Jan
10

Wall Street slightly higher on China data; S&P near resistance level

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks inched higher on Thursday, helped by stronger-than-expected exports in China, the world's second-biggest economy, but gains were capped as the S&P 500 hovered near a 5-year high. Financial and telecommunications stocks were the day's top gainers, while the material sector was the biggest drag. The S&P 500 material sector index <.gspm> was...
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Jan
09

Iranian Captives Freed in Major Prisoner Exchange in Syria

ISTANBUL — More than 2,000 prisoners incarcerated by the Syrian authorities were being released on Wednesday in return for 48 Iranians freed by rebels after five months in captivity in what appeared to be the biggest prisoner swap since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began almost two years ago. The exchange, brokered by Turkey and Qatar, came days after Mr. Assad warned on...
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Why bother with a Facebook phone? Facebook’s app is already on 86% of iPhones and iPads

Rumors suggesting Facebook (FB) is working on a smartphone have resurfaced a number of times over the past year. Each time, Facebook denied the various claims. Facebook may indeed still be working on its own phone but as a new report from market research firm NPD Group shows, it probably doesn’t need to.[More from BGR: Is Samsung the new Apple?]Facebook makes money by gathering information about its...
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Chasing the Saturdays: First Look at the British Girl Group's U.S. Reality Show

From the Beatles in the '60s to the Spice Girls in the '90s and One Direction these days, American music fans have a long-running infatuation with British singing groups. Now: meet The Saturdays! The pop quintet – Rochelle Humes, Frankie Sandford, Mollie King, Vanessa White and Una Healy, who's Irish – are bringing their vivacious music and sexy dance moves to the U.S., and they're getting a...
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Flu season has Boston declaring health emergency

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts public health officials are reporting 18 flu-related deaths in the state already this season, and Boston has declared a public health emergency.A spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas Menino says the city is working with health care centers to offer free flu vaccines and also hopes to set up public locations where people can go for vaccinations. The city is reporting four flu-related...
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Wall Street edges up after Alcoa beats revenue estimates

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher on Wednesday after Alcoa got the earnings season under way with better-than-expected revenue and an encouraging outlook for the year. The market's rise came after two-days of declines as there were few catalysts to give direction and investors fretted about the start of earnings season after the prior quarter's lackluster performance. ...
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Jan
08

Chemical Weapons Showdown With Syria Led to Rare Accord

Muzaffar Salman/ReutersThe violence in Syria continued on Monday. Above, Syrians went to the aid of a man who was wounded when a missile hit the al-Mashhad district of Aleppo. WASHINGTON — In the last days of November, Israel’s top military commanders called the Pentagon to discuss troubling intelligence that was showing up on satellite imagery: Syrian troops appeared to be mixing chemicals at two...
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Target to match some rivals’ online prices year-round

(Reuters) – Target Corp said on Tuesday it will match on a year-round basis the prices found on the websites of key rivals Amazon.com Inc, Best Buy Co Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Toys R Us, its latest tactic to hold onto shoppers focused on price.The move extends an online price-matching program that Target introduced over the holiday season and which was supposed to last only from November 1 to...
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Alison Sweeney Blogs: 'Oh, Dreaded Week Two' on The Biggest Loser

TV Watch Only on People.com By Alison Sweeney 01/08/2013 at 12:00 PM EST Oh, dreaded week two! Emotions run high and numbers are typically low at the second weigh-in on The Biggest Loser. Never ones to keep things the same from season to season, it seemed like the prefect time to introduce the outdoor gyms created...
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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down

WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer."There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer...
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