Microsoft’s Surface tablet has “modest” start: Ballmer

PARIS (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp‘s new Surface tablet – its challenger to Apple‘s iPad – had a “modest” start to sales because of limited availability, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told French daily Le Parisien.The world’s largest software company put the Surface tablet center stage at its Windows 8 launch event last month in its fightback against...

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Vt. Mom Begs FDA: Save My Other Son

Jenn McNary, a mother of six from Saxtons River, Vt., is desperate.Both her boys have Duchenne muscular dystrophy, but only her 10-year-old Max has access to a wonder drug that appears to be reversing the symptoms of this deadly disease. His 13-year-old brother Austin is languishing in a wheelchair while Max has been...

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In This Junkyard, It Seems, There Are No Dogs

It’s kind of Orwellian that anyone would rapaciously buy an ETF with the ticker JNK—branding shorthand for “junk,” Wall Street’s sobriquet for high-yield, the riskiest layer of corporate bonds.Nevertheless, JNK, the SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF, and competitor offerings are a hot destination in these yield-famished days. The appeal is irrefutable:...

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Clarke’s 218 puts Australia on front foot

BRISBANE (Reuters) – Australia captain Michael Clarke scored a brilliant unbeaten double century to give the hosts a remarkable 37-run first innings lead on the fourth day of the first test against South Africa on Monday.Supported first by a maiden century from opener Ed Cowan in a record stand of 259, and then by Mike Hussey‘s 86 not out, Clarke’s 218...

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IBM surprised by Avantor lawsuit, calls claims exaggerated

(Reuters) – IBM, which is being sued by chemicals manufacturer Avantor Performance Materials for fraud and breach of contract in connection with a software project, said the accusations were blown out of proportion and that it was surprised by the move.“We believe the allegations in the complaint are exaggerated and misguided and are surprised that Avantor...

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Food labels multiply, some confuse consumers

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Want to avoid pesticides and antibiotics in your produce, meat, and dairy foods? Prefer to pay more to make sure farm animals were treated humanely, farmworkers got their lunch breaks, bees or birds were protected by the farmer and that ranchers didn’t kill predators?Food labels claim to certify a wide array of sustainable practices....

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Bernanke’s stamp on Fed could tie hands of successor

NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Barack Obama‘s next choice to head the U.S. Federal Reserve could have his or her hands tied if Ben Bernanke and company continue to re-write the policymaking rule book at their current clip.Under Chairman Bernanke, who is expected to step down when his current term expires in January 2014, the U.S. central bank has embraced...

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Israel kills Gaza rocket crewman in second day of clashes

GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian militant in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip on Sunday as a surge in cross-border violence entered its second day, local officials said.Islamic Jihad, a smaller faction than Hamas which often operates independently, identified the dead man as one of its own, saying he was a member of a rocket crew...

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Feline Frisky With Cats That Look Like Pin-Up Girls

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Chen Guang-who? Chinese official claims ignorance of blind activist

BEIJING (Reuters) – Despite causing a huge diplomatic incident between the world’s two largest economies earlier this year, the Chinese official in charge of the hometown of blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng said on Friday that he has no idea who he was.Chen, one of China’s most prominent human rights advocates, slipped away from under the noses of...

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