Aides: Chavez in tough fight, may miss swearing-in

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Somber confidants of President Hugo Chavez say he is going through a difficult recovery after cancer surgery in Cuba, and one close ally is warning Venezuelans that their leader may not make it back for his swearing-in next month.Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said Wednesday night that Chavez was in “stable condition” and was with close relatives in Havana. Reading...

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Britney Spears, Taylor Swift are top-earning women in music

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pop star Britney Spears edged past Taylor Swift to claim the title of top-earning woman in music after bringing in an estimated $ 58 million from her album, endorsements and a perfume in the past year, Forbes said on Wednesday.Country-pop singer Swift, 22, was a close second with an estimated $ 57 million paycheck thanks to her tour – which made more than $ 1 million each night...

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Best Pals Paralyzed Just 2 Years Apart

Alan Brown had just wrapped up a fundraiser for his high school best friend, Danny Heumann, who had been paralyzed after he broke his back in a car accident.“We were 18 years old, ready to live life,” said Brown, who became his friend’s caregiver, staying by his side at New York City‘s Rusk Institute after the 1985 accident.But just six weeks after he had helped raise $ 15,000 for his friend’s new...

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Walmart vs. Walmart

Cindy Murray has been working at Walmart store No. 1985 in Laurel, Md., for 13 years. She’s stationed in the fitting rooms and earns $ 12.40 an hour. Murray, who’s in her fifties, says she loves her job. She thinks of herself as a model employee. She also helped start OUR Walmart, or Organization United for Respect at Walmart, the group of employees who defied one of the most powerful companies...

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North Korea’s new leader burnishes credentials with rocket

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea successfully launched a rocket on Wednesday, boosting the credentials of its new leader and stepping up the threat the isolated and impoverished state poses to its opponents.The rocket, which North Korea says put a weather satellite into orbit, has been labeled by the United States, South Korea and Japan as a test of technology that could one day deliver a nuclear...

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Top 2012 searches include Whitney, PSY, Sandy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The world’s attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, Web surfers searched in huge numbers to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver.Whitney Houston was the “top trending” search of the year, according to Google Inc.’s year-end “zeitgeist” report. Google‘s 12th annual roundup is “an in-depth look at the...

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TV’s “Storage Wars” is rigged, fired cast member charges

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The popular TV show “Storage Wars” – in which treasure hunters bid to buy unseen items in abandoned units – is rigged, with producers sometimes planting valuable items among the junk, a former contestant said in a lawsuit on Tuesday.David Hester, one of the reality TV show‘s longest-serving cast members, said producers buried a BMW Mini under trash in one unit featured in the...

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Medicines Co to spend $300 million to boost hospital products line

(Reuters) – Medicines Company, a maker of drugs used in hospitals, will spend about $ 300 million in two deals to bulk up its surgical care products portfolio.The company will pay $ 105 million upfront for a two-year license to market Bristol-Myers Squibb Company‘s device to control bleeding during surgery.Medicines Co also said it agreed to pay $ 185 million to acquire privately held Incline Therapeutics,...

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The Home Foreclosure Wave That Wasn’t

When banks pulled back on foreclosures two years ago following a government investigation into faulty paperwork by lenders, Wall Street analysts, academics, and researchers thought the lull would be followed by a storm. They believed that once banks resolved the claims of delinquent homeowners piling up in courts and worked through their backlog of foreclosures, tens of thousands of houses would hit...

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Australian prank call radio to donate profits to nurse’s family

CANBERRA (Reuters) – The Australian radio station behind a prank call to a British hospital will donate its advertising revenue until the end of the year to a fund for the family of the nurse who apparently took her own life after the stunt, the company said on Tuesday.Southern Cross Austereo, parent company of Sydney radio station 2Day FM, said it would donate all advertising revenue, with a minimum...

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