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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Cairo Protesters Take to Streets as Political Crisis Deepens

CAIRO — Supporters and opponents of the government of President Mohamed Morsi staged competing demonstrations on Friday after noon prayers, throwing Egypt deeper into political crisis. Thousands of pro-government Islamists attended the funeral of two men killed in clashes on Wednesday outside the presidential palace, the site of continuing demonstrations by the opposition. “With blood and...

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Eddie Redmayne: 5 Things You Should Know

By Mary Green and Julie Jordan 12/07/2012 at 10:15 AM EST Eddie Redmayne, breakout star of Les Miserables, is receiving awards buzz as the student French revolutionary Marius, who falls in love with Cosette, played by Amanda Seyfried. Redmayne, who also played Michelle Williams's love interest...

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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 flat in wake of weak consumer sentiment data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Friday after a weak consumer confidence survey for December overshadowed earlier gains triggered by a better-than-expected employment report. Wall Street had opened higher after Labor Department data showed nonfarm employment increased more than expected by 146,000 jobs in November. But major U.S. stock indexes gave up their...

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Resignations Continue in Egypt as Tanks Deploy Around Presidential Palace

Tara Todras-Whitehill for The New York TimesEgyptian soldiers put up barbed-wire fences near the presidential palace on Thursday in Cairo. More Photos »CAIRO — Resignations rocked the government of President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday as tanks from the special presidential guard took up positions around his palace and the state television headquarters after a night of street fighting between his Islamist...

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Brooke Burke-Charvet Recovering After Successful Thyroid Surgery

TV Watch Dancing With the Stars By Julia Haskins 12/06/2012 at 11:35 AM EST Brooke Burke-Charvet is happy to report that she's doing well after undergoing thyroid surgery on Wednesday. The Dancing with the Stars co-host stayed optimistic when faced with the threat thyroid cancer and preparing for the surgery....

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Celebrations planned as Wash. legalizes marijuana

SEATTLE (AP) — Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality under Washington state law on Thursday, and some people planned to celebrate the new law by breaking it.Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot — but it bans...

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Wall Street flat, volatile; fiscal talks, Apple in focus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed in choppy morning trading on Thursday as upbeat guidance from Broadcom partially offset weakness in Apple shares, while traders kept an eye on fiscal negotiations in Washington. Extending Wednesday's 6.4 percent decline, Apple was trading down 0.7 percent at $535 early on Thursday, after falling as much as 3.7 percent at the open, which...

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Typhoon Kills Hundreds in Philippines

Bullit Marquez/Associated PressA resident hung clothing amid fallen trees and debris on Wednesday, a day after Typhoon Bopha made landfall in the village of Andap, in southern Philippines. MANILA — With many roads and bridges washed away, rescue teams struggled on Wednesday to reach isolated villages in the southern Philippines after a powerful out-of-season typhoon tore through the region, leaving...

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