat, which now control Chrysler and was founded by his great-great grandfather Giovanni Agnelli in 1899, will take turns driving a custom-made 1952 eight-cylinder Fiat 8V with his wife, Lavinia Borromeo, who also has a passion for iconic cars. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Britney Spears hasn't even taken her seat as the new judge of "The X Factor," but the pop icon is already getting a lesson in the media glare of live, talent show television. Spears had barely wrapped up an appearance in New York confirming she is joining the singing contest before the celebrity knives were out, raising the question of how well the singer, who went through a public meltdown in 2007, can handle all the newfound attention. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The second masseur who accused John Travolta of sexual battery dropped his lawsuit against the Hollywood star on Thursday and hired celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who said she may file a new complaint in a different court. Allred now represents the Atlanta-based man, known as John Doe No. 2, as well as the original Travolta sexual battery accuser, a Texas masseur known as John Doe No. 1. "We believe that the lawsuit should be filed in another court and, therefore, the lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice," Allred said in a statement. ...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexicans bid farewell to renowned author Carlos Fuentes on Wednesday in an emotional tribute attended by the president and the country's most prominent intellectuals before a planned burial in France. Fuentes, who died suddenly on Tuesday at 83 after an internal hemorrhage, was one of Latin America's best-known novelists and was still active until the very end of his life working on books and participating in events. ...

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Kazuo Okada, the Japanese billionaire engaged in a fierce legal battle with Las Vegas casino tycoon Steve Wynn, is diversifying his pachinko company with a string of his own restaurants and is negotiating to build a casino resort in South Korea. On Tuesday, Okada opened a 25,000-square-foot fine dining complex in Hong Kong, the first step in an expansion plan that includes an Okada restaurant in Shanghai scheduled to open in September, and a dining complex in Tokyo due to open in December. ...

SOCOPO, Venezuela (Reuters) - Deep in the rural home state of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez that has for years been off limits for opposition politicians, rival candidate Henrique Capriles struggled to push through a throng of screaming supporters. Small-time ranchers and farmers swarmed the muddy streets of Socopo, where the Venezuelan plains meet the Andes mountains, jostling to catch a glimpse of the candidate in a chaotic tumult reminiscent of the cattle herding typical of the region. ...