Record earnings for South Korean league

(Reuters) - South Korean baseball underlined its continuing growth by posting a record $33 million in revenue last year, local media reported on Wednesday.Winning gold at the Beijing Olympics and finishing runners-up at the 2009 World Baseball Classic boosted baseball's popularity and attendances crossed the 7 million-mark for the first time last year, Yonhap News agency reported.The league pocketed...

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UPDATE 2-Baseball-Bonds, Clemens denied; no players make Hall

* Bonds received 36.2 percent of the vote, Clemens 37.6* First year since 1996 that no players elected to Hall* Former Astro Biggio comes closest, falls 39 votes shy (Adds quotes and details)Jan 9 (Reuters) - No one was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday, with all-time home run leader Barry Bonds and seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens snubbed over suspicion they used performance...

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Bonds, Clemens denied; no players make Hall

(Reuters) - No one was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday, with all-time home run leader Barry Bonds and seven-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens snubbed over suspicion they used performance enhancing drugs.Craig Biggio, who stroked 3,060 hits in a 20-year career with the Houston Astros, came closest to winning election, named on 68.2 percent of the 569 ballots to fall 39 votes shy...

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Steroids fallout: No BB Hall for Bonds, Clemens

NEW YORK (AP) — No one was elected to the Hall of Fame this year. When voters closed the doors to Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa, they also shut out everybody else.For only the second time in four decades, baseball writers failed to give any player the 75 percent required for induction to Cooperstown, sending a powerful signal that stars of the Steroids Era will be held to a different...

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Venezuela's VP in Havana to see Chavez, family

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's vice president flew to Cuba on Friday to visit the ailing Hugo Chavez and his family, while the leaders of Argentina and Peru also traveled to Havana saying they hoped to ask about the Venezuelan president's condition.The 58-year-old president is fighting a severe respiratory infection a month after he underwent cancer surgery in Havana, his government says."I'm...

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Haiti plans subdued memorial 3 years after quake

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The Haitian government plans a low-key ceremony Saturday for the third anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the country and killed hundreds of thousands of people.President Michel Martelly will preside over a subdued memorial on the grounds of the former National Palace, which was destroyed in the disaster and later demolished. Senior government officials and...

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Rights groups condemn crackdown on TV channel

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Rights groups are condemning an order by Venezuela's broadcast agency for a television channel to stop showing clips that question the legality of postponing President Hugo Chavez's inauguration.The organizations Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders are criticizing the government's actions against the country's only staunchly anti-Chavez channel, Globovision.U.S.-based...

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Rights groups condemn crackdown on Venezuela TV

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Rights groups are condemning an order by Venezuela's broadcast agency for a television channel to stop showing clips that question the legality of postponing President Hugo Chavez's inauguration.The organizations Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders criticized the government's actions against the country's only staunchly anti-Chavez channel, Globovision.U.S.-based...

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Junior Seau had brain disease CTE

Junior Seau, one of the NFL's best and fiercest players for nearly two decades, had a degenerative brain disease when he committed suicide last May, the National Institutes of Health told The Associated Press on Thursday.Results of an NIH study of Seau's brain revealed abnormalities consistent with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).The NIH, based in Bethesda, Md., conducted a study of three...

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Steelers cut RB Rainey after arrest in Florida

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Rookie running back Chris Rainey has run out of chances with the Pittsburgh Steelers.The Steelers cut the troubled 24-year-old following his arrest on a battery charge in Gainesville, Fla., on Thursday, the latest in a series of off-the-field incidents that have threatened his career.Gainesville police officers charged Rainey with a single count of misdemeanor simple battery after...

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UPDATE 4-NFL's Junior Seau had brain disease from blows to head

(Adds statement from Seau family)Jan 10 (Reuters) - Junior Seau, the 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker who killed himself last year, suffered from the same debilitating brain disease diagnosed in at least two other former NFL defensive players who also committed suicide, a study released on Thursday said.Seau, 43, died in May after shooting himself in the chest at his beachfront house in his hometown of...

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Burned by supply chain issues, Apple may again look to Sharp for future iPhone, iPad displays

Apple (AAPL) is learning that good help can be hard to find. In its eagerness to shed its reliance on Samsung (005930) as a component supplier, Apple has had difficulty in finding another vendor capable of producing displays as efficiently as its partner-turned-rival traditionally has. This past summer, the company began moving away from Sharp (SCHAY) a bit when it tapped LG Display (LPL) and AU...

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Tablet sales expected to surpass notebooks in 2013

While some have pegged 2013 as the year of the phablet, the latest report from NPD DisplaySearch paints a different picture. The firm estimates that shipments of tablet PCs will surpass 240 million units worldwide in 2013, topping notebook PC shipments, which are expected to reach 207 million, for the first time ever.[More from BGR: Corning demonstrates the strength of Gorilla Glass 3 [video]]Apple...

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Samsung's big push for 2013: content, corporates

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics, the global leader in consumer smartphones, is planning two major thrusts in 2013: bulking up mobile content and moving faster into the corporate market dominated by Research in Motion.The South Korean electronics company is investing in devices that enterprise users like corporations will endorse, with a higher level of security and reliability than general...

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China's insurance regulator to reject $9.4 billion HSBC deal - reports

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's insurance regulator is expected to reject HSBC's sale of its $9.4 billion (5.8 billion pounds) stake in Ping An Insurance to Thai conglomerate CP Group, media reports said on Wednesday.The failure of the deal would be a blow to HSBC and an embarrassment to the various parties involved in a corporate deal that was set to be Asia's second-largest last year.The China Insurance...

