Wall Street Week Ahead: Earnings, money flows to push stocks higher

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With earnings momentum on the rise, the S&P 500 seems to have few hurdles ahead as it continues to power higher, its all-time high a not-so-distant goal. The U.S. equity benchmark closed the week at a fresh five-year high on strong housing and labor market data and a string of earnings that beat lowered expectations. Sector indexes in transportation...

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Te'o tells ESPN: Not involved in creating hoax

NEW YORK (AP) — Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o insisted he had no role in the bizarre hoax involving his "dead" girlfriend and told ESPN on Friday night that he was duped by a person who has since apologized to him.In an off-camera interview Friday with ESPN, Te'o said Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, a 22-year-old acquaintance who lives in California, contacted him two days ago and confessed to the prank. Deadspin.com...

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‘Planetary Parks’ Could Protect Space Wilderness

It’s a wilderness out there in outer space. And as robotic surrogates set the stage for human footprints on Mars and other planetary bodies, just how much respect for other worlds should we have?One suggested response would establish planetary parks for the solar system, an answer that ties together space science and exploration, ethics, law, policy, diplomacy and communications.The parks would be...

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Why Africa backs French in Mali

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2 shot to death in separate attacks on South, West sides

Two men were shot to death in separate attacks within about 15 minutes of each other Friday night, one in Austin and one in...

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Burned bodies found at besieged Algeria gas plant

ALGIERS/IN AMENAS, Algeria (Reuters) - Algerian special forces on Saturday found 15 burned bodies at a desert gas plant raided by al Qaeda-linked fighters, two days after the army launched an assault to free hostages being held there by the Islamists, a source familiar with the crisis said. Efforts were underway to identify the bodies, the source told Reuters. It was not clear how they...

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Wall Street to open mixed on earnings, China data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open little changed on Friday, a day after the S&P 500 rose to its highest level in five years, as a weak outlook from Intel was weighed against encouraging data out of China and a fourth-quarter profit at Morgan Stanley . Shares of Intel Corp slumped 6.5 percent to $21.20 in premarket trading after the tech company forecast quarterly revenue...

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IOC VP: Armstrong must tell 'whole truth'

LONDON (AP) — Lance Armstrong's doping confession to Oprah Winfrey was "too little, too late" and failed to provide any new information that will help clean up the sport he tarnished through years of cheating, the vice president of the IOC said Friday.A day after stripping Armstrong of his bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the IOC urged the disgraced former Tour de France champion to supply...

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U.S. 'needs tougher child labor rules'

Cristina Traina says in his second term, Obama must address weaknesses in child farm labor standards STORY HIGHLIGHTSCristina Traina: Obama should strengthen child farm labor standardsShe says Labor Dept. rules allow kids to work long hours for little pay on commercial farmsShe says Obama administration scrapped Labor Dept. chief's proposal for tightening rulesShe says Labor Dept. must fix lax standards...

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Quinn to name former prosecutor Fitzgerald to UI board

Gov. Pat Quinn will name former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.Fitzgerald...

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Sahara hostage holders make new threat

ALGIERS (Reuters) - At least 18 foreign hostages were unaccounted for on Friday and their al-Qaeda-linked captors threatened to attack other energy installations after Algerian forces stormed a desert gas complex to free hundreds of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths. With Western leaders clamoring for details of a raid they said Algeria had launched on Thursday without consulting...

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Wall Street set to gain on eBay results, rosy data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open higher on Thursday after better-than-expected results from online marketplace eBay and as data showed first-time claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a five-year low. Futures added to gains following cheery economic reports that also showed that groundbreaking to build new homes picked up in December to its fastest pace in over...

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Manti Te'o girlfriend's death apparently a hoax

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Not long before Notre Dame played Michigan State last fall, word spread that Fighting Irish linebacker Manti Te'o had lost his grandmother and girlfriend within hours of each other.Te'o never missed a practice and made a season-high 12 tackles, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery in a 20-3 victory against the Spartans. His inspired play became a stirring story line for...

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Did Scientology ad cross line?

The Church of Scientology is also at fault for thinking the advertorial would survive The Atlantic readers' scrutiny, Ian Schafer says.STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe Atlantic published and pulled a sponsored Scientology "story"Ian Schafer: On several levels, the ad was a mistakeHe says the content was heavy-handed and comments were being moderatedSchafer: Experimenting to raise revenue makes sense, but standards...

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Teen killed following Simeon-Morgan Park game; 2 in custody

The Simeon and Morgan Park High School basketball teams ended...

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