Cliff fight may knock out December rally

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In normal times, next week's slew of U.S. economic data could be a springboard for a December rally in the stock market. December is historically a strong month for markets. The S&P 500 has risen 16 times in the past 20 years during the month. But the market hasn't been operating under normal circumstances since November 7 when a day after the U.S....

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New job posting suggests Nokia may still be considering Android after all

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Dr. Andrew Moore Performs Life-Changing Surgeries for Free

Heroes Among Us By Jennifer Wren 12/01/2012 at 09:40 AM EST Dr. Andrew Moore (center, in scrubs) with staff members, from left: Shirley Ramsey, Barry Bussell and Tony Reyes John Chiasson When an increasing number of his patients couldn't pay for their life-saving...

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South Africa makes progress in HIV, AIDS fight

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — In the early '90s when South Africa's Themba Lethu clinic could only treat HIV/AIDS patients for opportunistic diseases, many would come in on wheelchairs and keep coming to the health center until they died.Two decades later the clinic is the biggest anti-retroviral, or ARV, treatment center in the country and sees between 600 to 800 patients a day from all over southern Africa....

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Wall Street flat, trading cautious; Obama to speak on "cliff"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Friday as investors were hesitant to make big bets ahead of a statement by President Obama on the progress of budget talks in Washington that have recently driven volatility in financial markets. U.S. President Barack Obama, visiting a factory in Pennsylvania, will press his case on raising taxes on the wealthy to narrow the deficit....

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IHT Rendezvous: Our Brussels Correspondents Answer Readers' Questions About the Euro, Europe and the Union

The news this week from besieged Europe was — relatively — good, sort of. Yields on Italian government bonds — the amount Italy has to pay investors to assume a piece of their debt — fell to the lowest levels in more than a year. The German parliament, the Bundestag, approved Germany’s latest contribution to bailout broke Greece. And though unemployment in the euro zone reached record heights, the...

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The Xbox 720 Is Coming Sooner Than Anyone Anticipated

After almost three years without an update, and with Windows 8 sales flailing, Microsoft will release a new Xbox just in time for Christmas next year, sources told Bloomberg’s Dina Bass and Ian King. Last year Microsoft had said that it wouldn’t release a new version of the gaming system “anytime soon,” with other sources talking up a date sometime in 2013 “at the earliest.” This new Christmas launch...

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Watch Diana DeGarmo Find Her Dream Wedding Gown

Stylewatch Style News Now 11/30/2012 at 09:00 AM ET ');var brightcovevideoid = 1990641933001');var targetVideoWidth = 300;brightcove.createExperiences();/* iPhone, iPad, iPod */if ((navigator.userAgent.match('iPhone')) ||...

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Kenya village of AIDS orphans hangs hopes on trees

NYUMBANI, Kenya (AP) — There are no middle-aged adults in the Kenyan village of Nyumbani. They all died years ago. Only the young and old live here.The 938 children here all saw their parents die. The 97 grandparents saw their middle-aged children die. But put together, the bookend generations take care of one another.UNAIDS says that as of 2011 an estimated 23.5 million people living with HIV resided...

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Wall Street advances on budget progress, mood cautious

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks sharply trimmed earlier gains, with the Dow industrials and S&P 500 briefly dropping, after the top Republican in Congress, John Boehner, said there had been no substantive progress in fiscal talks over the last two weeks. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> edged up 8.18 points, or 0.06 percent, to 12,993.29. The S&P 500 <.spx> gained...

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Hacking Report Criticizes Murdoch Newspaper and British Press Standards

LONDON — The leader of a major inquiry into the standards of British newspapers triggered by the phone hacking scandal offered an excoriating critique of the press as a whole on Thursday, saying it displayed “significant and reckless disregard for accuracy,” and urged the press to form an independent regulator to be underpinned by law. Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesLord Justice Sir Brian Leveson...

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RIM jumps 10 percent in Toronto trade after Goldman upgrade

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New York City Police Officer Buys Shoes for Homeless Man

Heroes Among Us By Stephen M. Silverman 11/29/2012 at 11:45 AM EST NYPD Officer Larry DePrimo and unidentified homeless man Courtesy NYPD Santa arrived early this year and was wearing an NYPD uniform.When Officer Larry DePrimo encountered a barefoot, homeless man...

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Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing surgery-linked infections is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million, the Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons...

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Wall Street cuts losses on Boehner "fiscal cliff" comment

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks sharply pared losses on Wednesday after U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said he was optimistic that a deal on the "fiscal cliff" to avert large tax hikes and spending cuts could be reached. After falling nearly 1 percent, the S&P 500 pared losses to trade near flat after Boehner said that Republicans were willing to put revenues on the table if Democrats...

