Dec
10

Wall Street opens flat as "cliff" signs awaited

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened little changed on Monday as investors awaited any sign of progress in talks to avert the United States' so-called fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 1.35 points, or 0.01 percent, to 13,156.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> shed 1.81 points, or 0.13 percent, to 1,416.26....
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Dec
09

Stalled Adoption Program in Guatemala Leaves Families in Limbo

Rodrigo Cruz for The New York TimesAmy and Rob Carr in Guatemala with Geovany Archilla Rodas, whom they have been trying to adopt since 2007. More Photos »GUATEMALA CITY — The little boy flies like an airplane through the hotel, his arms outstretched. Then he leaps like a superhero, beaming as the red lights on his new sneakers flash and flicker, while the American couple he is with dissolve in laughter....
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Barnes and Noble Nook HD+ is a Big Screen, Good Value Tablet

Barnes and Noble Nook-HD+Click here to view this gallery.[More from Mashable: 7 Stylish iPad Cases With Notepads]The other night I handed the new Barnes and Noble HD+ to my son to see his reaction to one of the latest 9-inch tablets. He held it, played with the screen and said, “Which one is this?” I told him and he answered, “I can’t tell the difference anymore.” It’s true, with the sudden explosion...
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Michelle Branch's Daughter's Dream Job Is For the Birds - Literally

Mom & Babies Celebrity Baby Blog 12/03/2012 at 02:00 PM ET Sthanlee B. Mirador/Shooting StarIt seems as if Michelle Branch‘s daughter won’t be following in her musical footsteps any time soon.While the Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter and her husband, bass player Teddy Landau, are no strangers...
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Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to 12 a.m., when the legalization measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they...
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Wall Street Week Ahead: "Cliff" worries may drive tax selling

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors typically sell stocks to cut their losses at year end. But worries about the "fiscal cliff" - and the possibility of higher taxes in 2013 - may act as the greatest incentive to sell both winners and losers by December 31. The $600 billion of automatic tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for the beginning of next year includes higher rates for capital...
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Dec
08

IHT Rendezvous: Romany Were European 500 Years Earlier Than Previously Thought

LONDON — The Romany people constitute Europe’s largest and, arguably, now its most persecuted minority.A new genetic study published this week suggests their ancestors arrived in Europe from northwestern India in a single wave around 1,500 years ago, half a millennium earlier than previously thought.The international authors of the peer-reviewed paper in Current Biology journal said their study is...
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Susan Powell's Father-in-Law Secretly Took 4,500 Pictures of Her

12/07/2012 at 07:30 PM EST Wrapping up a year that has brought unimaginable frustration and heartbreak, Susan Powell's family marked the three-year anniversary of her disappearance at a ceremony this week near where her two sons are buried."It's a hard time of year," Susan's father, Chuck Cox, tells PEOPLE....
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Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — The crowds of happy people lighting joints under Seattle's Space Needle early Thursday morning with nary a police officer in sight bespoke the new reality: Marijuana is legal under Washington state law.Hundreds gathered at Seattle Center for a New Year's Eve-style countdown to 12 a.m., when the legalization measure passed by voters last month took effect. When the clock struck, they...
Read More..

Wall Street Week Ahead: "Cliff" worries may drive tax selling

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors typically sell stocks to cut their losses at year end. But worries about the "fiscal cliff" - and the possibility of higher taxes in 2013 - may act as the greatest incentive to sell both winners and losers by December 31. The $600 billion of automatic tax increases and spending cuts scheduled for the beginning of next year includes higher rates for capital...
Read More..