Showrooming little threat to clothiers in ho-hum holidays

Chicago (Reuters) – In retail, showrooming has not hit shirts yet.Showrooming, the retail term for shoppers who try a product, then buy it cheaper on Amazon.com or other websites, has driven retailers to the point of hiding barcodes, improving their own websites and coming up with methods to get people to complete their purchase in the store.But brand-name clothing retailers have an advantage over...

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Analysis: Apple’s swoon exposes risk lurking in mutual funds

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The nearly 28 percent decline in shares of Apple Inc since mid-September isn’t just painful to individual shareholders. It’s also being felt by investors who chased hot mutual funds that loaded up on Apple as the stock raced to a record $ 705 per share.Apple makes up 10 percent or more of assets in 117 out of the 1,119 funds that own its shares, according to data from Lipper,...

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‘Walking Dead’ Showrunner Glen Mazzara Leaving

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Glen Mazzara, who led AMC‘s “The Walking Dead” to ratings highs after the exit of Frank Darabont, is leaving the show.The announcement came with the unsurprising news of a fourth-season pickup for the series. It continues AMC’s rocky record with its showrunners, but the network said the decision was mutual.While AMC has clashed with showrunners before over money, a person...

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Long-lived bats offer clues on diseases, aging

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The bat, a reservoir for viruses like Ebola, SARS and Nipah, has for decades stumped scientists trying to figure out how it is immune to many deadly bugs but a recent study into its genes may finally shed some light, scientists said on Friday.Studying the DNA of two distant bat species, the scientists discovered how genes dealing with the bats’ immune system had undergone the...

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Borrowing grows more than expected

21 December 2012 Last updated at 13:03 ETPlease turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. ONS chief economist Joe Grice: “There are straws in the wind that look promising”The government had to borrow slightly more than expected in November.It borrowed £17.5bn, £1.2bn higher than a year earlier, official figures show. Economists had predicted borrowing would fall slightly to about £16bn.However,...

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Nokia, RIM settle old disputes in new patent pact

HELSINKI (AP) — Nokia Corp. and Canadian smartphone rival Research In Motion have agreed on a new patent licensing pact which will end all existing litigation between the two struggling companies, the Finnish firm said Friday.The agreement includes a “one-time payment and on-going payments, all from RIM to Nokia,” Nokia said, but did not disclose “confidential” terms.Last month, Nokia sued the Blackberry...

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“Les Miserables” movie relies on close-ups for emotional punch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – For British director Tom Hooper, the key to turning “Les Miserables” from the wildly popular stage musical to a cinematic experience both sweeping and intimate, was all in the close-up.The stage musical has left audiences around the world wiping away tears with its themes of justice, redemption and romantic and familial love. So bringing it to life on screen for fans and filmgoers...

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Firms spend less to pitch to kids, foods slightly better: U.S. FTC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Food companies spent considerably less to advertise to children in 2009 than they did in 2006, although the foods that were pitched were only slightly more nutritious, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said in a report out on Friday.The FTC, in a survey of data from industry, found that companies spent $ 1.79 billion to advertise to children aged 2 to 17 in 2009, down almost...

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Two Reasons Fiscal Cliff Chaos Is Actually Terrific

Immediately after House Speaker John Boehner’s Plan B fell apart Thursday night, Dow futures plummeted and the media freaked out (Huffington Post headline: “END OF THE WORLD“). Boehner and his deputies skulked out of the Capitol, humiliated. His Hail Mary plan to create leverage for Republicans in the fiscal cliff negotiations with Republicans lay in tatters. Soon, his speakership may, too.But Plan...

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State Department security chief leaves post over Benghazi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday its security chief had resigned from his post and three other officials had been relieved of their duties following a scathing official inquiry into the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi.Eric Boswell has resigned effective immediately as assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, State Department spokeswoman...

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“Gangnam Style” in line for UK dictionary inclusion

LONDON (Reuters) – He has the most-watched video in Youtube history, become a pop sensation with a horse-riding dance craze that has swept the world and now Korean singer Psy may cement his place in popular culture with recognition from a British dictionary.“Gangnam Style,” Psy’s signature song, has been chosen along with “fiscal cliff” and “Romneyshambles” as some of Collins Dictionary‘s words of...

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Alliance Health Networks Brings Prominent HCV Clinical Trials Leader, Dr. Peter Ruane, to Hepatitis Connect Social Network

SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Alliance Health Networks, the leading social networking company serving consumers and the healthcare industry, today announced the addition of Dr. Peter Ruane, prominent HIV and HCV clinical trials doctor and founder of Lightsource Medical, as a new community advocate on the Hepatitis Connect social network.Hepatitis Connect is part of Alliance Health’s growing portfolio...

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Economic impact of Canada retail sales jump seen small

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada retail sales in October jumped by a stronger-than-expected 0.7 percent from September to hit a record, but analysts said the figures were less impressive than they seemed and would not do much to boost recent sluggish economic growth.Statistics Canada said on Thursday that retail sales in October reached C$ 39.45 billion ($ 39.85 billion), the third consecutive all-time high....

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Canada serial killer inquiry finds “systemic bias” by police

(Reuters) – Police made critical errors in pursuing Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton partly because of “systemic bias” against his victims, sex trade workers from a rough Vancouver neighborhood, according to the final report from a public inquiry released on Monday.Commissioner Wally Oppal was asked by the British Columbia government to investigate, in effect, why Pickton was not caught sooner....

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A Minute With: Jessica Chastain on “Zero Dark Thirty”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Jessica Chastain carries the weight of starring in one of the year’s most anticipated films, “Zero Dark Thirty,” about the decade-long hunt and eventual killing of Osama bin Laden.Critics say Chastain pulls it off seamlessly as “Maya,” based on a real-life CIA agent who played a major role in tracking down bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan.As the film opens in limited U.S....

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Two cups of milk daily enough for most kids: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Two cups of cow’s milk per day may be enough for most kids to have the recommended amount of vitamin D in their blood while maintaining a healthy iron level, suggests a new study.“One of the common questions I get from parents when their kids become toddlers is, ‘how much milk should they be drinking?’ But we didn’t have a good answer,” said Dr. Jonathon Maguire, the study’s...

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Nissan to invest £250m in the UK

19 December 2012 Last updated at 03:43 ETBy Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC NewsNissan says it is investing £250m in Sunderland to make a small luxury car, creating “hundreds of jobs” in the UK.“The Sunderland factory is very competitive,” said Nissan’s chief performance officer Colin Dodge.The Infiniti model was penned by Nissan’s design team in London and engineered at its technical centre...

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Syrian rebels take control of Damascus Palestinian camp

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian rebels took full control of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on Monday after fighting raged for days in the district on the southern edge of President Bashar al-Assad‘s Damascus powerbase, rebel and Palestinian sources said.The battle had pitted rebels, backed by some Palestinians, against Palestinian fighters of the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General...

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Merry Christmas, America-Haters?

When TNT was preparing its annual special “Christmas in Washington” with the president of the United States, you’d think the last star musician they would consider to join the official caroling would be Psy, the South Korean rapper. What on Earth is Christmasy about this man’s invisible-horse-riding dance to his dorky disco-rap hit “Gangnam Style”? It’s not exactly the natural flip-side to “O Holy...

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