The Office

Bravo going ahead with premiere of 'Housewives' - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (AP) — The Bravo network says it is going ahead with next Monday's season premiere of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" despite the suicide of a cast member.

Bravo Media President Frances Berwick said Wednesday that producers taped brief interviews with other cast members to introduce the premiere. The network will also air several suicide prevention public service announcements during the show.

Russell Armstrong, whose wife, Taylor, is one of the "Real Housewives," hanged himself on Aug. 15. He left no note. The couple's marital strife was a story line in the reality show's first season, and was expected to be a feature of the upcoming second season.

Berwick did not say what type of editing would be done on the series.

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Bluesman David 'Honey Boy' Edwards dead at 96 - Yahoo! News

CHICAGO (AP) — Grammy-winning Blues musician David "Honey Boy" Edwards, believed to be the oldest surviving Delta bluesman and whose roots stretched back to blues legend Robert Johnson, died early Monday in his Chicago home, his manager said. He was 96.

Edwards had a weak heart and his health seriously declined in May, when the guitarist had to cancel concerts scheduled through November, said his longtime manager, Michael Frank of Earwig Music Company.

Born in 1915 in Shaw, Miss., Edwards learned the guitar growing up and started playing professionally at age 17 in Memphis.

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Consumer spending rebounds - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer spending rose at its fastest pace in five months in July, supporting views the economy was not falling back into recession.

The Commerce Department said on Monday consumer spending increased 0.8 percent on strong demand for motor vehicles, after slipping 0.1 percent in June.

Economists had expected spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, to rise 0.5 percent.

When adjusted for inflation, spending rose 0.5 percent last month, the largest gain since a matching increase in December 2009, after being flat in June.

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"Act now" to save global recovery, IMF chief urges - Yahoo! News

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo (Reuters) - The new head of the IMF on Saturday called on global policymakers to pursue urgent action, including forcing European banks to bulk up their capital, to prevent a descent into a renewed world recession.

"Developments this summer have indicated we are in a dangerous new phase," International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said at a conference for top officials and leading economists from around the globe.

"The stakes are clear; we risk seeing the fragile recovery derailed. So we must act now," she said.

Two years after the end of the worst of the financial crisis, growth in the United States and Europe is sputtering as government debt burdens surge.

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"Treme" actor Michael Showers died of drowning - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Michael Showers, the "Treme" actor who was found dead in the Mississippi River on Wednesday, died of drowning, the Orleans Parish coroner's office announced on Friday, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

The coroner's office said that an autopsy found no signs of trauma to the actor, who was 45.

The coroner also said that Showers had probably been in the river for approximately two days before he was retrieved.

Showers' toxicology report is still pending.

Showers was pulled from the river near New Orleans' French Quarter on Wednesday, after the captain of the Steamboat Natchez saw the actor's body floating in the Mississippi. He had been reported missing by his girlfriend, Melinda Carlos, the night before.

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Wall Street opens off ahead of Bernanke speech - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened lower on Friday as investors found few reasons to buy following a volatile week and ahead of a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 66.34 points, or 0.59 percent, to 11,083.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 5.65 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,153.62. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 9.26 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,410.37.

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Apple shares under pressure after Jobs resignation - Yahoo! News

SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Shares in Apple Inc were marked lower by investors on Thursday as the company faced a future without its founder and visionary Steve Jobs at the helm.

Jobs resigned as CEO on Wednesday and passed the reins to his right-hand man Tim Cook, saying he could no longer fulfill his duties, but making no mention of the poor health that has forced him to take a back seat this year.

Jobs, who fought and survived a rare form of pancreatic cancer and revolutionized the technology arena with the iPod, iPhone and iPad, is deemed the heart and soul of a company that became the most valuable in the world for a brief period this year.

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Tony Bennett, MTV to pay tribute to Amy Winehouse - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Tony Bennett will pay tribute to late singer Amy Winehouse during a special segment of the "2011 MTV Video Music Awards" on August 28, the network announced Tuesday.

Bennett and Winehouse recorded the track "Body and Soul" together a few months before her death, and the song will appear on Bennett's album "Duets II," out September 20.

Their team-up has the distinction of being Winehouse's final recording. Video footage taken during their session at London's Abbey Road Studios will accompany the tribute.

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Wall Street rises in choppy trade - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Tuesday after gauges of Chinese and euro zone economic activity came in less gloomy than feared, and investors shrugged of more signs of weakness in the U.S. housing sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 97.33 points, or 0.90 percent, to 10,951.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 9.87 points, or 0.88 percent, to 1,133.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 32.03 points, or 1.37 percent, to 2,377.41.

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Oil slips towards $107 on Libya end-game - Yahoo! News

LONDON (Reuters) - Brent crude fell by more than a dollar on Monday to around $107 a barrel with traders and investors anticipating the resumption of oil exports from OPEC-member Libya as a six-month civil war there appeared close to an end.

Rebels swept into the heart of the capital Tripoli and crowds took to the streets to celebrate what they saw as the end of Muammar Gaddafi's four decades in power, with government tanks and snipers putting up only scattered, last-ditch resistance.

France and the UK have called on Gaddafi's supporters to stop fighting. Although oil prices fell on the rebels reaching Tripoli, oil traders are skeptical about how quickly Libyan output can be restored.

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