Asian shares held back by weak Japan GDP, U.S. fiscal cliff

TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares were capped on Monday as investors’ concerns about the fiscal crisis in the United States and Greece’s bailout program dented optimism over the growth prospects of the world’s two largest economies, the United States and China.Adding to the uncertainty, Japan reported that its economy shrank 0.9 percent in July-September...

Read More..

Twin explosions strike southern Syrian city

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria‘s state-run news agency says two large explosions have struck the southern city of Daraa, causing multiple casualties and heavy material damage.SANA did not immediately give further information or say what the target of Saturday’s explosions was. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights...

Read More..

Is “Our Kind of Traitor” next for Mads Mikkelsen?

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Since winning the Best Actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for Thomas Vinterberg‘s “The Hunt,” Mads Mikkelsen has been inundated with offers for new projects.Mikkelson, who also stars in Denmark’s entry for the foreign Oscars, “A Royal Affair,” has yet to decide what he will do next, according to his representatives....

Read More..

Boehringer Ingelheim to start late-stage hepatitis C drug trial

BOSTON (Reuters) – Boehringer Ingelheim said on Saturday it plans to initiate a late-stage clinical trial of its experimental hepatitis C treatment following promising results from earlier studies.The company announced final data from a mid-stage trial of its treatment regimen which showed that 69 percent of patients in the study were free of the virus...

Read More..

Obama Hangs Tough on the Fiscal Cliff

President Barack Obama made clear today that he plans to take a tough line in budget negotiations with congressional Republicans. That pretty much assures that there will be no deal soon and we’ll be hearing about the “fiscal cliff” of automatic spending cuts and scheduled tax hikes long past Jan. 1.The fiscal cliff is scheduled to be reached at the start...

Read More..

Syria opposition bloc elects Christian as leader

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Syria‘s main opposition group in exile has elected a Christian Paris-based former geography teacher as its new president.George Sabra said Friday that his election as head of the Syrian National Council is a sign that the opposition is not plagued by sectarian divisions. Sabra says the SNC‘s main demand...

Read More..

Walmart Moves Up Black Friday

Walmart is kicking off Black Friday shopping earlier than ever this year, opening stores at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.“In addition to offering amazing low prices on the season’s top gifts, Walmart is taking the historic step to ensure wishlist items like the Apple iPad2 are available for customers during a special one-hour event on Thanksgiving,” the...

Read More..

“Lincoln” Reviews: Is Steven Spielberg’s biopic Oscar-worthy?

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – “Lincoln,” with a cast of acting titans like Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones, arrives in theaters Friday with many predicting big things come Oscar night. But does Steven Spielberg‘s biopic of the Great Emancipator live up to the early hype?Based on initial reviews, it seems like Spielberg and company have delivered. Critics...

Read More..

California teen steps into rattlesnake nest, survives

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – A teenage California girl searching for a cell phone signal to call her mother in a rural area outside San Diego inadvertently stepped into a nest of rattlesnakes and was bitten six times, but survived.The 16-year-old, Vera Oliphant, spent four days in the intensive care unit of Sharp Grossmont Hospital, and doctors gave her 24 vials...

Read More..

Wall Street Week Ahead: “Fiscal cliff” blues may lead to correction

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street‘s post-election sell-off may gather steam in the coming weeks as worries mount about the looming “fiscal cliff” and technical weakness suggests a possible correction ahead.The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 <.SPX> closed below its 200-day moving average – a measure of the market’s long-term trend – on Thursday...

Read More..