Wall Street Week Ahead: Attention turns to financial earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After over a month of watching Capitol Hill and Pennsylvania Avenue, Wall Street can get back to what it knows best: Wall Street. The first full week of earnings season is dominated by the financial sector - big investment banks and commercial banks - just as retail investors, free from the "fiscal cliff" worries, have started to get back into the markets. ...

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Adrian Peterson, J.J. Watt unanimous All-Pros

NEW YORK (AP) — It's unanimous, on both sides of the ball.Vikings 2,000-yard man Adrian Peterson and Texans pass-swatting end J.J. Watt were unanimous choices for The Associated Press All-Pro team announced Saturday.Peterson, who came within 9 yards of breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record, and Watt, who led the NFL with 20 1-2 sacks, were selected by all 50 members of a nationwide...

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Weightlessness no cure for “morning clumsies,” astronaut says

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – Like many people, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield confesses that he’s sometimes clumsy in the morning just after waking up.The three-time astronaut, now living aboard the International Space Station, was surprised to learn that did not change in the weightless environment of space.“When I come out of my sleeping berth to go into our galley and our bathroom, I...

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Saudi execution: Brutal and illegal?

STORY HIGHLIGHTSSaudi authorities beheaded Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan womanShe was convicted of killing a baby of the family employing her as a housemaidThis was despite Nafeek's claims that the baby died in a choking accidentBecker says her fate "should spotlight the precarious existence of domestic workers"Jo Becker is the Children's Rights Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch and author of...

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Notre Dame's Kelly taking Eagles, NFL interest to brink

If Brian Kelly and his camp are using an NFL flirtation as a bargaining ploy, they may be pushing it to the absolute brink.The...

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Obama, Karzai accelerate end of U.S. combat role in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on Friday to speed up the handover of combat operations in Afghanistan to Afghan forces, raising the prospect of an accelerated U.S. withdrawal from the country and underscoring Obama's determination to wind down a long, unpopular war. Signaling a narrowing of differences, Karzai appeared to give ground...

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Wall Street dips on Wells Fargo, Boeing; S&P up on week

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dipped on Friday after a record profit at Wells Fargo failed to attract buyers and Boeing shares were pressured by two further problems with its new Dreamliner aircraft. The benchmark S&P 500 index fell slightly but was still up on the week and just a few points shy of a five-year high set Thursday. Wells Fargo , the first major U.S. bank to...

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Browns name Rob Chudzinski new coach

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Browns hauled their coaching search to Arizona and back. They talked to high-profile college coaches, NFL assistants and a fired pro coach who took a team to a Super Bowl.None of them was hired.Instead, Rob Chudzinski became their pick.With no experience as a head coach at any level, Chudzinski was hired Thursday night by the Cleveland Browns, the team he cheered for as a kid....

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Times Closes Environment Desk on Same Day ‘Extreme Weather’ Hits Front Page

Talk about mixed signals. On the very morning The New York Times signaled its plans to reassign its nine environment desk journalists to other sections, the paper ran a chilling photo of “extreme weather” above the fold on A1. RELATED: How Obama Lost Climate ChangeNo one got fired, but Times managing editor Dean Baquet tells InsideClimate New’s Katherine Bagley that...

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Why global labor reforms are vital

STORY HIGHLIGHTSSaudi authorities beheaded Rizana Nafeek, a Sri Lankan womanShe was convicted of killing a baby of the family employing her as a housemaidThis was despite Nafeek's claims that the baby died in a choking accidentBecker says her fate "should spotlight the precarious existence of domestic workers"Jo Becker is the Children's Rights Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch and author of...

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FAA orders review of Dreamliner amid 2 more mishaps in Japan

Two new incidents involving the Boeing 787 Dreamliner have been reported in Japan -- a crack in the cockpit and an oil leak. Norah O'Donnell reports. ...

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Syria rebels seize base as envoy holds talks

BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Rebels seized control of one of Syria's largest helicopter bases on Friday, opposition sources said, in their first capture of a military airfield used by President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Fighting raged across the country as international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi sought a political solution to Syria's civil war, meeting senior U.S. and Russian officials in...

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China data lifts Wall Street on hopes for world growth

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Thursday as stronger-than-expected exports in China, the world's second-biggest economy, raised hopes for a more robust recovery in the global economy. Data showed China's export growth rebounded sharply to a seven-month high in December, a strong finish to the year after seven straight quarters of slowdown, even as demand from Europe and the United...

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NFL player Junior Seau had brain disease CTE

Junior Seau, one of the NFL's best and fiercest players for nearly two decades, had a degenerative brain disease when he committed suicide last May, the National Institutes of Health told The Associated Press on Thursday.Results of an NIH study of Seau's brain revealed abnormalities consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)."The brain was independently evaluated by multiple experts, in...

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Locals say shifting sea ice frees trapped whales

MONTREAL (AP) — About a dozen killer whales that were trapped under sea ice appeared to be free after the ice shifted, a leader of a northern Canada village said Thursday.The animals’ predicament in the frigid waters of Hudson Bay made international headlines, and locals had been planning a rescue operation with chainsaws and drills.Tommy Palliser said two hunters from Inukjuak village reported that...

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Terror group fills Syria rebels' space

STORY HIGHLIGHTSU.S. declared a key opposition group in Syria a terrorist organizationNew report says it is the most effective group in the opposition, with 5,000 fightersNada Bakos: The group has ties to al Qaeda but also seeks to provide social servicesShe says the chances are slim that it could be persuaded to give up radical goalsEditor's note: Nada Bakos is a former Central Intelligence Agency...

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'Lincoln' leads Academy Award contenders with 12 nominations

With a conspicuous diss of Kathryn Bigelow, the un-nominated director of “Zero Dark Thirty,” the Academy Awards nominations were announced Thursday morning.“Zero Dark Thirty” was one of nine films given the best picture nomination nod. The others: “Beasts of the Southern Wild”; “Silver Linings Playbook”; “Lincoln”; “Les Miserables”; “Life of Pi”;...

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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...

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Wall Street rises as Alcoa gives lift to earnings season

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street rose on Wednesday after Alcoa got the earnings season under way with better-than-expected revenue and an encouraging outlook for the year. Alcoa Inc said it expects global demand for aluminum will continue to grow in 2013, though the company kept a cautious tone as worries lingered over a looming U.S. budget confrontation. Shares of Alcoa, the largest...

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Judgment day for Bonds, Clemens, Sosa at Hall

NEW YORK (AP) — Judgment day has arrived for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa to find out their Hall of Fame fates.With the cloud of steroids shrouding many candidacies, baseball writers may fail for the only the second time in more than four decades to elect anyone to the Hall.About 600 people are eligible to vote in the BBWAA election, all members of the organization for 10 consecutive...

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