Fitch cuts Sony, Panasonic debt ratings to “junk” status

TOKYO (Reuters) – Ratings agency Fitch downgraded the debt ratings of Japan’s Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp to “junk” status citing weakness in their consumer electronics and TV operations, further diminishing the luster of the once-great Japanese brands.The cut to below investment grade, the first by a ratings firm, comes as the floundering Japanese tech...

Read More..

Promoter: Chris Brown cancels Guyana show

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Organizers say American R&B star Chris Brown has canceled a stadium concert in Guyana after local protests over his 2009 beating of then-girlfriend Rihanna.Brown was billed to headline a Dec. 26 show. But he drew the ire of women's rights groups and opposition lawmakers who said Brown would not be welcome in Guyana three years after his assault of Barbadian superstar...

Read More..

Study finds mammograms lead to unneeded treatment

Mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly breast cancers before they spread, a big U.S. study finds. At the same time, more than a million women have been treated for cancers that never would have threatened their lives, researchers estimate.Up to one-third of breast cancers, or 50,000 to 70,000 cases a year, don't need treatment, the study suggests.It's the most detailed look yet at...

Read More..

U.S. troops in Afghanistan celebrate Thanksgiving

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — It was Army Sgt. Keith Wells' first Thanksgiving Day away from his family and despite a cornucopia of food provided for the troops, his taste buds were craving his wife's macaroni and cheese back home."My wife's a foodie — you know the Food Network, cooking shows. Everything she makes is golden," Wells of Charlotte, N.C., said Thursday at a large international military base...

Read More..

3 bomb blasts kill 6 in 2 main Pakistani cities

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A bomb blast targeting an army vehicle killed three soldiers and two civilians in the southwestern city of Quetta on Wednesday, police said.Hours later, two bombs went off minutes apart outside a Shiite mosque in the southern city of Karachi, killing at least one person and wounding several others.The explosions demonstrated the underlying tensions in Pakistan between insurgents...

Read More..

Elmo left behind on 'Sesame Street' as actor exits

NEW YORK (AP) — Even on "Sesame Street," where everything is famously A-OK, problems can arise for its residents.And that includes the Muppets. Cookie Monster grapples with an eating disorder. Oscar the Grouch gets cranky. Mr. Snuffleupagus gets the blues.But Elmo seemed immune to any of that. Since enjoying his breakout success more than two decades ago, the 3 1/2-year-old red monster has radiated...

Read More..

OB/GYNs back over-the-counter birth control pills

WASHINGTON (AP) — No prescription or doctor's exam needed: The nation's largest group of obstetricians and gynecologists says birth control pills should be sold over the counter, like condoms.Tuesday's surprise opinion from these gatekeepers of contraception could boost longtime efforts by women's advocates to make the pill more accessible.But no one expects the pill to be sold without a prescription...

Read More..

Clinton, White House denounce bus bombing

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliver joint statements …Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced a bomb attack on a bus in Tel Aviv that wounded at least 10 people even as she worked to help cobble together a truce between Israel and the Palestinians' Islamist Hamas movement that rules Gaza."The United States strongly condemns...

Read More..

Obama sends Clinton to Mideast amid Gaza crisis

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — President Barack Obama dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East on Tuesday as the U.S. urgently seeks to end a conflict between Israel and Hamas that has killed more than 100 in the last week.Clinton hastily departed for the region from Cambodia, where she had joined Obama for a summit with Asian leaders. The White House said she would make...

Read More..

Elmo actor Kevin Clash resigns amid sex allegation

NEW YORK (AP) — Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash has resigned from "Sesame Street" in the wake of an allegation that he had sex with an under-aged youth.In its statement Tuesday, Sesame Workshop said "the controversy surrounding Kevin's personal life has become a distraction that none of us want," leading Clash to conclude "that he can no longer be effective in his job.""This is a sad day for Sesame Street,"...

Read More..