Stock futures edge up ahead of earnings, data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures edged up on Thursday, helped by better-than-expected results from online marketplace eBay , ahead of a busy day of corporate earnings and economic data. Among several financial companies due to release results, Bank of America reported its fourth-quarter profit fell from a year ago as it took more charges to clean up mortgage-related problems...

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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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Accumulating snow could fall across the Southeast

ATLANTA (AP) — Snow was expected to spread Thursday from Mississippi across northern Georgia and up to the Washington, D.C. area, the National Weather Service said. The winter blitz follows days of heavy rain across much of the Southeast.Already, snow was falling in central Mississippi early Thursday, the weather service said. Meteorologist Alan Campbell in Jackson said the heaviest snow activity...

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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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FAA grounds Dreamliners in U.S.

Federal officials say they are temporarily grounding Boeing's 787 Dreamliners until the risk of possible battery fires is addressed. (Jan. 16) ...

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Some hostages reported to escape Sahara siege

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Some hostages were reported to have escaped from a remote Algerian gas plant on Thursday, where dozens of foreigners and scores of Algerians were seized by Islamist gunmen demanding a halt to a French military campaign in neighboring Mali. Governments around the world were holding emergency meetings to respond to one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades,...

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Stock futures dip on growth concerns, bank earnings eyed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures slipped on Wednesday, pressured by low growth expectations and ahead of earnings from major financials including Goldman Sachs. JPMorgan Chase & Co reported an increase in fourth-quarter profits as the biggest U.S. bank made more home loans. Shares of Dow component Boeing fell 4.2 percent in premarket trading on concerns about...

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Lance Armstrong may not be done confessing

Lance Armstrong may not be done confessing.His interview with Oprah Winfrey hasn't aired yet, but already some people want to hear more — under oath — before Armstrong is allowed to compete in elite triathlons, a sport he returned to after retiring from cycling in 2011. In addition to stripping him of all seven of his Tour de France titles last year, anti-doping officials banned Armstrong for life...

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Spanish cuts widen Europe’s north-south research divide

MADRID (Reuters) – Amanda Bolanos, a young Spanish scientist, knows she will not be coming home.“Exiled in Cambodia” read the banner the molecular biologist carried at a protest in Madrid against government cutbacks. Back on leave from Phnom Penh, the 30-year-old researcher plans to head for Latin America if her present contract in Cambodia is not renewed. She sees little chance of finding work in...

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Give Lance another chance?

STORY HIGHLIGHTSMike Downey: I haven't a smidgen of sympathy for the dope "pedaler"Randy Cohen: If many cycling fans are right, most of the top riders engaged in doping Jeff Pearlman: Lance racing again is not truly an option anyway -- he's almost 42 John Hoberman: Any lifting of his lifetime ban should be based on his total cooperation (CNN) -- CNN asked for views on whether disgraced cyclist Lance...

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