Stocks end higher for sixth straight week, tech leads

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite stock index closed at a 12-year high and the S&P 500 index at a five-year high, boosted by gains in technology shares and stronger overseas trade figures. The S&P 500 also posted a sixth straight week of gains for the first time since August. The technology sector led the day's gains, with the S&P 500 technology index...

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Israeli Says Syria Twisted Comments by Rebel Supporter

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A public relations controversy erupted Saturday after a leading Israeli newspaper published comments from a brief interview with the leader of Syria’s main exile opposition group. The news media outlets of the Syrian government, and its ally Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, reported that the opposition leader had declared that Israel had “nothing to fear” from a rebel-led...

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Why the Lumia 620 is so important to Nokia: Windows Phone is hammering the iPhone in India

The latest Nielsen survey confirms one of the major smartphone trends of 2012: That the Windows Phone operating system showed remarkable strength in India even before the new wave of Nokia (NOK) and HTC (2498) models launched in January. According to Nielsen, Windows Phone grabbed 8% of India’s smartphone market last autumn, far ahead of BlackBerry (BBRY) at 3% and iPhone at 1%. [More from BGR:...

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Tiger Woods & Lindsey Vonn Are 'Spending More Time' Together: Source

Buzz By Steve Helling 02/09/2013 at 06:00 PM EST Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn Mick Tsikas/Reuters/Landov; Luis Guerra/Ramey It was quite the gesture. After Lindsey Vonn suffered a devastating injury during the Alpine World Championships in Austria, she got a bit...

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After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four...

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Stocks end higher for sixth straight week, tech leads

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite stock index closed at a 12-year high and the S&P 500 index at a five-year high, boosted by gains in technology shares and stronger overseas trade figures. The S&P 500 also posted a sixth straight week of gains for the first time since August. The technology sector led the day's gains, with the S&P 500 technology index...

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U.S. Use of Mexican Battery Recyclers Is Faulted

United States companies are sending spent lead batteries to recycling plants in Mexico that do not meet American environmental standards, according to an environmental agency created under the North American Free Trade Agreement, putting Mexican communities at risk. In a blistering report submitted this week, the agency, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, notes that the United...

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Minka Kelly: 'I'm Not Worthy' of Acting with Oprah

By Jennifer Cress 02/08/2013 at 07:40 PM EST Minka Kelly as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Pacific Coast News It's intimidating enough to play Jackie O, but Minka Kelly felt even more pressure to perform when she found out who was joining the cast of her latest film,...

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After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four...

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Wall Street ends lower on renewed euro zone fears

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks declined on Thursday, taking a step back from their recent advance, prompted by comments by the ECB president on the euro and Europe's outlook. The euro currency dropped against the safe-haven dollar and yen, spurring a retreat from risky assets such as stocks, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the exchange rate was important to growth...

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Russian Performers Support U.S. Adoptions

MOSCOW — A panel of respected figures from Russia’s art world issued an emotional appeal to President Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday to make an exception to a recent ban on adoptions by Americans, and allow children to join American parents they have already come to know. Chulpan Khamatova, revered here for her charity work as well as her acting, spoke in front of a screen showing blown-up...

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Terrorist tweets: how Al Qaeda’s social media move could cause problems

Twitter isn’t just for Justin Bieber – terrorists are tweeting, too.Somalia’s Al Qaeda affiliate, Al-Shabab, might not have as many followers as Mr. Bieber (1,800 versus 34 million), but it is still microblogging to get its message out.“Our war against the West is a war for the sovereignty and dominance of Allah’s Law above all creation. No to democracy and #Kafir laws!” it tweeted recently, using...

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Kris Humphries: Why He Won't Divorce Kim Kardashian

02/07/2013 at 07:00 PM EST Despite Kim Kardashian's pressing for a divorce, Kris Humphries deeply believes their 72-day marriage should be annulled and he won't give up the fight, a source tells PEOPLE. "Kris only wants an annulment," says the source close to Humphries. "He never wanted to be married more than...

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Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk

Deep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. People whose diets are heavy on them and sugary drinks like sweet tea and soda were more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study finds.It's the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast — the nation's "stroke belt" — suffer more of them.Blacks were five times more likely than whites...

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Wall Street ends flat as investors pull back

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks ended mostly flat on Wednesday, taking another pause in the recent rally that has driven the S&P 500 to five-year highs, as transportation and technology shares lost ground. Transportation stocks were among the worst performers. Shares of CH Robinson Worldwide fell 9.7 percent to $60.50 and the stock was the biggest percentage loser on the Nasdaq 100 after...

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At War Blog: Interview With Gen. John R. Allen on Leaving Afghanistan

The New York Times interviewed Gen. John. R. Allen on Sunday, a week before his scheduled departure from Afghanistan after 19 months as the commander of the American and allied forces.Following are some of General Allen’s comments. Brief explanations have been provided in brackets.On his relationship with President Hamid Karzai:“I wanted him to understand that he was always going to have my loyalty...

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Director de Linux llega a Colombia a promover software libre y buscar talento

Juan David MososBogotá, 5 feb (EFE).- El presidente de Linux Internacional, Jon “Maddog” Hall, se encuentra en Colombia con el objetivo de promover el uso de software libre, al considerar que se trata de una oportunidad para toda América Latina en la generación de empleo, y además, buscar talento.Hall expresó sus planes en una entrevista con Efe en Bogotá, en víspera de la inauguración de Boya.ca,...

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Leeza Gibbons: I Count My Blessings - Not My Stretch Marks

By Mike Fleeman 02/06/2013 at 07:30 PM EST When TV personality Leeza Gibbons married Steven Fenton in 2011, she joked that she was finally embracing "my inner cougar" – on their first date he was 38 and she was 51.Now approaching their two-year anniversary in April, Gibbons has given a little more thought to...

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New whooping cough strain in US raises questions

NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers have discovered the first U.S. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be resistant to the vaccine.Health officials are looking into whether cases like the dozen found in Philadelphia might be one reason the nation just had its worst year for whooping cough in six decades. The new bug was previously reported in Japan, France and Finland."It's quite intriguing....

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Wall Street bounces back after sell-off; results a boost

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks climbed on Tuesday, recovering a day after the market's biggest sell-off since November, as stronger-than-expected earnings brightened the profit picture. Dell Inc's stock rose after the world's No. 3 computer maker agreed to be taken private in a $24.4 billion deal, the largest leveraged buyout since the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The stock gained 1.1 percent...

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IHT Rendezvous: Worse Than Poisoned Water: Dwindling Water, in China's North

BEIJING — When 39 tons of the toxic chemical aniline spilled from a factory in Changzhi in China’s Shanxi province at the end of December, polluting drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people downstream along the Zhuozhang River and dangerously fouling the environment, it seemed a grave enough disaster. And it was.So it’s hard to believe, perhaps, but in mid-January, just days after local...

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See the Stylish Photo Shoot Jessica Simpson Did Between Babies

Stylewatch Style News Now 02/05/2013 at 04:00 PM ET Courtesy Jessica Simpson CollectionJessica Simpson is no stranger to buzzworthy photoshoots, but the glamorous shots she snapped for her Spring 2013 clothing line may take the cake.The sunlit campaign photos, shot in November on Malibu’s El Matador...

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until...

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