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...

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Armstrong meeting with USADA appears unlikely

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Lance Armstrong's lawyers say the cyclist will talk more about drug use in the sport, just likely not to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that led the effort to strip him of his Tour de France titles.In a testy exchange of letters and statements revealing the gulf between the two sides, USADA urged Armstrong to testify under oath to help "clean up cycling."Armstrong's attorneys responded...

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Exxon Mobil dethrones Apple as world’s most valuable company

Apple (AAPL) has lost its title as the word’s most valuable company to Exxon Mobil (XOM) only a year after it reached the milestone. Despite reporting strong earnings this week, expectations are high for the company and its guidance has Wall Street investors worried. Shares of Apple have been hit hard in recent weeks and have continued to fall to a 12-month low. On Friday, the company’s market...

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Police and protesters clash in Egypt, army sent to Suez

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian protesters scuffled with police in Cairo on Saturday and troops were deployed in Suez after nine people were shot dead in nationwide protests against President Mohamed Mursi, exposing deep rifts two years after Hosni Mubarak was ousted. After a day of clashes on Friday, tension remained high with a court expected to rule later on Saturday in a case against suspects...

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Stock index futures signal mixed Wall Street open

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 rising 0.2 percent, the Dow Jones futures down 0.2 percent and the Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.3 percent. Apple stepped up audits of working conditions at major suppliers last year, discovering multiple cases of underage workers, discrimination and wage problems. ...

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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...

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Chilling! Arctic Air Invasion Captured in Animation

If you live anywhere within the northern two-thirds of the United States, you’ve probably noticed that it’s pretty chilly outside. The plunge in temperatures over the past few days comes courtesy of an invasion of Arctic air that has been captured in a mesmerizing new animation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.The animation, made with weather data from the NOAA/NCEP Real-Time...

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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...

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Soccer coach suspended in Maine West hazing case

Another soccer coach linked to hazing allegations on athletic teams at Maine West High School has been suspended without pay...

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North Korea threatens war with South over U.N. sanctions

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea threatened to attack rival South Korea if Seoul joined a new round of tightened U.N. sanctions, as Washington unveiled more of its own economic restrictions following Pyongyang's rocket launch last month. In a third straight day of fiery rhetoric, the North directed its verbal onslaught at its neighbor on Friday, saying: "'Sanctions' mean a war and a declaration...

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Shares dip as investors brace for euro zone data

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares weakened on Thursday as investors braced for the year's first reading on euro zone business activity for 2013 after data showed that France, the region's second-biggest economy, may be in recession. Markets are hoping for a modest improvement in the estimates for manufacturing and service sector activity across the euro area for January, due later, to...

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Azarenka beats Stephens; sets up final vs Li

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Victoria Azarenka had to endure some anxious moments before and after her win over American teenager Sloane Stephens.Li Na wasn't flustered at all while beating No. 2-ranked Maria Sharapova.The result is that Li will play for the Australian Open title against Azarenka, who ended Stephens' unexpected run to the semifinals that included a quarterfinal upset of 15-time Grand...

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Deep freeze grips northern U.S. from Minnesota to Maine

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – Frigid arctic air held the U.S. Midwest and Northeast in its icy grip on Wednesday, with the cold so dangerous that municipal emergency warming centers opened up and ski resorts shut down.The National Weather Service warned the wind chill could make the temperature feel like 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit(minus 40 degrees Celsius) in parts of Northern Minnesota until noon...

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Benghazi blame-game is useless

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Bulls rally to beat Pistons 85-82

As the United Center rocked and the Bulls celebrated Marco Belinelli's go-ahead, three-point play with 7.5 seconds left, Joakim...

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North Korea to target U.S. with nuclear, rocket tests

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it would carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the United States, dramatically stepping up its threats against a country it called its "sworn enemy". The announcement by the country's top military body came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed to a U.S.-backed resolution to censure and sanction North...

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Insight: Boeing 787 battery woes put FAA approval under scrutiny

SEATTLE/TOKYO (Reuters) - In 2007, U.S. regulators cleared Boeing's use of a highly flammable battery in the 787 Dreamliner, deciding it was safe to let the lithium-ion battery burn out if it caught fire mid-air as long as the flames were contained, and smoke and fumes vented properly, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. Fire risk on planes has always been a major concern, especially...

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