HP lifts Wall Street, S&P on pace for first weekly loss of year

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Friday, rebounding off two days of losses as Dow component Hewlett-Packard surged on strong results, but the S&P 500 was on track to end a seven-week-long streak of gains. The S&P shed 1.9 percent over the previous two sessions, its worst two-day drop since early November, putting the index on pace for its first weekly decline of the year. The...

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The Lede: Syrian Television's Most Outraged Bystander

Last Updated, Friday, 2:41 p.m. In the aftermath of a deadly bombing in Damascus on Thursday, a man emerged from a small knot of bystanders crowded around a camera crew from Syrian state television to vent his anger at the foreign Islamist fighters he held responsible. “We the Syrian people,” he said, “place the blame on the Nusra Front, the Takfiri oppressors and armed Wahhabi terrorists from Saudi...

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Facebook May Give Older Adults a Mental Boost

Older adults may get a mental boost from using Facebook, early results from a small study suggest.During the study, 42 adults, ages 68 to 91, who were not familiar with the social networking site were divided into three groups: one group was trained to use Facebook and post once a day; one group was trained to use an online diary site and create short diary entries  visible only to themselves;...

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Diane Lane Signed Divorce Papers from Josh Brolin on Valentine's Day

By Ken Lee 02/22/2013 at 02:50 PM EST Diane Lane and Josh Brolin Justin Lubin/NBC/AP There were likely no flowers or candy exchanged on Feb. 14 between Josh Brolin and soon-to-be ex-wife Diane Lane.Lane signed her divorce documents on Valentines's Day, documents...

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Flu shot did poor job against worst bug in seniors

ATLANTA (AP) — For those 65 and older, this season's flu shot is only 9 percent effective against the most common and dangerous flu bug, according to a startling new government report.Flu vaccine tends to protect younger people better than older ones and never works as well as other kinds of vaccines. But experts say the preliminary results for seniors are disappointing and highlight the need for...

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Wall Street drops again, data raises growth concerns

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday and were on track for their biggest two-day decline since November as weak data suggested expectations for economic growth were overly optimistic. The two-day decline marked the U.S. stock market's first sustained pullback this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 is up 5.2 percent so far this year. The benchmark index has climbed for seven...

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Deadly Bombings Hit Southern India City

Mahesh Kumar A/Associated PressA member of the bomb squad with a sniffer dog arrived at a blast site in Hyderabad on Thursday. NEW DELHI — Two bombs planted on bicycles killed at least 13 people and wounded some 70 in a busy shopping district in the southern India city of Hyderabad at the height of Thursday’s evening rush hour, the largest terrorist bombing in the country since September 2011. ...

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Diane Lane and Josh Brolin Split

02/21/2013 at 02:25 PM EST Josh Brolin and Diane Lane Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup After eight years of marriage, Josh Brolin and Diane Lane are splitting, their reps confirm to PEOPLE.The pair, who married in a 2004 ceremony at Brolin's central California ranch,...

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Obama admin. tackles colonoscopy confusion

WASHINGTON (AP) — The new health law requires that most insurance plans cover all costs for preventive care, including colon cancer screening.But it didn't turn out to be that simple.Many patients ended up with a bill when the doctor performing the colonoscopy removed precancerous growths known as polyps. Why the bill? Because a preventive screening had turned into a procedure.Now the Obama administration...

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Wall Street drops as energy sector drags

DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Doug" (24), and I (22) have been in a long-distance relationship for a year, but we were friends for a couple of years before that. I had never had a serious relationship before and lacked experience. Doug has not only been in two other long-term relationships, but has had sex with more than 15 women. One of them is an amateur porn actress.I knew about this, but it didn't...

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