Asia shares edge higher, focus on U.S. jobs

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares touched fresh 16-month highs on Friday following modest overnight gains in global equities as investors watched progress in U.S. budget talks with expectations for an eventual deal and awaited U.S. nonfarm payrolls data later in the day. The euro hovered near a one-week low against the dollar, having fallen after the European Central Bank painted a bleak...

Read More..

Philippines starts to bury dead as toll hits 418

NEW BATAAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Residents in the southern Philippines began to bury their dead on Friday even as rescue workers continued scouring remote areas for possible survivors of Typhoon Bopha, the country's strongest storm this year, which killed 418 people and left nearly as many missing. Officials in Compostela Valley, one of the worst hit provinces on the resource-rich...

Read More..

Apple, Samsung spar in court, ruling to come

SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) – Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics squared off again in court on Thursday, as the iPhone maker tried to convince a U.S. district judge to ban sales of a number of the South Korean company’s devices and defended its $ 1.05 billion jury award.Apple scored a sweeping legal victory in August at the conclusion of its landmark case against its arch-foe, when a U.S. jury found...

Read More..

The X Factor Reveals Its Four Semi-Finalists

TV Watch The X Factor By Aaron Parsley 12/06/2012 at 09:20 PM EST There were tears on The X Factor Thursday night. With only four spots in next week's semi-finals, the six acts who performed two songs each Wednesday night were a tense bunch. Especially after last week's shocking elimination that sent home fan...

Read More..

Study could spur wider use of prenatal gene tests

A new study sets the stage for wider use of gene testing in early pregnancy. Scanning the genes of a fetus reveals far more about potential health risks than current prenatal testing does, say researchers who compared both methods in thousands of pregnancies nationwide.A surprisingly high number — 6 percent — of certain fetuses declared normal by conventional testing were found to have genetic abnormalities...

Read More..

Dow, S&P rise, but Nasdaq sours with Apple in wild day

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A volatile trading session ended with U.S. stocks mostly higher on Wednesday, even as Apple, the most valuable company in the United States, suffered its worst day of losses in almost four years. In a strange occurrence, Apple accounted for the entirety of the Nasdaq 100's <.ndx> fall of 1.1 percent, while the Dow industrials - which do not include Apple as...

Read More..

Rivals clash as Mursi deputy seeks end to Egypt crisis

CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamists battled with protesters outside Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's palace on Thursday, after his vice president suggested amendments could be agreed to the draft constitution that has divided the nation. Fires burned in the streets near the palace perimeter where opponents and supporters of Mursi threw stones and petrol bombs. Riot police tried to separate...

Read More..

Casio’s new G-Shock smartwatch can display alerts from your iPhone [video]

Since the Dick Tracy cartoon days, every gadget nerd’s dream has been to have a smartwatch. And while smartphones have largely made the need for wearing wristwatches unnecessary, companies continue to search for ways to connect watches and smartphones. Casio’s GB6900AA G-Shock is the latest smartwatch that connects to Apple (AAPL) iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. Using Bluetooth 4.0, the watch can provide...

Read More..

Kate Receives Hospital Visit from Pippa and James

12/05/2012 at 07:30 PM EST James and Pippa Middleton Alpha /Landov; Inset:Allpix/ plash News Online The Duchess of Cambridge had more hospital visitors on Wednesday.Just two days after husband Prince William, 30, was photographed leaving the King Edward VII Hospital in Central London where...

Read More..

Study: Drug coverage to vary under health law

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new study says basic prescription drug coverage could vary dramatically from state to state under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.That's because states get to set benefits for private health plans that will be offered starting in 2014 through new insurance exchanges.The study out Tuesday from the market analysis firm Avalere Health found that some states will require...

Read More..