6 actually useful smartphone apps to get you through Black Friday

Gracefully navigate the shopping madness by doing a little prep work on your iPhone or Android before you leave the houseAh, the holidays! Big-box stores compete with online behemoths for customers, while customers compete with each other to get the best Black Friday savings. And, in a new digital twist, Black-Friday-focused apps are competing with...

Read More..

Ex-'Price is Right' model gets $7.7M in damages

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury has awarded a former model on "The Price is Right" more than $7.7 million in punitive damages after determining the show discriminated against her because of her pregnancy.The decision Wednesday came one day after the panel determined producers discriminated against Brandi Cochran. They awarded her nearly $777,000 in actual damages.The show's producers, FremantleMedia North...

Read More..

Well: Officials Warn Against Baby Sleep Positioners

Health officials are warning parents not to use a special device designed to help keep babies in certain positions as they sleep. The device, called a sleep positioner, has been linked to at least 13 deaths in the last 15 years, officials with two federal agencies said on Wednesday.“We urge parents and caregivers to take our warning seriously and stop using these sleep positioners,” Inez Tenenbaum,...

Read More..

DealBook: Judge Approves Hostess Brands' Plan to Close Down

A federal bankruptcy judge approved Hostess Brands’ plans to wind itself down, officially putting the Twinkies brand on the auction block.In granting Hostess’s motion, Judge Robert D. Drain of the Federal Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York cited the need for a quick and orderly shuttering of the company to avoid letting its assets molder. The alternative, a less-structured Chapter...

Read More..

Clinton Arrives in Middle East as Egypt Says Truce in Gaza Is Close

JERUSALEM — Diplomatic efforts accelerated on Tuesday to end the lethal confrontation between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza on one of the most violent days yet in the conflict, as the United States sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East and Egypt’s president and his senior aides expressed confidence that a cease-fire was close. But by late evening there...

Read More..

Ex-'Price is Right' model wins suit against show

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jurors awarded nearly $777,000 Tuesday to a former "The Price is Right" model who claimed she was discriminated against by producers because of her pregnancy.Brandi Cochran, 41, said she was rejected by the game show's producers when she tried to return to work in early 2010 after taking maternity leave.The Superior Court jury determined her pregnancy was the reason she wasn't rehired...

Read More..

Global Update: Meningitis Vaccine Gets Longer Window Without Refrigeration

In what may prove to be a major advance for Africa’s “meningitis belt,” regulatory authorities have decided that a new meningitis vaccine could be stored without refrigeration for up to four days. The announcement was made last week at a conference in Atlanta of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. While a few days may seem trivial, the hardest part of protecting poor countries...

Read More..

DealBook: Ex-Trader Charged in $276 Million Insider Scheme

Federal prosecutors brought what they called “the most lucrative insider trading scheme ever charged,” filing a criminal case on Tuesday against a former trader at a unit of the hedge fund SAC Capital.Mathew Martoma, a former trader at CR Intrinsic, a division of SAC Capital, was charged with making about $276 million in combined profits and avoided losses by obtaining confidential information about...

Read More..

Hamas Strengthens as Palestinian Authority Weakens

RAMALLAH, West Bank — In the daily demonstrations here of solidarity with Gaza, a mix of sympathy and anguish, there is something else: growing identification with the Islamist fighters of Hamas and derision for the Palestinian Authority, which Washington considers the only partner for peace with Israel. “Strike a blow on Tel Aviv!” proclaim the lyrics of a new hit song blasting from shops...

Read More..

Wranglers say 'Hobbit' animals died on unsafe farm

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Animal wranglers involved in the making of "The Hobbit" movie trilogy say the production company is responsible for the deaths of up to 27 animals, largely because they were kept at a farm filled with bluffs, sinkholes and other "death traps."The American Humane Association, which is overseeing animal welfare on the films, says no animals were harmed during the actual...

Read More..