UNITED STATES

The threat of cyberattacks on the U.S. power grid should be dealt with by a single federal agency, not the welter of groups now charged with the electric system's security, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported on Monday.

Businessman Donald Trump said Ron Paul has “zero chance” of securing the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

The U.S. futures regulator unanimously approved on Monday tighter limits on how brokerage firms can use customer funds, a measure the now-bankrupt MF Global had encouraged the agency to delay.

Growth in the U.S. service sector eased last month, and new orders for factory goods fell in October, tempering recent optimism that the U.S. economy may be poised for a more vigorous rebound.

The Federal Reserve must take immediate action to inject new life into a moribund U.S. recovery or risk letting the nation settle into a permanently lower growth path, a top Fed official said on Monday.

The aforementioned designation suggests a 50 percent chance of a downgrade within 90 days.

Stocks jumped at the start of what could be the most important week of the year for Wall Street as hopes grew that European leaders will find a solution to the region's debt crisis at a summit on Friday.

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been charged with DWI after police caught the 65-year-old Babbit driving on the wrong side of the road Saturday night. Last month, limited funding threatened once again to shut down the FAA's operations, and Babbit's arrest is unlikely to push Congress to extend funding for the agency.

More than a third of U.S. shoppers are already done with most of their holiday shopping, a survey showed on Monday, signaling that retailers need to offer bigger incentives to win sales in the few weeks before Christmas.

Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative activist who spearheaded the anti-feminist movement in the 1970s, has endorsed Michele Bachmann for the Republican presidential nomination.

Stocks jumped at the start of what could be the most important week of the year for Wall Street as hopes grew that European leaders will find a solution to the region's debt crisis at a summit on Friday.

Thick smog in Beijing cancelled hundreds of flights out of the world's second busiest airport and closed motorways linking the Chinese capital to the north.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) and the government of Rwanda announced a partnership at a Monday press conference in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda. Under the agreement, Visa will help the government extend access to financial services to local and international consumers throughout the country.

Hedge fund multimillionaire Raj Rajaratnam began serving his 11-year prison sentence on Monday - the longest on record for insider trading - at a former military base near a small, leafy Massachusetts town.

A U.S. District Court judge has denied Apple's request for a preliminary injunction against Samsung Electronics' devices.

Sooner or later, income taxes on upper-income groups in the United States, including the uber-rich, have to be raised to balance the federal budget, and to restore tax fairness.

Growth in the U.S. service sector eased last month, and new orders for factory goods fell in October, tempering recent optimism that the U.S. economy may be poised for a more vigorous rebound.

President Barack Obama and three 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls are all contenders for the award.

Fox Searchlight debuted its NC-17 rated Shame to $361,181 at 10 U.S. locations this weekend, according to studio estimates, for an outstanding per-screen average of more than $36,000.

The pace of growth in the vast U.S. services sector slowed in November to the lowest level in nearly two years, according to an industry report released on Monday.

In the financial crisis-era, with its constrained public revenue from a smaller U.S. workforce, almost every government agency is forced to belt-tighten -- including the U.S. Postal Service, which will implement historic cutbacks starting in the spring of 2012.