Wall Street falls on banks' settlement, doubts on earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Monday as investors cashed in recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high and awaited the start of the fourth-quarter earnings season. The day's decline was broad across all sectors, but energy and utilities were the top decliners. The S&P 500 energy sector index <.gspe> fell 1 percent and the utilities sector <.gspu>...

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Five accused in India rape case charged in court

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Five men accused of raping and murdering an Indian student were read the charges in a near-empty courtroom on Monday after the judge cleared out lawyers for bickering over whether the men deserved a defense. The 23-year-old physiotherapy student died two weeks after being gang-raped and beaten on a moving bus in New Delhi, then thrown bleeding onto the street. Protests...

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Kuwait sentences second man to jail for insulting emir: lawyer

DUBAI (Reuters) – A Kuwaiti court sentenced a man to two years in prison on Monday for insulting the country’s ruler on Twitter, his lawyer said, the second to be jailed for the offence in as many days.The U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state has clamped down in recent months on political activists who have been using social media websites to criticize the government and the ruling family.Kuwait has seen a...

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Benedict Cumberbatch Goes to War

From his hugely popular take on Sherlock Holmes to his dastardly turns in Star Trek Into Darkness and The Hobbit trilogy (as the voice of Smaug the dragon), Benedict Cumberbatch is quickly becoming a household name on this side of the pond, and HBO is capitalizing on that name recognition by importing the compelling U.K. miniseries Parade's End to the States in February. Watch the haunting teaser...

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Your medical chart could include exercise minutes

CHICAGO (AP) — Roll up a sleeve for the blood pressure cuff. Stick out a wrist for the pulse-taking. Lift your tongue for the thermometer. Report how many minutes you are active or getting exercise.Wait, what?If the last item isn't part of the usual drill at your doctor's office, a movement is afoot to change that. One recent national survey indicated only a third of Americans said their doctors asked...

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"Cliff" concerns give way to earnings focus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors' "fiscal cliff" worries are likely to give way to more fundamental concerns, like earnings, as fourth-quarter reports get under way next week. Financial results, which begin after the market closes on Tuesday with aluminum company Alcoa , are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results. As a warning sign, analyst current...

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Assad "peace plan" greeted with scorn by foes

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected peace talks with his enemies on Sunday in a defiant speech that his opponents described as a renewed declaration of war. Although the speech was billed as the unveiling of a new peace plan, Assad offered no concessions and even appeared to harden many of his positions. He rallied Syrians for "a war to defend the nation" and...

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10 Vintage Photographs of Snowflakes

Photo courtesy of Flickr, Smithsonian Institution.Click here to view this gallery.[More from Mashable: 5 YouTube Videos to Help Winterize Your Home]If for some reason you didn’t believe no two snowflakes were alike, here’s your proof.In 1885, Wilson A. Bentley successfully photographed over 5,000 snowflakes by attaching a camera to a microscope (and in turn honing the field of Photomicrography). His...

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Michael J Fox NBC Comedy 2013

NBC brought their new and returning hits to The Television Critics Association Tour in Pasadena, CA this morning and one of the biggest headlines involved the content of Michael J. Fox's TV comeback.Earlier this year, it was announced that the TV icon had his half-hour comedy pitch greenlit to series based solely off an idea (a rarity in this industry). This morning, Jennifer Salke, President of NBC...

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Your medical chart could include exercise minutes

CHICAGO (AP) — Roll up a sleeve for the blood pressure cuff. Stick out a wrist for the pulse-taking. Lift your tongue for the thermometer. Report how many minutes you are active or getting exercise.Wait, what?If the last item isn't part of the usual drill at your doctor's office, a movement is afoot to change that. One recent national survey indicated only a third of Americans said their doctors asked...

Read More..