Wall Street slips, weighed by Wells Fargo, banks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dipped on Friday, weighed by losses in the banking sector, after Wells Fargo & Co reported a decline in net interest margin despite a record profit in the latest quarter. "It (Wells Fargo results) is weighing on the sector. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this won't be a sector thing and more confined to Wells Fargo, but it's definitely playing...

Read More..

Syria denounces peace envoy who hinted Assad must go

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria denounced international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi as "flagrantly biased" on Thursday, casting doubt on how long the U.N.-Arab League mediator can pursue his peace mission. The Syrian Foreign Ministry was responding to remarks by Brahimi a day earlier in which he ruled out a role for President Bashar al-Assad in a transitional government and effectively called for...

Read More..

Justin Timberlake: 'I'm Ready' to Release New Music

By Kevin O'Donnell 01/10/2013 at 12:20 PM EST Is Justin Timberlake bringing music back?Despite reports in August that a new album wasn't forthcoming soon, the musician and actor revealed on Twitter Thursday he'll be releasing new music. "I think I'M READY," he Tweeted before posting a link to a YouTube video...

Read More..

Retooling Pap test to spot more kinds of cancer

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, doctors have lamented that there's no Pap test for deadly ovarian cancer. Wednesday, scientists reported encouraging signs that one day, there might be.Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too.How? It turns out that cells can flake off of tumors in...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

Freed Iranians arrive in Damascus after prisoner swap

DAMASCUS/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Forty-eight Iranians freed by Syrian rebels in exchange for more than 2,000 civilian prisoners held by the Syrian government arrived in central Damascus on Wednesday, a Reuters witness reported. The Syrian government has not referred to the prisoner swap and the whereabouts of the civilian prisoners was not immediately known. Opposition groups accuse it of...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

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...

Read More..

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. ...

Read More..