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Bombings Are Said to Kill Dozens Near Syria’s Capital

Francisco Leong/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesRebels celebrated on top of a downed Syrian jet in Daret Azzeh, 20 miles west of Aleppo, on Wednesday. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Syrian state media said on Wednesday that 34 people and possibly many more had died in twin car bombings in a suburb populated by minorities only a few miles from the center of Damascus, the capital, as the...

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Seattle police plan for helicopter drones hits severe turbulence

SEATTLE (Reuters) – One of the latest crime-fighting gadgets to emerge on the wish lists of U.S. law enforcement agencies – drone aircraft – has run into heavy turbulence in Seattle over a plan by police to send miniature robot helicopters buzzing over the city.A recent push for unmanned police aircraft in several cities is being driven largely by grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,...

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Wow! Adriana Lima Bares Her Growing Baby Bump for Charity

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 11/28/2012 at 11:00 AM ET Steve McCurry/PirelliAdriana Lima is the latest celebrity mom to dare to bare her bump in print.Posing in a cropped top and flowing skirt, the Victoria’s Secret Angel (who has since welcomed daughter Sienna) shows off her baby belly in Pirelli‘s...

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CDC: HIV spread high in young gay males

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say 1 in 5 new HIV infections occur in a tiny segment of the population — young men who are gay or bisexual.The government on Tuesday released new numbers that spotlight how the spread of the AIDS virus is heavily concentrated in young males who have sex with other males. Only about a quarter of new infections in the 13-to-24 age group are from injecting drugs or heterosexual...

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Wall Street down as "fiscal cliff" scares investors away

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as worries over the impact of "fiscal cliff" on the economy overshadowed progress in easing Greece's debt burden and a slew of positive U.S. economic data. A deal in Europe to release emergency aid to debt-laden Greece gave a brief, early lift to stocks, but the news was not enough to sustain the gains as investors confronted the looming...

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Protesters Gather Again in Cairo Streets to Denounce Morsi

CAIRO — Thousands of people flowed into the streets of Cairo, the Egyptian capital, Tuesday afternoon for a day of protest against President Mohamed Morsi’s attempt to assert broad new powers for the duration of the country’s political transition, dismissing his efforts just the night before to reaffirm his deference to Egyptian law and courts. By early Tuesday afternoon in Cairo, a dense...

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Nintendo says more than 400,000 Wii Us sold in US

NEW YORK (AP) — Nintendo has sold more than 400,000 of its new video game console, the Wii U, in its first week on sale in the U.S., the company said Monday.The Wii U launched on Nov. 18 in the U.S. at a starting price of $ 300. Nintendo said the sales figure, based on internal estimates, is through Saturday, or seven days later.The Wii U is the first major game console to launch in six years. It...

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Miranda Kerr Strips Down for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

Stylewatch Style News Now 11/27/2012 at 09:00 AM ET Courtesy Victoria’s SecretJust because Miranda Kerr didn’t wear the $2.5 million Victoria’s Secret ‘Fantasy Bra’ in the brand’s fashion show this year doesn’t mean she didn’t get...

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Bounce houses a party hit but kids' injuries soar

CHICAGO (AP) — They may be a big hit at kids' birthday parties, but inflatable bounce houses can be dangerous, with the number of injuries soaring in recent years, a nationwide study found.Kids often crowd into bounce houses, and jumping up and down can send other children flying into the air, too.The numbers suggest 30 U.S. children a day are treated in emergency rooms for broken bones, sprains,...

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Wall Street falls on caution after rally

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks eased on Monday after a rebound rally pushed the S&P 500 to its best week in more than five months last week and as investors focused on talks to release aid to Greece and negotiations in Washington to avoid the U.S. "fiscal cliff." Major indexes ended last week with gains of 3 percent to 4 percent, recovering some of their losses following an 8 percent...

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As Rebels Gain, Congo Again Slips Into Chaos

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — The lights are out in most of Goma. There is little water. The prison is an empty, garbage-strewn wasteland with its rusty front gate swinging wide open and a three-foot hole punched through the back wall, letting loose 1,200 killers, rapists, rogue soldiers and other criminals. Now, rebel fighters are going house to house arresting people, many of whom...

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Yes, the Government Can Still Spy on Your Digital Life (for Now)

Ahead of a controversial Senate debate on digital privacy this week, the battle over warrantless cell-phone and Internet searches is beginning to take shape — even as law-enforcement agencies continue to carry out the searches anyway. Judges across the country have thrown out cases that used tracked digital American lives without warrants, but others haven’t, reports The New York Times‘s Somini...

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Olivier Martinez Shows Off Swollen Hand Post-Holiday Brawl

By Andrea Billups 11/26/2012 at 11:50 AM EST Looking a little swollen, Olivier. Seen for the first time since his much-reported on Thanksgiving Day brawl, French actor Olivier Martinez holds up a badly swollen right hand as he runs errands Saturday in Los Angeles. Martinez, 46, reportedly punched fiancée Halle...

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