Are We Regulating Ourselves Back Into Recession?

"Let us put an end to self-inflicted wounds," President Gerald Ford told Congress in 1975. "And let us remember that our national unity is a most priceless asset." While Ford was talking about the scars from the Vietnam War, his words seem relevant today. Our nation grapples with not one divisive issue, but a basket of them, each pulling and undermining our already battered confidence, while testing...

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Earnings from McDonald's, Microsoft sink stocks

NEW YORK (AP) -- Poor earnings reports from three companies in the Dow Jones industrial average — Microsoft, General Electric and McDonalds — sent indexes down sharply Friday, marking a sour end to an otherwise strong week in the stock market.McDonald's led a broad drop in the Dow, falling 3 percent. The Dow was down 151 points at 13,397 shortly after noon."I'm concerned about corporate earnings,...

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Judge asks Hostess to mediate with union

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Twinkies won't die that easily after all.Hostess Brands Inc. and its second largest union will go into mediation to try and resolve their differences, meaning the company won't go out of business just yet. The news came Monday after Hostess moved to liquidate and sell off its assets in bankruptcy court citing a crippling strike last week.The bankruptcy judge hearing the...

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Soccer-FIFA reforms to go under the microscope

BERNE, Jan 11 (Reuters) - European soccer chiefs will meet this month to discuss proposed reforms to present to the sport's governing body FIFA, including an age limit for the president and a restriction on the number of mandates he can serve.A working group which was set up to revise the FIFA statutes has proposed setting an age limit of 72 for the FIFA president and executive committee members...

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Soccer-Legal settlement agreed with former owners, say Liverpool

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Liverpool said on Friday that a settlement between former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett and directors involved in the sale of the Premier League soccer club had been agreed following a long-running legal battle.Fenway Sports Group (FSG) completed their takeover in Oct. 2010, bringing to an end the acrimonious reign of Hicks and Gillett who tried to block the sale...

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Soccer-United's Rooney out of Liverpool clash

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney will miss Sunday's Premier League clash against north-west rivals Liverpool after failing to recover from a knee injury, manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday.Rooney injured a knee ligament in training and missed United's holiday fixtures against Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion and Wigan Athletic as well as their FA Cup draw...

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Could Alex Jones's "revolution" actually happen?

Piers Morgan had it easy. Radio show host and author Alex Jones threatened the rest of us with a "revolution" if the government decides to confiscate guns from the homes and glove compartments of law-abiding Americans. It's almost too easy to dismiss Jones as a fringe figure, especially since fringe ideas make their way into the mainstream with (exciting? alarming?) frequency these days. So let's...

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HTC says licensing agreement with Apple will lead to better devices in 2013

Apple (AAPL) and HTC (2498) signed a 10-year licensing agreement in November that covered all current, pending and future patents and ended the ongoing litigation between the two companies. It has been estimated that the company will pay Apple between $6 and $8 for every Android device shipped, however HTC CEO Peter Chao refuted the claim. Regardless of how much is being spent, HTC China president...

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Nokia’s Lumia 920 remains as expensive as Apple’s iPhone 5

One thing handset industry analysts are watching like hawks is the price graph of the most important Windows Phone 8 model in the European handset market. Nokia (NOK) priced the Lumia 920 very, very ambitiously for its November debut. How long can the model maintain a stiff premium? Was the early pricing just designed to skim high margins from the pool of eager Nokia/Windows Phone early adopters?[More...

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Hagel nomination: Israelis ask 'what's the big deal?'

President Obama’s choice of Chuck Hagel for secretary of Defense, hotly contested by the American Jewish community, has received a muted response in Israel. While some echo concerns that the former Republican senator is dangerous or anti-Semitic, others here ask, “Who’s that?”To be sure, the appointment of a man who is seen as soft on Iran and eager to talk to terrorist groups on Israel’s borders...

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