Facebook slumps as mobile ad growth fails to impress

(Reuters) – Shares of Facebook Inc were set to open 7 percent lower on Thursday as a surge in fourth-quarter mobile advertising revenue failed to live up to Wall Street’s high expectations.Three brokerages downgraded the stock of the No. 1 social network, which has struggled to develop a full-fledged mobile advertising business.Facebook has long established itself as one of the most important websites,...

Read More..

Kendra Wilkinson Fondly Remembers Hugh Hefner's Late Secretary

By Tim Nudd 01/31/2013 at 08:30 AM EST Kendra Wilkinson and (inset) Mary O'Connor Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic; Inset: Elayne Lodge A friend, a confidante, a shoulder to cry on. Someone who brought a welcome dose of levity when things got heavy. Mary O'Connor was many...

Read More..

Soldier with new arms determined to be independent

BALTIMORE (AP) — After weeks of round-the-clock medical care, Brendan Marrocco insisted on rolling his own wheelchair into a news conference using his new transplanted arms. Then he brushed his hair to one side.Such simple tasks would go unnoticed in most patients. But for Marrocco, who lost all four limbs while serving in Iraq, these little actions demonstrate how far he's come only six weeks after...

Read More..

Wall Street edges higher, Amazon offsets GDP

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were flat on Wednesday as an unexpectedly weak read on fourth-quarter economic activity was offset by strong results at Boeing and Amazon.com. Equities continued to shrug off negative news, with the S&P 500 staying above 1,500, a level that market technicians call an inflection point that will determine the overall direction in the near term. ...

Read More..

Merkel urges Egypt's Mursi to hold crisis dialogue

CAIRO/BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Egypt's Islamist president on Wednesday to open a dialogue with all political forces in the crisis-ridden Arab country after a week of violence that has killed more than 50 people. President Mohamed Mursi flew to Germany to try to convince Europe of his democratic credentials, but in a sign of the political tensions back home,...

Read More..

Yandex puts mobile app blocked by Facebook on hold

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian internet company Yandex has put an experimental application that allows users to search social networking sites from mobile devices on hold after it was blocked by Facebook.Facebook, which launched its own search tool earlier this month, blocked the Wonder app three hours after its launch on January 24 for U.S. users.The application allows users to look for recommendations...

Read More..

Jim Nabors, TV's Gomer Pyle, Marries Longtime Male Partner

By Stephen M. Silverman 01/30/2013 at 09:45 AM EST Jim Nabors, forever known as the star of 1964-69's Gomer Pyle, USMC, married his male partner of nearly 40 years, Stan Cadwallader, on Jan. 15, the retired performer and Hawaii resident told Hawaii News Now this week."I'm 82 and he's in his 60s, and so we've...

Read More..

Study says leafy greens top food poisoning source

NEW YORK (AP) — A government study has fingered leafy green vegetables as the leading source of food poisoning illnesses.However, the most food-related deaths were from contaminated chicken and other poultry.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Tuesday. It's based on an analysis of food poisoning cases from 1998 through 2008. It's the agency's most comprehensive attempt...

Read More..

Wall Street little changed ahead of data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed at the open on Tuesday as investors were cautious following a recent rally and before consumer confidence data. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 10.09 points or 0.07 percent, to 13,892.02, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 0.05 point to 1,500.23 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> dropped 8.27 points or 0.26 percent,...

Read More..

Army warning: unrest pushing Egypt to brink

CAIRO, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt's army chief said political strife was pushing the state to the brink of collapse - a stark warning from the institution that ran the country until last year as Cairo's first freely elected leader struggles to contain bloody street violence. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a U.S.-trained general appointed by President Mohamed Mursi last year to head the armed forces,...

Read More..