Wall Street Week Ahead: Bears hibernate as stocks near record highs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks have been on a tear in January, moving major indexes within striking distance of all-time highs. The bearish case is a difficult one to make right now. Earnings have exceeded expectations, the housing and labor markets have strengthened, lawmakers in Washington no longer seem to be the roadblock that they were for most of 2012, and money has returned to stock...

Read More..

Azarenka beats Li, defends Australian Open title

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Victoria Azarenka had the bulk of the crowd against her. The fireworks were fizzling out, and when she looked over the net she saw Li Na crashing to the court and almost knocking herself out.Considering the cascading criticism she'd encountered after her previous win, Azarenka didn't need the focus of the Australian Open final to be on another medical timeout.So after defending...

Read More..

Can sanctions deter North Korea?

Kim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong Un and his militaryKim Jong...

Read More..

Police: Boy, 16 and man, 32, gunned down on West Side street

Chicago police investigate a double homicide in the 4200 block of W. Congress Parkway. ...

Read More..

Riots over Egyptian death sentences kill at least 32

PORT SAID, Egypt/CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 32 people were killed on Saturday when Egyptians rampaged in protest at the sentencing of 21 people to death over a soccer stadium disaster, violence that compounds a political crisis facing Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. Armored vehicles and military police fanned through the streets of Port Said, where gunshots rang out and protesters burned...

Read More..

Wall Street Week Ahead: Bears hibernate as stocks near record highs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks have been on a tear in January, moving major indexes within striking distance of all-time highs. The bearish case is a difficult one to make right now. Earnings have exceeded expectations, the housing and labor markets have strengthened, lawmakers in Washington no longer seem to be the roadblock that they were for most of 2012, and money has returned to stock...

Read More..

Armstrong to help "clean up cycling"

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An attorney for Lance Armstrong told the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency the cyclist will cooperate with efforts to "clean up cycling," though it's the sport's governing body and world anti-doping officials who should take the lead.In letters sent this week between attorneys for Armstrong and USADA, and obtained by The Associated Press, USADA attorney William Bock requested Armstrong...

Read More..

US Military Building Space Robot to Recycle Satellites (Video)

A Pentagon project to harvest and reuse parts from dead satellites is gaining steam, and a new video shows how the far the military program has come in its first few months.The new video serves as a progress report through last November for the Phoenix program, a project by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to recycle space junk back into valuable satellite parts, or...

Read More..

Where is aid for Syria going?

STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe U.S. ambassador to Syria says the U.S. has provided $210 million in humanitarian aidThe assistance has to be discrete, he said, to protect workers from being targetedWashington has also provided $35 million worth of assistance to Syria's political oppositionAmbassador: We can help, but it's up to Syrians to find their way forward(CNN) -- It has been more than a year since the United...

Read More..

Wrigley rooftops offer to let Cubs sell ads on their buildings

Representatives of the Wrigleyville Rooftops Association proposed a plan to erect LED billboards on rooftops and share revenue with the Chicago Cubs. (Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune) ...

Read More..

S&P rises for seventh day but 1,500 too steep a climb

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The smallest of gains gave the Standard & Poor's 500 its seventh straight winning day on Thursday, but the index failed to hold above the 1,500 line, restrained by Apple's worst day in more than four years. Apple Inc slid 12.4 percent to $450.50 a day after it posted revenue that missed Wall Street's forecast as iPhone sales were poorer than expected. ...

Read More..

Voice of Te'o prankster? Couric plays voicemails

NEW YORK (AP) — The person Manti Te'o says was pretending to be his online girlfriend told the Notre Dame linebacker "I love you" in voicemails that were played during his interview with Katie Couric.Taped earlier this week and broadcast Thursday, the hour-long talk show featured three voicemails that Te'o claims were left for him last year. Te'o said they were from the person he believed to be Lennay...

Read More..

Neanderthal cloning? Pure fantasy

A display of a reconstruction of a Neanderthal man and boy at the Museum for Prehistory in Eyzies-de-Tayac, France.STORY HIGHLIGHTSArthur Caplan: It would be unethical to try and clone a Neanderthal baby Caplan: Downsides include a good chance of producing a baby that is seriously deformedHe says the future belongs to what we can do to genetically engineer and control microbesCaplan: Microbes can...

Read More..

Quinn signs sex-abuse education mandate

Teachers across Illinois will begin teaching their students on how they can protect themselves against sexual abuse and assaults. (WGN - Chicago) ...

Read More..

S&P up for sixth day, Apple slip could halt rally

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 rose for a sixth day on Wednesday after stronger-than-expected profits from IBM and Google but the rally could be halted as Apple's after-hours miss sent its shares lower. The S&P was just 4.7 percent from its all-time closing high as IBM's and Google's earnings, released after Tuesday's close, followed on the heels of stronger U.S. economic data....

Read More..

Seau's family sues NFL over brain injuries

Add Junior Seau's family to the thousands of people who are suing the NFL over the long-term damage caused by concussions.Seau's ex-wife and four children sued the league Wednesday, saying the former linebacker's suicide was the result of brain disease caused by violent hits he sustained while playing football.The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in San Diego, blames the...

Read More..

Modern Greenland Melt Echoed in 126,000-Year-Old Ice

A new look at the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet more than 115,000 years ago reveals that even though the climate was much warmer than today’s, the ice was only a few hundred feet thinner than in modern times.Given that sea level was also much higher during this long-ago period, the findings mean that Antarctica must have experienced major melt to boost the oceans. These results could hint at what’s...

Read More..