With record highs in sight, stocks face roadblocks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If Wall Street needs to climb a wall of worry, it will have plenty of opportunity next week. Major U.S. stock indexes will make another attempt at reaching all-time records, but the fitful pace that has dominated trading is likely to continue. Next Friday's unemployment report and the hefty spending cuts that look like they about to take effect will be at the forefront....

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Leaving North Korea, Rodman Calls Kims ‘Great Leaders’

Jason Mojica/VICE Media, via Associated PressThe North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and the former N.B.A. star Dennis Rodman watched an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang on Thursday. PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Ending his unexpected round of basketball diplomacy in North Korea on Friday, ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman called leader Kim Jong Un an "awesome guy" and said his father and grandfather...

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Valerie Bertinelli Pays Special Tribute to Bonnie Franklin

03/01/2013 at 02:55 PM EST Bonnie Franklin, who died of pancreatic cancer Friday, and Valerie Bertinelli go back nearly 40 years, to the sitcom One Day at a TIme, on which Franklin played her mother, Ann Romano. Two years ago the actresses reunited professionally, on Bertinelii's series Hot in Cleveland. Bertinelli...

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Wall Street edges up as data outweighs sequester

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose modestly on Friday as strong economic data outweighed growth concerns in China and Europe and let investors brush off worries about the impact of expected across-the-board government spending cuts. Stocks opened sharply lower as Asian factories slowed and European output fell, but most of the losses dissipated after a report showed U.S. manufacturing activity...

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At Ice Age End, a Smaller Gap in Warming and Carbon Dioxide

A meticulous new analysis of Antarctic ice suggests that the sharp warming that ended the last ice age occurred in lock step with increases of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the latest of many indications that the gas is a powerful influence on the earth’s climate. Previous research had suggested that as the world began to emerge from the depths of the ice age more than 20,000 years ago,...

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Michelle Williams Was 'Not Ready' to Commit to Jason Segel: Source

02/28/2013 at 03:00 PM EST Michelle Williams at her Oz premiere Feb. 13 Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP From the outside, it seemed as though Michelle Williams couldn't get enough of boyfriend Jason Segel. In reality, the actress may not have seen him as forever material."She...

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Huge study: 5 mental disorders share genetic links

WASHINGTON (AP) — The largest genetic study of mental illnesses to date finds five major disorders may not look much alike but they share some gene-based risks. The surprising discovery comes in the quest to unravel what causes psychiatric disorders and how to better diagnose and treat them.The disorders — autism, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, bipolar disorder, major depressive...

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Wall Street edges higher, Dow and S&P records a hurdle

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose modestly on low volume on Thursday after strong economic data, but the proximity of record highs for the Dow and the S&P 500 gave investors a reason to keep gains in check. The U.S. economy grew slightly in the fourth quarter, reversing an earlier estimate showing contraction, and a drop in new claims for unemployment benefits last week added to a...

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The Lede: Video of Pope Benedict’s Public Farewell

During his final farewell address, Pope Benedict XVI describes the joys and challenges of his papacy via CNN on YouTube. As our colleagues, Rachel Donadio and Alan Cowell report, Pope Benedict XVI held his final general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, a day before he withdraws from the public for a cloistered life of prayer and meditation.Before tens of thousands of people gathered in...

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Matt Damon & Wife Luciana Planning Secret Second Wedding

02/27/2013 at 03:15 PM EST Better late than never!More than seven years after saying, "I do" in a private, low-key ceremony at City Hall in Manhattan in 2005, Matt Damon, 42, and wife Luciana are going all out with a top-secret destination wedding celebration in April, a source confirms to PEOPLE. The pair...

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