UNITED STATES

Japan's exports fell at the fastest pace in five months in the year to October, underscoring mounting concerns that sputtering global growth and a strong yen will take their toll on the world's No.3 economy as policymakers brace for contagion from the euro zone debt crisis.

Israel stepped up the rhetoric against Iran Sunday, as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the time has come to deal with the country and its nuclear program.

Wall Street is in for a volatile week as escalating problems in Europe's debt crisis continue to keep investors on their toes.

A new video takes the OWS protest cry we are the 99 percent and examines the numbers behind the movement's message. Who are the 99 and 1 percent, respectively, in America? How does U.S. wealth divide itself, and how did it do so before the financial crisis? The shocking statistics paint a picture even more provocative than Occupy protesters assert, including info on the 0.01 percent vs. the 99.9 percent.

Ghost towns and graves have been found in the remnants of Texas lakes that have tried up.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1, the fourth movie in the film series based on Stephenie Meyer's young adult novels, grossed $283.5 million globally and $139.5 million in the U.S. and Canada, based on an estimate from distributor Summit Entertainment.

U.S. overspending on the military has diverted resources from civilian / social investments, weakening the economy, and, by extension weakening the nation. If it doesn’t substantially cut defense spending, the U.S.’s empire will likely share the fate of two other empires that overspent on the military -- the British Empire and the Soviet Union.

Clashes among police, military and demonstrators erupted at Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday, injuring many hundreds and killing at least two demonstrators. In the clash's aftermath (see photos from protests here), the upcoming elections have become a source of anxiety and hope for an Egypt beyond SCAF control.

Police in Connecticut have identified the 30-year-old Massachusetts woman who was fatally struck and killed by a U-Haul truck driver carrying beer kegs through a Yale tailgating area before the Yale-Harvard football game Saturday.

Canada and Mexico won a trade case against a U.S. law on meat labeling at the World Trade Organization on Friday.

Defense chiefs from the United States and Canada said on Friday that budgetary pressures would not derail development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, saying there was no real alternative to what has become the Pentagon's costliest weapons program.

When Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed in September 2008 and shattered the belief that U.S. money-market funds would never break the buck, Washington rushed to limit the damage.

Top Car Debuts at the Los Angeles Auto Show 2011 [PHOTOS, VIDEO]

Investigations into the disappearance of 11-month-old Lisa Irwin are entering their 46th day, and there still has not been any useful information about either the child or her location since she went missing from her home in Kansas City, Mo.

Whether it was Indian Bollywood couple Aishwary Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan's daughter, Pope Benedict XVI, U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao, the British royal family or the Imam of the al-Azhar mosque in Egypt, everyone, it seems, was hit by morphed photographs this week.

The Twilight Saga series of films may be reaching its climax but there seems to be no slowdown at the box office, as fans greeted Breaking Dawn - Part 1, the first part of the series finale, in record numbers.

Samsung and Verizon Wireless are disappointing many eager smartphone fans by not releasing the Galaxy Nexus in the United States by the rumored Nov. 21 deadline. Now, the latest speculation has it that the smartphone will be launched Dec 8, according to a PCMag.com post.

As Breaking Dawn premieres, social site Goodreads has charted a surprisingly sharp divide between Twilight lovers and haters, with a Twilight Belt evenly dividing the U.S. Is your state part of the Breaking Dawn frenzy? Does it follow a red state/blue state pattern? Where does Meyer's home state fall? Full infographic here.

Prince Harry's raucous romp through the United States continued this week in Las Vegas.

Iraq believes Exxon Mobil has less interest in pursuing a disputed oil deal in the country's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region because it has much larger contract in southern Iraq, its oil minister said on Saturday.

A raft of bidders including J.P. Morgan is lining up for failed brokerage MF Global's stake in the London Metals Exchange, two sources familiar with the situation said, providing some solace for creditors.