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Short-sellers circle stocks as confidence wavers

LONDON (Reuters) - How durable is the Wall Street bounce following last week's U.S. budget deal? Not very, some speculators believe.Hedge funds are betting that a rally in U.S. stocks after a retreat from the "fiscal cliff" will reverse as doubts grow that politicians are ready to sacrifice party interests to keep the world's economic engine running, early data shows.On the cusp of a January 1 deadline,...

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FTSE 100 hits highest level since May 2008

LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Britain's blue-chip share indexhit its highest point since May 2008 on Wednesday, resuming itsJanuary rally after a two-day pause, led up by the bankingsector.At 1505 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 58.38 points, or 1percent, at 6,112.01, breaking through the 2011 high of6,105.77. Lloyds Banking Group led banking sectorgainers after being upgraded by UBS.A positive open on Wall...

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NFL-Jets sack offensive coordinator Sparano after losing season

Jan 8 (Reuters) - The New York Jets have fired offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, the National Football League team said on Tuesday in the latest shakeup to the franchise's coaching staff after a disappointing season.Sparano, who was head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2008 to 2011, spent just one season in charge of a Jets offense that ranked 30th in the league in total offense."At the end of...

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Jets sack offensive coordinator Sparano after losing season

(Reuters) - The New York Jets have fired offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, the National Football League team said on Tuesday in the latest shakeup to the franchise's coaching staff after a disappointing season.Sparano, who was head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 2008 to 2011, spent just one season in charge of a Jets offense that ranked 30th in the league in total offense."At the end of the day,...

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AP Source: Browns interviewing CFL's Trestman

CLEVELAND (AP) — A person familiar with the interview says the Browns are meeting with Montreal Alouettes coach Marc Trestman.Trestman interviewed with the Chicago Bears on Monday night and arrived at the Browns' facility in suburban Berea on Tuesday, said the person who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the search. Trestman is the fifth known...

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Wall Street edges off five-year high, awaits earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks lost ground on Monday, as investors drew back from recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high, in anticipation of sluggish growth in corporate profits.Shares of financial companies dipped after a group of major U.S. banks agreed to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a government inquiry into faulty mortgage foreclosures. The KBW bank index <.bkx>,...

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Wall St edges off 5-year high, awaits earnings

 U.S. stocks lost ground on Monday, as investors drew back from recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high, in anticipation of sluggish growth in corporate profits.Shares of financial companies dipped after a group of major U.S. banks agreed to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a government inquiry into faulty mortgage foreclosures. The KBW bank index, a gauge of U.S. bank...

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Stocks sink, pulling S&P 500 down from 5-year high

 Investors started the week on a cautious note, pulling the Standard & Poor's 500 index down from the five-year high it reached Friday.The move lower on Monday is likely the result of traders taking some winnings off the table after the stock market's surge last week, said Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ.Investors are also preparing for corporate America's seasonal...

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Colombia firm makes armored clothes for kids

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Colombian firm that makes bulletproof vests is now creating armored clothing for children.Factory owner Miguel Caballero said he never thought about making protective clothes for kids until requests came in following the deadly attack on Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut last month."After the tragedy in Connecticut, we started getting emails from customers asking for protected...

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Chile: Couple dies defending home against Indians

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — An elderly couple whose family's vast landholdings have long been targeted by Mapuche Indians in southern Chile were killed in an arson attack early Friday while trying to defend their home. The president quickly flew to the scene and announced new security measures, including the application of Chile's tough anti-terrorism law and the creation of a special police anti-terror...

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Chile: Couple dies defending home amid protests

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — An elderly couple whose family's vast landholdings have long been targeted by Mapuche Indians in southern Chile were killed in an arson attack early Friday while trying to defend their home. The president quickly flew to the scene and announced new security measures, including the application of Chile's tough anti-terrorism law and the creation of a special police anti-terror...

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Wall St Week Ahead - 'Cliff' concerns give way to earnings focus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors' "fiscal cliff" worries are likely to give way to more fundamental concerns, like earnings, as fourth-quarter reports get under way next week.Financial results, which begin after the market closes on Tuesday with aluminum company Alcoa , are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results. As a warning sign, analyst current estimates...

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Wall Street economists see Fed's Treasury buying ending in 2013: Reuters poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most economists at Wall Street's top financial institutions expect the Federal Reserve in 2013 to end the program with which it bought Treasury debt in an effort to stimulate the economy, according to a Reuters poll on Friday.Economists at nine of 16 primary dealers -- the large financial institutions that do business directly with the Fed -- said they expect the current Fed...

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Fed's policy "thresholds" plan surprised dealers: poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Very few Wall Street economists expected the U.S. Federal Reserve to adopt policy thresholds at its last meeting, results from a New York Fed poll of primary dealers showed on Friday, highlighting how surprising was the decision.The 20 dealers, who have access to the central bank's discount window, were polled before the Fed's December 11-12 policy meeting. At the meeting the...

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UK backs Lucentis for new use after Novartis cuts price

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's healthcare cost watchdog has given its backing to eye drug Lucentis to treat diabetes-related problems after Swiss drugmaker Novartis offered it at a discount to the National Health Service.The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), in a reversal of an earlier decision, said on Friday Lucentis should now be available for patients with diabetic macular...

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