UNITED STATES

European governments have a long way to go in improving their fiscal positions and solving a spreading sovereign debt crisis, said Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren.

The United States and Canada are scheduled to announce a new security agreement next Wednesday designed to lower obstacles between the two nations while ensuring the perimeter around them is secure.

December 2 - General Motors Co is exploring design changes to the Chevrolet Volt battery to address issues raised after federal safety officials opened a probe into the plug-in electric car, a top executive said on Friday.

U.S. rail traffic, a snapshot of the weekly economic well-being, continued to climb in late November. During the week ending Nov. 26, U.S. railroads originated 265,304 carloads, up 4 percent compared with the same week last year, while intermodal volume for the week totaled 190,866 trailers and containers, up 3.7 percent compared with the year-ago-period, the Association of American Railroads reported.

Several thousand unionized office cleaners gathered at the Sheraton in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday. They voted to authorize a strike when their contract expires in December.

Stocks ended flat on Friday but capped the best week for Wall Street bulls in almost three years after data showed the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to a 2-1/2 year low.

The Canadian dollar ended weaker against the U.S. currency on Friday, following the euro lower, as worries about Europe's debt crisis and disappointing domestic employment data ended a four-day winning streak.

The U.S. Congress has lifted a five-year-old ban on horse slaughter in America, and many believe it's likely that horse meat for human consumption may be available within the month.

Bank stocks finished up one of the best-performing weeks of the year Friday, as a global coordinated stimulus by the world's top central bankers announced Wednesday injected some badly needed liquidity into the credit markets and signaled a willingness for future intervention if the going gets tougher.

Lady Gaga made her music video directorial debut with a 14-minute production which was met on Friday with a mix of weariness and adulation by fans and pop culture watchers.

Just one day before AMR Corp. filed for bankruptcy, a passenger captured footage of American Airlines employees doing a dance routine on the tarmac.

Toronto's main stock index was higher on Friday morning, on track to post its biggest weekly gain in more than two years, pushed up by strong bank earnings, encouraging U.S. jobs data and talk of more action to ease Europe's debt.

The U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks must not succumb to calls for additional help from monetary authorities in the face of high budget deficits, two top Fed officials said on Friday.

A drought in northern Mexico has dried up drinking water for nearly 2.5 million people and dessicated millions of acres of farmland.

Now there are questions about the authenticity of the image as well as the initials.

Canada believes the United States will ultimately approve TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which Washington put on hold last month for more than a year, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said on Friday.

Stocks ended flat on Friday but capped the best week for Wall Street bulls in almost three years after data showed the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to a 2-1/2 year low.

As banks around the world race to satisfy international capital requirements, they are going through a veritable fire sale, getting rid of non-core businesses no matter how much they will fetch. Beyond that, they are engaging in some odd transactions, including a substantial amount of balance sheet engineering.

An urgent solution to the euro zone debt crisis needs to be found otherwise there will be widespread macroeconomic and financial disaster, one of the European Central Bank's top policymakers Juergen Stark warned on Friday.

The Stanford marshmallow delayed gratification test is one of the most influential behavior studies in modern history.

On Thursday, Vanessa Long filed for divorce from her husband, Bishop Eddie Long -- the anti-gay preacher of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church who was accused of coercing four men into having sexual activity with him. She even released a statement about the filing. But now she's planning to remain married.