Movers roundup: Facebook, Best Buy

Among the stock activity stories for Monday, Dec. 31, from AP Business News:— Shares of Facebook Inc. rose after an analyst said advertising spending was picking up on the Internet social network and raised his rating on its stock.— Shares of Best Buy Co. rose on light volume as the struggling electronics retailer closed out a rocky year.— Shares of Duff & Phelps Corp. rose on news that the company...

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Willard completes program, avoids lewdness charge

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Fred Willard has completed a diversion program for his arrest this summer for a suspected lewd act at a Hollywood adult theater.Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney's office, said Monday that the 72-year-old comic actor completed the program in September and as a result no longer faces charges stemming from the July 18 incident.Willard was arrested...

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Clinton's blood clot an uncommon complication

The kind of blood clot in the skull that doctors say Hillary Rodham Clinton has is relatively uncommon but can occur after an injury like the fall and concussion the secretary of state was diagnosed with earlier this month.Doctors said Monday that an MRI scan revealed a clot in a vein in the space between the brain and the skull behind Clinton's right ear.The clot did not lead to a stroke or neurological...

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Tentative ‘fiscal cliff’ deal reached in Senate

President Barack Obama discusses the negotiations with Capitol Hill on the looming fiscal cliff in front of middle …Racing to beat a midnight deadline, Vice President Joe Biden arrived on Capitol Hill Monday night to sell wary Democratic senators on an 11th-hour deal to avert income tax hikes on all but a sliver of the richest Americans.Grinning broadly, Biden ignored reporters questions on whether...

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Indian gang rape victim's body cremated privately

NEW DELHI (AP) — A young woman who died after being gang-raped and beaten on a bus in India's capital was cremated privately as millions of grieving, angry residents demanded greater protection for women from sexual violence.The cremation took place during a private ceremony in New Delhi soon after the woman's body arrived in the capital Sunday on a special Air India flight from Singapore, where she...

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Kobe Bryant Finally Joins Twitter — Kind Of

Long among the sports world’s biggest Twitter holdouts, Kobe Bryant has finally joined the social network. But he hasn’t opened an account, and won’t be around for long.Social savvy fans are being blessed with his presence thanks to Nike Basketball, which has turned over its account to Bryant since Tuesday.[More from Mashable: Avery Johnson’s Teenage Son Unloads on Twitter After NBA Firing]Nike Basketball,...

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'The Hobbit' stays atop box office for third week

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" continues to rule them all at the box office, staying on top for a third-straight week and capping a record-setting $10.8 billion year in moviegoing.The Warner Bros. fantasy epic from director Peter Jackson, based on the beloved J.R.R. Tolkien novel, made nearly $33 million this weekend, according to Sunday studio estimates, despite serious competition...

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Kenya hospital imprisons new mothers with no money

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated...

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Suspects in India rape case charged with murder

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police have charged six men with murder, adding to accusations that they beat and gang-raped a woman on a New Delhi bus two weeks ago in a case that shocked the country.The murder charges were laid Saturday, hours after the woman died in a Singapore hospital, where she had been flown for treatment.New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the six face the death penalty if...

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The Boy Genius Report: The Wii U is Nintendo’s last console

I remember it still — people flipped out about the Nintendo (NTDOY) Wii. Yes, its name was mocked for a while, but there was genuine excitement around what Nintendo was doing with motion and the entire gameplay experience. While the original Nintendo Wii was almost an Apple (AAPL)-like product — Nintendo focused on the gameplay and not on specs; the company didn’t even have HD graphics when every...

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